GOT THE JOB!!!!

PHEW!!!!

What a relief!! Oh, what a relief. 3 year contract. Decent salary. Now I have (and want) to ditch U#1 (where my husband works). I will miss it. Just one tiny bit. (the people a lot) Sigh...

Oh, thank you Lord!

Sigh...

The mega-commute remains, but I'm used to it by now. ;-)

Interview done

Yeah, on Skype, short & sweet. Now let's hope they don't go rogue & hire someone else! 

And on to one of the craziest busiest weekends of all time. 

Six family members at our house visiting, a 4h30 school harvest festival tomorrow night were volunteering at. Preparing food ingredients for 50-70 people & on Sunday loading the car, going to kids' piano recital, driving to U#2, cooking and serving food to students. 

Then I have to prepare two quizzes and finish grading an exam. I stay overnight in U#2 city & come back home Monday afternoon. 

Wish me luck. Crazy busy life. 

Sent (Application/ Tenure Package)

I'm still stressed out about some of the other items in my endless to-do list, but submitting the application is no longer one of them.

Sigh...

I'm feeling at peace about it. Today New Hire even called me into hir office to ask me (in a somewhat anxious voice) whether I was applying for the position or not -- and I said I'd to it tonight, that things were crazy at home with K submitting his tenure package.

Sigh...

He spent the night from Sunday to Monday working on it and came home only at 4:30 am. I'm glad that he's done, though. He's even telling a silly joke about it which I got his permission to share in another post.

I'm cold and nervous right now because I just spent some time reading (for the first time in THREE YEARS) student evaluations.

I hate doing that. But I braved it tonight. And included only one class in my application packet. One of the most glowing ones.

I still can't believe one of my student wrote (a year or two ago) that "my attire is not appropriate" -- whaaaa? I cannot wear colorful cute clothes to work? I need to wear dark pantsuits? Or serious little black dresses. Really? Who says that?


I also drove my husband crazy editing the teaching statement. You know, I don't think I'm cut out for this after all. I don't have the thick skin, I don't have the desire to please anyone, much less other scholars. I'm too scatterbrained to do anything right.

Some students picked on my disorganization or "scatter-brainess" but, thankfully, most really "got" me and my enthusiasm, my compassion, my flexibility and my deep desire that they learn.

I know I should be reading these faithfully every semester and improving. I know. I'm BAD. I'm lazy and extremely ridiculously sensitive.

I need a new therapist, that's for sure, and I hope I can find one soon.

I'll write more about this later, but I realized something VERY depressing about blogging today. There are exceptions to the rule, but most of the people whose posts I really loved to read quit blogging because they wanted to be writers. And they went for it. Some actually did get published.

Who did not? Who is still blogging?

yeah... very very very depressing and very bad for one's self esteem. If I'm still writing here (with no audience whatsoever) it means I'm really, really bad.

Long gone is the day when blogging changed my life for the better. I wish it could still do me good.

Sigh...

Good Question!

Thanks for your question, What Now? Obviously there could still be something, but I have a sneaking suspicion that in this particular case, being a local candidate didn't work in my favor. Of course this "local" is relative, since I don't work in this department of with any of their faculty.

Besides, my application was more of a tenure track application. That's what I was advised to do by my (fabulous) friend. Incidentally, she had a meeting last week, or two weeks ago, with the chair of the department where the position is and she had promised to make some inquiries. To be quite frank, I'm afraid to ask anything... Sigh...

In any case, my friend had told me that this was my one shot, so my application should look like an application for a tt job -- I should try with all my might, give 'em all I've got. So I did. Maybe they'll want to give me a chance next year? Maybe they only want to hire a person that will clearly know that this is a ONE YEAR thing -- because that's not what my application was for. I mentioned solid projects that have potential for many years of work with students. So... yeah... maybe that's part of the problem.

And I'm not upset or disappointed. I'm just preparing myself for another year of language teaching and for fighting again to keep my jobs and/or get another one.

It's OK. Part of the process. Too bad that I'm turning 44 and it's been 7 years since I finished my PhD so I'm probably past my expiration date as an academic. I'm not ready to quit yet, though. I won't go down without a fight. (She says, sardonically, always aware that it's pretty much a lost battle, that on this very day we learned more about the decline of the humanities... Sigh).

