“Alex Kudera's Fight
for Your Long Day: an academic novel offers an Everyman
for the new American economy” (http://chronicle.com/article/Considering-Adjunct-Misery/138085/?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en).
This Novel offers a view of the world of an adjunct in a way that is not
often fully seen.
“It is about Cyrus Duffleman, a depressed, saggy, almost-40 adjunct who
makes, he calculates, about $10 an hour teaching courses to disengaged—and
sometimes mentally ill—students at universities all over Philadelphia”.
I have written about this topic before, and will of course continue to do
so as time goes on; the life of a professional adjunct is not easy. It is full
of uncertainty, long distances, under appreciation, and sometimes desperation,
held only together by a love of teaching.
“Kudera was
an adjunct in Philadelphia from 1998 to 2007, so the novel is an exposé and
manifesto in the muckraking tradition, but it also has strong absurdist
elements. In an e-mail Kudera wrote, "Cyrus has incredible feelings of
inadequacy, marginality, deep-seated feelings of failure, based in part on the
conditions surrounding him—the society that dictates he must work 12 or more
hours a day and is not worthy of decent health coverage or pay, and that he is
supposed to be grateful for this exhausting life” (http://chronicle.com/article/Considering-Adjunct-Misery/138085/?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en).
Even if you do not read the book, try to appreciate your adjuncts. They
are the glue that holds together much of today’s university instruction, they are
human with all the usual human frailties, yet they are almost superhuman in
their time management skills and drive to teach.
Hug and say thank you to an adjunct today!
Dr Flavius A B
Akerele III
The ETeam
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