Oh, Chronicle, you're the gift that just keeps giving

I find myself quite torn about this column. In it, an academic job candidate talks about the importance of considering quality of life in applying for academic jobs, by detailing her own job interview in a part of the country in which she realized she could never live. That basic message - think about whether you could live in the town where the job is located - is an important one, and everybody has their own dealbreakers. I sincerely applaud people who know themselves well enough to know what kinds of compromises they are and aren't willing to make, and I believe that the lack of choice about where to live is one of the major evils of academic life. No one should have to live somewhere fundamentally abhorrent to them.

But deal god, couldn't the author have managed to sound less condescending and elitist about it?? And, frankly, provincial?

A few examples:

Can a Ph.D. who wears perfume made by an obscure order of French monks find happiness working in a town where everyone buys their clothes at the Farm King?... 

On the train, I was first struck by the differences between what I had been told about the train ride and its reality. The department chair had assured me that the train would be a great experience, with a lovely dining car, reminiscent of the old days of railroad travel when shiny-uniformed porters brought out plates of chicken cordon bleu and rice pilaf to suave and sophisticated world travelers. That, he claimed, made the four-hour train ride bearable. But I don't remember Cary Grant ever having to choose between a microwaved hot dog or hamburger, begrudgingly handed over by a miserable guy complaining behind a stainless-steel counter.

The people on the train, with the exception of the hot-dog guy, were friendly and open. But they did make me doubt all the criticisms I have had of the way rural Americans are depicted in culturally elitist Hollywood movies. Turns out those movies have often done a fairly accurate job. I overheard the sad story of how one young man's dreams of pop stardom were dashed when he failed to break the top 23 in the "American Idol" tryouts and was now on his way home to live the rest of his life in frustrated obscurity. I also listened to a chat about how much better life was in the town I was traveling to now that the new Walmart had opened....

My first meeting was an 8 a.m. breakfast with members of the department's faculty. After a few pleasantries, one of the faculty members turned to me and asked, "Tell me, why didn't the Nazis destroy the Jewish cemeteries and synagogues in Krakow?"

And we were off! The interview had begun. It was clear to me that those people were really isolated from civilization out there, because no civilized people I knew asked questions about genocide before 9 a.m.—over bacon, no less.

[Um, has this person never been on an on-campus interview? That's what they do - interview you. Over meals. Including breakfast.]

During my professional lecture about my research, the questions were, as is usually the case in job interviews, more about the work of the questioner than about my scholarship: "Why didn't you write about labor union activity in public?" Well, I didn't write about labor unions because the book is about hippies and festivity, not labor unions. It's a monograph, not an encyclopedia. "How did the theories of Bakhtin influence the hippies?" Most 17-year-old hippies had never even heard of Bakhtin, let alone read his theories. Come on, people. This is my research—not yours. Stop trying to show off to your colleagues.

Then I was taken to dinner, where everyone was tired, and the conversation felt very insidery—jokes between friends, etc. I felt isolated and awkward, and couldn't wait to get back to my room. Actually, I couldn't wait to get back home. The next morning, my alarm failed to go off, and I was left with six minutes to get dressed and out the door for the train. I made it, got through the airport and to the plane, and as soon as I touched ground I raced toward civilization for some sushi—the cultural version of electroshock therapy.

These latter three examples, actually - they annoy me because they have nothing to do with the cultural sophistication of the town. They're about the nature of the interview itself, and sound exactly like the kinds of experiences I've had at job interviews across the country. Just because you didn't like the way the department conducted the interview, doesn't mean that the department is full of hicks.

I don't know. On the one hand, I do not want to replicate those people telling grad students/junior faculty that if they want a job in academia they have to SACRIFICE, and be willing to live ANYWHERE, dammit, because I hate that attitude. But on the other hand, yeah, if you want a job in academia you often have to move somewhere it wasn't your first choice to live. There's nothing wrong with deciding NOT to do that, but there's also nothing wrong with deciding TO do that, either. I have a dear pair of friends who live in a state extremely uncongenial to them in terms of politics and weather, because it was the only place they could both find jobs, and he (especially) really really really really REALLY wanted an academic job. They have adjusted and created a pretty happy life for themselves.

I'm not saying that the author of the Chronicle column would have ultimately been happy working at the university she describes - clearly she wouldn't. I just think there has to be a way to get across the message that considering quality of life is important, without putting down the people who do live (and happily!) in the places you don't want to be.

(For the shorter version of this post, see this tweet! I don't know the tweeter, just appreciated the sentiment.)

