The academy

(Vermeer’s Astronomer)

Let’s talk about the ivory tower and how it doesn’t connect with what the majority of people do or think about on a daily basis. Let’s talk about research grants, academic advisors, and the life of a professor. Let’s talk about peer-reviewed journals, the “public sector,” and gender equity. Let’s talk about paying bills, working nonstop, and being unemployable because you’ve spent all your time becoming the world expert on a rare species of bird that nobody knows or cares about, and …

No.

Let’s not talk about these things.

Let’s talk about love, and ideas, and people who love ideas. The rest is just a rusty old car that can get you to the mountains if you know how to work the clutch.