tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post1767136889555704655..comments2024-03-10T20:46:19.274-04:00Comments on In the Middle: Two Roads Diverged in a Yellow Wood, and I, I Took the One Less Travelled By: Why I Resigned my ProfessorshipCord J. Whitakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06224143153295429986noreply@blogger.comBlogger41125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-3176694686179350032013-02-13T11:21:14.030-05:002013-02-13T11:21:14.030-05:00You are so brave, Eileen! You exhilarate us all w...You are so brave, Eileen! You exhilarate us all with your beauty. An amazing pilgrimage beckons before you....<br />susie and the kilfoyleshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08053923744818681301noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-79744818790730558382013-01-17T11:34:47.550-05:002013-01-17T11:34:47.550-05:00Eileen, you're an original. The univesity is a...Eileen, you're an original. The univesity is a straightjacket. Go forth and prosper! Just don't ever lose Anna.Jane Chancehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17283037343786010146noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-86811658866220530142012-12-30T14:09:42.242-05:002012-12-30T14:09:42.242-05:00I have just told the people at Dead Voles about th...I have just told the people at Dead Voles about this post because of <a href="javascript:void(0);" rel="nofollow">this one of theirs</a> which I feel talks to it quite closely. If you should need encouragement, perhaps this may carry some.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-51144644924904854802012-11-06T10:48:07.741-05:002012-11-06T10:48:07.741-05:00Thank you for inspiring this young scholar early i...Thank you for inspiring this young scholar early in her professorship. Scholars like you make my work possible, and I am grateful.ToryPhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03707210265392380878noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-36964090623539477522012-10-18T20:56:04.696-04:002012-10-18T20:56:04.696-04:00Eileen Joy, I do not think I know you personally, ...Eileen Joy, I do not think I know you personally, though I know your name and it is possible that we have met several times at conferences. If we have, forgive me my awful memory. Your post brings back to me the feelings I had when I resigned my tenure-line job (about two hours west of SIUE) without another job lined up. That was in 2006. Best move I ever made. May it be so for you, too!Erick Kelemenhttp://www.erickkelemen.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-41079668621869868422012-10-14T19:30:44.009-04:002012-10-14T19:30:44.009-04:00One of the things I like best about you is that yo...One of the things I like best about you is that you manage to do what is best for yourself, best for the people you care about, and best for the structural and institutional ways that will make good things happen. Also, you allow your journeys to inspire the journeys of others who may be wildly different than yours. Description and resonance is all; prescription and identity are illusory. Love to you on the next phase.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-87502406588230710352012-10-12T11:13:46.595-04:002012-10-12T11:13:46.595-04:00Bravely spoken and bravely done, Eileen! In my dar...Bravely spoken and bravely done, Eileen! In my darker moments in academe I fantasise about quitting and starting a new political party that actually visibly cared about people, in the vague hope of fixing, making better somehow, and of paying back all the kindness I've received that I haven't been able to spend to my or many other people's benefit. You may have hit on a larger and more beautiful way to answer that call. I hope so. Until I do quit the game, though, or even after subject to housing etc., please know that should you need to be near where I am the spare bed or sofa can be yours. We will argue the <i>crap</i> out of things, obviously, but then there is such a lot of it to argue out... All luck and best wishes for the journey ahead!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-78261857893877299272012-10-11T22:08:20.318-04:002012-10-11T22:08:20.318-04:00I have no doubt that you will make this new config...<br />I have no doubt that you will make this new configuration work in some totally ingenious and inspiring way. Here's to tuning in, turning on, and dropping out! (I mean it.)Lara Farinahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04360944717701168191noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-9087330708166736092012-10-11T10:44:50.362-04:002012-10-11T10:44:50.362-04:00I've been stewing on this, Eileen, and talking...I've been stewing on this, Eileen, and talking about it with colleagues here, and just don't know what to say but "congratulations" and, in the voice of Leslie Nielson from _Airplane_, "Good luck! We're all counting on you!" (as the plane goes down in flames). Every time I talk to a student about graduate school and the Academic Life, I stress the importance of having one foot firmly planted in a life outside of the Academy. On a practical level, have an escape plan; on an emotional level, be prepared for abuse; and on a personal level, know who you are independent of the "job." Your "resignation" inspires--I've already had several