tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1449952380128375575.post4159458020262983300..comments2024-03-21T00:30:14.738-07:00Comments on Yoga in the Dragon's Den: Questions with no answersNobelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00655577410721103577noreply@blogger.comBlogger18125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1449952380128375575.post-85634055528807880602013-01-16T17:08:36.755-08:002013-01-16T17:08:36.755-08:00Thanks for your kind and encouraging words, Yuna. ...Thanks for your kind and encouraging words, Yuna. Philosophy certainly isn't the best field to have a PhD in, career-prospects wise. But I do my best with what I have right now. Thanks for the suggestion about the visa problem :-)Nobelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00655577410721103577noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1449952380128375575.post-36566685548929109792013-01-16T17:02:19.177-08:002013-01-16T17:02:19.177-08:00Nobel, I hear ya. My husband has a PhD in philoso...Nobel, I hear ya. My husband has a PhD in philosophy, I was working on mine in German until the kids came along. I was not well and miserable when I was working on my dissertation, and I was happy to let the children distract me from writing and nursed myself back to health. When we started out, my husband held a non-tenure track position for three years at an expensive private university in North Carolina. Then we found out that our second child was on the way and decided we didn't want to face the uncertainty anymore or be forced to move from a temporary position to another hoping for a tenure-track position in near future in a place where we didn't really want to be. So he took the plunge and took a job at a community college. Then I was lucky to be hired to teach there as well. Sure, the pay is less and there isn't as much prestige, but we are much, much happier. We have plenty of time to spend with our children and we are able to concentrate on teaching, which is our true passion. For us everything worked out great. As for solving the visa problem, you need to fall in love!!! Good luck to you. Yuna Shin, RYT-200https://www.blogger.com/profile/06430167475806323895noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1449952380128375575.post-39058031178773976762013-01-15T14:00:14.798-08:002013-01-15T14:00:14.798-08:00Thanks D :-) I'll work on being clear-headed a...Thanks D :-) I'll work on being clear-headed and clear-hearted.Nobelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00655577410721103577noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1449952380128375575.post-70610294451499679632013-01-15T13:59:12.642-08:002013-01-15T13:59:12.642-08:00I'm hanging :-) Thanks for sharing your situat...I'm hanging :-) Thanks for sharing your situation, Christine. I have friends in the sciences who are stressing out about getting grants, so I think I can feel some of the uneasiness that you are experiencing. But let's keep breathing and practicing and ride this wave together! Nobelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00655577410721103577noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1449952380128375575.post-82552579366055714852013-01-15T13:55:50.713-08:002013-01-15T13:55:50.713-08:00Hello Deborah,
"getting the tenure track po...Hello Deborah, <br /><br />"getting the tenure track position pretty much amounts to 7 years of servitude, at the end of which you might or might not get the coveted prize."<br /><br />You are not the first person (and probably won't be the last) to make this observation of tenure as effective servitude. <br /><br />I sometimes think of it in more medieval terms. When you are a grad student, you are a page who is being ordered around/used as cheap labor by knights (professors) as part of your apprenticeship. When you get your PhD (or whatever the terminal degree is in your field), you become a knight. And then you try to find a lord (a university or college) that you can serve for a certain number of years, who would hopefully not be too despotic and over-bearing. And then, if everything goes well, at the end of seven years, you get a fiefdom (tenure), and you become Lord So-and-so, or Baron Such-and-such.<br /><br />Of course, if you don't get tenure, or haven't found a tenure-track position, then you are a wandering knight or a ronin (wandering samurai). Which kind of sounds romantic, actually :-) I feel better about myself already... Nobelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00655577410721103577noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1449952380128375575.post-34588391495167519052013-01-15T08:42:03.743-08:002013-01-15T08:42:03.743-08:00Hang in there Nobel! It's rough times in acad...Hang in there Nobel! It's rough times in academia these days. As a biologist (staff not faculty), I've been shuffled around between 3 different faculty bosses (read: 3 completely different sets of unrelated projects) in 6 years based on who has funding. I've written 13 grant proposals in the last year and a half alone. Twelve have not been funded and we're waiting to hear on the last one. Every year I wait to see if the funding will run out for good. None of the instability in academia is easy to sit with for me, so I hear you on the frustration! Hope it all settles a bit for you at some point and you get to catch your breath. :)Christinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10236070295895456544noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1449952380128375575.post-61678176482056697782013-01-15T03:23:46.715-08:002013-01-15T03:23:46.715-08:00It's