Pause Taken

One of the things I wanted to do on the Faithbook blog but never got around to was responding to some of the comments. Lo and behold, not two days after I began The Impermanent Record, I received a very nice note from NellaLou telling me not to worry about some imaginary future employer and whether they think speaking openly about my personal life is something that religious studies scholars should or should not do.

She was kind enough to remind me that many professors are open about their religious practices and that many "big shots" like Robert Thurman are not exactly shy about where they stand on a wide range of issues.



You can read her entire thoughtful comment on my Maharashtra State of Mind post. Especially noteworthy is her advice that there's "no need to duck if no one's actually throwing stuff at you." Thank you NellaLou, I'm honored to have you as a reader.

To clarify, I know that my fellow grad students and future colleagues will be respectful of my spiritual practices and even my struggle with mental illness. What I am afraid they will not be as forgiving of is the fact that the bulk of my interests lie primarily outside academe. Perhaps I am a bit nervous of "outing" myself as someone who would rather watch a movie with my wife than pour over old documents in an archive or learn how to form the past participle in yet another language.

I have already been told by one professor that if I really want a tenure track job, I should never write anything that couldn't be published (after several re-writes of course), and never read anything that couldn't be cited without embarrassment in a peer reviewed journal. In other words, blogging about personal matters is a waste of time for an academic. I am not saying I agree with this attitude, I'm just noting that it is out there, and is enough to give one pause.

Pause taken.