A Brief Rant and Blog Carnivals

Google reminded me that today is National Teacher's Day. Can you tell that I am excited? I didn't think so.

I am an adjunct professor who earns only enough to pay rent (and I have very reasonable rent!), who must cat sit to pay almost all of my other (very basic; I don't own squat) bills, who depends upon a Craigslist friend in California to buy my metrocard so I can get to work because I don't earn enough to buy it myself. I rely on my former employer for internet access (they don't know it, but neither my cat sitting nor this blog would exist without this access). I don't have any health insurance and I cannot even begin to afford it, unless I don't pay rent. I don't have any furniture except a futon. I have two mismatched plates and three bowls in my pantry (okay, I do have a flock of approximately 12 coffee mugs, too) and three cans of black beans, four small cans of spicy tomato sauce and half a bag of rice. I have a 2.5 year old microwave oven that I use for all of my er, "cooking". My books roost in a variety of wooden wine crates and plastic milk crates that I have collected from the streets, or they are stacked on the floor. I finally (!) have two new pairs of jeans (a luxury) only because a birdwatching friend in Washington State purchased them for me as a birthday gift. And I am lucky: I was completely unemployed for five months before I managed to find anything at all, even though this country's leaders LOUDLY trumpet our so-called "need" for more scientists and engineers.

I have no idea what "they" are talking about.

Astonishingly, this is the sort of respect that professors, teachers and education receive in this country where, according to my sources, our number one export is EDUCATION. Today is the day when we, as a nation, reflect upon the high regard that we give to our educators. But I digress.


[After breathing into a paper bag for a few minutes ... ]


Besides the fact that I am still ill (but recovering), the end of the academic semester looms ominously, signaling my unhappy return to unemployment. Currently, I am busy grading, writing lectures and exams, figuring out my students' grades so far, etc., as well as scrambling to find a job so I can pay my rent this summer. But instead of regaling you with a timely and full-blown rant about the state of (higher) education in this country, I will instead direct your attention to Grand Rounds XXXII, A Day In The Life of a Medical Student, hosted by MudFud. You can also check out the new blog carnival, Smarter than I, which consists solely of linked articles recommended by appreciative blog readers rather than by the blog authors themselves -- unusual for blog carnivals.