colleagues here nod in jealousy and approval. Show us a new path. What rats might follow? (Are we in a Pied Piper analogy or a sinking ship analogy?). <br />Best,<br />AshbyAshby Kinchnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-75676459938647260602012-10-10T16:37:27.892-04:002012-10-10T16:37:27.892-04:00A quick note to say that I am emotionally overwhel...A quick note to say that I am emotionally overwhelmed, but in a good way, by the responses to my post, and "resignation" [that isn't really a resignation]. The generosity of these responses, and also private messages I have received, tells me this: we can, and will, do anything. Things will get better, and we'll get the university, and public intellectual commons [at least] that we want and deserve. More soon.Eileen Joyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13756965845120441308noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-92146143963763865452012-10-10T02:59:02.890-04:002012-10-10T02:59:02.890-04:00My initial thoughts here are hopelessly self-cente...My initial thoughts here are hopelessly self-centered, I think: I am struck by how my entire journey so far, since I left the military and decided to do the grad school thing, can without much strain be organized as an imaginary, often asynchronous conversation with you and your work (and I mean work in a sense much broader than that captured by the CV and publisher's proof and syllabus) - a conversation that a few times spilled over into the corporeal and synchronous. It's not all Old English studies either (though I'm feeling way too vulnerable both professionally and personally these days to elaborate on that in any way that is associated with my real name in "public"). But what it amounts to is that there have been quite a few times when I felt painted into a corner and desperately needed something I couldn't name or identify in order to be able to piece together (or, usually, invent) the tools to <i>move</i> with any sense of agency, to do anything with my self or my life or my work that was genuine action rather than simply (often delayed, generally ineffectual, and not infrequently soul-killing) *re*action. It's still a struggle, and the last few months have been pretty low, and today perhaps the lowest in a good while, and this isn't what I expected to read when I clicked the link, but I think it was -- once again -- just what I needed. So, from a purely selfish spot, let me say thanks (again).<br /><br />From a less self-centered perspective, let me say "wow," and "good luck," and there's always a sofa in Atlanta (or wherever I end up) should you need it in your journeys. <br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-74373527096838813252012-10-09T17:17:33.126-04:002012-10-09T17:17:33.126-04:00Which when his father saw, he knew well enough tha...Which when his father saw, he knew well enough that they had left him without giving him anything to eat, and therefore commanded that he should be loosed from the said chains, by the counsel of the princes and lords there present : besides that, also the physicians of Gargantua said, that if they did thus keep him in the cradle, he would be all his lifetime subject to the stone. When he was unchained, they made him to sit down, where, after he had fed very well, he took his cradle, and broke it into more than five hundred thousand pieces, with one blow of his fist that he struck in the midst of it, swearing that he would never come into it again. <br /><br />Found using the book-oracle method: Michael Edward MooreAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16210722401196087037noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-61857881412779496662012-10-09T14:27:52.944-04:002012-10-09T14:27:52.944-04:00Brave yes, but I would rather say foolish. Foolish...Brave yes, but I would rather say foolish. Foolish in the Morean and utopian sense that we all need fools to dream with but few of us can bring ourselves to shed enough skins to be truly, brilliantly, beautifully and creatively foolish.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-8746437160834143412012-10-09T10:27:02.306-04:002012-10-09T10:27:02.306-04:00Dear Eileen,
what could I tell you about how arch...Dear Eileen,<br /><br />what could I tell you about how architects desperately/passionately want relationships (spatial) to work,<br />while knowing that it is rather the liberating suggestions that space makes, that which they pursue.<br /><br />We have a very nice large 'insomnia' couch, firm and smooth - and two cats that fake love all night with whomever's wanderlust. In my good moments, I personally call it 'oasis' - though it is clearly not a space but a fragment of time that often bleeds out.<br /><br />Our lights are always on - but your daylight is most welcome.