It's been a pretty good January–not as productive as I'd hoped, but I'm getting there. That's good, because the spring semester starts today (though my classes don't start until Monday), and writing once again needs to be slotted in alongside teaching and chairing. Personnel issues are nowhere near as intense in the spring as in…

Well, another Allied Social Sciences Association (ASSA) conference has come and gone. This was definitely one of my more hectic conference experiences, but that comes from someone who normally takes these things very easy; I'm sure (in fact, I know) many people have much more intense conferences on a regular basis. (I don't know how they…

Yes, I turned 40 yesterday; I had a nice day in Manhattan with one of my best friends, walking and talking, drinking espresso and eating Ukrainian goulash, pierogi, and blintzes. And life goes on… I wrote a couple things to commemorate the occasion: a light-hearted post at Psychology Today, "What's in a Number? Pondering the…

Boy, talk about déjà vu–two weeks since my last update and things are very similar… Another two new Psychology Today posts, both stemming from readers' comments: "Is Self-Loathing an "All-or-Nothing" Proposition?" (November 13) and "Does Self-Loathing Get Better or Worse in Certain Situations?" (November 20). Another conference–going on as I write, in fact–this time the Southern Economic…

My weekly update of activity seems to have morphed into every 12 days–odd. Chairing my department continues to take up most of my attention, but things should calm down considerably this week, after which I should be able to re-dedicate myself to some academic writing (more below). In the meantime… I have two new Psychology…

I have five more untenured colleagues–the last bunch out of eleven–to get reappointed in a couple weeks, and that has been (and will continue to be) my life for a while. But in the meantime, I did manage to get two new posts up at Psychology Today over the last couple weeks: "Does a Failed…

So much for weekly updates… fall semesters for chairs at my college are dominated by personnel matters (i.e., making sure my yet-untenured faculty are reappointed for another year), which leaves little time or energy for writing. But a convenient break comes this afternoon (and continues throughout the weekend) in the form of New York Comic…

(The sad thing is that I can only use that song lyric once–once a week, that is! Mwa-ha-ha…) The chairing continues, and I'm gearing up to present three of my untenured faculty for their mid-tenure review next week, so that's where most of my focus went this past week. Nonetheless, I did write a litte…

Not very much–being department chair involves meeting after meeting, which doesn't leave much energy at the end of the day for writing, creativity, or wakefulness. Nonetheless, I have to learn to manage this somehow, as I have things I need (and even want) to do… There have been some interesting developments, however, if not progress:…