khigh
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Everything posted by khigh
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Thanks! I could pass a test in any of those. My listening, reading, and writing are better than speaking, but that’s only because of my accent. It’s a wonderful blend of Oklahoma/North Texas/Minnesota. My Dutch is very Amsterdaamer (hard k, extended vowels- think Minnesota vowels) and Groningers didn’t appreciate that.
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So, should I expect to speak my primary language or all of the ones I can claim conversational ability in? Do you know what they usually say about dialects that do vary quite a bit from the parent language? In my case, that would be Frisian and Afrikaans for the dialects and in order by competency, Dutch, German, French, and Italian for the languages. Like, let’s say fluent in Dutch and can get around Rome in Italian, if that gives you an idea. I have a love of languages and minored in foreign languages (and political science), so I don’t know if that makes any difference. Just having a freak out moment this morning. I haven’t heard of the U doing interviews, so I don’t know if I even need to worry about it.
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Sent you the link. I really enjoyed reading about government issues baseball equipment for soldiers in the West- baseball kept them out of whorehouses and saloons.
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Good to know. I took the minimum required hours of American (Jacksonian Era, 1917-1945, Women in Politics, and Military history). German was helpful for Jacksonian, but I did my paper on how German migration after the 1848 revolution helped the US transition out of the Jacksonian era. Used it for 1917-1945 to write about anarchism and Marxism in the early 1920s. I honestly hated and still dislike American history and always tried to find a European connection. The only paper I didn’t do that with was over the influence of the American West on baseball rules from 1890-1908, but that’s an obsession for another day.
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I wonder if languages are regional. My undergrad funneled to University of Oklahoma, Texas A&M, and UT-Austin. At least OU focuses on the American West, which is a heavy German population. Maybe I’m wrong. As far as the ups and downs, luckily my boyfriend has already gone through it, so there is a support system in place. He should keep me on the right side of sane, dontcha know? My undergrad advisor also said I can always call him for support. He saw me cry in his office enough times trying to “be the best” if that makes sense. By my senior year, I was president of six clubs, President of the student government association, taking 18 hours a semester, working at the Museum, serving on 15 University committees, traveling back and forth to Europe (4 times in my last year for research and spending time with the boyfriend), learning five languages, and doing higher education advocacy at the state capitol. That’s why a gap year was needed- I burned out. Now I’m lost without learning and reading and classes and it freaks me out to know this is my last chance. I got defensive and angry because it takes everything to not spend every minute of every day wondering if I’m good enough to get in. Thankfully, we got the issue solved. My boyfriend and I also had a 90s country karaoke Skype date, which was what was needed.
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Every time I fly into Amsterdam, I make two stops first. Albert Heijn for hagelslag and the Cuyp Markt for Nieuwe Haring. Most Americans don’t know what they’re missing ?
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I want to apologize for the things I said. I’m sure you mean well, but it’s not easy hearing that what you’ve worked for over the past 13 years is nothing. You don’t know me from Eve, so you wouldn’t know where the actual excitement comes from.
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I’m aware of the realities of the job market. I’ve been supporting two households for over a year because the history PhD can’t pay rent in Berlin. I will continue to lend support because he is doing research and is happy. He’s coming back to the states soon, so that will relieve some of the burden, but we both know we will always be more poor than we are today.
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This is good. No, really, thank you. I’m upset. Of course I’m upset and defensive. I WAS excited for graduate school. Now, I’m not sure. I’ve been working for this for 13 years. I will go. I will do what I need. I will succeed. And then to be overwhelmed and ganged up on is not a good feeling at all. Most people have given good advice and I have been listening to everyone, but some have also been very discouraging.
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You sound like my exhusband. He too had an answer for everything and thought his way was the only way.
