What do you do?

[OverTheMountains]

So this thread is coming about because of a recent conversation that a few of us got into in the Recently Begun Books thread, and it was suggested that we should take it to another space. So here it is! The continuation of that conversation and the opening up of all sorts of others.

So, if you're interested in sharing a little about yourself and where you're at in your life, how about telling us what it is that you "do"?

I'm currently living in Colombia, where I am learning spanish and devoting a lot of time to reading, writing, and exploring PhD programs in the field of history. That is what I do - I'm a historian and teacher by trade, and I lean towards because a historian and away from being a teacher these days. Which is too bad. One pays the bills and the other, quite simply, doesn't (guess which one!). I sometimes fantasize about getting into a high school teaching environment where teaching the skills of being a historian are more important than teaching the 15 most important dates in Canadian history, but that doesn't yet exist, and I have some serious pedagogical and philosophical issues with the field of social studies. Blah blah blah. And history is just a fun and great field to study in, especially if you're a big theory nerd (like me) who likes to apply theory to real, historical questions (like me!) rather than just stay stuck in the world of historical methodological theory (like me!!). I tend to focus on labour histories (my MA), environmental histories (an article I'm planning on publishing), indigenous histories (my PhD), and family histories, and seeing where they all intersect.

So tell us about yourself! What do you do either for work or leisure?

 

[Liam]

Thanks for being courageous and coming out with it first,

I am, at present, a doctoral student in literature (specifically Celtic/Medieval); also hold a B.A. (2008) and M.A. (2011) in English as well as another M.A. in Celtic Studies (2015). The eventual plan (or, rather, hope) is to teach. Also have a desire to translate some obscure Irish and Welsh texts, most of which have never been made available to the English-speaking reader.

If that doesn't work out perhaps I can utilize my knowledge of Russian and Ukrainian and do some on-demand translation for the FBI (not kidding). Obviously they don't let you see anything super-secret, but ordinary/everyday documents (as well as simultaneous translation whenever somebody from that region sends a representative) are always available. The languages they really need at the moment are Mandarin, Farsi, Urdu and Arabic, but Russian is also on the list given the escalating tensions between Russia and the United States.

Like many of you (I am guessing), I also have a few literary goals and ambitions I hope to fulfill before I kick the bucket. I can't write poetry (though I read it with much pleasure), but I do wish to one day produce a novel or two, as well as a memoir and maybe a couple of plays. This on top of regular academic work, of course, so my monograph will probably be the first book to see the light of day (if I'm lucky).

I divide my time between Boston and New York City, though at present I'm living (and conducting research) at Bangor University in the U.K.

What else... Favorite color is teal. Favorite book, King Lear. Favorite novel, To the Lighthouse. Favorite film, a tie between Tarkovsky's Mirror and Malick's Tree of Life.

Also, check out my baby (below). I hope the photo doesn't appear upside-down (happens a lot when I try to upload pictures).

He's a Scottish Fold and his name is Dorian (after Oscar Wilde's eponymous book-character). Mine isn't really that bad, but he IS gray all over, (oh, and he LOVES boxes)!

Feel free to PM me if you have any questions--

 

[Ater Lividus Ruber & V]

Can you translate poetry, though - Liam? It takes a poet to translate a poet; I'm betting you can write better than you estimate. I also walked away while the page was loading and thought you had a pet owl.

 

[Liam]

We call him our little owl, so you're not entirely wrong there,

I do translate poetry and in fact have to translate large chunks of it for my dissertation, but I approach it in a workmanlike fashion, which gets it done but doesn't result in anything spectacular.

Regarding your claim about poets, how do you feel about Edith Grossman's translation of Luis de Góngora's Solitudes? Now she's a translator who doesn't write poetry (to my knowledge), yet I thought her version of Solitudes was fine (albeit I have nothing to compare it to). But generally I agree. The best translations of poems I have read were done by other poets (usually poets who knew the foreign language they were working with intimately).

 

[Daniel del Real]

You guys have a very interesting profile so I'm sorry to start telling about my pathetic life.

What do I do? I'm a reader, that's what I really do. That's where I spend most of my time and put all my efforts.

