tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1658392846922406557.post1036736864347246521..comments2023-09-05T09:05:57.488-07:00Comments on Seven Miles to Nowhere: The Pursuit of Happy-nessLisa Dunickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08530026652363687161noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1658392846922406557.post-80859817760163641612008-10-22T16:11:00.000-07:002008-10-22T16:11:00.000-07:00Hey LD. I haven't commented in a while but I'm st...Hey LD. I haven't commented in a while but I'm still around. Basically I want to give you a big hug at the moment, but since I can't do that, I can just reaffirm that you do have options. Maybe not all of them are great ones, and maybe not all of them mean the small liberal arts school in the sky. But some of them are great opportunities.<BR/><BR/>Believe me, as I learned first-hand, there's nothing wrong with a second career (or probably a third, fourth, etc.) There ARE other jobs out there that will make you happy. Some of them are even at the small liberal arts school in the sky. When our favorite car salesman was talking to me about Mountain U. the same figures were trotted out, same 97% job placement, but as we both know from our friends and others who got their doctorates recently, Mountain's placement rate is slipping. That's just the way it goes sometimes.<BR/><BR/>"Once you're out, you're out" seems to be the way an older generation did things. And I'd like to think I haven't stopped being an intellectual even though I don't regularly read Foucault anymore. In fact, many intellectuals I know wouldn't waste their time on Foucault :)<BR/><BR/>I agree with you that it's easy to see why some PhDs in our discipline spend their lives in adjunct hell, and for some it's not a bad choice. But I would disagree with anyone that thinks leaving academia means failure. Sometimes things just don't work out. Sometimes after doing one thing for a few years you just get tired of it and want to experience something else. Sometimes you just find something else that excites you more. Sometimes financial or family circumstances necessitate a move and/or a different job. I don't think it's a waste to get a PhD, but I also don't think it's a mark of failure to leave that PhD aside.SteveBhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07705432575212522145noreply@blogger.com