A Note of Gratitude

Kristen said these words the other day, and then Jessica did, too:  "Your readers are SO GENEROUS."

I love you.  You are all so wonderful and you make my life so much richer. 

And here is a guest post from Kristen:

She-Who-Now-Has-A-PhD-But-No-Job here filling in for Norma while she rests her garden-and-puppy-weary body and Harlem-Renaissance-weary mind.

While I have thanked many privately, I wanted to publicly declare my gratitude to all of you who stepped up to the Great Destash 2009 challenge.  The current financial fracas—oh, hell, this is Norma's blog, I'll just call it what it is: SNAFU—is hitting every one of us and I was overwhelmed by how many people were willing to go look at my stash and even consider merging one of my woolly adoptees with their own.  I always knew knitters were special people, but when my dear friend Norma put out the call my head spun with the speed at which you answered!

A week later, I've found myself in that lumpy-throated-stinging-eyes state when I did some math.  Confessing this is a wee bit ego bruising, but, frankly, you helped me make my COBRA payment for this month.  Given that I've got a couple of irritating health issues and a few ridiculously expensive prescriptions, this is no small thing.  Thank you a thousand times over.

A bit of good news to share:  I've recently been offered a one-year visiting lectureship at my alma mater, so at least starting in September I will be employed and "secure" for the next academic year.  (Meanwhile the summer job situation remains a most hideous beast, which I'm sure any of you with college-age children have discovered right about now.)  I hope in the fall I will have the opportunity to help someone else through this current economic slide as all of you have helped me.

Comments

[Ruth]

Yay for your readers! I'm glad people could help out.

[marianne]

Yes, Norma has quite the slew of good peeps here.
Congrats on your job! of course, I'm sitting here concerned about your COBRA payment for July and August... health reforms can't happen soon enough in my book. Here's hoping you find something to get you through the rest of the Summer.
I'm partial to Jon Stewart's "Clusterfuck to the poor house" :^)

[Seanna Lea]

I hope you find a job for the summer soon! There is never a great time to be unemployed!

[jessica~]

Wow, Kristen - I'm so glad you got the support you needed from Norma's readers. They really are generous. Congrat's on your placement in the fall :)

[Ann]

Congratulations on the job in the fall, but I too am concerned about your COBRA for the summer. I hope you are aboe to find something soon.

[Joannah]

She-who-has-a-phd...and now a 1-year position! First, congratulations!!!
Second, FYI (from someone in a similar boat) the 1-year lectureship I had the year before last came with a contract dated 7/1/07-6/30/08. The insurance that came with the job covered that time period. If you've already signed a contract for next year, check this out with your HR office, you might not need COBRA once the contract starts. Contracts vary, so check it out. Ask very explicit questions of the HR person, but this is what they do so they should be able to give you pretty straight answers. Good luck and congratulations!

[Angela]

Keep up the good work- I was in a similar place last year (having not finished my PhD but having ran out of funding) and at the last minute I got a visiting/fellowship gig that employed me for the year and paid my tuition and fees and miraculously landed a TT job during the hideous job cycle of doom, and now have just finished my dissertation and am moving to the new job. It does happen- people do somehow get academic jobs and you will get through this. Good luck to you.

[Cookie]

Add me to the list of people worrying about you and the next COBRA payment.

Congratulations on the new gig!

xo

[sandy]

Gosh it's good to be out of college and concentrate on being a bill paying adult, huh??
Yeah. Well, Kristen, it has it's good points! CONGRATS!!!!!

[Tracy J.]

Congratulations! Vanquish the beast!