So eight months later...

I logged on to write a blog post. I haven't written a post for a while, but it's not because I didn't want to. I write an enormous amount as a PhD student, and I'm not going to front, writing in a lot of senses, especially if it is public-facing, adds a bit of anxiety to my life. Some days my writing goes well, and some days it doesn't. I try and I hope it flows and makes sense. I fully acknowledge that I have taken on unnecessary headache by the tenuous grabby clutches of the academy.

There's another anxiety that I've developed, and it's more around the usage of social media, staying true to myself, and more attention being paid to things I say AND do. The more I move on up in my program, I'm continuing to build on my real-world, instantaneous connections made with faculty I respect, admire, and hope to model my career after. This of course, invites some to engage with me on social media, and for some colleague graduate students as well. So, whereas I might be really frank, share criticisms of the academy, or still-developing takes on theories, and turn up from time to time, I have found myself more cautious of my online presence.

However, this weighs on me because while it is never a bad thing to look critically at one's social media usage on occasion, it is not the place of the ever-looming figure that is the ivory tower to creep into my subconscious before I even gain full-time employment, with my degree in tow! Yet, the reality is that many on the job market, or about to be going on the job market have to contend with social media. I have even seen some faculty on Twitter advocate for the inclusion of "soft work" or "soft skills" that lead to social media engagement, or public scholarship to be included in tenure dossiers, for example. They say it should count for something.

In any capacity, this is my attempt to chronicle my thoughts regarding this academic journey I'm on. It is my attempt to find a 'safe' place that is my own corner of the internet, where I make my rules. It is my attempt to have something to look at later on, to see how far I have come and gone. So, here I go again. Blogging, or something like it. On my own terms and schedule. Stay tuned OR not! I'll be here, and I will still be hireable.