Response to TA T-and-A

The following comes from one of the responses to the grad-stripper column from Salon.com.
I felt it directly related to the theme of this blog, so I copy it completely from here:

Good luck

One of the things they don't tell you when you enter a PhD program is that you better have family money either from parents or a spouse or don't even think about starting. As this poor woman points out most grad students only get funded for a couple of years of what for most is at least, at least, a 5-6 year endeavor. And for that matter "funding" usually means enough money to share an apartment. In my experience at a fairly prestigious humanities department, the most successful students were not necessarily the brightest but the ones who had spouses to support them. As competitive as the academic market is, one pretty much has to have not only a dissertation, but a publication record when you apply for jobs. Many, like me, had to work full-time just to support ourselves, which leaves little time for what is in essence another full-time job.

Unfortunately I have no solution to offer for this young woman's dilemmma. But God love 'er for finding a way out of the grad student vicious circle, at least for a while.

-- Cossackathon

Nude PhDs: TA T-and-A

As a daily reader of Salon.com, I seldom have a chance to link my blog to my reading. Today that changed.

The local advice column, "Since you Asked," often has the regular, ho-hum advice seekers. But there is something about a grad student stripper asking for advice that caught my attention.

Her problem, as a liberal arts major, is paying for the last bit of work without school help. She admits to being a TA in the past, which only brings more possible links between her two worlds.

Read the letters, which are supportive and full of good advice (go farther away for a couple of weeks, bank the cash, and then crank out the diss.).

I think there are some interesting issues to tease out here: future positions ruined through a Google search, random posting of phone pics into Facebook, freedom of expression/speech.

I am afraid that in reference to hiring, there is not much liberal in the liberal arts.

Why not to be a slut: reason 425

The BBC reports that oral sex leads to throat cancer. One more reason not to be a slut. That is, if women were just good girls, they wouldn’t get hurt or sick. They bring it on themselves, really.

At least that is the continued, underlying assumption. The article cites a study appearing in the NE Journal of Medicine (so it must be true) that in 300 people who didn’t smoke or drink (more slutty behavior), that the incidence in throat cancer was “almost nine times higher for people who reported oral sex with more than six partners.”

It seems that the study consisted of asking newly diagnosed with oropharyngeal cancer about their medical history and sex lives. If there was previous evidence of oral HPV virus, then the incidence of cancer rose 72%. So, they conclude, that oral HPV is a leading contributor to cancer of the throat. OK, I follow that.

Then the researchers make the leap that the best means of transporting HPV to the throat comes, as it were, through sex play. But, buried away from the headlines and leading paragraphs is this chestnut:

Oral sex was said to be the main mode of transmission of HPV but the researchers said mouth-to-mouth transmission, for example through kissing, could not be ruled out.

Or this one:

Dr Julie Sharp, science information officer at Cancer Research UK, said: "There is conflicting evidence about the role of HPV, and this rare type of mouth cancer.”

So, when you dig a little deeper, they really don’t know if there is a direct link from crotch HPV and oral HPV, nor do they really know the means or the method of the cancer’s growth.

But, just to be safe girls, keep your mouths closed. We would all feel better. [ßextreme sarcasm for the online impaired]