Yeah, whatever... ;-)

Nothing... & Benign

Two short posts in one, to save time. ;-)

Nothing is what I heard from my job application. I hope they'll at least send a rejection letter. It's better than NOTHING. Sigh... :-( I guess it was just a dream and, as I've said before, I'm confident that whatever happens will be for the best.

(what if I lost my other two jobs, got this one year position and then lost it after the end of the year? If they open a TT position I'll apply. And I'll try to publish at least a couple more articles until I have to send out that application [I don't know when I'll find the time, but I can try]. Sigh...)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The second part is about the polyps from my colon. I got a call from the doctor a week ago to say that they were benign, but considered "pre-cancerous," so I'll need another colonoscopy in 5 years (my mom thinks is too far into the future). I'm glad I'm OK, but slightly concerned at the same time. I don't know if there's anything I can do to prevent future problems. I'll look in to that.

. . . . .
Last, but not least, a weather report. Yesterday it was even colder for swim practice (59 F), but the boys braved it again. Today, both soccer and swim practice are cancelled because of the rainy cold weather.

At least I think it'll get warmer tomorrow. Today it's drizzling... which kind of reminds me of the city of São Paulo and its famous drizzle. I wrote a poem about that many years ago (1992) and posted it to the blog for Jo(e), eight years ago. Wow, I've been blogging for an awfully long time, haven't I?

What if nothing comes of it?

I seriously have to ask myself this question about the application for the job at U#1 and I need to prepare myself for it too (because that's what realists* do).

I know it's probably too early to hear back from the search committee (they started reviewing applications last Thursday) and, of course, I keep on thinking of reasons why they would rather not have a local person take the job, especially if deans start pressuring them because of "spousal" reasons. Sigh... 

I don't think that knowing a couple of people in the department, even if one of them may be the search committee chair, helps at all. Maybe the contrary.

OK, call me a pessimist if that's what needs to be done, but I need to rehearse all kinds of worst case scenarios.

And, answering my own question -- if nothing comes of it I already have two "half" jobs for next year (although U#2's job seems to be a "phantom" job at the moment -- the classes are not in my online schedule!) and... delightfully, I'll be able to sit in/help teach an MPB** graduate class every Tuesday morning!

I have lots of good things to look forward to, so I should be calm and confident, not worried. Ha! I wish! I don't know how I can prepare for an interview if one is scheduled. Sigh... I'll try to ask my friends to help me out! Fingers crossed!

* I refuse to say I'm a pessimist. I do see the positive side of life, but I desperately need to prepare myself for the worse every time. Maybe I am always pessimistic about money, but I think I have good reason to be! K and I almost argued about it this morning, sigh... he can't stand what he calls my negative/pessimistic thinking.

**Música Popular Brasileira - Braz. music.

Application Sent

I'm exhausted and a bit stressed, but I submitted my application five days before the deadline which is HUGE for me! ;-)

Today it was stressful to edit the Teaching Statement with my husband -- we do have very different styles and it's very hard for me to give up on my voice to adopt a more succinct and objective style.

Oh well...

And now I wait.

One of the reasons I was so stressed out about submitting the whole application online was that I submitted the information for the references twice, but they never received the automated emails. I am hoping that now that I completed the whole thing they'll get it.

I hope hope hope hope I get this job!! I am 100% ready to leave the other department at U#1 as well!

Today I had lunch with a dear colleague who is returning to Italy after eight years in this department and university and no permanent residency or a good contract. Very sad.

Enjoy the weekend everyone!

My Fabulous Colleague

She calls all her women colleagues beloved and you can't help but love her. She is one of the smartest women I have ever known, and beautiful too. Her accomplishments are just incredible. She published "only" 29 articles before being granted tenure last year.

She is from Kenya and we hit it off right away from the first time we met. My only regret is that I haven't spent enough time with her in the past five years. We are both hoping that this is about to change. She was amazingly enthusiastic and encouraging about my chances to get this position from the beginning and today she helped me make an already strong cover letter even stronger.

Most importantly, she made me feel accomplished and confident about my strengths as a fabulous candidate, to use a word she likes. It will be indescribably fabulous to work with her if I this works out. Let's hope it does!!

Still Not Done! :-( & My Genius Writing Partner :-)

I hope to write a different post soon, but I suppose I'll wait until Friday, or Sunday, when I should be fully done with both universities (I'm still at the same point I was in the previous post from Monday evening)...

