Something that Happened Today

Today, I was up at school, and I decided to go to one of the hiring presentations just to see what it was like. It was interesting...

I went to the room a couple of minutes before it started, and when I went in, I was glad to see a fellow grad student in there because I didn't want to be the only one. I said "Hi" to her, and she went on talking to the person she was talking to. I expected to visit with her for a second when she turned from that conversation, and then sit through the presentation. I sat down in one of the few seats open near the door, and a professor who I've never met came up and sat by me (obviously wanting to leave from the meating hurriedly afterward). That's when I noticed my friend slip out the door before the door shut for the beginning, leaving me as the only non-professor in the room. I considered leaving, and I probably could have slipped out, but since the professor had sat by me I felt a bit trapped. So, the doors shut, and the presentation started, and I began looking around. Not only was I the only non-Ph.d around, I realized I was dressed a bit differently. The professors were all dressed really formally. I was dressed in my Lemony Snicket Series of Unfortunate Events t-shirt, jeans with a hole in them, and a cap. That was fine with me. I've been bothered for a long time by the elitism of English departments, and I've planned to always "dress down" if I become a teacher (one professor I know, who wasn't there, always dresses kind of like I did (though no Lemony Snicket graphics)). Anyway, I was pretty much invisible. Even the professors I have this semester and had last semester ignored me. I did notice that the presenting professor kept looking at me. I'm not sure if she did that because it was easier for her to talk down to the obvious outsider than to talk to the colleagues who were there just to judge her or whether she kept looking at me because my shirt said in large letters, "Things Are Looking Worse." She might have taken it as a sign. I know I would have.