The Adjunct Advocate

May 19th 2008

Just a couple of hours after posting my blog piece that mentions selling Adjunct Advocate, over at the American Federation of Teachers Craig Smith had this to say. Well, kind of this to say. He offers my blog posting without comment. Then, he asks his readers to guess who will buy the magazine, and how much it will sell for. Both very good questions. The implication seems to be that selling to a larger company and/or selling for money are worth commenting on.

Hmm....maybe I should take payment in camels? Nah, I'm already planning on getting chickens once the Ann Arbor City Council passes the ordinance allowing residents to keep hens in the city (if I lived in Madison, Wisconsin, I could be eating my own fresh eggs already). Chickens will occupy all of my animal tending time. I'll not have a spare moment for camels. I could take payment in precious gems, but what happens when you send the bank a couple of diamond chips instead of a mortgage check? I suppose I'll have to settle for dollars, dammit.

Maybe AFT could buy Adjunct Advocate. Lord knows they'd love for the publication to quit with the questions, already. The nagging questions about FACE and part-time faculty gains from FACE (or lack thereof, thus far), about union finances, about all of that pain in the neck stuff we've been asking about since 1992, when we asked in a feature story headline, "Who's Going to Organize the New Proletariat?"

Just between you, me and the 20,000 people who read this blog, I'm hoping Rupert Murdoch calls in a lather hoping to add Adjunct Advocate to his stable of newspapers and magazines. I am also hoping he'll call when totally intoxicated and insist he must give me $40 million dollars, cash, and that he doesn't need to consult with his Chief Financial Officer. I know. Wait. I turn down Rupert Murdoch, because on line two they tell me Punch Sulzberger from the New York Times is calling. There are scads of of part-time faculty in New York. Adjunct Advocate is a perfect complement to the Times magazine.

Seriously, I am actually quite conflicted about my decision to sell the magazine, primarily because I have met so many incredibly bright, passionate and interesting people on this almost two-decade journey of mine. In addition, I am proud to have built a thriving business that has supported my family, and provided both my partner and I the opportunity to participate fully in the lives of our sons. I expected to be a professor, or a travel writer, or maybe even a novelist; I never expected to own a publishing company. Now, I can't imagine doing anything else!

So, if I sell Adjunct Advocate, you will be among the first to know when it happens. Until then, it's back to work. May/June will feature a profile of the part-time faculty group who organized the new union at Henry Ford Community College, in Dearborn, Michigan. There will also be a piece on the diversion of part-time faculty equity money to full-time faculty in Washington State. Until then, thanks for stopping by and hanging out with us at the AdjunctNation.com web page. In April, the site hosted 115,000 visits, and served up 1.7 million pages.

Posted By Patricia L. at 8:00 AM