Yesterday was a long day. I spent most of it on a teaching retreat (at a beautiful location, with delicious food and nice company, thankfully!), then I did a series of trips to several grocery stores, stopping at various points in my 70 minute commute back home, and making it a 4 hour affair -- that was very tiresome!

My husband's students are coming for an end-of-the-semester dinner tonight, (sigh...) but I also took so long because I always pick up several items for a friend every time I go to one of my favorite grocery stores and yesterday it was time-consuming because I had to email her photos of different things to check if I was buying the right things. And I still need to go to Costco today to finish the grocery shopping! We're preparing a Mexican (Chipotle eatery-style) meal since yesterday was Cinco de Mayo. :-)

Then, while I was driving home from my last stop I saw a new email about the letters of recommendation and freaked out BIG TIME (because I didn't realize the letters needed to be submitted by the deadline too! So I hadn't said that to my references!). So I got home nervous and high on adrenaline and because it was 9 pm and I still needed to feed the boys something and had to put away all the groceries, but all I wanted/needed was to sit at the computer and write emails to people, I screamed at my poor husband and it was not a pretty sight.

huge sigh...

I did calm down, prepared something for the boys, wrote all the emails, and got the answers I needed, thankfully. And then, around 11 pm K and I sat down to work on the application materials. He edited my cover letter for a couple of hours by himself and then we revised it together.

He's a GENIUS writing these things, my husband is. What would I do without him? No wonder he got four interviews (including one at an Ivy-League school) and almost got a grant he applied for. He has learned to write these things!!

I was joking that he's my ninja-writer husband to which he replied that ninjas are not only precise and skillful but FAST and he's very, very slow when writing, so I had to drop the metaphor... sigh...

OK, I just heard back from my last reference and will now login to the job application site and provide the information for each of them. I'll keep you updated about the job application!

P.S. it's such a gorgeous day! I wish I didn't have to work and grade and give exams, etc... (I have two students taking tomorrow's exam at U#1 early later this morning...)

I am SO DONE with U#2!

I wrote this on April 23 and then finished it yesterday, May 1st. However, it was published "in the past" (on April 23), but now I'm "bringing it to the present" (May 2).

Written on about a week ago after I'd had an annoying meeting with my colleague/boss. I no longer feel as contemptuous (as my just published post can attest - I love that post and that photo, BTW). But I want to publish it "for the record." Sometimes feeling righteous indignation over how we are treated is useful. 

I am steeling myself. If needed, I'll be ready for one more year of this, but I am incredibly ready to move on. I am hoping that the time has come, and that maybe now I can have a real job.

Because, seriously! I had to write the depressing previous post (this one about my salary) before I wrote this one just to show how outrageous the situation really is for me! As my dear friend emailed me today apropos of that link I sent her, I deserve better!

And I'm ready to move on from this job on every level. It will be a relief to drive only 36 miles a day instead of 152! It will be awesome to be able to drive to work with my husband on certain days, and to go out for lunch with him on a regular basis. 

In spite of the even worse and more exploitative pay, I have always been treated well at U#1. They have paid my expenses to go to conferences every single year, I have been able to buy books with department money, I get included in departmental meetings and events, and other things. And I get paid to participate of professional development opportunities and fellowships.

I'm also ready to tackle harder, more involved teaching and work. Teaching language is just too easy and not intellectually stimulating. I am ready to start seriously doing research and publishing, I think I can make it now. Not that I couldn't before, but now I feel better prepared. 

That is where I stopped writing last week. I have much more to say about all these issues, but I will have to revisit this topic at another time. Of course there are things I will miss from this university, but I don't think I'll miss much. 

And if nothing comes of my application, I'm sure I can handle next year, especially because I'll be working less hours, finally! 

Most importantly, I'm glad to be more at peace again. I don't know until when! The roller coaster that is my life is always moving, up and down! And I'll keep taking you along for the ride. 

Hope, Hope, Hope!

Hope is an insidious feeling and I'm hesitant to embrace it, but maybe I should. 

I just had three very encouraging 

conversations with three colleagues, one of which may actually be the chair of the search committee for the position I'm applying to. I have known her for five years thanks to my friendship with a (former) blogger! Small world, right? 

I'm taking all the steps to secure good letters of reccommendation and support and I'm getting really excited about this application.

