WebMD defines "dysmorphia" as a body image disorder. No doubt standing in front of students multiple times a week can bring on bouts of self-alienation, but perhaps there is something more to academic dysmorphia.
First, the lack of publication parties suggests to me that we are not getting the most out of our Moments.
Second, the never-ending process that is academia has a tendency to reduce those Moments into moments.
Third, different fields have different time-lines for publication. In my field, two years is a normal wait between the submittable draft and the final beautiful product, which then takes another few years to get "digested" by the field. By that time I don't even remember what I wrote, much less have Investment in it.
If you looked in a "skinny mirror" that corrected academic dysmorphia, what would you see? Did you mail out copies of your articles and books to everyone? Including your dean?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I'm not sure my publications would have a place in my skinny mirror. By the time they've been reviewed, revised, "improved", etc. they're hardly your own anymore. They're output that has nothing to do with the essential you.
ReplyDeleteMy skinny mirror would show the fabulous genius of me, untouched by others, free to do/write whatever I wanted...a dissertation on Daniel Craig, perhaps?