next »

[grasshopper]

Maybe "I'm so busy" is a stage along the road to newer, more surprising insights.

We can hope. But in the meantime, I have my own trivial annoyances to deal with. I'm not really interested in anybody else's.

[fiona]

Maybe "I'm so busy" is a stage along the road to newer, more surprising insights.

We can hope. But in the meantime, I have my own trivial annoyances to deal with. I'm not really interested in anybody else's.

My annoyances are never trivial. They are monumental, because they are MINE.

Likewise for you, I'm sure.

The Fiona

[polly_mer]

Maybe "I'm so busy" is a stage along the road to newer, more surprising insights.

We can hope. But in the meantime, I have my own trivial annoyances to deal with. I'm not really interested in anybody else's.

My annoyances are never trivial. They are monumental, because they are MINE.

Likewise for you, I'm sure.

The Fiona

That's right.  I was on The Beltway this afternoon and it had traffic and stuff.  I was late for my afternoon meeting because of that congestion.  Then, I was assigned some extra assessment work for the accreditors (who visit next week) and I've still got these labs to grade as well as a test to write for next week.  I'm BUSY, I tell you. BUSY...so I'm only going to post another half hour of stuff (less, if people haven't done anything interesting since this morning).

[oldfullprof]

William and Mary won't do...

[spinnaker]

I fail to see what is unique, newsworthy, or interesting about it. It reads like something that accidentally fell out of his journal and somehow got itself published.

Also, what has he done in the first few weeks of classes to better the situation for adjuncts, which is, as far as I can understand, his mission in life? Get on the ball. Chop chop, lollipop.

VP

Staying visible. It may be small, but it's more than nothing.

[polly_mer]

I fail to see what is unique, newsworthy, or interesting about it. It reads like something that accidentally fell out of his journal and somehow got itself published.

Also, what has he done in the first few weeks of classes to better the situation for adjuncts, which is, as far as I can understand, his mission in life? Get on the ball. Chop chop, lollipop.

VP

Staying visible. It may be small, but it's more than nothing.

Visibility of this sort is irrelevant.  If Sweeney wants tenure, then he's not going to get it by blog posts, especially pitiful "I'm really busy, guys, but I'll get back to you real soon" posts.  He will get tenure by writing something worth writing (hint: book, book, book) or by being a doggone fabulous teacher who is nationally lauded for his innovative pedagogy (hint: one can write books on that topic as well).

No one gets tenure by blog posts outside of digital humanities departments and, even then, that's unlikely.

Publish something peer reviewed.

Present at national conferences.

If you're going to blog, then blog on how much, much, much you love to teach, share teaching tips, brag about your research, and other things that show productivity instead of implying activity.

[aandsdean]

I fail to see what is unique, newsworthy, or interesting about it. It reads like something that accidentally fell out of his journal and somehow got itself published.

Also, what has he done in the first few weeks of classes to better the situation for adjuncts, which is, as far as I can understand, his mission in life? Get on the ball. Chop chop, lollipop.

VP

Staying visible. It may be small, but it's more than nothing.

Visibility of this sort is irrelevant.  If Sweeney wants tenure, then he's not going to get it by blog posts, especially pitiful "I'm really busy, guys, but I'll get back to you real soon" posts.  He will get tenure by writing something worth writing (hint: book, book, book) or by being a doggone fabulous teacher who is nationally lauded for his innovative pedagogy (hint: one can write books on that topic as well).

No one gets tenure by blog posts outside of digital humanities departments and, even then, that's unlikely.

Publish something peer reviewed.

Present at national conferences.

If you're going to blog, then blog on how much, much, much you love to teach, share teaching tips, brag about your research, and other things that show productivity instead of implying activity.

Polly, he's at a CC, and I seriously doubt, even in English, even at a CC affiliated with W&M, that he needs a book for tenure.  The fact that he got a TT job with a master's is a dead giveaway on that.

[polly_mer]

Good point.  Mr. Sweeney should be working on pedagogy and sharing teaching tips or doing service to the field rather than blogging "I'm soooo busy" placeholders as though that was doing anything for his chances at tenure.

[marigolds]

Let go of his ankle, Polly. You're leaving teethmarks.

This piece did read like he accidentally tore a page out of his journal and it got picked up by the Chron (unlike his other stuff, which I actually like, for lots of reasons), but I don't see why everybody has such a hate on for him.