Let's all hope my friends and I won't be disappointed!

Got Offer. Pity Party (hopefully) Over

I spent the day stressed out about my job and all the driving and working with the NH (new hire) and wondering if they would still honor their word and give me the full-time job I'd been promised.

I even had a quick argument with my husband over the phone about these things. "You are too negative!" he said in despair. Yes, you are right... sigh.

So... after not checking my email for over 36h I did it today and...

... lo and behold! There was an offer letter dated from  yesterday. So... yeah. One more year with an almost "real" job for me! Let's hope for many more, right? (and try to be more positive, that's for sure!)

The Handsome Guy

I began this post yesterday, but I needed to share the "verdict" before discussing this issue.

They hired the handsome guy. The ABD, "promising star in the field," guy. Obviously much younger and less experienced than me, but most certainly very promising (see! he's a guy! he has no kids! he's young!). He's working on Brazilian TV writers -- pretty "sexy" topic. Sigh...

He's the one candidate I met, though, so I'm happy. We talked  briefly and I liked him and felt we could work well together (we kind of "clicked"). But... we'll see about that.

How did I find out, you ask, given that no official announcement was made in the department and the two people I asked about the choice over email literally ignored my question?

I only found out because "new hire" emailed me this yesterday afternoon. Because he's going to be my direct superior coordinate the program and he needs to turn in plans for the future classes that will be taught. He needed my syllabi and I handed them over. Sigh.

(The only reason I was able to design my own classes and syllabi this year was that they didn't have a TT person in place in my area. In this department everyone, except for TT faculty, teach with previously designed syllabi, even full-time lecturers. This is probably because they have graduate students who teach, but I always had complete freedom to design my classes when I was a grad student -- lucky me!!).

I have mixed feelings about all this. I probably need to steel myself to have this much less experienced and younger person be my "boss" in a way. I'll give it a year and maybe this time next year I'll be working things out so I can come back to "U#1" perhaps.

Anastasia's blog is gone (very very sadly, I really miss you, A), but when she recently wrote that tenure track people feel/think that they are superior to those of us who don't have TT jobs (and lots of people reacted very strongly and even viscerally against this notion/suggestion) this was an extremely simple issue for me. One that I will get to experience "in the flesh" in the year to come.

It doesn't matter to me what the people who are tenure track think of themselves or feel -- most of them (or you) are wonderful, nice people who treat the rest of us "marginal workers" with collegiality and respect. The fact of the matter remains, though, that feelings aside, they/you are superior (position-wise) to us. Full stop. You can't argue against that. And neither can we.

It doesn't matter that I have many years of experience, it doesn't matter that I spent this year planning and designing the classes on my own. I don't get to be the "program coordinator" because at U#2 this is a task for the tenure-track or tenured professors. And I wasn't the one chosen.

I get that and I can live with that, but it's tough. I have to think that this guy is just doing his job, that he doesn't have anything against me. But maybe I shouldn't have braved it and stayed. Because even though I'm valued for the work I can provide to U#2 and the department teaching, they don't want anything else from me, only my teaching. And that's how it's going to be forever. That's why I think that maybe I have a better shot at U#1, even if I'm not TT there.

And the saga continues!!

P.S. It's posts like these that made me remove my name from the blog and try to me more anonymous. I'm probably crazy to be blogging these things, right? Very few people read me, though, so hopefully I'm OK (for now!). And I was just thinking as I "wrote this post in my head" today while walking on campus that this highly inappropriate blog is one of the reasons why I'm not really "tenure track" material. Hmmm... nah... no. Some of you out there blog pretty openly as well. I guess it's just part of the low self-esteem complexes that assault me once in a while. Sigh...

(Week-)Old News: That was strangely EASY...

I haven't been updating you regarding my job situation, but I'll try to mitigate that now (even though I should be grading or preparing to teach my classes or cooking dinner... Sigh).

As quickly as I can (we need to have dinner!)...

First, the current situation, in case you don't remember it: after two years being an adjunct at University #1 (where my husband is an Assist. Prof.), I applied for a full-time teaching position (non TT) at University #2. However, I continued teaching a class at U#1.

Meanwhile, I applied for a TT position at U#2, but nothing came of it and I began to actually fear for my job. I calmed down considerably when was assured that I would still have a part-time position at U#2 in the Fall, but after I this happened I thought that maybe I could use it to my advantage. That's precisely what happened!

