What's going on?

I've actually tried to keep up with this blog a little more than it appears. Unfortunately, I forgot my passwords for a while. Don't ask. If you knew me it really wouldn't be a surprise. So...I re-started elsewhere and considered transferring everything to the new space, but then I realized I'd only really posted there once, today. It was easier to just come back here. Except that I'd really like to still use my spiffy new somedayphd gmail account for everything over here, but I can't seem to change all that around. I'm sure there is a way, but I'll never figure it out on my own.

The short version of all of that is I'm back.

Opening Day

The Writing Center opened today. It seemed to all go smoothly. We were actually kind of busy in the afternoon. It's been a while since I've worked in a writing center. It was fun. I know in a couple of weeks I'll be singing a different tune, but it's good for now.

As I sat through a job talk today the silliness of the situation struck me. It's like a conference of one. A mini-teach can show how a candidate will perform in the classroom, but the job talk just puts everyone in an awkward position. As a candidate you have to condense your research into a short conference presentation. As a committee member you have to try to assess a candidates ability based on that presentation. It's insufficient. I don't have any alternative suggestions, but there has to be a better way to do that.