> The first dilemma, is exactly the
> separation between a well off academic life, and the nature of the
> ordinary working world. I can report the disjunction is very large.
In my 12th year of graduate school, and my 23rd year of living on less than $10,000 per annum, I often wonder about that "well-off academic life". It sounds nice -- tenure, a steady if not spectacular paycheck, healthcare benefits, a pension. Things the US Left at one time struggled for and won, for millions of auto, steel and manufacturing workers (not for white-collar or service employees, it's true).
But I personally just can't imagine that level of security. I've never experienced that. My former profession (humanities/lit) was taken out and shot by neoliberalism. And austerity sure hasn't made me a better person or a more insightful scholar. It's just kicked my ass and kicked my ass some more, and made me nastier, meaner, colder. I think I survived through Adorno's inner hiberation -- close off against the outside world, cling to the aesthetic works like messages in a bottle, critique the system and not the poor souls trapped in its toils. I shudder to think of what other, even worse-off Americans have gone through.
-- DRR