(Note: For the last few years I’ve had the opportunity to speak to a class of senior art majors, to walk them through the basics of setting up a website and getting their work online for the wide world to see. Below are some thoughts prompted by the occasion.)
Abandoned Career Path #367: Somewhere after astronaut and before wedding DJ, I gave some serious consideration to turning myself into a College Professor. I thought it a charming thing to be: a pipe-smoking, tweed-wearing, book-beneath-my-wings way of spending one’s day.
Though I logged decent enough marks and posted respectable test scores, I was completely stymied by the reality of graduate school. I knew very little about it, how to get there, how it worked, what the gate-keepers expected. Advancement through the humanities from student to master was a mystery.
At root, I come from professional stock, the sort that expected something of a quid-pro-quo exchange between higher education and a well-defined, firm-paved path to success and status in the community. They pursued relevant degrees in remunerative fields. They achieved.
But as I came to find out, the world wasn’t begging for another crop of English Majors. There were plenty already, and the Academy had more than enough to TA their way to terminal degrees. No one was going to take my hand, believe in me–like a second-string Ethan Hawke character, waiting on fate–and loft me to the top of an ivory tower.
Second, it became clear in my mid-20s that success in the field of College Professing had as much to do with stamina as ability. It took follow-though, discipline, tenacity. What knew I of such things? And at such a tender age?
So here I am before you, enjoying a chance to fake it, though I didn’t make it. It’s a lot of fun, but also a lot of work. I’m thankful for all of the properly credentialed people I’ve met who do it day-in and day-out, who continue to inspire me. Somehow they make it look easy. It’s not. But sometimes I like being fooled, lost in new ideas, tricked into trying on new, eye-popping points-of-view. I know you do too. That’s why we’re here. Enjoy it, while the mind stays limber.
