Summer Scholarship for the #altac

Elizabeth Lewis Pardoe

As I struggle to find the energy, focus, and drive to complete my summer writing deadlines, the opening lines of Thomas Paine’s The Crisis take on new meaning:

THESE are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.

For those of us “Alternative Academics,” marked by #altac hashtags on Twitter, the summer IS the season that tries our souls.  Our tenure-line colleagues disappear into the archives and post to Facebook from glamorous destinations around the globe. At the same time we work full time and wonder whether or not to attempt CPR on the scholarly commitments we left flailing for breath during the academic year. 

The difference appears less acute from September to June.  I may advise while others teach, but the strain on scholarship seems less stark then.  In the summer, when the professoriate retires from lectures, seminars, and office hours, I still Skype with fellowship applicants as registrars revise databases.  In some ways the summer pressure is less.  Undergraduates don’t line the halls.  Thus, the summer #altac scholar thinks a flurry of productivity just might be possible.