Tell Me How You Really Feel: 10
Can that be right? Can we possibly be at ten of these posts? Somehow, time has marched on and left me behind. Ten? Excuse me for moment as I rub my eyes and come to grips with that number.
Okay, thank you. I'm done marveling at how many weeks can pass so quickly.
Yesterday, I received this email from an old colleague at University of Michigan. It read:
I've had this discussion here before, I think, although I'm too lazy to check it when and where. But I've often wondered how much of a waste people over at UM think I am. You see, in academia, the logical course to follow is to finish the Ph.D., move on to a post-doctoral research position, and then accept a job at a university and build your own lab (the kind that performs research). I can't tell you how many people we heard from in gradute school who followed that course. I'm sure most members of the department thought that when I entered the program, I would also continue down that pathway. Hell, I think I even figured that's what I would do.
But then, two circumstances arose. 1. Early on in graduate school, I taught a laboratory section of an Anatomy & Physiology course at the local community college. 2. I met and married Tim and got pregnant. (Yes, in that order, although I realize that order isn't right for everyone. Sorry, Mom and Dad, but then again, this is Tell Me How You Really Feel day.)
I'm pretty certain that even if the second item above hadn't happened, I'd still have found myself in the teaching arena. From the moment I set foot on that community college, I felt at home. A surge of excitement would blast through me as I'd stand at the front of the class, expounding on the cell membrane or pointing to the sphenoid bone. It's a feeling of pure joy and one that I still experience many times in lab, or when I speak about muscle and nerve in lecture. I love the feeling. It works for me. Emphasis on me.
And you know how I feel about writing. *Swoon*
So the questions I wonder about with respect to my old department are these: Do they see me as a good representative for the alumni newsletter? Will they be proud to know that I successfully balance teaching, parenting, and writing? I'm a good candidate for an alternative career, that's for certain, but I haven't even made money off of my writing (yet), and you know that parenting doesn't pay in anything but hugs, kisses, and love.
In the end, I wrote back the following:
Okay, thank you. I'm done marveling at how many weeks can pass so quickly.
Yesterday, I received this email from an old colleague at University of Michigan. It read:
Chris: I proposed your name as an alumna I'd like to see featured in this year's newsletter. I should have written sooner to ask if you'd be willing to write a short paragraph about what you've been up to in the last umpteen years but I didn't. So, are you interested and would you be willing?Two thoughts popped into my head the moment I finished reading the email. 1. I missed the person who wrote the email and I wished I'd have kept in better contact with her. (If you're reading this, A, perhaps we can try to catch up.) 2. What would the Physiology department have to say about me?
I've had this discussion here before, I think, although I'm too lazy to check it when and where. But I've often wondered how much of a waste people over at UM think I am. You see, in academia, the logical course to follow is to finish the Ph.D., move on to a post-doctoral research position, and then accept a job at a university and build your own lab (the kind that performs research). I can't tell you how many people we heard from in gradute school who followed that course. I'm sure most members of the department thought that when I entered the program, I would also continue down that pathway. Hell, I think I even figured that's what I would do.
But then, two circumstances arose. 1. Early on in graduate school, I taught a laboratory section of an Anatomy & Physiology course at the local community college. 2. I met and married Tim and got pregnant. (Yes, in that order, although I realize that order isn't right for everyone. Sorry, Mom and Dad, but then again, this is Tell Me How You Really Feel day.)
I'm pretty certain that even if the second item above hadn't happened, I'd still have found myself in the teaching arena. From the moment I set foot on that community college, I felt at home. A surge of excitement would blast through me as I'd stand at the front of the class, expounding on the cell membrane or pointing to the sphenoid bone. It's a feeling of pure joy and one that I still experience many times in lab, or when I speak about muscle and nerve in lecture. I love the feeling. It works for me. Emphasis on me.
And you know how I feel about writing. *Swoon*
So the questions I wonder about with respect to my old department are these: Do they see me as a good representative for the alumni newsletter? Will they be proud to know that I successfully balance teaching, parenting, and writing? I'm a good candidate for an alternative career, that's for certain, but I haven't even made money off of my writing (yet), and you know that parenting doesn't pay in anything but hugs, kisses, and love.
In the end, I wrote back the following:
So good to hear from you. What a blast from the past.That's the truth. And that's how I really feel.
I'd be happy to send a blurb, although many will be disappointed at my lack of illustrious science career! However, my feet are content to be where they are.
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