As the semester approaches peak insanity, I am (not exactly) pleased to report that, if your money was on me regretting taking on that administrative post, you have won the bet. In my defense, I initially declined, but my department chair came back with data that compelled me to accept. Blinded me with science, if you will.

Which is how I find myself teaching a large class, feverishly writing papers that will be important for me to get grant renewals, drafting grant renewals, meeting with collaborators about grant renewals, doing the million acts of reviewing and editing and sitting on student committees and all sorts of other service to the profession that all faculty do, and, yes, that huge admin job on top of everything. (By the way, whenever I get overwhelmed at work, I do what no sane person would do, which is ramp up my plans for my fiction writing. It’s like fighting unwanted work not by relaxation, but by more wanted work. Or maybe I just want even more people to disappoint. 😬)

I have come to realize that the admin job itself is not too bad, but that my predecessor has absolutely spoiled our colleagues, who now treat my predecessor (and seem to want to treat me) as a cross between secretary and maid. I have no time, nor do I have the patience for such treatment, and I am working to streamline the relevant processes, truly delegate the stuff that doesn’t require my input, and generally try to minimize intrusions into my time. But people hate change, and it has been an uphill battle.

As part of my new duties, I’ve become privy to the finer details of my colleagues’ workloads. My department is a really nice, functional department — honestly, far better functioning than most — yet, there are more people here than I suspected who seem to have little shame. They offload way more work than can truly be justified — grading, preparing homework solutions, holding office hours, heck, even lecturing! — to their teaching assistants. They want to teach the same two courses year after year, even though most other faculty rotate among at least four (I have taught seven distinct courses so far, and like to add a new one to my portfolio every few years, for my own amusement and horizon broadening, but I understand that most folks are not like me in this regard). These colleagues treat the teaching part of their job as a complete nuisance, and I will never, NEVER get used to the fact that such people exist, that they have no qualms about offloading their work, for which they’re paid well on “hard money,” to junior people with much less power or ability to complain about being overworked.

Academadness is on the back burner for now, not because it’s not nearly ready, because it is, but because, honestly, I try to be as self-indulgent in my extracurriculars as I can be. The more stressed-out I am, the more self-indulgent in my projects, and the self-indulgence is right now pushing me more toward fiction. I was hoping to hit Christmas with Academadness, but that doesn’t seem like it will happen, so it probably will get pushed to 2025. I apologize to those who’ve been waiting, but I will definitely get to it in the near future. Just not right away.

I’ve been thinking about shutting down Xykademiqz, yet I’m reluctant. I don’t post nearly as much as I used to, but I still sometimes do, and I often have stuff I think about saying here at random times, but then I get busy and don’t have a free moment to post, and then I forget. There aren’t many academic blogs left, which saddens me, but perhaps this is just the ebb and flow of things on the internet. (By the way, it’s hilarious how people treat Substack like it’s something new and precious, and not just a blog with a newsletter — which, by the way, any decent blogging platform provides anyway — that readers have to pay for). I guess I’m just not ready to say goodbye yet. Academic blogging (on Academic Jungle since 2010, here on Xykademiqz since January 2014) has been a gateway into creative writing for me, and I doubt I will ever completely run out of things to complain about when it comes to my job.

What have you been up to, blogosphere? How’s your fall been going (other than the US election)?

By the way, I know the election happened. I was here in 2016, shocked and devastated. Now, in 2024, I am saddened and disappointed, but not at all surprised. Never again surprised. But let’s please not make it about politics here. I’m honestly sick and tired of it.