What do I do to earn some money to buy books? I have a marketing job at HP which I is far to be my passion but it isn't that bad. My manager is not at the same location and he's very flexible and permissive about where I work, what time do I work etc as long as the job is done. Most of the times there's not a lot of things to do and that's fine as it gives me time to read. I'm currently writing what it could be my first novel (I wrote two earlier but that was only teenage crap) and I hope to finish it this year. Also write short stories and some poetry but I'm very undisciplined when it comes to writing. Single, live alone and my dog Heidi, who was 15 years old and was with me since she was 6 weeks old, died a month ago. This is her last picture I took from her three days before she passed. Really sad about this.

 

[Liam]

Aww, Daniel, she's gorgeous. You're going to make me cry, our other cat (a 16 year old Persian) died last summer, so I feel you! Losing pets, who are basically family members, sucks.

Good luck with your writing, meanwhile, let us know when you're done with the book!

 

[hoodoo]

Sorry about your loss Daniel Del Real.

So, it seems that many here have an impressive academic pedigree. That is not my case... I actually dropped out of university to pursue a career in a domain with a bright future... Journalism...

I do ok, earn a decent wage and I guess I enjoy what I do. I have a lot of free time which alloes me to read.

And plus... I guess I can claim to be a well known writer... In my region... And it is not at all literary...

I enjoy reading... All kinds of things but favorite authors include Don Dellilo, Cormac McCarthy, Pynchon, William Vollmann.

I recognize that these are all white American male writers, which is why I began to seek to diversify and read more female writers. I am well on my way... Favorite female writers are two fellow citizens... Alice Munro and Margaret Atwood

 

[Liam]

^It's the rotten times we live in, Isa. Anyone with a degree in Philosophy thinks he's a fucking Spinoza. Gets on my nerves too

As for continuing your education, you're right, it's very difficult to get accepted into a PhD program in English if your BA degree is in something else; but (and here you have to think about what you REALLY want to do with your life) you can always do a terminal Master's first--and those are usually more lenient toward students who decide to switch their concentration. I had a friend who had a BA in Classics and did her Master's in English, and that was alright.

So if you really want a PhD in Literature, do some research beforehand and see which schools in the Chicago area offer terminal Master's degrees. Once you have that, you can apply to the PhD program of your choice. You can even call the department, ask questions, explain your situation, offer to come in and chat with the professors--if you go out of your way to make them see you really want this, the bigger your chances are of eventually getting in.

Anyway, let me know if you need any suggestions and/or advice--I only mention this because I was also forced to do a terminal Master's before I applied for a PhD, it's annoying, but worth it in the long run.

 

[tiganeasca]

First and most important: Daniel, I am so sorry to hear about Heidi. She was beautiful. I know too well how hard it is—even just thinking about it makes me tear up at times. It gets better—very slowly. But it never stops hurting.

My background is similar to some here—and different. I earned (and boy is that the right word) a Ph.D. in history as my first career. Of course, that hardly captures the highs and lows: like the first dissertation that I spent 18 months researching before realizing it was a magnum opus (and would take many years to write if done properly), not a dissertation. Finally, after nine years, a degree. The only problem was that since I taught in order to support myself those last few years, I realized to my horror that I didn't really enjoy teaching history all that much. The same things would happen the same way no matter how many years I spent teaching it (that's what history is, after all) and nothing I could do would ever change that. Visions of teaching that same thing year in, year out, for the rest of my life terrified me. In addition, when I got my degree in the early 80s, the market was atrocious for humanities Ph.D.s.

So I did what anyone else would have done—I signed up for more school! Law school this time. At least there wouldn't be any more dissertations. (Just a bar exam, but that's torture of a different kind and it's over in a couple days.) As it turned out, I loved law school. After I graduated, I worked as a lawyer for two firms (one mid-sized and one large) for about five or six years and decided that having a life was more important to me (working in a large law firm usually means you can be called any time of the day, any day of the week). Although I loved some of the work (I focused, among other things, on international law), I decided to leave private practice and join the federal (U.S.) government. Like any job, it too had its plusses and its minuses but at least no one ever called at night or on weekends (or on vacation)! (Although I once had a boss who wanted a telephone number to reach me in Tibet (!) when I was on vacation. I had to explain to her that I wouldn't be reachable.) The actual work I did was like being a judge: I decided disputes between parties involving U.S. government contracts. Actually, the work was interesting and I liked it quite a bit.

