Today’s blog post is inspired by the Reverb10 project, which asks people to reflect on the past year and consider the coming one. Each day during December the folks at Reverb10 post a new prompt. Like Sarah J. Bray and Jessica Albon, I’ll be responding to each prompt, but it’s unlikely I’ll be publishing all my responses in this space–since I haven’t seen all the prompts, I’m not sure how much they’ll be relevant to my readers here.
Today’s prompt:
One Word.
Encapsulate the year 2010 in one word. Explain why you’re choosing that word. Now, imagine it’s one year from today, what would you like the word to be that captures 2011 for you?
(Author: Gwen Bell)
The word that best describes 2010 for me?
Shifting.
My family and I experienced many shifts this year. Here are three:
1. In February, after a five-year dry spell on the job market, I finally landed a tenure-track job teaching U.S., gender, and public history. So in July, we pulled up stakes and moved from Davis, California to Boise, Idaho. This, of course, had repercussions not just for me, but for Pete’s employment and our son’s schooling.
2. In late 2009 and early 2010, before I even accepted the job in Boise, I realized I was burning out in my job on the staff side of the academic house. I was working with wonderful people, but the bureaucracy of the university, plus ongoing budget cuts, meantmy job wasn’t necessarily secure, and to make it more so, my job responsibilities would be shifting in ways with which I wasn’t entirely comfortable.
Accordingly, with a view toward the longer term, I founded a consulting practice with a good friend and colleague. We had started to really define what we could offer clients, as well as begun marketing efforts, when I accepted my new job. We decided it would be difficult for me to remain partner in a business 1,000 miles away at the same time as I was pursuing tenure, so we parted amicably.
3. I’m by nature relatively reflective, but this year I’ve kind of taken it into overdrive, really trying to think about what I value, what projects I want to work on (there are so many possibilities!), and how I spend my time. If anything, I feel more confused than ever, but I feel I’m moving toward a more grounded, centered way of knowing and being.
When I look back at 2011, what do I hope to see?
Grounding.
I still feel a bit like an exile from California, so grounding for me will take the form of:
- Continuing to deepen my practice of reflection, and to let that practice be transparent as we relaunch TerraFirma Creative
- Getting to know my new city better, and to become more involved with public history projects and organizations here
- Embracing more fully my creative energies, and finding a way to blend them with my work as an historian
Play along in the comments.
What about you? What single word best sums up 2010, and what are your hopes and plans for 2011?
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