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I don’t know how to say this more nicely, but if your snark is what is produced at ivies, no wonder the profession isn’t attracting more people. Nose bleeds must be a problem high up there in your ivory tower. And with that, I will not let you get me down and I will not take the attitude. I will be ignoring you. If it was not for everyone else, I would be leaving. You offer no support nor do you seem to ever look at anything from the perpestive of the person you are replying to. I’m going to chock that up to having never lived outside academia.
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I applied to one program and they notify around 1/20, but I’m still checking multiple times a day. The waiting period is going to drive me to drinking.
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Austin is very queer friendly and nothing really beats their music scene. 6th Street is famous for the partying and ACL and SXSW are so much fun. Public transportation is not the best, but if you live near campus, there is so much to do. If you end up at UT, let me know. I lived in ATX for a year and loved every minute of it.
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If you add poffertjes en oliebollen, I will be there every single day! Oh, and waffles. Real American Hot Dogs like they have at museumplein! Stamppot! Bitterballen! Speculaas! Okay, I may have a Dutch food obsession. You know the Hot Dogs I’m talking about? They are German brats on buns with curry ketchup, spicy mustard, pickles, and fried onions. They are to die for. Boyfriend and I have talked about opening a “travel” restaurant if our plans fall through. We would serve traditional food from various places in Europe that you just can’t find in the States, rotating days. REAL German, Dutch, English, Italian, French, Spanish, and Icelandic foods. I know a lot of people up here that would kill you and your grandma for real stamppot or Currywurst, Berliner Döner, Napoli pizza, Roman spaghetti, muffins with clotted cream, fish and chips, a good Tapas, croissants and espresso, lamb, salmon, lutefisk, latkes.
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And, for internships, honestly look at your local museum. Small museums are always looking for volunteers and it gives you a wider knowledge of history. I volunteered one summer for Museum of the Great Plains. I did archives, where I scanned pictures and looked them up in the newspapers to catalogue them. They were found in a dumpster behind the local newspaper. The collections I worked on were “advertisements” and “murder and crime” and all they had listed were the category and year they were taken. I then moved to the archaeology section and worked on inventory for a NAGPRA/BIA inspection. NAGPRA is the Native American Grave Repatriation Act and BIA is the Bureau of Indian Affairs. We were the human remains repository for the region. I first worked on cataloging and categorizing 100,000 beads from Spanish Fort and Longest (site names). The only reference I had was “The Longest Bible” as it is affectionately known, written in the 1960s by RK Harris and Ed Jelks. The beads came from Spain, the Netherlands, England, France, and various regions of Africa and my job was to trace them back using one reference and the Panteone Color Guide, which is what they had used to describe the beads. Then, we had to inventory both human remains and different NA sites. Achy Ulna sticks out for me- he had an arrow point in his Ulna. Did you know that you get to catalogue Bubba Sites? They are usually beer cans, small ammunition, and cigarette butts found in rural regions. They are important because you need to show provenance and they are found over the top of your “real” site. 75 year old jelly does not smell good, even in the jar. I worked hard and was hired to be a floor facilitator (formerly known as a docent) for two years until I graduated. I worked with the public, giving information, and manipulating the exhibits. We were an interactive museum that covered the history of the Great Plains from prehistory to the present. I got to teach children and adults about archaeology, General Stores, Land Lotteries, Printing Presses, Native American settlements, tractors and combines, beadwork, chuck wagons, and my FAVORITE, calf roping. We had a training, plastic and wood, lassoing calf that I would spend hours with. Now, with that being said, the Great Plains is not my research area. I do not care for American history and do not plan to study it. However, the volunteer positions and job gave me very valuable training and insights. I now know how to archive, look for archaeological sites based on their call numbers, recoginize the little pieces of information, and am able to relate this to the public.
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Languages! Even if you want American history, you need German and likely French. For Europe, it’s German and one (or two or three) more. What do you want to do at the end of it all? Professor, museums, archives?
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I use Amazon or AbeBooks if the book needed is more rare or international.
