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That silence . . .!! It rings so true. You are braver than I am to make such an announcement in person; I let my colleagues know by email. I’m looking forward to the next installment.

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It was hanging over my head all weekend. I probably wouldn't have done it if I didn't have Herb and my partner supporting me through it. Talk about adrenaline! And staying through the whole thing was *wild*...

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Tremendous opening, Jenn. I'm glad you got to have that moment of making them all uncomfortable. Looking forward to the next installment.

Our department has pushed toward hiring and retaining full-time instructors, with benefits and retirement, instead of relying on adjunct labor. If admin won't give us tenure lines, at least we can hire people full-time. They are still underpaid, mind you.

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Also, thank you! I appreciate it.

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Oh yeah—every tenure track position I’ve applied for within the past 10 years has paid between 40-60 thousand dollars a year. Which is like… sorry, wha?

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Wow. Just wow. Or not “just” - this a great, affecting start to your story, and I already want to know how it all came to pass and whether/how you hold those silent chumps in the room accountable. In fact, their silence and desire to ignore you doesn’t surprise me - but it makes sense that it surprised you at the time.

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Thanks Martha! Yeah I was not expecting that, but then again I was pretty downtrodden by that time.

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What’s so ironic about the scene is you, master of stage combat, prepared to do battle, and they instead doing the equivalent of shunning you - a social strategy far more deadly to the individual spirit.

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Oo well put! Yeah when you have your proverbial sword out and all that happens is they turn their backs on you, it’s rather disarming. Literally.

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