Comments

[dance]

Considering quality of life is important, but so is making sure that such consideration is based on an accurate and open-minded understanding of exactly how region plays into quality of life, focusing on evidence not preconceptions. As you said, half her complaints weren't about place.

Also, she apparently doesn't know the difference between a dining car on Amtrak and the snack bar car. Also, you know she buys that perfume online but can't think of buying underwear online?

Maybe the Chronicle could stop doing PR for people who think professors are spoiled elitists?

I think this (locked) was the trigger for the tweet, by the way. Gift that keeps giving, indeed:
http://chronicle.com/article/Academic-English-Is-Not-a-Club/128405/

[New Kid on the Hallway]

Dance - yes, that Chronicle column was AWFUL. AWFUL. Made me wonder what on earth the Chronicle was thinking - are they THAT hard up for material? When they first started doing the First Person columns, I welcomed the kind of "inside look" into academic hiring etc. - in part because I was a newbie grad student/job candidate and hadn't heard these discussions before. But now I really wish they'd exercise at least SOME discretion in what they publish! (Although, hey, here we are talking about the columns, and all publicity is good publicity, right?)

[dance]

I found the First Person columns VERY useful in helping me map the landscape of what I might encounter on the job market. But correct, they are going for pageviews and comments. They could at least set up a point-counterpoint, where rational people balance the crackheads that bring the clicks.

[Bardiac]

She's really condescending, bleah. I was surprised to find out that there's no culture in small towns. Really? Nothing?

But, I also understand the frustration of living in a smaller community without some of the cultural stuff that bigger communities have. But there's got to be a way to say that without being condescending. (And small communities have cultural stuff that bigger communities don't, of course.)

Maybe if "elite" universities would form entering classes from around the country, with students from very different backgrounds, we'd get some different sorts of columns, eh?

[rented life]

Love the tweet. I grew up in the country. I lived many years in the city. The reasons I prefer the city have to do with convenience. (I like to have options when shopping or choosing entertainment, without driving hours away.) The comments the author writes SCREAM of "city." That's what us country natives would call her. Her ignorance is astounding, and I can only imagine how condensending the interviewers found her, or even other locals she interacted with. Beacuse we can see that behavior a mile away, no matter how much the rual America appears like the movies she watched. Sorry, it just makes me so mad, she's so ignorant!

I want to tell her, hey there's a bunch of us who live in the city and don't like sushi and plenty who live in the country and like sushi.

And you're right, a lot of her compliants have to do with the actual interview. And she'll find that type of dissatisfaction at any school in any location. Two of the worst interviews I had were in large cities. (And what's with the 9am compliant? I remember interviewing someone on the significant of his research at a 7am breakfast meeting, it was the only time we all could get together.)

[Krazy Kitty]

The question would have been better phrased as "Can a person who thinks herself too good for rural America live anywhere else than in a civilized place such as a large city?"

A question that would have been better asked before wasting everybody's time with this interview and the resulting whiny article.

[New Kid on the Hallway]

@Bardiac - yes, I get the frustration, too; I had a job in a town of 6000 and I ultimately left because I didn't want to live there for 30 years. That said, I think it is possible to express that without being condescending - at least, I hope so! because I have a number of friends whom I respect very very much who stayed in that small town. (And I do think there were a lot of good things about the town, too.)

@rented life, you know, although decided I didn't want to stay in the country, I'm really REALLY glad I had the experience I did, of living in a tiny rural town, because I learned an awful lot about this country and community and whatnot from doing so. I also kind of wonder if the author confused honest culture shock with a need for sophistication etc.

@Krazy Kitty - LOL!

[Ianqui]

And after all that, she ended up at UNH! Yes, in the liberal northeast, but not exactly an urban center in itself.

[New Kid on the Hallway]

@ianqui, I wasn't going to go there, but she's been at UNH for about 15 years - so that seems to be the "sophisticated culture" that she's comparing to the unnamed school? Which is why I have to wonder if this was really more culture shock than a clash between civilized/uncivilized. (Of course, she could commute from the Boston area, too. But still. As a New Englander, I feel entitled to point out that New England culture can be awfully insular.)

[Notorious Ph.D.]

I agree with you, NK, on everything you said about this column, both good and bad. One thing I'd add is that you can't write off a place before you've seen it and talked to the people who have made it their home. Grad School town was in a part of the country where I'd never have moved on my own. I had only stereotypes to go on. Then I got there, and after a somewhat difficult adjustment, found myself falling in love with the place. Whenever we had job candidates in, we grad students could honestly praise the place to the skies.

