In many respects, I am a blessed man. For four and a half years, I have been able to teach three to four classes a semester at once campus. This is virtually unheard of in the world that is known as Adjunctland.

Today, that came to an end. We had a drop in enrollment within the community college system and a 17% drop at our particular campus. This hit all of the classes pretty hard.

How many classes do I have right now?

I have two. Fortunately they are both on Monday-Wednesday-Fridays, which ties into my Spanish 102 class. That class, I might add, seems to have survived the cuts that were the result of low enrollment.

So, what happened?

Hard to say.

Some say that students, disgruntled with the jobless recovery coupled with the modest standards at our institution, simply gave up and walked away. Some say that some students were weeded out by their inability to show some level of academic progress, losing their financial aid in the process. The requirement to pay for the courses upfront probably isn’t helping matters either.

I suspect things will not get any better anytime soon. If anything this will prompt our department to offer fewer classes in the Fall, hurting all adjuncts in the department. And when the 2013-2014 Academic Year arrives, I have it on good authority that there will be fewer classes still.

What about other campuses and colleges?

For the most part, I am precluded from teaching at most institutions due to the lack of a PhD. I can’t teach in a public school because I lack (and refuse, frankly) to go through the farce of earning a certification. As for other campuses in our system, there are those who feel that only historians with 18 hours of American History courses on their transcripts should teach American History. No other historian need apply, which was the main reason I languished in academic exile for six years in the first place.

Change is afoot, for better or worse.

What are my options?

First and foremost, there is lifeguarding. I’ve applied for a slot as lifeguard instructor with my summer employer. I have every confidence that I will complete the training in relatively good order. God knows I’ll have the time I need to focus on it. This should bridge some of the gap in pay. There are other pools I can work at as well until summer arrives which will help, to include the campus pool at Longview.

Hey, I don’t have to worry about eligibility now, do I?

Second, in a worst case scenario, I could return to private security work. I’d rather not do this unless I had a signed novel contract in my hands with an advance to boot. Otherwise, I think I’l take my chances doing something else.

Finally, there is the possibility, slim perhaps, of full time employment as a lifeguard at a new indoor facility I am aware of.

We’ll have to wait and see.

The Writing Front

I’ll be pushing forward with a short story project and a novel project respectively.

Other Fronts

There isn’t much else to report.

Hell of a way to start the new semester, and the new year. I feel more and more like I am living in a third world country.

Respects,
Steven Francis Murphy
Author of The Limb Knitter and Tearing Down Tuesday
North Kansas City, Missouri

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