After more years than I'd care to admit, finally met my wife, although it took the trip to Tibet for me to do that. We live in Evanston, a suburb of Chicago and having lived in Chicago for over 35 years, I have to admit I love it here (originally from back east). We travel at least once a year which we enjoy immensely. I think it is the same reason why I read “foreign” fiction: the chance to see from someone else’s perspective, to learn. We both enjoy the food scene here (we’re big fans of haute cuisine and also of tiny ethnic holes-in-the-wall). Let’s see…a fan of old movies (especially Murnau, Dreyer, Renoir, Lang, Ozu and many more); gypsy music from Romania and Hungary; and classic black-and-white photography. And that's probably sufficient for now. [Updated slightly to be more accurate since I am now retired.]

PS Keeping with the pet/literature theme, we put our 16-year-old Huckleberry to sleep about two years ago and are proud parents of 2-year-old Pip now.... from Twain to Dickens. Here's Huck:

 

[Liam]

Dorian, a few months ago. As you can see, he's a very learned cat,

 

[kpjayan]

^^ You can write a sequel to Sam Savage's book. Learned rat to learned Cat

 

[redhead]

Hang in there Daniel, I know that feeling (both the job and the dog, and though they are belated, you have my condolences about her).

I had a crappy job at a marketing agency, too, that sucked the life out of me. I'd get out on Friday and be depressed because I knew I'd have to go in there on Monday. Took a lot of applying, but I'm currently a proofreader at a big science publishing company. Stressful, and not exactly my dream job, but it's a step in the right direction. Considered going to grad school for history (with a speciality in book history), but that fell apart when I realized I didn't take college seriously enough to get into a big name university/how competitive professor spots are/how much I'd probably hate anything a PhD in history qualifies me for other than being a professor.

Much like some of you, I try to write on the side, though other than a prize in college I haven't had much luck. Putting writing on hold for the moment because according to goodreads I'm close to reading 1,000 individual books (it doesn't count rereads), a goal of mine for a while (and I told myself I'd attempt another novel after two fizzles when I reach that).

 

[Liam]

Since this thread has more or less turned into an animal-appreciation type of thread (nothing wrong with that), just thought I'd mention that we adopted a shelter kitty this afternoon.

She's eight years old, so definitely on the older side, but no known issues or preconditions. She's remarkably sweet, we just need to keep her separated from our other cat for at least a week to make them get used to each other slowly and without drama. I don't have any good pictures of her yet, but will post some shortly. She's a pretty tabby.

Reason for surrendering her to the shelter was "owner moved." Like, wtf? I don't understand people. Would you give up your child if you moved somewhere new? Sorry, if I move, my cat (now cats) move with me.

 

[redhead]

I don't know what it is with some people... My grandmother's cat was a stray for a while. When her old owner moved, they didn't even bother to put her in a shelter, just left her out on the city streets...

Anyway, at least your kitty has a good home now. Looking forward to the pics, there are never enough cat pictures online.

 

[DouglasM]

Hi, guys. Always nice to exchange experiences and get to know each other better.

I'm a 32 years old psychologist, currently working on my master's dissertation (still five months to go) where I research media discourse and its effects on migrant's subjectivity. Although it's for a M.Sc. in Psychology, it is based on Mikhail Bakhtin's theories, an amazing Russian philosopher of language and literary critic, whom I both hate and love.

Since gratuating, in 2013, my career has been closely related to the lives of refugees, migrants and expat workers, one way or another. I worked for the Department of Justice of my state, for several NGOs and created a small institute for psychology and migration (to which I'm no longer connected). Due to my proximity to the matters of refuge, I ended up becoming a human rights activist as well. Not the wisest thing to do in Brazil's current state, but I can't help it. Guess the devil made me do it.

Besides this, I'm also a specialist in Cultural Anthropology.

Lately, though, I have been feeling more and more the urge to abandon psychology and pursue a career in arts, especially literature. I'm currently offering a workshop on foreign literature as a tool to deepen cultural perspectives, in which I bring authors from anthropology and psychology to analyze why, for example, middle-class women from Lahore, Pakistan, are enchanted by Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice 200 years after its release.

Last, like Daniel, I intend to write some novels in the coming years - there are some projects I temporarily suspended to focus on my studies.

And this is my beautiful dog-friend. Her name is Mimosa, but me and my wife call her Mimo:

 

[Daniel del Real]

Hi, guys. Always nice to exchange experiences and get to know each other better.