When I talked to my chair about this surprising (but meaningless academic-wise) development she suggested that I talk to our department's coordinator and I did that. My argument was that U#2 could also get involved in "tele-teaching" and that could help me secure a full-time position for next year.

The coordinator was interested and asked for more information, so I talked to the person in charge of the project at U#1. That was when things got really interesting! This guy (who is a tech administrator guy, not in an academic position) suggested that maybe he could use the project's funds for me to work full time at U#1! WOW. I said that for the moment I was interested in continuing at U#2 while still teaching a class or two for U#1 (I make a bit more money that way).

Knowing that there was a possibility that I could also have full-time employment at U#1 was very reassuring and I emailed my coordinator at U#2 and made sure to mention that this possibility of employment had been mentioned. A few days later (two weeks ago, on a Friday) U#2 coordinator called U#1 tech guy and then immediately sent an email to the department chair,  the project coordinator at U#2, copying me and other people, arguing that my position should be made full-time.

He did say something else, though... he wrote that I had been offered a full-time job at U#1 and refused it because I wanted to work at U#2 instead... hmmm.... That was stretching the truth quite a lot! I had most certainly not been offered a job, but he said that, not me!

That same night the department chair emailed me and asked me to see her on Monday (last week). When I went to talk to her the conversation went as if I had never before asked her about my prospects for next year -- very strange! -- or as if we had never talked about my employment at all. She quickly asked me if I wanted to continue full-time and said that I would. That was it.

Yeah, it was that easy. And I felt slightly bad for having "maneuvered" the whole situation in my own favor. I'm still pretty surprised about that.

What did this whole process teach me?

1) That my position at U#2 is becoming more secure, but it is also 100% dead-end (more on that in another post, soon coming).

2) That there are concrete possibilities of going back to U#1 and that I would feel OK about that. However... I think I'd prefer to wait until there was something better (TT would be ideal, but maybe something else could work too).

So... things are still wide open and I like it that way. OK, dinner now (a VERY late dinner, I  must say).

Two White, (very) Young Guys!!

This is getting super fun and exciting, folks!! Seriously!

As I've blogged about before, my hunch was right! They really want to hire a WASP! (I know this is an outdated and politically incorrect term and that I risk being called"racist" and prejudiced for using it, but I still remember learning this word back in college in Brazil and thinking... wow... that's pretty interesting!).

I just got the names of the two candidates this morning and promptly looked them up. Two young, very good looking (at least one of them) guys.

One from most famous Ivy league school, newly minted phd from there (and, who is possibly from the same religious orientation as the former presidential candidate, given his undergraduate institution -- that would be interesting! My neighbors from across the street are also of this orientation).

The other, the most good looking, and who was described by his advisor as a rising star in the field, (WOW!), comes from California. I'm secretly hoping he's of the other orientation if you know what I mean.

The thing I'm hoping the most, though is pretty simple: I hope hope hope none of them is married to a Brazilian woman.

Because if they are and she is qualified to teach the language, I'm TOAST!

And I don't mind, because...

.... drumroll...

... in a conversation yesterday, I had someone propose that maybe there could be some funding from this "teleteaching" thing to help me become full-time at former institution.

I'll wait and see!

I'm going to be late at the end of the exam today so I can meet the really good looking guy who will teach my 12 pm class! Fun!

Out in the open

Suspense's over.

In the hallway this morning, almost late for class, search committee chair, on his way to a meeting, apologized for not interviewing me.

"Many people applied," he explained, "and two are coming to campus."

"That's OK!" I amiably, almost cheerfully, replied, and went on my way.

I think I can see these people now or at least know who they are. For some weird reason I'm hoping for Anglo men, again. Maybe I'd feel better & more valued (since he wouldn't ever be able to have my experience & perspective). A woman from my country or a man from another country would be fine, but a guy from my country... I don't think I'd like that at all!! I haven't much liked the ones I've encountered at conferences...

I'll let you know more as soon as I know! It should be fun!

Seriously!! ;-)

P.S. And I'm fine! I really am. (I kinda knew all along ;-) #benefitsofpessimisticrealism

Nothing yet... (or the elephant in the room)

... I didn't want to write about this, so I will write this post quickly and let it be buried by several others.

