Tap, tap, tap! Is This Thing On?

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Tap, tap, tap! Is This Thing On?

May 21, 2015 by Dr. Crazy

So, I got an email from Historiann the other day, and she alerted me to the fact that I haven’t posted on this here blog since December. No, I have not been basking in my promotion since December. I have been: 1) presenting at MLA, 2) dealing with program assessment, 3) serving on faculty senate, 4) dealing with department colleague craziness, 5) mentoring undergraduate research (I have two students going to a conference to present their own work next month!), 6) solving problems created by terrible communication and poor administration (involving being THAT full professor who EMAILS THE DEAN), 7) Getting rejected for an NEH grant ONCE AGAIN, in spite of POSITIVE REVIEWS of my application, 8) planning my NEXT book even though I’m STILL not done with THIS book, 9) conducting a functional, happy, adult relationship (don’t you love how I buried that?), and 10) adopting a homeless kitten who (literally) showed up on my doorstep in March!

I know you wanted to see tiny Beatrix Sassafras. Don’t deny it.

However, there is also another thing that I think neither you nor I can deny. I’m apparently done in this here space. I’ve resisted pulling the trigger, but it’s time. Dr. Crazy of Reassigned Time 2.0 just isn’t who I am as an academic anymore, or even as a person anymore. It’s time to call it a day here, friends. I have so appreciated all of you who have been reading what I write, not only in this space but in Dr. Crazy’s previous locations for the past 11 years. And while I am closing up shop here, I do think that I am going to reinvent myself in order to blog another day, though not as Dr. Crazy but as my Actual Self (though I’ve yet to figure out exactly how or where). If tenure means never having to say you’re sorry (as a certain Madwoman once said), then full promotion means that you don’t need a flipping pseudonym. I have things that I want to say now that I want to own, and I want to write in ways that speak to the value of my discipline, of the humanities in general, and of the work that we as faculty do in higher education. Basically, I’ve (finally) had enough of all of my bitching 🙂

So again, thank you all for your interest in what I’ve had to say, for your support when I’ve needed it, and for giving me a community when I felt like I didn’t have one as an assistant and then associate professor. Without you all (and this isn’t an exaggeration), I wouldn’t have kept at blogging for this long.

So until we meet again. . . only next time it will be as “me” and not as the super-hero alter-ego that is Dr. Crazy.

(Oh, and a postscript: whatever happens in the new iteration of my blogging life, it will include updates on the kitties, because the internet exists for kitties.)

Posted in Uncategorized | 27 Comments

27 Responses

on May 21, 2015 at 10:03 pm heu mihi

So, so sad to hit “unsubscribe”! I’ll see you on Facebook, at least. Thank you for your years of entertaining, thought-provoking, intriguing, and validating blogging!
on May 21, 2015 at 10:40 pm Dr. Crazy

When I come back as my actual self, I’ll post it to Facebook! The Dr. Crazy is dead, but Long Live Dr. Crazy 🙂
on May 21, 2015 at 11:08 pm Jackie

But what if we’re not your Facebook friend? How will we know where you have gone?
on May 21, 2015 at 11:15 pm Dr. Crazy

Shoot me an email at reassignedtime@gmail.com. I’ll check that account again for the next couple of weeks (for I’ve been ignoring it for months), and I’ll tell anybody who wants my actual name. I don’t post it here just because I’m not sure that some of the bitching that I’ve done should be publicly linked to my institution via google. 🙂
on May 22, 2015 at 7:50 am gwinne

Well, it’s been wonderful following you. And looking forward to the new incarnation, wherever/whatever it is!
on May 22, 2015 at 8:07 am Liz Fenton

I’ve commented on this blog only a few times, but I have read it religiously since I was a graduate student (I’m now an Associate Prof). I’ll miss your insights into the profession as well as your enjoyable writing–and I’ll definitely look for that new, non-pseudonymous blog in the future. Because you are a step ahead of me, career-wise, I’ve learned a lot from your experiences and gained much from your willingness to write about them candidly. Thanks for being a friendly and oft-helpful voice out there in the Intertubes. I wish you all the best, Full Professor!
on May 22, 2015 at 8:11 am Powerprof

Wow – it’s the end of an era — I’ve been wondering about you and will miss you, but I totally get it… and you’ll hear from me on facebook 🙂
on May 22, 2015 at 8:40 am Bardiac

I look forward to your return in a new iteration!
on May 22, 2015 at 9:01 am Katherine

I’m really happy for you; I’ve loved you blog and wish you the best.
on May 22, 2015 at 9:21 am Seeking Solace

I’m considering pulling the plug on my alter ego as well and blogging as myself in a different format. I’ve been following you for a long time and wish you all the best!
on May 22, 2015 at 10:03 am Dame Eleanor Hull

The internet is cats All The Way Down! How totes adorbs iz dat cat pile! And the white feets on Mr Stripey!