I'm a 32 years old psychologist, currently working on my master's dissertation (still five months to go) where I research media discourse and its effects on migrant's subjectivity. Although it's for a M.Sc. in Psychology, it is based on Mikhail Bakhtin's theories, an amazing Russian philosopher of language and literary critic, whom I both hate and love.

Since gratuating, in 2013, my career has been closely related to the lives of refugees, migrants and expat workers, one way or another. I worked for the Department of Justice of my state, for several NGOs and created a small institute for psychology and migration (to which I'm no longer connected). Due to my proximity to the matters of refuge, I ended up becoming a human rights activist as well. Not the wisest thing to do in Brazil's current state, but I can't help it. Guess the devil made me do it.

Besides this, I'm also a specialist in Cultural Anthropology.

Lately, though, I have been feeling more and more the urge to abandon psychology and pursue a career in arts, especially literature. I'm currently offering a workshop on foreign literature as a tool to deepen cultural perspectives, in which I bring authors from anthropology and psychology to analyze why, for example, middle-class women from Lahore, Pakistan, are enchanted by Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice 200 years after its release.

Last, like Daniel, I intend to write some novels in the coming years - there are some projects I temporarily suspended to focus on my studies.

And this is my beautiful dog-friend. Her name is Mimosa, but me and my wife call her Mimo:

Mimosa is gorgeous! How old is she? She still looks young.

 

[errequatro]

Hello Everyone,

It took me a long time to even spot this thread, but now that I am here, i'll share a few bits and bobs about myself.

I was born in Portugal but my mother moved to the UK when I was 3. However, I stayed in Portugal and was mainly educated by my grandparents, but with months long trips to England. I did all my schooling in Portugal, firstly in the field of science and then, upon finding I was actually terrible at maths and physics, I switched to humanities. Surprise surprise, I ended up enrolling for a BA in English and Portuguese.
For my MA (Applied Drama), I moved to England, first to Exeter, then to Nottingham, where I completed my PhD in Lusophone Studies. Then London for 2 years (at Queen Mary University of London), where I taught Portuguese language and a few modules on Portuguese cinema.
This covered 11 years of my life (I am 34 now) (excluding all those years I spent between Portugal and England), so I actually do identify myself as half Portuguese, half British. All my siblings are British (born, raised and living in London).

Two years ago, I moved to Kraków (Poland). Firstly because of a woman but also because of a job opportunity. And here I still am.
I am an Assistant Professor of Portuguese Studies at the Jagiellonian University.

Boring stuff out of the way, I can add that I did my PhD about madness and trauma in the work of António Lobo Antunes, so as you can imagine I have a love/hate relationship with the guy...

I have written a few poems but never actually tried to publish them so I have no idea if they are any good. Probably not. Narrative is what I prefer anyway....
I had some microstories (in English) accepted for publication but not under my name (it was a ghostwriting gig). Good experience though. Helped me to get a bit more disciplined.

At the moment I don't have any pets, but I love the little things and I am very much looking forward to get myself one.
We have 1 dog and 2 cats back at my mother's place anyway so every time I visit, it's a joy.

I am an amateur cello player, I enjoy football (the one you actually play with your feet, in case our friends from the US are wondering), love cooking but prefer eating. I am a regular hiker, love the mountains and go to spend time there as often as I can.

Hum... What else?
Ah! Teaching language bores me to death. But teaching literature light up my soul.
I don't have the best of relationships with academia and I consider quitting once or twice per week.
Honestly, it's full of mean-spirit pricks, narcissists and people whose ego is as inflated as a balloon about to burst.
(It has good people too... a lot of them. But they're outnumbered.)

In between academic jobs I had quite a few "normal" jobs. Latest one was as a Technical Assistant for an IT company.
And with all honesty.... I had a much easier ride. It was much, but much, more peaceful than Academia. Paid more too!

Film-buff. (I actually spend a week a year attending a film festival here in Poland)

I drink most everything, so if any of you is around for a beer or a glass of wine*, I am game.




*coffee and tea are also possible. See terms and conditions.

 

[Liam]

academia [is] full of mean-spirit pricks, narcissists and people whose ego is as inflated as a balloon about to burst

OMG, this is SO true. And it also makes me want to quit before I even begin. I think I'll be applying for various government jobs when I finish my PhD and just do independent academic research on the side.