I have heard nothing yet regarding the equivalent to an MLA interview (since I won't be there). Do those of you in my field think I still might hear from them or can I count myself out?

In my last few weeks teaching I felt that for those that are in the know about my application (I don't know who the search committee members are, but I suspect), this has become an "elephant in the room" which makes our interactions a bit awkward.

OK, let me move on. I'll keep you posted!

the final push...

... to finish writing and submitting my application is NOW!

I had two colleagues proof-read my letter and give suggestions this afternoon. One or them is a former T-T professor at an Ivy-League school* who participated of several search committees in the past; the other is a recent Ph.D. recipient who is on the job market and who has been teaching in our current dept. for three years. S/he knows about last year's failed search and had invaluable "insider information" suggestions for my letter!  
*and who was denied tenure two years ago in a highly dysfunctional department.

I can't wait to finish and submit! And then... the anxious waiting will begin. :(

I need to prepare myself for not getting this position and continuing as a lecturer. I think I should be OK. Less work, more time with my family. Less money, more peace of mind.

The usual trade-offs one encounters in life... sigh...

The bottom line? I didn't go looking for this job or my current job, for that matter. These jobs "found" me and I'm happy they did.

Sent!!!

Not the application, not yet! (I'm hoping to do that by Sunday night even though you have no idea how busy my schedule is this weekend with wedding showers, Fall festival in the boys' school, rehearsals, the works!)

But I sent out the request for recommendation letters from my referees! It feels good to get that out of the way.

Now I just have to go through the day (and drive 150 miles) after going to bed at 5 am last night. The house looks great, though! Decluttered and clean. It's not perfect or anything, but it just looks clean and inviting and that should help a bit for the appraisal, we're hoping.

Don't miss my previous post, much more positive that that one! :) (understatement)

Just What I Needed!

On Wednesday afternoon K picked up his work external hard drive from the person who takes care of computers for his department. It contained all the files and documents from the HD that had died two weeks ago.

I was staying overnight at new job town, but I emailed him to send me the most recent MS Word document of my CV (I only had it in PDF and cutting and pasting from a pdf messes up the WHOLE formatting) and the article I had translated in May.

I took care of the article first, last night (it's the middle of the night, but it's still Thursday for me). I saved it into a PDF and finished the email draft that I had been writing back when the computer had died, when I had started to work on my job application. It was a long email explaining how I had communicated with the author of the works I analyzed and how she liked my article and thought it could be published in Brazil, etc.

This morning (Th) I woke up and... lo and behold! There was a succinct email from the editor in question saying that my article was very good, that they are very proud of the author I wrote about and that they were going to publish it!!! Woo-hooo!!! Just like that! A few hours of wait only.

Some minutes later, he copied me in an email to another person at the journal with my article as an attachment and the number of the journal where it's going to be published. I wrote back thanking him effusively.

Guys, this is a prestigious publication in Brazil because it represents, quite literally, the literary establishment. That means that with a bit more effort and continued publications about this author, I am (or will be) "someone" in Brazil!! I could potentially very easily publish books about her there. It's just a matter of getting the work done, which isn't hard because she's such a great writer and it's a great pleasure to write about her.  (the article I'm publishing was one of those rare pieces of writing that literally "wrote itself")

This small thing totally renewed my confidence in my ability to be a scholar. In fact, I AM a scholar already, yes I am!!

Revising my CV had the same positive effect. 19 conference presentations or participation in 11 years is not negligible by any means! Several of these were huge national conferences, and two international ones. Only a handful of local (one university) conferences.

I know I can totally do this and I have what it takes. I am aware that it will require LOTS of work and effort and, maybe, it's not meant to be. But I'm ready to "fight!" I will go forward with all my might and write a killer cover letter.

I was so confident that I actually sent out a short query for another possible publication, 'cause, you see, I had NOT been actually submitting anything or even looking, for that matter, if there were calls for papers that fit my work and interests. I was just sitting on my behind doing nothing! I know if I just get to work that I can get a lot done in a short period of time.

Of course there's still the writing to be done and that takes time and much effort. And I'm sure that writing a book or two will be a Herculean task for adhd me, but... it's not totally beyond me!

OK, gabfest officially over now! I can't get over how thrilled I was and am about this publication. It's incredible indeed! And I obviously knew it all along because for six years I've had that "Forthcoming" line in my CV and not it's no longer wishful thinking, it's a reality!!!