To the D

So we're just back from a quick couple of days in the dirty mitten. (Michigan to all you uninitiated.) We went back so I could meet face-to-face with my new Prospectus Committee chair and a couple of new faculty members. My old committee chair got a job in New Zealand, her homeland, and so is leaving at the end of the semester. You may have heard me talk about this person. If you ever heard me refer to a professor who "scares the pee out of me," that's who I was talking about. So the fact that she's moving to the other side of the planet is actually okay with me.

With my committee already in flux, I thought I'd act boldly and ask the other member who I felt utterly incompatible with to step down so I could replace him with someone a little less...full of himself? Elitist? Snobby? Lame? Take your pick. So that's why I met with the new faculty members - to see which one would be more compatible with me and my project.

One thing that struck me on this trip is that, at least in my experience, the world of upper-tier, publish-or-perish academia is a really cold, self-involved, unhappy place. I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with being an academic at that level, and there are some people in that world who are kind and good, but it does seem that English departments at least tend to either create or attract a lot of bitter, selfish, miserable people who love ideas and abstractions more than they love other human beings.



Part of me would love to be able to teach just three sections a semester to advanced students who are brilliant and motivated. But the idea of being in a publish-or-perish environment gives me shpilkes like no other. It would be like having to write my dissertation every day for the rest of my life. Ugh. No freaking thank you. I want the pay increase and mobility a Phd will give me, but I don't want it as a pass into the upper echelons of education. (Let's be clear here, I do want that mobility. The Illinois Valley is not where we intend to stay any longer than we have to.)

Anyway, on the bright side, my new chair doesn't scare me to death. On the contrary, he is pretty encouraging and positive. I left my meeting with him feeling, for the first time in a long time, like my dissertation is viable, like I'm not an idiot, like it can get done and maybe in a reasonable amount of time. After more than a year of feeling like I was pinned under heavy furniture after an earthquake, it's good to feel a little lighter, a little more hopeful.

Other Detroit highlights were:


The DIA. You know that feeling you're supposed to get at church? The uplifting, peaceful feeling that suggests there's a power greater than yourself in the universe and that it's a benevolent one? I get that at the DIA. (Of course, I only go there once or twice a year. Maybe that's what makes it special. If I went there for three hours every week, maybe I'd just get irritated at other patrons and think about eating lunch through the whole thing.) Anyway, I especially love the American landscape collection. Some of them are literally breathtaking. Walking around there for two hours with Maryn and Avery pointing out paintings and sculptures they like was just lovely in every way.



The food. Middle Eastern food is like the nursery rhyme - when it's good, it's very, very good, and when it's bad, it's horrid. Pine-Land is profoundly good Middle Eastern food. We just ordered a giant platter of everything and stuffed ourselves until we just couldn't do it any more. The girls and I ate at Los Gallanes in Mexican Village on our day in the city. The food was wonderful, and the restaurant has a lot of really happy memories for me from back in the day. For dinner the night before we left, we had Buddy's pizza, a Detroit area classic. It was cheesy, crispy-crusted, and perfect. Living in a desert of burgers and fried chicken like we do, we have to get the good stuff when we can. Next time, it will be all about Pad Thai, the place in Eastern Market with the best Thai food outside of Bangkok.

The Griswolds. Ben has been my pal since he joined the family, and it's always good to sit around with him and shoot the breeze about work, kids, marriage, politics, etc. If only we lived closer, Benny the Beard would be my movie compadre for all man movies that Suzy has no interest in seeing. (John Carter opens this Friday!) Erin, of course, is wonderful and always has been. She's always been a very kind, charming person, and it's no surprise that she's such an excellent mother. It's fun to watch her with her wild twosome. Braden and Cole, of course, are awesome. Few things make me happier than rubbing their bristly little heads and tickling them. They're great.

We loved our trip and really appreciate Paul and Linda letting us stay in their place. We promise to not almost lock ourselves out next time.