speaking of names and other changes

Yesterday I renamed both this blog and  its companion Facebook page Precarious life and times. Not to worry though -- visitor won't end up in strange places like some did with the domain shift. This change does not affect either url. The Facebook iteration has already been moving away from primarily adjunct issues toward a broader focus on the workplace, economic and social changes accompanying the spread of precarity. Until very recently, this one hasn't been moving at all.

Seiltänzer (Tightrope Walker) Paul Klee (cropped)

What will change? Content. Adjuncts, casuals and other insecure academic labor will still have a prominent place. There more widgets, posts and collections on related topics, and a "What we can do" category coping and resisting.

What is precarity and who's precarious? The category includes more than academic precariat. Is insecure employment the primary or even sole marker of precarious populations? Is it the only benchmark? The connection with the economy and economic inequality is obvious. Disposable and marginalized groups are particularly vulnerable. Their initial precariousness, whatever the cause -- disability, age, race, gender, social and legal status, etc., inevitably pushes them further down in the workforce and decreases mobility options, often drastically.

Could all precarious people together already be the majority? That would bring us full naming circle to the ❝new precarious majority❞...

#MLKDay2016 Digital #SocialJustice Memorial

…the day online, in memorable social media memes, the dominant genre, articles, blog posts and videos. Tomorrow, let's all not go back to business as usual. Pay extra attention to the quotes and articles that make you uncomfortable or go against the grain of your personal ideology or world view. As Paul Thomas writes, 

One commitment is to resist the whitewashing of Martin Luther King Jr. as a passive radical. So here, I offer some readings, varied and important, but pathways to honoring the radical MLK and to resisting the lingering dream deferred.

This meme is a favorite because it resonates personally and on many levels:

…and many thoughtful articles and blog posts 

checking in/catching up

…but not a return of that the prodigal blogger redux post. Still, this is the longest MIA stretch yet -- from just past mid July to almost mid October -- and 2015 likely to be its thinnest blogging year. Reports, however, of its death have been grossly exaggerated. A modicum of explanatory catching up is in order. Short version: the ripple effect of major life changes.

Mid June I moved from Mountainair, New Mexico, to Yuma, Colorado -- sight unseen. Both are small, rural communities, very different despite commonalities. Just like a comparison / contrast essay prompt: that's another post for another time, another blog. I posted about moving on Work and Life (another blog) and G+ (#clmooc Community)

Here as elsewhere, that ripple effect pushed changes, changed intentions and shifted focus. I'm also looking for more intersections with the rest of my life and other interests. 

2 #precarity videos gleaned from #securework stream

…while waiting for quick (dare I hope?) re-cap post to make it out of drafts ~ and this afternoon's resumption of the NTEU Insecure Work Conference Livestream from Tasmania, I offer two videos from the #securework Twitter stream, one on insecure or precarious work and Verbatim Drama (Scene 3), a short dramatic performance ~ casual women academics talking about their retirement prospects.

In my opinion, the first, from the Australian Workers Union (AUW), has lessons for the often troubled relationship between contingent and tenured faculty ~ and for the unions organizing them.

#PrecariousFaculty Network Links (weekly)

…this week's collection focuses on precarity, presenting three quite seemingly different pieces but all on this same topic. One is an Australian report on insecure (precarious) in Australia. The other two are about precarious academic labor in the US: student reactions and a poet's reflection on academia as plantation life, more pleasant for professors than their sharecropper colleagues

Lives on Hold: Unlocking the Potential of Australia's Workforce

Report of the Independent Inquiry Into Insecure Work In Australia.  Grant Hobson, a Melbourne based photographer and artist, was asked to produce a series of portraits of people in insecure work for this report:

"Making these images was an exercise in self reflection. These people are, in fact, me. Crippling housing and living costs are compounding the difficulty for artists and creative people to remain independent and productive in our society. Work is a fundamental expression of who people are. If employment in Australia is increasingly insecure, impermanent and dealt to us from the bottom of a deck then the implications are that we are all in for a rough time ahead. I wish to extend my gratitude to all those who graciously volunteered to be photographed as part of this project." Tags: pdf #PFR precarious workers