Can't Comment

I haven't blogged in a long time. Actually, a very long time. Last year when I was in Washington, I managed to pretty much blog every week about all of the new experiences that I was having in the U.S. Senate, being a Congressional fellow, living in Washington, D.C., and living away from home. I even blogged when I was on the fence about my blogging, slightly worried that someone in my Congressional office would find out and tell me to stop, even though I used a lot of discretion. It's true that I had to be careful, but somehow, I managed to walk that line. 

I'm having a similar experience this year. I returned to academia, but in a new role, at a new school. Everything is new. Sure, I've been an academic in one form or another for 15 years, so I'm pretty comfortable with that identity and I know what goes on in academia, unlike when I entered Congress. Still, a lot of stuff is pretty new. Like I said to a colleague this week, "It's the same, but totally different."

I've been wanting blog about my new academic experiences, but there is so much discretion required. And, like with any new job, there are bumps in the road, and who wants to announce those in a blog post? Okay, maybe some people want to, but I don't! I considered becoming an anonymous blogger for The Chronicle about the experiences of being a new department head, moving from a specific discipline (social work) to a general category of disciplines (social science), or moving from a public to a private school. But, I figured that it wouldn't take too much work to trace it back to me. Seems like a risk that I cannot afford.

There's no doubt that there's been an adjustment: New colleagues, new policies, no policies, trying to make financial decisions based on a budget that I've known for five minutes, finding allies and the opposite of allies, learning new curricula, running department meetings when I've been "in charge" for a total of 15 minutes, confessing that I have no idea what's going on at times, trying not to be devastated about small errors and celebrating minor successes like I've received a national award, taking moments in my office to close the door just to breathe, doing a year's worth of course scheduling the wrong way the first time around...and doing it at midnight, adjusting to seven-week terms, madly texting old colleagues to ask for guidance, hoping no one noticed that Friday afternoon when I rested my head on my desk for a few minutes, starting a "new faculty coffee group" with my incoming cohort of new faculty, learning the traffic patters on 495, receiving confidential information from people I had just met, convincing a whole new group of colleagues that commuting from Amesbury to campus is "no big deal -- we do a lot of driving in our family," having faith that when I get up each morning that I will be able to put together a day and get stuff done, stressing about how to get in my own research and scholarship, making mad dashes to community band rehearsal on Tuesday evenings, figuring out how to get in my daily exercise, and chronically not getting enough sleep. Wait!! Some of that isn't new! But, my readers get the idea...There's a lot of new stuff. 

Have I mentioned that there's a lot of new stuff going on?

Last year when I was just starting at the Senate and I was worried about saying too much about my position, my office, and my work, I wrote a blog post about what John Cage would say about Congressional recesses. I penned that "sometimes some of the most interesting parts of life -- professional life, family, friends, and whatnot -- may provide the best material for commentary, but it's not really appropriate for pubic consumption." 

True story, that. 

So, Emily, how are things going in your new job? Me? Oh, really, stuff is going fine, but I can't comment.     

Emily, "not commenting" in her new office. 

Emily's new office.