a funny thing Nobel, from what I saw of a...It's a funny thing Nobel, from what I saw of academia, getting the tenure track position pretty much amounts to 7 years of servitude, at the end of which you might or might not get the coveted prize. That's a long time and an awful lot of political maneuvering/ winning over or not winning over the right people, etc.. Ugh! So much suffering. <br />There's no easy way out, that's clear. Of course, at this moment, you are in this country, you do have a job, and a yoga practice. Perhaps spend this year working on the next brilliant paper to publish and then apply again. Meanwhile, keep practicing! Which is exactly what I need to do right now, before my kids wake up and it's time to make lunches, be a school bus, go to work, come home, be a school bus again, coerce beg and cajole 3 children into doing their homework, make dinner, get them ready for bed, pass out myself, and try to squeeze some extra reading or a moment to think about my next group of paintings in between somewhere, along with the dishes and the laundry.<br /><br />See, it could be worse. It could be raining. (favorite line from Young Frankenstein)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1449952380128375575.post-66244592796120822042013-01-14T10:32:06.383-08:002013-01-14T10:32:06.383-08:00I can sense your frustration, and having gone thro...I can sense your frustration, and having gone through the immigration machine here, I totally empathize with the whole visa situation. Perhaps this is a chance for you to find equanimity in uncertainty, in situations where your desired outcome seems so remote? Your frustration is valid, but don't let it cloud your thoughts. As SF said - breathe and move on, one step at a time.Dhttp://savasanaaddict.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1449952380128375575.post-18726204663122348662013-01-13T14:36:00.807-08:002013-01-13T14:36:00.807-08:00Thanks for your kind words, sf. I certainly don...Thanks for your kind words, sf. I certainly don't think we are being like the fox in that fable (although even if we are, that's not entirely a bad thing; I seem to remember Sartre saying something about how the fox in this case has effected a "transformation of his world"). But in any case, I like your twist analogy. I will keep breathing and moving on.Nobelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00655577410721103577noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1449952380128375575.post-62324577108998888272013-01-13T14:32:04.174-08:002013-01-13T14:32:04.174-08:00No problem with sharing links to your blog, Helen....No problem with sharing links to your blog, Helen. I'm always happy that more people get to read your thoughts about things. <br /><br />I read the quote you shared on your blog. On one level, I see the relevance, in the sense that it is definitely true that our existence is always in flux. To relate it to my present situation, even if I were to fall off the ship of academia, so to speak, and get tossed into the rough seas, I will probably find a way to land on my feet somewhere. <br /><br />But this is where I think the analogy ends. Nobody can live and function effectively in this world without having some kind of solid ground to return to. This is true on an emotional and psychological level, and it is also true on a physical level, since without a physical dwelling place, the emotional and psychological dwellings cannot stabilize and take root properly. I mean, even surfers have to have something solid (i.e. the surfboard) to stand on...<br /><br />In any case, I probably haven't read enough of Pema Chodron to know exactly where she is coming from. I'm just responding to the quote as I understand it. But I can only work with and respond to what I have before me. Nobelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00655577410721103577noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1449952380128375575.post-78438112554488302042013-01-13T14:19:55.639-08:002013-01-13T14:19:55.639-08:00Thanks for the kind and wise words and thoughts, C...Thanks for the kind and wise words and thoughts, Carol. It is always good to hear from you. <br /><br />Well, on the crass side, I don't consider myself an expert at working my contacts, but I am at least A-okay at interacting with people and finding tings to talk about (and hopefully, sounding at least a little bit intelligent in the process). So I can definitely work on this aspect of the "crass" side. <br /><br />On the elevated side, no, I won't lose faith in myself. I agree with you about higher ed budgets being cut to the bone for anything that isn't a cash cow. I can't go into the details here, but I've personally seen decisions about whether to create new positions made on the basis of whether the new position in question will be "cost-neutral" or "value-neutral." There seems to be a confusion between the question, "Will this position make money for the university?", and the question, "Will this position add to a more well-rounded educational experience?". I think one sad result of running educational institutions on a business model is that administrators don't seem to be able to understand that these two questions are very different questions. Or maybe they don't *want* to understand...