Interview

Wow, I haven't been blogging much as I have gotten into Facebook. Probably a good thing, assuming that the job comes through and the anonymity becomes even more important.

I leave tomorrow at 11:45 from a large airport an hour north of us, so we will have to leave relatively early. TechnoGuy and the kids are punting church to get me there and I will slip over to 5 pm mass at the nearby parish--doesn't seem like good karma to neglect it right before the interview, plus it will be something of a farewell to a supplementary/occasional worship community.

I got a tremendous amount of prep done yesterday, so today I have exercised with TechnoGuy, enjoyed Ladybug, and gotten a tremendous amount of work done on the latest revision of the book. If I have energy to do even more I may--I want to get it in good shape for making use of the many travel hours to keep editing. Though I also will be bringing a couple of Miles Vorkosigan books I have been saving. We may watch Prisoner of Azkaban, as Ladybug and I finished reading it this morning. She is now rereading it and making occasional comments, as she did while I was writing.

The last healing prayer session was very blessed, with lots of thanksgiving for the miracles worked already. This almost certain professional opportunity is so profoundly healing, as part of the terrible anguish was the fact that, despite tremendous hard work and excellence that the abuser doesn't have, it looked like the evil and unrepented behavior that should have cost him his career had cost me mine instead. There are little twinges when I see the heights, in particular, that two of my male colleagues have risen to through merely decent work and with a lot of slave labor childcare from their wives, one of whom always seemed brighter to me but sacrificed her own dreams of an academic career to his....

Especially the other one, who is being offered a chair at the same place where I will be a revolving contract Lecturer and was interviewed by national media recently about a Vatican development. We began at the same time and he had his first child the same year I had HockeyBoy. When we went to AAR I had five interviews and he had two....but since HockeyBoy was making my belly stick out a mile I got illegal questions instead of on-campus interviews. With the luxury of not bringing his child into his interviews, or even on the plane as I later did, he got an on-campus interview with an extraordinarily early preChristmas offer. The standards on his unfinished dissertation dropped dramatically so he could graduate on time (it's pass fail, with pass being anywhere from C- to A+--my adviser continued to hold out for A+). And then he got tenure publishing in the much easier field of systematics--at least the way it is mostly done and the way he does it--while said slave handed him two more babies. He is a decent guy, and has been semi-supportive about my ministry, and probably won't out me to the school. So I will let it go given it's a miracle I have this chance at all....but it is not going to be fun seeing the difference in the nameplates, the teaching loads, the job security, or the salaries.

Okay, enough venting. It's the feast of St. Benedict, yayy--I remember going to Vespers at San Paolo fuori la Mura, an OSB church where Brigitta of Sweden hung out, when I was pregnant with HockeyBoy. They opened a small chapel for the occasion that had the names of important Benedictine saints-including my Helfta ladies if I recall correctly--on the choir stalls. And I give so much thanks for the new Benedictine community and the miracle of finally doing Morning Prayer (about five weeks now, I think) and even Evening (one now). And finding stability not in the geographical sense I had expected, but in reembracing with hope and fidelity my vocation as theologian, as holy as the priestly and mothering ones but too often tempted to despair at worst or being seen as just a job at best. And for so much love and prayer support from people here and out on the internet winging me to this new day.

TG talked to the sweet Korean landlord today and confirmed that he is holding the awesome house in the right school district close to campus for us (without deposit till I get my offer--what a saint) and looking forward to showing it to me Monday night. So all continues to fall into place and I am actually feeling more excited than nervous--sort of--about the trip. Godde is good.

Schedule, in case of interest or prayer-focusing:

Sunday: flight late morning, arriving late at night with time change. Picked up by secretary so I can wear my tennies with my good pantsuit.

Monday: 10 associate provost, 11 dean of Arts and Sciences--the real things I need to nail. Lunch with search committee, 1 meeting with chair and search committee for which I am bringing syllabi and evaluations. 5 dinner with chair and that's all she wrote at the U. 7:30 ish see the house, evaluate whether finished basement can serve as a sequestered and cool office for TG so I can have the little open one on the main floor, and take pictures for the family. Taxi probably--luckily not terribly far as best I know.

Tuesday: Maybe look around in the morning if I can find transport, leave about 1 and back here before supper due to time change working in my favor this direction.