Most of you in the blogosphere don't know that sport (she's the the muddy one in the center--ruminate on whatever metaphor you like) and I will be taking our show to Fargo at North Dakota State University this Friday. We appreciate what our two institutions did for us, but the pull of working at the same institution, with graduate students, and within walking distance of the office (we can sell our second car--yay!), was just too tempting.
I'll get a chance to work with Kevin Brooks, Amy Rupier-Taggert, Betsy Birmingham, and Dale Sullivan (yes, THAT Dale Sullivan), and get to work in an arts-friendly place with a burgeoning downtown scene that has the still-rough edges that makes me feel at home.
To all of you who are STILL giving sport and I a mind-blowing victory lap (parties for pretty much two weeks straight): Thank You! It's incredibly gracious of two departments who invested as much as they have in us. Thank you truly.
9 comments:
Congrats on the big move, as well as on (apparently) having already pinned down a place to live! Lee and I won't even start looking in BG for another two weeks, after we close on our house here.
Selfishly, got any last-minute reflections on life in BG for us neophytes? I can't wait to check out the gourmet food/farm supply store. Where'd you say that was again?
Best of luck at NDSU. Go Bison!
Thanks Lance. Sport and I drove the 2,000 miles (there and back) over a period of four days to secure ourselves a place. I figured the less time we have to think about the move, the better. We are worriers and would rather have the opportunity to act on our neurotic worries.
Life in BG advice? Jeff Grabill had some pretty good advice on the ATTW listserv--"take your colleagues out to eat as often as possible." I would add the corollary--"don't listen too closely to their words, but listen and figure out what they are really saying." I have also found it extremely helpful to script how your future success story will read. Work an excess of tenure requirements (read: scholarship) into the plot and try to include important program and department players in your story arc. If you are storyboarding it:
Act I: Lance and Lee arrive with a blast of trumpets.
Act II: Slightly disillusioned L&L fight through cold winters and chilly political battles with goodwill, kick-arse scholarship and teaching, and an intact sense of self.
Act III: L&L both recieve tenure and sail into next stage of life accomplishment (family, scholarship, business?).
It's almost identical to the business world, except that faculty are more clever, perhaps a bit more cruel, and don't know where the actual cheese resides (and why would they?).
Thanks for the advice, Andrew. Here's hoping for less chill, more goodwill--all around.
Don't get me wrong, Lance. BG is pretty friendly. I'm sure you will both get a ton of goodwill.
Congrats! But North Dakota...it will be cold... remind Brooks that he once blogged that he had a dream about me...
I'm sure you will both get a ton of goodwill.
We already have, plus a bushel, a peck, and a cord to boot. And much of it has come from you. All the best in ND.
Hey, alright! (I'm a HUGE fan of walking to work.)
Yay Andrew and Scout! I am a HUGE fan of walking to work. You can even snowshoe there.
Ouch, Deb. We are looking forward to the chance to learn cross country-skiing, but don't anticipate buying snowshoes just yet (if memory serves, my Timberlands worked pretty well during the year when State College got over 100 inches of snow)
Jeff, Brooks remembers that blog post. Please don't remind him (he's already mentioned his shiny copy of the McLuhan diss. You McLuhaniacs...)
Dale, it was nice to see you and Sheryl at the 48 hour film festival. Looks like "our" English student got in the top 8, despite having run a half-marathon at the beginning of the 48-hour production schedule. Makes one feel like a slacker, no?
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