On "The Death of an Adjunct"

I haven't written in a long time, and I was not going to respond to this article as people have been posting it, but I'm going to anyway. This is not a surprising or unique story, nor do I believe the system is ever going to change--there's been a lot of talk for many years but no real action on a mass scale. Universities like their cheap labor, after all, and universities have no problems churning out the laborers. And it's not like all the tenured or TT faculty and administrators think adjuncts are worthy of better pay; just take a look at all the naysayers in the comments on the various articles about the study at Northwestern arguing that adjuncts are stronger teachers: so many seem to feel that if you couldn't get a TT job, you must not be an effective enough researcher and/or teacher. I taught a 3/3/1 or a 4/3/1 or a 2/3/1 (for $2,500 per class, all writing-intensive courses, with new preps--my choice [to keep things fresh for me and for the students]--every semester) on top of 25 hours of tutoring per week on top of a TT job search on top of regular publishing for five years after my PhD. I don't regret it because I loved teaching and research; I was able to do what I loved and what I had wanted to do for a living since I was 13 years old; I think/hope my students would vouch that I taught them effectively; and I am proud of my teaching portfolio and my publications. But to work in that culture and under those conditions for any longer was unsustainable. I miss it dearly--I miss my students; I miss having conversations about literature and writing and history and film; I miss critically engaging with interesting ideas and texts that have cultural significance. And I admit that there are at least two times every week when I still want to go back and subject myself to adjuncthood just so I can experience those things again to rediscover my sense of professional fulfillment. But given my own cynicism about the present and future of higher education, it seems a better path for me, at least, to find something new--something just as (or more) rewarding mentally and professionally but far more rewarding monetarily (not to be crass, but home, food, healthcare, utilities, and just not living under financial stress or paranoia are important)--something that won't lead to the kind of tragedy in which this poor woman's story ended.