Feeling Salty
Jun. 5th, 2020 11:00 amI have been cranky this week, which is an awful way to feel in the midst of a revolution. But here I am.
I've had a number of queries about when my library is re-opening to the public (currently unknown, which is exactly what the website says) and my plans for teaching in the fall (currently unknown, as the university has not made its mind up on what to do yet). When the first round of these came last month, my response was "I'll let you know as soon as I know more" and I've gotten follow-ups from people and I want to be like "Did I stutter? I'll let you know when *I* know!"
(Scott: "There's no reason to be mean!" Me: "I'd never actually reply that, but FFS, between the pandemic and revolution maybe they could read the damn website?!")
It's also CFP season and a lot of orgs/conferences are optimistically putting out calls for in-person conferences for next spring. Some of them acknowledge they are optimistic. I'd much prefer a show of pragmatism. Like, even assuming its going to be safe to physically travel next year, who is realistically going to be able to afford to do so with cuts going on left and right? Did we not just learn that video-conferencing software can be easily used for a large number of participants? Maybe plan on doing THAT.
I've had a number of queries about when my library is re-opening to the public (currently unknown, which is exactly what the website says) and my plans for teaching in the fall (currently unknown, as the university has not made its mind up on what to do yet). When the first round of these came last month, my response was "I'll let you know as soon as I know more" and I've gotten follow-ups from people and I want to be like "Did I stutter? I'll let you know when *I* know!"
(Scott: "There's no reason to be mean!" Me: "I'd never actually reply that, but FFS, between the pandemic and revolution maybe they could read the damn website?!")
It's also CFP season and a lot of orgs/conferences are optimistically putting out calls for in-person conferences for next spring. Some of them acknowledge they are optimistic. I'd much prefer a show of pragmatism. Like, even assuming its going to be safe to physically travel next year, who is realistically going to be able to afford to do so with cuts going on left and right? Did we not just learn that video-conferencing software can be easily used for a large number of participants? Maybe plan on doing THAT.