Strangely, I never realized how political not only grad school is, but academia in general. Not in terms of interpersonal politics, but in that academics in the humanities often engage in political thought and expect their work to change or influence things on that level. That had never occured to me, and, ironically, one of the criticisms I hear and share is that it’s not political enough, which is to say, it’s not directly important in the larger world. I don’t know if that’s true, or if it matters, but there it is.

One thing that gets left out of this discussion is teaching. How does teaching fit into the importance of what academics do? Is it not, in many ways, the most important thing we do? Or is it a distraction?

As to the "real" world, I put it in quotes for a reason. I don’t really buy the real/not-real dichotomy that often get put forward in discussions about academics ("it’s all over, now it’s just academic" says the sports announcer). People do what they do – how is one more real than the other? Whether oyu work in the steel mill, make widgets for corporations to use and sell, sell things yourself, teach, or do nothing, can you really say that one thing is more real?

I ramble.

Also, very little is "real" in the "real world" of corporate politics. Suck-ups, puppets, and morons can make it big if they walk the walk and talk the talk. If you want to get ahead, you also need to be well versed in the language known as "corporate spin". Impending layoffs become an "opportunity to redesign our organizational structure".

That said, my Anthropology degree did help prepare me for corporate homework. The ability to gather a large amount of information, organize it, construct an argument, and defend it, can be applied when writing business cases, developing a negotiation strategy, crafting emails, etc.

Am I happy? Let’s just say, I’m delighted to be employed.

Rather, i was focusing on the concept of "real world" vs. the academe. I often described my way to grad school to people by saying that after undergrad i tried out the "real world" and didn’t like it and so came to grad school. It is an interesting phrase that i think a lot of people in academics accept and use without really defining what it means. And, i think that the phrase acknowledges the privilege and the self-indulgence that being an academic affords one (and i say this in a positive sense – it was something that my catholic guilt couldn’t handle, but that doesn’t mean it is bad!). Academics produce knowledge, which especially for the humanities, can be intangible. But, I also think it is necessary. When we were in Ithaca for "theory camp," we lived "at the bottom of the hill" or in town. Cornell is at the top of the hill. There were many references made that summer to the "ivory tower" or the fact that the top of the hill was like an island where we were allowed to spend 6 weeks just thinking away from the "real world" at the bottom of the hill. And Erik and I had very "real world" concerns that summer, we were completely broke when we showed up in Ithaca. However, the activity, the space, was what wasn’t part of the "real world." Anyway, i would argue that there is something different about the space that i am now occupying something that does feel more "real" just in the way that serving drinks to drunk people night after night can’t help but feel very real, i suspect.

So, into part two – how did i get to my "real world" job. And, here i need to pause. Kim asks that you take the "real world" tag off of this category. But, I think it is appropriate to keep and worth talking about. People use the term "real world" all the time to describe non-academic jobs. However, today in my non-academic job, someone used the term to distinguish between the theoretical and a situtation involving actual people. The "real world" is where the people are – i think i like it as a distinction. It means, among other things, that many careers contain non-real worlds. It also means that the academe must have a "real" world element.

Anyway, i’m not sure how to describe how i got to my job. "Just fell into it" doesn’t seem right, it seems to passive. There are definite things that i did to get here – maybe they were not all conscious/deliberate at the time, but they got me to where i am. And, job-wise i am very happy with where i am. This is the right job for me right now. There is more of a focus on social justice issues (or, i guess, almost all social justice), but it also requires thinking. It is what i needed. Will i stay here forever, who knows. Did college prepare me for what i do? In a way, yes. I became an activist in college and continued in grad school – they both gave me the space to explore that part of me. Do i use particular knowledge – probably not directly.

I am going to end with something somebody said to me a couple weeks ago. I was talking to a biology professor about the overproduction of Ph.D.s in the humanities. He suggested that one needs to distinguish between that being bad because people aren’t being informed about the lack of jobs and, therefore, have been misled and people who just won’t use their degree in a traditional way. He said that the first was bad. The second was not. To quote him, "Don’t you think the world is a better place because those people are in it?" Cheesy, i know, but i really like it.

Still, am I happy in the corporate world? I’m happy I have the time and financial safety to go back to my own pleasures for the sake of those pleasures. I can watch any movie or read any book and not worry about what prep/grading I might be avoiding, or how much time I’m taking away from "real" work.

I fell into my corporate work, rather than choosing it, and sometimes it is challenging when I’m learning new things or on a big project. I find myself increasingly bored with both work and my non-work life, although I think that might have happened, too, had I excelled at grad school and now been in a tenure track job. Starting a new project of my own choosing wouldn’t have been enough stimulation either. (Which probably is another reason why I wasn’t meant to be a Prof.)

I guess when all is said and done, financial stability, coworkers that keep most of their emotional baggage to themselves (and are discouraged from meglomania and dramatic behavior), and sometimes-challenging work are far more important to me than the benefits I would have experienced with a PhD.