Srsly, I love how well yours get on together. We have a bunch of independent thinkers who snuggle with people but not with each other.
on May 22, 2015 at 11:31 am nicoleandmaggie

That all sounds great! If there’s more cat pictures in the future, we will have to email for your new persona so we can find your new place.
on May 22, 2015 at 2:17 pm EarthSciProf

Was very excited to see a post (you’ve been missed) but bummed to hear you’re hanging it up. I’m pre-tenure in the sciences at a similar type of institution to yours. Reading you has been tremendously helpful in getting a sense for how academia works and that some of the crazy I see around me happens other places. Best of luck and thanks a ton for all the good reading.
on May 22, 2015 at 4:15 pm Historiann

Oh, noes! I’m sorry to have precipitated this decision, but it sounds like you’ve got a load of other reasons to mosey along.

Your voice has been missed & will continue to be.
on May 22, 2015 at 8:10 pm Shane in Utah

I sort of suspected this day was coming, but I’m sad to see it arrive. My career has paralleled yours in a lot of ways, Crazy, and reading your blog along the way gave me a sense of solidarity and perspective. Thanks for that; I’ll miss reading you in this persona.
on May 22, 2015 at 8:12 pm Shane in Utah

PS: Congratulations on the new member of your household; sorry to see he is fitting in so badly with the other cats. 😉
on May 23, 2015 at 12:33 am the desert knitter

PowerProf beat me to saying “the end of an era…” See you on FB and I look forward to the new iteration!

(New Kid)
on May 23, 2015 at 3:52 am ZOMG link love | Grumpy Rumblings (of the formerly untenured)

[…] Dr. Crazy says hello good-bye […]
on May 23, 2015 at 8:47 am Flavia

Aw, geez. The blogosphere is disappearing!

And since I already knew about the cat, *I* want to know about the fella! Is it The Man Formerly Know As Footloose? Inquiring minds!
on May 23, 2015 at 10:17 am Comradde PhysioProffe

Damn! Well, I’ll be sure to find your new blogge. I was a big fan of your bitching. Has the Dean tried to get you to be chair yet?
on May 23, 2015 at 10:59 am Andrea

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on May 23, 2015 at 11:02 am Andrea

I’ll be emailing to get on the new blog list. I’ve been reading your blog for ages and have frequently forwarded posts to my bestie at my own university with the subject lines of “it isn’t just us” or “no I did not write this”. Thanks for all the perspective and support you didn’t know you were giving. :).
on May 23, 2015 at 6:48 pm Notorious Ph.D.

It’s funny that I read this just now, only minutes after I crafted a note to my latest post alerting people that I’d pretty much given up the illusion that I’m anonymous anymore. But I enjoy making up pseudonyms so much that I refuse to give it up just yet.

For those of us who have been following you for years, would you let us know if/when/where to find your more public blogging persona?
on May 24, 2015 at 8:32 pm EngLitProf

I’m sad to hear this, though not surprised. I can’t remember when I started following your blog(s), but I think it was pretty close to a decade ago.

Trying to decide what was my favorite among your posts . . . Other than the ones dealing with cats, of course; they are obviously at the top.
on May 25, 2015 at 1:48 am Susan

Like the others, I’m not surprised – I’ve checked in from time to time, but figured life was taking you in new directions. Love the picture of your threesome, for clearly Beatrix is fully in the mix now. Will just join Flavia in curiosity… And look forward to your new home!
on May 25, 2015 at 8:52 am undinenotofgeneralinterest

I’ve been following you since the Chronicles of Dr. Crazy and will miss your voice, Dr. Crazy! Wishing you all the best with your new directions.
on June 9, 2015 at 2:36 am Dr. Crazy

I *think* I’ve responded to everybody who wrote to me on the old blog email, reassignedtime@gmail.com, but if I’ve missed you, send me a message in the next week or two before I shut that email down. And thank you all so much for your support and, well, really, love. And Flavia, I will totally send you an email with the low-down on my love-life, but for the rest of you… it is FABULOUS 🙂