So you know how I always say I hate identities and communities because I’m so different and unusual and just don’t fit in anywhere, right?
I just discovered that I’m not in any way special or unusual. I was simply looking for a community in all the wrong places. It turns out that there is a large community with blogs, magazines, books and a subculture of its own that thinks as I do, organizes reality in a way very similar to mine, and finds answers to the questions that interest me. What I can’t find among academics or the feminist community, this group has in spades.
I found this community as I was lying in bed last night, battling a fresh round of insomnia. Before you imagine anything exciting, I was scrolling down my news feed when I saw an article from a blog I’d just added on a lark. It was titled something like “What You Need to Know About Members of Group X.” The description of said group fitted me perfectly. As I kept reading articles published by this group I discovered that they offered really useful advice to assist me in teaching, research, workplace politics, and even in my interactions outside of work.
It’s a very interesting new experience for me to realize that I’m not in the least unique and there is a crowd of people just like me. That community is where I should have gone to find kindred spirits and get advice on how to be the best academic I can be.
So the riddle is: what is this exciting community I discovered?

Leave a comment