Incredible!

I tried to read this to the tune of Deep In The Heart Of Texas lol

I left my job in academia for a policy related field in 2021, and I was a STEM researcher and teacher for over 10 years previously. I was an adjunct working towards professorship and never thought I would work in anything else. I fully expected to retire as a crusty old professor with grad students aplenty to help with my research, teaching courses all the while.

I applied to a fellowship program (that placed me in an agency as a contractor with simultaneous coursework towards an academic certificate) which catapulted me into the work I’m in now. A job like this is something I didn’t know I would ever be able to obtain until much later in life because it’s a full time job that has benefits (I’d never had a job before that offered benefits!). My partner was the one that spotted the opportunity in an email regularly sent out with local job ads for one of the universities nearby. You just never know what’s going to be out there, but local email newsletters for major academic programs have been a great resource for us, and I highly recommend getting on those lists to check them every day. There may be a history program at a nearby university that could be offering a fellowship or program that could be a stepping stone to another opportunity. I also wonder if your military service might qualify you for special consideration as a veteran. Some places seek out veterans for job placement, so there may be a slight advantage there, not to mention your PhD! It may also be worth it to check if the VA has resources or connections for your local employment (or maybe you’ve done this already).

Sorry to hear your dad wasn’t able to see the power in supporting you in your passion. It’s one thing to want your kid to succeed, but another to be myopic in believing that the only path to success is the one previously forged. If anything, we know that nothing in today’s markets is stable or reliable, so taking a novel approach at something like this is almost always been my preferred method. And it eventually paid off to take this risk, that is, after a failed attempt to join the team I was temporarily placed with during my fellowship. This failure was the impetus to my seeking other opportunities related to my new experience in this profession.

I feel insanely lucky, but the diligence and networking it took to prove myself in this new field ended up paying off. I was careful to look for any opportunity to branch out with my developing skill set. I learned the new vernacular, wrote my resume over countless times, and applied to a ton of places to get to my current role. With the fellowship placement and the relevant experience it brought, I had a foothold to get into a permanent/full time role, shaking off the temp agency I worked for previously. I couldn’t be more grateful to have this type of job stability, and I understand finding a job right now is a daunting task (as I’ve been helping a friend beef up his resume and draft cover letters to look for work right now and see how brutal it is). I wish you the best of luck and hope sharing my experience helps spark an idea that will help carry you to a role that excites you!

Great read! So much that grounds us in reality is found in unplugging from the digital world and getting comfortable in a task that brings us back to the here and now.

The more we keep asking this question of each other, the closer we get to stopping it. Keep it going, friends!

How easy is it to create an LLC and file the FOlA request through that channel? If you don’t have any named assets listed, does that retaliation even hurt?

I forgot about the power struggle between the gov and mayor of NYC, and how close we are to the election… Sits back with popcorn

2026 will be an interesting year.

Insidious, indeed.

Not in my browser history! This one’s staying blue.

“Vampire Capitalists” – Using this term now, thanks!

I’ve experienced many losses and traumas, some of which were guided by others with even more experience than I. They reminded me that while we grieve, we also have to take care of ourselves. Bathe, eat, drink, and live, even if the vector forward has an infinitesimally small magnitude… And to remember that our loved ones would want that for us.

I hope to be that friend for others when we inevitably experience these things and I’m glad to share what I’ve learned to keep us resilient in community. Carry their memory forward, and use the gifts they gave you to give back to yourself and those around you. ❤️

Sorry to hear this news. While you’re probably feeling a wild amount of strong emotions and having difficult conversations, we often forget to hydrate and eat something nourishing. I hope that you and Mom can grab a bite somewhere that will help give you the energy to take the next few steps. Little by little, friend.

I can relate, but my coworkers are so chatty that they can hold the conversation for the both of us and I’m usually just along for the ride. It’s very uncomfortable for me but I value a healthy work environment so I hear them out all the time. I wouldn’t be in the know otherwise so it’s quite valuable.

The water thing is not overblown if you consider that data centers will only use potable water and will not be able to use treated water. Per just one of many studies:

Large data centers can consume up to 5 million gallons per day, equivalent to the water use of a town populated by 10,000 to 50,000 people.

With climate change and the exacerbation of droughts around the world, this puts any source of fresh surface or groundwater at risk of drying up.

Only 3% of Earth’s water is freshwater, and only 0.5% of all water is accessible and safe for human consumption.

This is a growing environmental justice issue (and data centers encourage further energy poverty that I haven’t even addressed, much less the increasing ratio of usage for industry vs residential), and to ignore that we as humans cannot replenish or increase freshwater supplies with any meaningful scale to support life, this becomes a dire issue.

I for one would much rather have water and affordable energy for communities.

Definitely good thinking with incorporating this heat source for a thermal energy network (TEN). It can’t be too close to residentially zoned areas due to noise, but in theory, it’s a massive source of waste heat that can be connected to neighborhoods and business instead.

In my humble opinion, I will add that had these “edgy” bs comments that “kids” say, as Vance defended, been uttered by a person of color or another marginalized group, there would be the absolute hardest-line response. They would bring the hammer down on these ‘r@dical d0mestic terr0rists’, and they wouldn’t stop until their whole network of family and friends felt pain for this misstep, leaving them as an infamous example. Do we see that happening in this case? Will we see similar consequences? This double standard tires me to no end, and it’s seemingly always okay when the “good ol’ boys (and girls’) club” conveniently step out of the spotlight and into comfortable silence. I find this injustice unacceptable.

Boy can I get behind this rant!

Commenting to keep track of this.

I appreciate both of your perspectives. I’m going to hold out hope still that what is being done mobilizes people that wouldn’t normally, and allow for the development of solid goals that protect the most amount of vulnerable communities to carry this movement with longevity. The most I will expect is that we attempt to show each other and ourselves more kindness and grace through this process. Tearing down the walls we’ve built between us is a goal I’ll vote for. We’re more similar than we are different.

It took some time to wrap my brain around this concept but I’m excited to use this to branch out and learn more about how we measure inequality, and to that end, be able to speak to pollution and other environmental burdens on communities that make them more vulnerable than others. If anyone has literature they want to suggest to me on this, I’m all ears!