Jobbie-Jobs

Graduate school is a funny thing. You run into all kinds of amazing people (okay, and some phenomenal idiots and jerks) for a relatively brief moment in time. You exchange ideas, celebrate successes, and commiserate in hard times. People come and people go-- some decide to end with an MA and some you get to see finish their PhDs and go on to get jobs. With regard to the latter, this semester has been a particularly interesting one for me. A fellow history grad who started the same year I did (but, unlike me, he already had his MA) went on the job market this spring and got a job (no small miracle in history these days). Not only did he get a job, he got his dream job, at the exact institution he wanted. Another graduate student, though not in history, has finished her dissertation and has accepted an offer from a great university. When I emailed her to get some citations for my own research, she sent back her entire dissertation for me to peruse (our research areas intersect). It's a funny thing to have these incredible people in your life for such a brief time. Amy Tan says, "I think about all the different ways we leave people in this world. Cheerily waving good-bye to some at airports, knowing we'll never see each other again. Leaving others on the side of the road, hoping that we will." Graduate school can be such a trial by fire sometimes that it's really something to behold when people can get through to the other side and raise their fists in victory.