I’d like to second @Powderhorn@beehaw.org and declare, “Being in stasis is getting old.” It’s been a roller coaster as I struggle to navigate the end of my honeymoon phase of not pursuing academics. Holy crap, I find myself thinking constantly, what have I done for a decade and what to do now?! It’s a state of panic, keeping me from writing well or successfully job searching. I’d love to find a teaching track job and not worry about fighting for funding or tenure, but those are rare. I’d love to work at a democracy or environment nonprofit. I’m striking out. So I sit here and try not to feel sorry for myself.

It’s something I know many others are struggling with. As jobs disappear, funds dwindle, and you can’t seem to get a leg up anywhere. Closed doors, ignored emails, ghosting, and there’s only so much coffee you can safely drink in a day (I’m working on raising that limit).

So it’s been a weird time of stasis. I go downstairs, I try to write, I apply for jobs, I reach out to my network, and it repeats. Each day, each week. It’s rough.

So now I’m writing a return to my substack article on governance. Reviewing my old class notes from, wow, a past time, and trying to string words together. I got nothing else to do. But I did just run out of coffee and fear. So time to refill.