<br /><br />Anyway, I can go on and on about this. But it's always great to hear from you. Thanks for all the great work you are doing. I need to go read "Yoga PhD" soon. Nobelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00655577410721103577noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1449952380128375575.post-50985555173243431342013-01-13T10:52:47.072-08:002013-01-13T10:52:47.072-08:00What Carol said. Also, in retrospect and looking b...What Carol said. Also, in retrospect and looking back, I have always found that I dodged a bullet when I did not get jobs/admission/invites to certain things I thought I wanted desperately, because it would have been a direction that would have taken me way too far from where I am today, even with it's imperfections. I know that it sounds like the fox in the fable that says that the grapes are unripe and sour, but a quick inventory of your life trajectory will show you very few dead ends and many perceived road blocks which turned out to lead to a better path. This also sounds very much like when the teacher says "breathe deeply" while you are being adjusted into a really deep twist... sereneflavorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01918585302744520840noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1449952380128375575.post-56642298895046915602013-01-13T10:30:59.458-08:002013-01-13T10:30:59.458-08:00Hi Nobel, Sorry your going through a challenging t...Hi Nobel, Sorry your going through a challenging time with your career. We never really know what the future holds, sometimes we just think we do. You may find this book helpful. http://www.ashtangayogaliverpool.co.uk/blog/living-beautifully-with-uncertainty-and-change-by-pema-chodron-a-book-review/ <br /><br />I hope you don't mind me sharing a link to my own blog in your comments but if you look at the quote, I have shared on the post, you will hopefully see the relevance. Good luck.Helenhttp://www.ashtangayogaliverpool.co.uk/blognoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1449952380128375575.post-35752957100668349602013-01-13T09:43:22.478-08:002013-01-13T09:43:22.478-08:00My heart goes out to you because I know what an im...My heart goes out to you because I know what an impossibly difficult, frustrating, and discouraging situation that is to be in.<br /><br />On the crass side, I'd encourage you to work your contacts in the field, as having the right backers and recommendations can definitely tip the balance with jobs. On the more elevated side, I'd say don't lose faith in yourself because you're in a bad situation.<br /><br />What's happening to higher education is terrible, heart-breaking, and dangerous, but it is much bigger than any of us. In other words, just be really clear that your struggles are not the result your own individual inadequacies; they are the result of living in a time when higher ed budgets are being cut to the bone for any subjects that aren't cash cows. If you were on the academic job market at a different time you would be having a completely different experience. I know this is not very comforting - but I also know that most of us have a tendency to blame ourselves for situations that are beyond our control, and that just makes everything worse. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06954595575931726418noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1449952380128375575.post-18563213830153410862013-01-12T15:36:30.583-08:002013-01-12T15:36:30.583-08:00Thanks Jen. As a matter of fact, I am going to sit...Thanks Jen. As a matter of fact, I am going to sit back and watch a movie after I finish this comment :-) <br /><br />Great blog you have, by the way.Nobelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00655577410721103577noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1449952380128375575.post-87771412890222639002013-01-12T15:35:26.953-08:002013-01-12T15:35:26.953-08:00Hopefully, I calmed more than enhanced your worrie...Hopefully, I calmed more than enhanced your worries ;-) I don't know what else is going on in your life, but it's really not all bad, especially if you take things day by day, and not worry too much about what's going to happen or what's not going to happen (sounds like advice I should be giving myself here...). In any case, if you are still in grad school, you don't have to worry about the job market just yet (no amount of worrying will help, anyway). So enjoy what you are doing, and do your practice. Nobelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00655577410721103577noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1449952380128375575.post-62378651991985916662013-01-12T14:58:20.821-08:002013-01-12T14:58:20.821-08:00Nobel,
You will have an epiphany one day that will...Nobel,<br />You will have an epiphany one day that will bring all of these answers to light. Until then sit back and enjoy your life. If your always thinking of the "what if" and "why?", you might just miss that big realization. ;)<br /><br />Jen Bijeauxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04395580378382846007noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1449952380128375575.post-41206675959346385732013-01-12T13:17:12.667-08:002013-01-12T13:17:12.667-08:00Nobel,
This post kind of hit me fairly deeply. Cu...Nobel,<br /><br />This post kind of hit me fairly deeply. Currently, I am a master student in Philosophy trying to figure out what the hell I am doing, or even if I will get into a PhD program. What is currently happening to you is one of my greatest fears, being tossed around in the ship during the storm. This post both calmed and enhanced my worries. Hope everything goes well.Academic Yoginhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01077594810072191740noreply@blogger.com