I just posted to the VersatilePhD Forum, but I’d love to have your help getting the word out as well. I’m interested in starting a VersatilePhD meetup in the Greater Boston area, to get together and brainstorm Ac, Alt-Ac, Post-Ac, Non-Ac and any “ACK!” we find to discuss! I know […]
gratitude
The end of the China Adventure Before I can get to updating you on where I am now, I must close out the China chapter. I loved teaching at SISU or 上海外国è¯å¤§å¦ã€‚I wanted to stay, they wanted me to stay and it was all very tempting. But there was just […]
Another school year begins, and another new adventure

Or, Why I’m going to be 300% nicer to international students and faculty for the Rest of my Life So, yesterday was the first day of teaching at Shanghai International Studies University. I teach only on Wednesdays, which is something of a blessing, in that the campus where I teach […]
Settling In

I spent this fall at the American Academy in Berlin as what one might ungenerously call a hanger-on. That is, I was there as the guest of one of the fellows (which is as close as I intend to come to discussing my personal life on this blog). It is […]
This Post has a Soundtrack
We’ve all had it. The blank page. The blank screen. Not so long ago, for me, it was a blank unlined sheet of white paper with a fast-growing trellis of little leaves  and flowers scrolling around the edge. More recently, it has been a blank Scrivener page  or Mellel  document. […]
Writing Paralysis–First-Year Style
(The First in a Three Part Series) I read and enjoyed the recent post by Tenured Radical entitled: “The Seductions Of Sedan Delivery; Or, Writing Your Own Academic Job Description,” so when The Chronicle of Higher Education drew my attention back to it, I read that article. However, it is really […]
Service

The defining metaphor, or the basic conceit if you prefer, of this site is the deviation. The ways that by taking a path few take (that of the PhD) we are off the road. We have departed de via, from the road. However, as my subtitle suggests, I believe strongly […]