This Geoff Johnson (mixinminao) reading a general announcement for Campus Equity Week Events at San Diego Mesa College
How to Screw an Adjunct Part I: Out with the Old, in with the New
An Adjunct Poem
Good adjuncts, my poor attempt at literary aspirations:
New Day in Otay
It’s 6:45 and I’m driving up the 905
A can of Rockstar in my hand, trying to revive
Up till one marking through a set
Of essays comparing Frederick Douglass to Malcolm X
Struggling to read, and my students too
have challenges in prose, most tortured attempts
of grammar and syntax, their sentences often
show a dream deferred of how their parents
crossed a border now just minutes away in space
and yet how after 40 years of “progess”
there’s still another border to be crossed.
I teach to help my students climb the fence
That lies between Walmart, the prison,
public assistance and the dream
which takes commitment, and yet,
Spurred by a border of my own, asserting I
Can never call any one college my own, must
Leave these dreams deferred as the sun now is high
And its pounding heat leaves the land dry.
Note: Otay is a reference to the Southwestern Community College Higher Ed. Center located in Otay Mesa, a relatively barren patch of land just two miles from the border and three miles from a medium-security prison
NAWD Action Item #7: make and Wear T-Shirt
Good Adjuncts:
For those of you who like something more visual and durable (like after Feb. 25th the skies will cleave open and adjuntification will disappear and birds will sing). A T-shirt may be the better way to go. I know there’s a few designs out there already designs out there, but this is one that we came up with at Adjunct crisis.
If you want, I can send the jpegs of the designs so you can make one for yourselves. For any San Diego Mesa College or Southwestern Community College folks who want a shirt, I’ll be contacting you via campus email.
Geoff Johnson
A Good and Sartorially Splendorous Adjunct
Adjunct Poem
Good Adjuncts,
This is by my colleague at Southwestern College Erin Vrugic:
A 7 Letter Word
A
Dirty seven letter word
unJustly describing
oUr Walmartification
of AmericaN higher education, Faculty
ACross the United States.
Together we stand,
together we rise
to support equal labor rights
for all.
You’re so right Erin.
Geoff Johnson
A Good Adjunct
The Adjunct’s Lament
While much of this is more of the same fuel for the fire, references to the Ehrenreichs’ discussion of the erosion of the professional class, and Gary Standings’ notion of the rise of the “Precariat” are spot on. I can’t sat read and enjoy, but at least read and be informed.
The Adjunct Crisis and the Free Market
Professors on Food Stamps
Several Years ago, as a union rep, I had to seek emergency funding for one of my fellow colleagues, (a Ph.D. holder) who had three kids aged from 8 to 17 and was living out of a station wagon. I have had serious discussions with adjuncts on several occasions about buying professional-looking clothing at thrift stores like Amvets and the Salvation Army, and had the pleasure of waiting for an hour in front of a free clinic holding my then sick and crying four-year old waiting to get him checked because I didn’t have insurance covering him. This may be old news, but it’s a current and growing problem.
Professors on Food Stamps
Several Years ago, as a union rep, I had to seek emergency funding for one of my fellow colleagues, (a Ph.D. holder) who had three kids aged from 8 to 17 and was living out of a station wagon. I have had serious discussions with adjuncts on several occasions about buying professional-looking clothing at thrift stores like Amvets and the Salvation Army, and had the pleasure of waiting for an hour in front of a free clinic holding my then sick and crying four-year old waiting to get him checked because I didn’t have insurance covering him. This may be old news, but it’s a current and growing problem
mixinminao 