[Dr. Moonbeam]

NK,I had almost exactly your reaction on reading that article! While culture shock is real, and some folks are Just Not Suited For Rural (or Small Town) Life, the author's attitude and phrasing kept setting my teeth on edge.

Some years back I was on a departmental search committee. We did cattle-pen interviews at Big Disciplinary Winter Meeting, and there were several who looked really good on paper, but in person it was clear that for them it was Big City School or nothing. Which was fine; if they'd be unhappy in a small town, we didn't want to hire them only to have them desperate to leave asap. But the way in which some of them conveyed disdain of small towns was pretty annoying, as if those of us working at a uni in a small town were somehow losers who couldn't get anything better, and this author's column reminded me a lot of that attitude.

[Janice]

This kind of column makes me sporfle because, hello?, where do people think they're going to find jobs for academics? We can't all get hired by institutions in the DC-Boston corridor or in the Bay area!

I grew up in a midwestern university town which gave me a taste of both worlds. I got a job in a northern mining town which is hardly a cultural centre but, for me, life is what you make of it and after having lived here for twenty years, I can say that it's not hardly so bad as some people think.

On the other hand, I do know some people who couldn't get out of here fast enough and I'm really happy to wave them goodbye because there's nothing worse than working with someone who hates the place you're both in and feels as if it's an unreasonable burden for their particular precious snowflake-self to have to rough it there even a little bit. (Not you, NK, or anyone else commenting here, but definitely it sounds like the Chronicle columnists fit into that category!)

[grumble]

How did someone who researched a monograph on "hippies and festivity" get a big time job interview anyway.

[Lucky Jane]

As an inveterate maker of lemonade, I was irritated by this article. The market is assuredly evil, but I thought my own forays into the market and even nomadic employment were great adventures that introduced me to interesting people and places I would not otherwise have gotten to know.

Anyway, perhaps the piece is satire? I mean, how can someone who claims to study culture not recognize it when it's right in front of her? And I don't know about you, but I got a major class-anxiety vibe from the author's incessant need to distinguish between herself and the interviewing institution's faculty and environs.

[Pilgrim/Heretic]

Yes to the class-anxiety vibe! And what an annoying tone to the whole thing. I may not have fallen completely in love with every single place I've ever interviewed, but even if I felt this strongly about not fitting into a place, I'd like to think I have the sense not to publish a snotty essay about it. What, really, is the purpose of this piece, aside from trumpeting how sophisticated and superior the writer believes herself to be?

[rented life]

NK, I'm with you, I don't want to stay in teh country. But the last CC I taught at was in the country and those classes were often my fav ones. I understood where they were coming from. I had the ability to live in a city and commute. My goal is to do the same here. But with that person's attitude, she wouldn't even be able to relate to those country students!

[drake]

What's most amusing to me is that most of her example of "culture", or lack thereof, are all consumerist -- the perfume, the sushi, the Walmart.

[undine]

I'm with you, NK--she's right on the basic message, but oh, my, what a precious and condescending essay! On the other hand, that leaves a job for someone who truly wants one and doesn't order (or can't afford) perfume made of gnats' breath or whatever it was.

[Anthea]

I'm with you too NK but I really don't think that she should have expressed herself as she did. She came across as really unbearable and condescending. But perhaps the job should be for someone, as someone as already pointed out in these comments, who really wants the job. While I was reading the article I got the sense that she didn't really want to go to the interview in the first place.

[af]

This article has stirred up quite a fuss at my university, which is almost certainly the backwater she visited. Of course we all have complaints about the place - lack of restaurants, bookstores, and theater/other cultural opportunities; distance from major airports, etc., etc. - and I'm sure most people who apply for jobs here worry about this a lot. Almost all of the new faculty I know did, and some of us still feel bad about it. But the idea that what's here is a "minimal standard of living," that there couldn't possibly be anything worth anything here - seeing a deer on your daily walks, getting to know the people who grow your food, having a low enough cost of living so you can travel freely during the summer, leaving your windows open at night without fear - that's what is really wrong with this essay. She does not, in fact, know she would be unhappy here, because she doesn't actually know what it's like. People adjust to their environments in all sorts of ways, and if you're lucky, and maybe disciplined, you learn to appreciate what's good about wherever you are.

(Also, most people do not buy underwear at Farm King. There are two malls within an hour's drive, and several major cities within 3-4 hours, not to mention the internet.)