Or at least Arlequino says so. And neither of us means the roll around the middle of my body that is also an outcome of middle-age. Today I joined a gym, went for my assessment with a trainer and he set me up on a program. Seems I have good range of motion but no strength. No surprises there. And because I spend far too much time sitting down at a desk hunched over a computer I don’t even breathe properly. Occupational hazard, yes, but all can be ameliorated through careful attention and physical work. I’m actually looking forward to working out.
The other “roll” is about my other work. My academic work. And it’s true that I do seem to have entered a different phase of my career. Just recently I’ve been invited to three conferences. Invited. Those who are not academics might not get this difference, but up until this point in my career I’ve been sending proposals to conferences hoping that after going through the juried (vetting, in our terms) process mine would be chosen and that I’d get to present a paper. But in the last few weeks I have been invited to give presentations at three international conferences. And each in a great location: Cuba this April (University of Holguin), Spain (University of Vigo) next year in June, and Puerto Rico (University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez) next year in July. Did I mention that I should probably learn Spanish? The conferences are all in English (mainly) but the academic tourism part of these trips is facilitated by knowledge of the host country’s language. I’d like to be able to do more than order a glass of wine in Spanish.
Less fun but also important is an invitation I received just yesterday to serve on the University-level Tenure and Promotion Committee. This means paper work and meetings, but it’s really, really important work. This is the last committee that oversees faculty tenure and promotion cases before they go to Senate for approval. And the working lives of our colleagues depends on those promotions and assessments. Someone approved my case for tenure back in the day, and now it’s time to pay it forward. Sorry for the cliche!
Okay, this blog post is boring. But it’s important to me to record this moment.
Lady English Professor 