I’ve come to believe I can do more original and meaningful intellectual work outside of academia. For, to be honest, when I look back at my career and the things I’m most proud of, I did the majority in spite of the strictures of academia, not because of them. I did it in time squirreled away from bosses and administrators. And I’m tired of being a squirrel. While one might assume a record like mine would ensure some sort of success in academia, that’s not how things work. Rather, my academic prospects are actually somewhat lackluster. It’s likely I will never get a tenured position at a top-tier university.
