adjunct pay whine

Kelley Walker kelley at interpactinc.com
Tue Mar 20 12:50:23 PST 2001


At 11:59 AM 3/20/01 -0800, Chuck Grimes wrote:


>Kelley,
>
>Just for the record, as I said a couple of years ago. Write the
>fucking thesis---quit stalling around.

riiiiiiiiiiight. do you know that i'm stalling around chuck. does it occur to you that other things go on in the lives of people who aren't you? try: kid, ill relatives, and a wasband that refuses to pay child support? a wasband, btw, who took me to court arguing that i wasn't contributing my fair share b/c i was earning the measely adjunct salary and could be shown to be quite capable of earning a fine salary with the master's. i conceded so i didn't have to put my kid on the stand and spend $1000s on legal fees. hell, he stopped paying CS, chuck, because he found out that i'd decided to take a semester off and live off savings/loan while i worked on diss and ratcheted up my tech skills.

then, as catherine once predicted, i said fucketalltohell, and decided that i'm tired of fighting the sob. i do my part so no one can say i didn't and the kid won't blame me someday-- i send him to see him 3-4x a year.

how exactly do you think i'm supposed to support myself and my kid on the adjunct wages AND find time to finish the diss AND be somewhat available for the kid--forget even having a social life. i shell out $8500 in USG SUBSIDIZED housing/elec/gas a year!

i'm tired of the assumptions that i or anyone else stalls around.

practically speaking, there is absolutely NO incentive for me to finish, not in my discipline. not an economic one. i can get a perfectly happy job as a researcher, writer, editor, etc with the master's.

but that's not why most people want to go into this field. i like to teach, i like to do research, i like to learn things. but there are so many ways i can make a living doing those things. so, as it stands, i want to finish b/c i want to, but also MAINLY as a tribute to Frank Hearn, a man who died last year and to whom i owe a great deal: i wouldn't be anywhere right now if it weren't for his outstanding work, mentoring and conscientiousness. but right now, that's about the only reason i have to bother. when i find a sugar daddy or mama who wants to support me.....but hell if they have money, then who cares?! :)



More information about the lbo-talk mailing list