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I keep reminding myself about the first part. Last year, the program I applied to this year got 100 applications and admitted 26. That's 26%, but how many of the 74% didn't make the GPA or GRE cutoff? How many can't write or haven't taken history courses outside the gen ed requirements? I'm still nervous, but it's different when you know you made the basic cutoff. A 1/3 chance feels better than 1/4, though I know there isn't much difference.
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That actually makes me feel a lot better. I was hoping there wasn’t a rash of German history PhDs working at Christmas Markets! Granted, he went for research, but was looking for a job at the same time. It’s hard for us because I’m supporting two households in my gap year by selling luxury cars. If I get into graduate school, he will be supporting the both of us. Either way, he’s coming home in a month or so. That is one thing that I honestly think helps underemployed or unemployed academics: having a partner that understands and will support your dreams. The depression still hits hard, but is tempered by someone who will tell you that everything is going to be okay even if we live like Diogenes.
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Whelp, now it's too cold for skiing, baseball trades are all but done until spring training, and work has slowed down. Now, all there is to do is wait and worry.
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I too know a German history PhD working at a Christmas Market. The Netherlands are also notoriously hard to find a job in unless you are specific in your studies, though their intermediate levels (equivalent to high school here, but university track, so maybe more equivalent to community college) pay very well and are easier to get hired on. There's also the chance to work at DOD schools in Germany, but those too are high school level, or American universities in other countries. From what I've seen, it's not easy, but it's not impossible. Boyfriend and I actually talked about SA for awhile, or UAE, but I wouldn't take too well to the culture because I am female, love driving, and we both like wine with our meals.
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The numbers are brutal. There is no question about that. I thought our disagreement was on how lower-tier schools look at ivy applicants. I'm not exactly worried about my future if I get into the U. I'm nomadic as so is the boyfriend, so if we have to move every year or two, we are okay with that. Tenure isn't necessarily either of our dreams. We won't die without tenure.
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I should have specified. Have you sat on a hiring committee for a regional university? I'm looking at the faculty lists for even larger state universities that you would call "mid-tier" or possibly lower. There are three chairs for the department at the University of Oklahoma. One got his PhD from University of Toledo. One from Chicago. One from Illinois. Oklahoma State? 3 ivies out of 25 faculty members. They were all hired prior to 2005. Their youngest faculty members are out of Washington State, Minnesota, and Illinois.
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Have you sat on a hiring committee? I did for two years as an undergrad as a student representative (along with 15 other university wide committees from Academic Appeals to Going Green because I was Vice President and then President of the Student Government Association). It may not be what you perceive, but it is the reality of the conversation in regional universities. The budget is beyond limited in many of them- we're talking cutting departments and programs, closing buildings, restructuring administration, and raising tuition. The hard reality is that they fear that Ivies are going to take up too much of the budget and then leave as soon as they find a better position, which means starting the expensive recruiting and hiring process again. The money isn't there for ivies. A 2/2 load is nothing for a regional. They're at 4/4 or 5/5. The department chair carries a 3/4 (Military History is offered in the spring and he is our military historian). My advisor is the only Europeanist, so he teaches Western Civ I and II, Early Modern World, Modern World, and 1-2 upper divisions each semester. Modern/Early and the Civs are also offered online. We have one person that is able to teach Oklahoma History and it is a requirement for almost every major. She's the one that's retiring after 37 years of teaching. Do you know how much they earn? $34,000 a year. What ivy is going to stay in that job when something better comes along?How many ivies want to move to International Falls, MN or in the middle of nowhere Montana? Heck, the university president got his PhD in mathematics from UC-Boulder. https://chroniclevitae.com/news/1266-applying-to-a-public-regional-university
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Department chair and his wife were hired in 1999, the other OU grad was 1970 (she's retiring this year finally!), my advisor was 2001, and the Tech grad was 2008 (he is ABD). The Vanderbilt grad was there for the 2015-2016 academic year. My university is basically an ROTC program (top 10 in the nation) with a university attached to it.
