The Clock Starts Ticking

That is, the tenure clock. The holidays are officially over now, and I’ve started my first tenure-track teaching job. The way it works is, I have six years to impress the university with my teaching, publications, and service. Actually, it’s five years – the sixth is spent on having me evaluated. At the end of the sixth year, they (the university) decide whether or not to keep me (i.e., give me tenure).

So far, it’s going well. Last Thursday there was an all-day orientation for new faculty, during which we (the faculty) were fed salads and sandwiches, and told all sorts of useful things about teaching, tenure, diversity, and local art and theater events. A union representative made a brief appearance during lunch. Benefits department was missing – I hear they have their own orientation – so it’s a good thing I’d made a separate trip and got all the paperwork done. I’ve met lots of fabulous new faculty members – including several (gulp!) Russians. Some of them were bemused to learn that I’d been hired by the English department. A Russian? Teaching English? Come On! But what do they know, right? They teach math! Overall, though, all the people were lovely, and I fully intend to keep in touch with several of them – I just need to catch my breath first.

At the same orientation event, I got my parking permit. Parking here is torturous. I somehow got lucky on Friday and Monday. But today! Today was a nightmare. It took me around 40 minutes to find it. Not that I was being picky. I tried one lot after another – not matter how far from my building – and all of them were full. And it didn’t help that these lots – of various sizes, some very tiny – are spread all over the campus. By the time I got to my office, I had ten minutes to get to a lunch meeting that was at the opposite end of the campus, and as luck would have it, I was wearing heels. In short, a world of pain and blisters.

But aside from parking and the blisters, I’m perfectly happy. I love my new coworkers. I love my new office. (I’ve never had an office of my own before, and this one is spacious and light, with lots of shelves and cabinets, and a new PC and laser printer.) And I love my students! This afternoon I taught my first class – a graduate fiction workshop. It’s got six people so far, and all of them are delightful. I can’t wait to start reading their stories and novels.

And then, once I returned after this day of arduous walking (I mean, work), Movie Dictator emerged from his air-conditioned office and we watched The War On Democracy, a fantastic documentary about how America had worked over the years to overthrow various democratic governments in Latin American countries. Depressing as hell. It made me so angry I could almost understand anarchists. I’m thinking we might need to watch something light and silly tomorrow, like Harry Potter #4, or Live Free or Die Hard -- except, um, never mind, we'd already watched it.