N.A. and I talk each night, either by cell or video iChat (and sometimes both...although not at the same time). I was just about to go to bed, when N.A. called.
He sounded frantic. Before he could get to the point, several worst-case scenarios went through my head:
1. A parent, sibling or pet was sick.
2. Students were protesting their recent grades by camping out on his lawn.
3. The election was included in some sort of government buyout plan, and Palin had been appointed Queen of the World!
Imagine my relief when he finally spilled it: "You wrote something bad on your blog! Go open it up!"
Intrigued, I fired up my laptop. I assumed I had mistyped a pseudonym, either revealing his name or my place of work. I scanned my most recent entries but found nothing amiss.
N.A.: Look at the top! In your tagline!
Me: I don't see anything wrong, NA.
N.A.: Your job? "Navigating a Visiting ass position"...?
Me: Um...yeah, I meant for it to say "ass".
N.A.: Oh. You did??? Why? It gives an image of-- of---
Me: Butt sex? It's an abbreviation for "assistant professor." It also pretty well sums up what most of the LargeU faculty thought I was doing: being a dumbass for taking a visiting position at a SLAC rather than a high-profile research postdoc position. You know, it's tongue in cheek.
N.A. paused. I thought he had accepted my answer. Then he very quietly said, "Please don't say tongue-in-cheek when we're talking about butts."
