- I feel like I'm getting a sore throat.
- In spite of the fact that an announcement was made, everybody in my department is ignoring the fact that my fucking book is out. I would like to beat them with my book until they realize that they are losers with bad manners. I hate everyone.
- Did I mention I feel like I'm getting a sore throat?
- And I have a service thing that will keep me on campus until 9 PM tonight.
- And grading to do.
- And I have to pay my bills.
- Sigh.
12 years ago
12 comments:
And oh hey, your BOOK is out. Then there's the whole sore throat thing.
Go beat 'em over the head. Then go home and have a hot toddy for the throat.
Did I congratulate you yet? If not, HUGE CONGRATS! If I did, HUGE CONGRATS again. It sucks that no one is poking their heads in the door and offering you a celebratory drink. If I was on your campus, and knew who you were, and all of that good stuff, I surely would. Alas, you will have to make do with this virtual drink from me.
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I'm just curious, given the stuff you've blogged about your institution, about how people normally approach someone whose book has just come out. What have your other colleagues who have published a book experienced?
Well, I'M happy that your book came out!!!
Well, I'M glad your book is out and if I knew who you were I'd make a hell of a fuss about it!
Congrats!
Whoever you are. And whatever it is about.
Congrats on the book! I bet they wish it were theirs. Losers.
i second rokeya -- surely you're not the first one in the dept to have a book come out.. what has the response been in the past?
Bummer on the sorre throat, but it's a great excuse for a toddy.
As for the book, I'd find a way to hang it around my neck so that anyone who spoke to me HAD TO ADMIRE IT. Alternately (if the Jane Eyre-ish placard isn't your style), I'd just carry it with me EVERYWHERE. "Oh, Joe, have you seen it? Yes, Mary, it arrived for Thanksgiving! Isn't it beautiful? If you're very nice I'll let you smell the new book"
Silly people. CONGRATULATIONS! A virtual champagne toast (along with a virtual toddy).
Oh Crazy, I feel you about the book. My dept ignored mine, too. I think some of it is like what some commenters said on my blog recently: many academics don't know from manners or politeness. While this is a pain in the ass, it also makes those of us with social graces look even more sparkling and wonderful than we already are ;)
Actually, I wasn't being totally fair. Three people congratulated me. THREE. In a department of like 30. (Though I will note that the admin assistant and an administrator in the dean's office were thrilled for me, as are all of my students.) And I was actively ignored by some people - like people who normally pop in to say hi if my office door is open didn't even do that. The people who congratulated me are all full profs in the dept. From the people nearer to my place in the hierarchy? Crickets. And it's not that I didn't see people today - indeed, I saw more people than I normally do on any given workday.
Now, I am not the first person to have published a book in my department BUT it is highly likely that I'm the first person who's brought a book to publication prior to tenure (indeed: if anybody else has done it, it was my mentor, and I was probably like 3 years old when that happened, if it did - I'm too lazy to look it up - but that gives a context for the sense of occasion that this really should be in my department). And, of those who've published books, most of those books were textbooks, whereas mine is a scholarly book put out by a decentish press (not fancy by any means, but it was peer reviewed and has a blurb from an Important Person, so it's not just vanity publishing).
I think I'm mainly annoyed because I don't like having to rub the thing in people's faces and to beg for congrats (well, except on the blog :) ) I'm not expecting a party or something - just like an email that says, "congratulations" or something. It sucks feeling like I can't be proud of what is probably my biggest freaking accomplishment because it makes other people uncomfortable. Sigh.
That said, the people who have congratulated me are genuine and awesome. So it's not fair to lump them in with the haters.
Oh, I should also note that I'm the first WOMAN in my department to have published a book. And yes, I'm in the most feminized field ever, so this is CRAZY. There are no female full profs in my department. I suspect I will become the first, when I publish the second book. Take that!
Oh, and as for the response to others... the only people who've had books come out recently are my mentor and another person who congratulated me. And let's just say that while there wasn't fanfare, people did respond to the list with congratulations, as they do for even fucked up publications of other people (and by fucked up, I mean like publishing a poem in some locally published thing). The fact is, I think people are threatened by *what* I publish and *where* instead of being happy about it as something good for the department. And that just blows.
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