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<h1 id="on-the-personal-statement">On the &#39;Personal Statement&#39;</h1>
<ul class="post-metadata">
<li><time datetime="2003-08-12">12 August 2003</time></li>
<li><a href="/tags/academia/" class="post-tag">academia</a></li>
</ul>
<p>Im a little flat today, and unlikely to find the inspiration I need for a properly ponderable post. The flatness has something to do with the heat here, which has ratcheted back up to the usual August/September levels of misery, bringing along with it nasty levels of smog and general sinus headache-inducing crud in the air. But the flatness also has something to do with the project Ive been embarked upon for the last two days: writing the personal statement for my imminent tenure review.</p>
<p>The personal statement is a peculiar genre — neither particularly personal nor particularly constative; forced and artificial while demanding fluidity and naturalness; ostensibly intended to show off the best of your work but aimed at an audience of non-specialists. This is the third such review narrative Ive had to write since arriving here at the College Just South of the Hill, and Im afraid I havent gotten any better at it. The form brings out my defensiveness, and thus the statement reads as though Im having to justify my existence to a hostile board of examiners.</p>
<p>So thats where Im at — feeling testy and defensive as I work on the statement, and then whiny as I complain about it (because we should all have such problems, to have gotten to the end of a successful assistant professorship at a generous institution with wonderful students). Any advice, encouragement, or inspiration would be much appreciated. Ill hope to be back in working form tomorrow.</p>
<ul class="links-nextprev"><li class="links-nextprev-prev">← Previous<br> <a href="/synthesis/">Synthesis</a></li><li class="links-nextprev-next">Next →<br><a href="/on-the-truth-value-of-memoir/">On the Truth Value of Memoir</a></li>
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