Some Professor Says...

So, big carryings on at work this week over doors. Esp whether or not faculty are allowed to hang anything on the glass windows in our doors. Our newish college president announced that we were not allowed to do this because we should be engaging with the community, not hiding in our offices. Plus at big investment firms they only have glass doors and walls so everyone can see everything. I know this is a thing; my wife worked for Bloomberg for a few years and I saw the ridiculous office plan they have. But of course it was a thing before that. As an adjunct all over NY, I had a range of office setups. One place I taught instituted an adjunct office the second year I was there, where all adjuncts for the division had cubicles one largish office space. A CUNY school had a dedicated adjunct office for history dept adjuncts. Adjunct work conditions stink. Always have, and my sense is that it's not going to get better in the future. But nonetheless this new policy is a troubling one. T...

Not sure I'll do this, but if Twitter dies I will need somewhere to vent, to celebrate, to think things through. So let's see how it goes. I'm a professor at a small liberal arts college right near New York City.  My students are mostly first generation, whip smart, and totally impossible not to love unless they're driving me crazy, which certainly happens. I write about labor issues and politics sometimes, so no doubt that'll creep in here. I'm especially interested in 1930s labor and radicalism--the Old Left gets more interesting the older they get, far as I can tell. I have an eight year old son with special needs who fills my day with joy, and a wife whom I love dearly and mock incessantly (not usually here, though it happens!). Don't come here looking for music or theater or movie or tv takes unless they're about (a) really old movies, (b) things I show to my students, or (c) feature the Cat in the Hat or Winnie the Pooh. Let's see how this goes...