Popination Pontification
a series of unhinged personal essays disguised as pub reviews. Today: Wild Corgi Pub.
I went out for a fresh Popination the other day, over in town in an area not far from my church again. But this wasn’t a post-church pub, it was a joyful meeting with a fellow adjunct from the English department where I used to work, to drink and discuss the state of the adjuncting world. Plus, we wanted to meet in person, as we hadn’t really known each other that well back in those days, but have gotten to be good online buddies. So she suggested a pub in her neck of the woods that she’d been curious about, so we could get together and do a little more venting about adjuncting, this time not via threaded, but irl discussion. And it was a lovely pub and a lovely time. Let me tell you about it:
Outside, the Wild Corgi had a sort of Victorian England vibe (except for the bright lit-up pub sign hanging above the door). It looked inviting and I was surprised that I hadn't noticed it before. Inside, the vibe and visuals continued in a wood paneled, red bricked, kinda Brit pub thing. I sat at the bar to wait for Melissa and was pleasantly surprised at the wide bar menu (especially the whiskey list and cocktail offerings), and extensive array of pub grub. Had a friendly chat with the bartender who let it slip that he was also the owner, and that he absolutely and hilariously refused to make me a Sazerac. Why? Only because he claimed it’s the one cocktail he’s never been able to get right. So I ordered one from the other bartender on staff. He had to look it up. It turned out good. A bit sweet, but good.
And then Melissa arrived and we sipped whiskey and talked about the current plight of the humanities adjunct in America. In Denver, specifically. At [REDACTED] University, even more specifically, the English department that ghosted me back in 2015, and the theatre department of which I gloriously quit in 2022. Both incidents of which I’ve written about in my memoir, Next Time. (The Prologue and Chapter 4, if I’m remembering correctly.) I knew I was in for some hot tea when she declared she was ‘already mad’ only a couple weeks in to the semester. But you know? It was really the same stuff that faculty like us always are going through. Poverty pay for intense expertise work, and no resources or even respect. It’s ridiculous, and for those of us like Melissa and me, it’s not a career, as much as the promise was there early on. At least for me – at the beginning of my teaching career, I felt so privileged to have attained these positions, at two schools no less, and believed the powers that be (the powers that were?) when they told me adjuncting was a foot in the professorship door. Oh, what a sweet Fall-semester child…
And then I tried this incredibly inky coffee whiskey, being aged and infused with coffee and …man I don’t remember what it was called or what the other processes it had gone through but suffice to say it was black as my bitterness towards the treatment of adjuncts and complex as my expertise in literature and the arts. Ahem.
Often when I tell my tale of leaving [REDACTED] University, as much as I still teach at DU relatively happily, I notice that those who hear the tale (or who read my memoir) often feel inspired to make big good changes in their own lives, eradicating stagnation where they can. I don’t think in my friend’s case, such a dramatic excision is possible (as it wasn’t for me for many years, being dependent on even such paltry pay as was given me there). But I hope that I gave her some hope, or maybe even a light at the end of the tunnel.
Of course, in this current administration, higher ed is only going to get stupider and messier from here. And, as much as I am of the strong opinion that much needs to change there, structurally and systemically, I can’t help but predict lots of ugly nonsense before it gets better. If, indeed, it even can at this point.
And then the Wild Corgi’s poker night began, several of the blogger tables now circled with happily frowning players, and we decided to end our time. But I’ll definitely be going back – what a lovely cozy place, with a varied enough menu that multiple visits can stay interesting, I imagine.
Anyway, t’s nice to connect with a fellow adjunct still grinding away – I feel like it made us both feel not quite so alone, if you know what I mean. And hey, Melissa, if you get a good corporate in, let me know, yeah?
