getting a job: should heart travel

I'm about to move to the most beautiful setting for a law school that there is [ed. - more beautiful than the Loop? The 'Bu? The Garden District? me - mais oui! Hillier than all of them, for just one thing - means you have to be careful on your bike, though.], but doing so is going to require me to leave New York City, the kind of thing that countless of my fellow residents contemplate with undisguised fear.

It's also the kind of thing that would-be professors need to think about very carefully. That one isn't allowed to indicate any geographic inflexbility if one seriously wants to teach is a truism. What's more, I think that it's risky to try to backchannel secret geographic preferences through one's references. Like pep squads, many academics don't trust applicants who don't have the most possible commitment to the job. I'll go even further: I would recommend against going into the process with a preference for anything other than the best possible students and colleagues.

That, at least, is how I tried to approach my search; and I thought those who approached their searches differently got a white-knuckle ride through the market. For some of them, there were happy, geographically preferred endings, for many others, there were not. It is, of course, difficult to move to a plains state when your spouse operates a lighthouse. But there are also many geographic obstacles that look much less compelling to hiring committees, and many geographically attractive schools - say, the ones located on top of ski resorts - that aren't that interested in developing a junior faculty rich in ski afficianados.

Of course, I may be different than many. I'm not bothered, for one thing, to be leaving New York, which is sort of wasted on me, as my leisure tastes run to the sorts of flicks and novels that are available anywhere, while things you can only do in Manhattan - Broadway, dance, heavy-metal and air guitar karaoke - are only approximately my cup of tea. I will miss the food, though. During this valedictory month, I've sampled 29 dollar burgers, high-end Thai, soup dumplings, lobster rolls, utterly correct pizza, and low end falafel. And that was all just for lunch.

But that's the nature of the game, right? To commit to teaching also commits most would-be professors to moving to another place. It's crucial to approach it with optimism. I'm looking forward to a change of scenery, a place where the trash gets collected regularly, where I'll triple the amount of furniture I own and acquire a kitchen with cupboards. And a toaster.