academia

A couple of weeks ago, I left Marlowe with my mom and Ellis with daddy and went to a conference. It's been awhile since I've done that. I do enjoy them. This was the national meeting of my academic discipline meeting jointly with a sister discipline. I was going primarily to scout out grad programs, meet people, and make an impression on programs I really want to get into. I feel like I accomplished what I set out to do for the most part.

This post has two parts.

Part the First: wherein encounters with the public library lead to benefits beyond my wildest dreams.

Over the past several months, my thoughts sometimes wander to the topic of higher education, specifically, how technology may (will?) shape how the institutions of higher education. Will the structures at the university level be impacted by technology and what will this look like?

Lilian wrote about a book that is exactly what I have been looking for for years: Mama, Ph.D: Women Write About Motherhood and Academic Life (Rutgers University Press 2008), edited by Elrena Evans and Caroline Grant. (A university press, no less!)

The book also has a website:

I don't know why I am even blogging about this, since it will likely end up in a fruitless ramble and totally uninteresting. It just rolls around in my head all the time. I'm always thinking about "when I get back into research/into a PhD program". I'm not working on anything now. Not a thing. Quiet moments I steal for sewing. It feels more productive, and it has instant gratification status. Something research doesn't have. I don't feel gratified about my thesis and the stupid thing is signed, sealed, and delivered.