Speaking of worthless...

My apologies for neglecting this blog in the past several weeks. My day job has been taking a lot out of me lately, and I made the mistake of reactivating the distracting shiny object that is my personal Facebook account. But I have every intention of adding some meaningful content this weekend.

And now for some less meaningful content.

We have reached the point in the academic hiring season that is roughly analogous to a bar 10 minutes before last call, with a few desperate drunks left looking for anyone to go home with. Most of the TT openings have sent out their official rejections by now (although through the wonder of the Academic Jobs Wiki, you get to find out you didn't make the first cut for interviews in real time!), and all that remains are a few last-minute sabbatical-replacement VAP jobs (and in one case, a fellowship vacated by someone who took one of the jobs I didn't get). So far, the only nibble I've gotten is a single telephone interview for a fellowship.

Now, as far as the academic job market goes, I knew it was a scorpion when I let it on my back. I suppose it would be less frustrating if my day job as a help-desk monkey were more fulfilling, or even if I had some adjunct hours to look forward to after an exhausting day at work. (It's astonishing how much more energy I had this time last year, when I was teaching at GWU, even though I was often up all night preparing my lectures.)

I am really going to have to reconsider how I approach next year's search. I may have to start applying for New Testament/Early Christianity posts in addition to Hebrew Bible/Old Testament ones, because once you eliminate all the posts that demand "doctrinal conformity" or "a dedication to preparing $DENOMINATION clergy," there were barely a half-dozen TT HB/OT openings in the whole country this year. I should probably look into adjunct positions teaching intro Greek, Latin, or Biblical Hebrew classes, too.