<br /><br />Carla L.CLhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03084809436598594860noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-18151337188801997442012-10-09T02:30:09.091-04:002012-10-09T02:30:09.091-04:00Very brave Eileen. Let me know if you need any hel...Very brave Eileen. Let me know if you need any help with that new university.Catherine Karkovnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-66592944246117748462012-10-09T01:41:59.804-04:002012-10-09T01:41:59.804-04:00Thank you so much for everything you've said h...Thank you so much for everything you've said here -- for providing such a raw and honest example of courageous living. I wish you the absolute best as you move forward and, even though I've never had the good fortune to meet you in person, I have no doubt that you will blaze a trail of light wherever you go!Leila K. Norakohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05104389368097283321noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-3930253325052891912012-10-08T21:29:52.057-04:002012-10-08T21:29:52.057-04:00Way to live your faith, Eileen!Way to live your faith, Eileen!E. R. Truitthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07608158637568836338noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-69812541167487431262012-10-08T20:01:49.549-04:002012-10-08T20:01:49.549-04:00woaaah so NOT a resignation. xx kkwoaaah so NOT a resignation. xx kkkathleen kellynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-89954166125798855972012-10-08T18:19:36.936-04:002012-10-08T18:19:36.936-04:00Eileen, though I think we've only met in perso...Eileen, though I think we've only met in person once or twice, your presence in my online networks and your championing of all things wonderful (in the early modern sense of the word!) -- as well as your support of my own strange digital work -- has been and will continue to be a huge inspiration to me. For a letter with so much pessimism about academia, this has given me more hope than I've felt in a long time. Looking forward to what you stir up next.Whitneyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01064261761562860891noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-69381541904534778762012-10-08T17:32:23.649-04:002012-10-08T17:32:23.649-04:00Thanks for this beautiful post, Eileen. My favorit...Thanks for this beautiful post, Eileen. My favorite part is the account of your precious possessions at the old house -- the urn of ashes, the photograph, the Beowulf first-editions, the Waterford crystal glasses.... I was thinking about the contents of this catalogue on my run today, which in turn conjured up thoughts about *ubi sunt* poems and the realization of how glib had been my own readings of that medieval genre. Cuz I had been thinking, oh ubi-sunt poets, listen to how you're going on and on about these great material things: hate to tell you but the material world is what you're all about! But your serious practice of de-materialization recalls to me the full force of gestures of renunciation and relinquishing and transformation, and I was thinking as I ran about the difference between touching cherished things and the memory of having touched them and trying to make sense of how, if at all, that difference matters....Julie Orlemanskihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07529991258830984557noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-23933330883181763552012-10-08T17:18:52.302-04:002012-10-08T17:18:52.302-04:00Brave journey, Eileen, and grace for the voyage.Brave journey, Eileen, and grace for the voyage.dtklinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14754509776199786016noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-60048899798957039932012-10-08T17:13:48.346-04:002012-10-08T17:13:48.346-04:00Wow. How beautiful, how vulnerable, how scary -- h...Wow. How beautiful, how vulnerable, how scary -- how refreshing, how bold, how exciting and deeply inspiring!<br /><br />Things can get so very difficult at times, but when they do, I can think of you and open up to how wonderful and sweet and bright everything can become!<br /><br />Thank you, Eileen!Andrew Weisshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16349659201557826597noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-78696151451943545022012-10-08T16:41:51.275-04:002012-10-08T16:41:51.275-04:00This is the realest thing I've read in a long ...This is the realest thing I've read in a long time. Thank you for sharing your processes of de-materialization. You'd make a believer out of the most dejected schmuck, just think of what you do for the semi-inspired!Heather Bamfordhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15756447459806454302noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-71088114128886315712012-10-08T16:33:32.435-04:002012-10-08T16:33:32.435-04:00I've lurked for a while, finding myself here b...I've lurked for a while, finding myself here between attempts to read for exams, or (in this case) unknot the net of my dissertation. Too occasional a visitor to feel like I could contribute, I've nonetheless valued your and others' contributions to what seems like the future, or to translate through utopia, to what ought to be now for us. <br /><br />I like the connection between friendship, community, scholarship, and self, and I'm glad that you have recognized for yourself when to step beyond the bounds of an institution that doesn't serve those needs. <br /><br />There's more here, but to be brief, thank you.Jameshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12692814116398024875noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-70425104358711693712012-10-08T16:31:58.796-04:002012-10-08T16:31:58.796-04:00Always, in every situation, you are inspiring.Always, in every situation, you are inspiring.Heohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15790601758953554870noreply@blogger.com