My department is a little better than others because of its small size and also because it's managed to attract some really nice and good-natured people over the years, but academic politics in general is ugly and mean-spirited. I asked why once, and one of my professors said (with a chuckle), "Because when people have little to lose, they turn into monsters." LOL

 

[Stevie B]

Not sure if I've shared this story previously, but when I first transitioned back to the States after teaching at a university in Japan, I took a job as an Area Coordinator at Iowa State University (an easy job to get as I had been a Hall Director in graduate school). During Latino Heritage week that year, I attended an author reading that a colleague and friend had coordinated. After the reading, I went with my friend to attend the author's reception at the house of the chair of the English department (I'm not foolish enough to pass on free food and drinks ).

When the author came over to chat with my friend and me, I learned he was teaching at the University of Texas, El Paso. I asked him if he knew author Rick DeMarinis at UTEP, and he explained he got DeMarinis' position after he retired. I then learned the author used to teach at the University of Oregon, and I asked how author Chang-Rae Lee was as a colleague there. A little later in the conversation, we talked about a couple of other writer/professors and I felt like I was really on my game.

The author later asked which university I was teaching at, and I explained that I was a hall director at Iowa State. It then took the guy less than ten seconds to make his exit because I clearly wasn't worth his time. It was if he suddenly learned I had the plague while I simultaneously realized he was a pretentious snob. I'd love to mention the author's name, but I'll be nice.

 

[errequatro]

OMG, this is SO true. And it also makes me want to quit before I even begin. I think I'll be applying for various government jobs when I finish my PhD and just do independent academic research on the side.

My department is a little better than others because of its small size and also because it's managed to attract some really nice and good-natured people over the years, but academic politics in general is ugly and mean-spirited. I asked why once, and one of my professors said (with a chuckle), "Because when people have little to lose, they turn into monsters." LOL

Monsters indeed.
Let me tell you an episode...
In my previous institution in London (Queen Mary University of London), I was teaching a film module about literary adaptation in the Lusophone context.
Everything seemed to be going well, my students gave me stellar reviews on the feedback I got, they were happy, so on...

Then, one day I am called to my Head of Dept.'s office.
And he said that the Professor who was my direct supervisor had raised a complaint against me.... for plagiarism.
It was as if the earth had swallowed me.

Now, at that time I had only published 1 article, in no way related with the Professor's work.
So I was really confused.
And asked for the specifics of the charge....

Turns out that the Professor had gone through my feedback (which is forbidden as only 2 people besides myself could do it) and, even though the results were very good (a majority of "green" in the traffic light system we use to grade modules), she had spotted a comment from a student which said:
"It would be good if the teacher used his own written words to explain the content of the novel "Blindness", by Saramago."

This was in "suggestions" box.

What had happened was that in our last class, which dealt with the novel in question, I asked if, as they should have done, they had read the novel.
They said that no, it was a busy period for them, etc. (which was partly true).
I had prepared a lecture, as usual, with handouts and a power point.

But because they had not read the novel, it would be pointless to go on without them knowing, at least, the basic plot of the novel.
So I told them I was going to use Wikipedia, which had a good synopsis of the novel, so I projected it on the screen.
Of course, I would comment and expand on what the novel entailed, paused for reflections and contextualization, etc.
When that was done, we moved on to my power-point, to class discussion, to actual textual analysis.
At the very end of the class, I dished out the feedback forms for the students to fill out.
And that was that.

Weeks later, I am then called to my Head of Department's office and the case was put to me.
Despite everything - the fact that the professor had access to information she has not supposed to have, the fact that my results had been very good indeed - I was going to be formally accused of plagiarism for having used Wikipedia in class.

This was what my wonderful Professor had to add to a year of work. An accusation of plagiarism... which in academia is the worst accusation one can get. My career would have been over.
This was my first job in academia, my first year as an academic...

In the end, I fought it hard. I had to have all my work inspected by a member of a different department (someone from German), who cleared me from any wrong doing, I had to call my union and had a specialist "case-worker" assigned by them defending me. She was a lawyer, specialist in the field of copyright. And once she heard the accusation for the first time she literally scoffed and said: "Plagiarism? For acknowledged material used in class? Class materials are iterative! It's absurd!".

I won.
Turns out the Professor had priors in harassing co-workers and had been given a restraining order in matters of work "supervision" as she wonderfully put it when defending herself.

As you can imagine, I was exhausted after the whole thing. I was severely depressed and I considered quitting.
Since then, I expect everything from academia. I do it for the love of researching and teaching. That's what keeps me ticking.
Nothing else.