a light at the end of the tunnel

today one of my students was wearing a t-shirt that read:

i'm fine. my grandma rubbed me with an egg.

somebody's grandma needs to rub me with an egg.

i've been invited for a campus visit/job talk at a university in california. in two weeks! it's not on the beach or anything glamorous, but it is a good school. and it's just a few hours from home.

they have most likely invited three or four candidates for campus visits. we will all meet the same people--professors in the department, the dean of the college, maybe some affiliated faculty. some universities will invite students to meet the job candidates. we will probably have one formal interview and one job talk. the job talk will be a 45 minute lecture on our research followed by a relatively intense question and answer period.

all other interactions during the campus visit will apparently be casual. we will be treated to dinner at a nice restaurant. we will drink wine. we will have lunch and coffee dates with university folks who need or want to meet us. and during these casual meals, between bites of a chocolate cake dessert, someone will ask the candidate about the impact of his/her research on the field of history or anthropology or whatever. and the candidate will chew slowly and answer as best as s/he can. the candidate knows that s/he is never safe from a job-interview-type of question. so s/he is prepared.

those of us who have been invited for campus visit probably have the same qualifications. assuming that the job talk is not a bomb, at the point of an invitation for a campus visit, candidates are judged on whether or not they will be a good fit for the department. being good-humored and easy-going are helpful traits in these situations.

basically i'm going to have to charm this university into hiring me. ;)

so start lighting your velitas, saying your prayers, or whatever it is you do. if you have a grandma who does the egg thing, let me know.

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