The Intelligence Community

Well, here we are. I am an academic, and I love my job. Sometimes, though, academics really annoy me. The narcissism, the constant blogging, people who have had tenure since they were thirty. If I had known how much neurosis and subterfuge were involved in this career, I wonder if I would have given a career in psychotherapy or security analysis more than a passing glance of undergraduate interest. Of course, that was long ago. My undergraduate thesis was typed on a Smith Corona because my room mate hid my IBM Selectric ball. Instead, I ended up in interdisciplinary humanities, and after passing through several SLACS of high and cult-like repute as a "visitor," found my permanent place at a public institution in eastern seaboard suburb, USA. My dissertation was written on a Mac Classic. I remember telnet prompts with fondness. I am stuck between the generation (older) that, especially in those cultish SLACs, deplores the "careerism" of their newly hired colleagues, and those new hires (younger) who certainly got more guidance than we did. I sometimes bewail the demise of Lingua Franca, perhaps because it had such mean things to say about several places where I worked at the time.
But when did what should be the intelligentsia stop defining itself as such ? Why are there no public intellectuals, but only "popular" scholars (say with disdain and a sneer) ? Why is there so much whining about men being outnumbered in higher ed ? Buck up, people. Believe me, we could teach the CIA a thing or two when it comes to double-agents, paranoia, and intelligence gathering. Academics is a learn-those-skills-on-the-job cornucopia. Meanwhile, we somehow actually do get things done. The wonder of it all. I have come to stare it all in the face. Do not expect a daily account of the papers I grade, the meetings I go to, or what I [don't have time to] eat. I have no idea what I'm going to say, and neither should you.