Earlier, I wrote about the faculty/staff divide. While I still think the divide sometimes exists and sometimes the two sides view each other with contempt or suspicion, I am coming to view myself as occupying the space between. I’m on neither side. Someone asked me the other day if I was thinking about pursuing a full-time faculty position and I said no–after some thought. Yes, a faculty position might be more “prestigious” but there are so many things I don’t like about it: the tenure struggle, grading, the constant uncertainty, the singular focus on one thing. With my current position, I can do faculty-like things (teaching, writing, conferences) without those things affecting whether I keep my job. I like the huge variety of projects I work on and I like the very pragmatic nature of much of what I work on. I get bored by thinking abstractly for too long. Though I greatly appreciate those that can do this and give me things to think about. There’s more to say on this but I can only type so much on a treo. 🙂

Update: Here.