For once, I am writing an article that will be more positive. It won’t sound like it at first, but it does get better toward the end. I am writing this in my old office that I just finished cleaning out. It does look a lot bigger with everything out of it and plenty of space on the wood paneling. The reason why the room is empty now is that I have finally landed on my feet with another gig.

First of all, this new gig is at a state institution. I am finally free of the private SLAC environment where petty differences can quickly sink someone’s morale because the culture is attached to tradition rather than innovation. While these green pastures will not be totally free of toxins, I can’t imagine that my new place will ever be as bad as my two previous institutions. Even if it was somehow as terrible as either of them, I have so much scar tissue and callouses from previous experiences that I won’t even notice. However, I will give a summary of my last two tours of duty.

Remus College was my first job after graduating from Shadoe State in 2016. It was a microscopic private SLAC with a history of pettiness that only supports my claim that adults are only children with financial obligations. The fighting, backstabbing, and overall toxicity of that place was bad for everyone involved. The infrastructure was crumbling. The morale was insanely low. The students were not even remotely college-prepared. I couldn’t even imagine how bad the AI problem is. I swear that the school would take any warm body who would apply, as finances were always tight. Speaking of which, money was always mismanaged and spent on projects that did little to improve, well, anything. The two previous presidents couldn’t keep their pants on for various reasons. It was so bad that the first philandering leader even used school funds to pay for child support. The culture at Remus College was so bad that I wrote a book about my experience there that only covers the first two years. The second book is done but needs type-editing. I am almost through with the third book, which will wrap up the final year.

When I arrived at Romulus University, I was promised a lot of things. Unfortunately, almost all of it never came to fruition. This place was just one disappointment after another. The previous president had a problem writing checks their butts couldn’t cash. That left the school in dire financial straits. The new president has righted the ship, but at the cost of morale and student engagement. The biggest problem around here is that the student-athlete population is at critical mass. When only one in five of your students does not play a sport, you are looking at trouble. Nobody attends anything because they are too tired from practice and homework. The saddest part about my departure from Romulus is that I actually liked the place. I enjoyed working with the students and helping them with whatever they needed. In comparison, the book that I am writing for this school will cover the same amount of time as Remus, but will only be a single project, not a trilogy.

All that said, I am looking forward to greener pastures. I will have a lot of latitude to do things, as I did here at Romulus. I will be left to my own devices to develop programming that I hope will increase student engagement. I might not have the same amount of free time to work on my various writing projects, but if I can help and connect with students, then I won’t complain. It was looking scary there for a minute as I wondered if I was going to be employed for the fall semester. I was picked up in the nick of time, and I intend to give this new place the same level of effort that I gave every place. I am not sure how often I will be writing on this site, but I will not abandon it. There will always be shenanigans, and I have no problem venting them to the void that is this website.