Apr 28, 2004
Pardon Me ...
Pardon me for repeating myself, but Scott Smallwood's article for the Chronicle of Higher Education, "Disappearing Act", about Invisible Adjunct, her blog, its end, and her departure from higher education can be read on-line. Ophelia Benson's Butterflies and Wheels, Frogs and Ravens, Scott McLemee's Cogito, ergo Zoom, Mister B. S., Planned Obsolesence and Eugene Volokh's The Volokh Conspiracy have links to it. You can access the Invisible Adjunct Webring at this address. Over at Crooked Timber, Henry Farrell links to Smallwood's article in an interesting post about"Academic Calvinism" and directs attention to an earlier post there,"A Poor Cousin of the Middle-Class." The latter led to a very lively discussion, one of the Crooked Ones' best, featuring Ophelia Benson, Tim Burke, David Salmanson, and many others, trying to make sense of it all. Here's your chance to weigh in on"Academic Calvinism." If it's academic, these days at least, you can bet that the theological underpinnings are pretty thoroughly washed away. Only the self-satisfaction of the rewarded is left.
On a related note, if you haven't seen it, don't miss Tim Burke's "Cry Me a River". It's a takedown of an earlier piece in the Chronicle of Higher Education about the grievances of single academics. If you are Benita Blessing, a member of the history department at Ohio University, and you need a cold refresher after being featured on the cover of the Chronicle of Higher Education or if you are any other employed complainer, meditate on Invisible Adjunct and the discourse of entitlement and grievance.