Lots of Grading

 I am grading lots and lots of papers, so can't get any poems up on this blog.  I work as an Adjunct Professor and am paid poverty-level wages.  By this, I mean, it is less than a living wage.  I have a PhD in my field, teach college students, and I make less than $15 an hour.  Right now, for instance, I am grading papers over eight hours a day, starting in the morning, ending around 10:00pm.  Then I start all over tomorrow.  It would take less time, if I limited my comments to the students.  But then I'm not doing the job I love with the quality of professorial engagement the students deserve.

I also don't get affordable healthcare from my employer, the University.  They want about $300 a month from me to pay for my own insurance.   The only medical insurance I have is catastrophic insurance through Obamacare.

The good news is that I find my job very meaningful.  I've also had time.  Time to write thousands of poems in my life.  And a novel.  And there is more planned.  This is my calling.  Even though I live in poverty now and it may get far worse.  

The USA needs to start treating its teachers better.   All teachers, except those at the very top, the tenured professors, are treated like dirt.  This when education is needed more than ever, as we move into a complex, tech-heavy, world-shaking future.

OWL

A victory for adjuncts at one university:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/12/13/new-school-adjuncts-strike-wages/

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