Hi Celeste,

It's amazing how timely your comment is. I have been thinking about this exact issue for the last few weeks. I started college later in life that usual, going first to a West Valley College, then to San Jose State University, and ending up in graduate school at the University of California, Davis in a Masters program. This was a 12-year odyssey. I went part-time in the beginning, as I was paying the freight by driving a taxicab. In 1993 I graduated from UC Davis with a Masters in US History, Post-Reconstruction with a concentration in Cold War studies, at the age of 39. My dream was to tech history at the community college level.

I was fortunate and got part-time positions at West Valley College, Mission College, and San Jose State University teaching survey courses in US History. In total I was teaching more that a full load between the three schools. You could not teach a full load at any one specific school because they would have been required to higher you full time and even pay benefits. They called us part time instructors "Freeway Flyers." Once I had only 30 minutes between classes, one at West Valley College and the other at Mission College, a 20-minute drive. Fortunately it was the same course, so having just given the same lecture, I did not need any prep-time before class. That was my opinion; I believe some of my students may have thought otherwise.

Community college teaching jobs are very attractive positions. I applied for over 150 positions in the three years that I was teaching part time. I understand that each of these position would receive hundreds of applications, so the odds are quite long. Even with top grades, current teaching experience, and excellent evaluations, I could not secure a full time position. I didn't even get one interview. I moved into another direction. I became a Web developer and hosted Web sites in the early Internet days. Did quite well too, until the dot com bust. I still build and host Web sites, having kept some of early, long-time clients, but it is only a fraction of what it was.

The thing I have been thinking about lately is that, if I had secured a full time teaching position, I could no longer do it. I'd be out of work. Although I do not have enough history with MG to know how it will progress for me going forward, for the last thee months I can not speak for more 5 or 6 minutes before my voice become so labored that people cannot understand me. After resting awhile, it comes back slowly. So right now I conserve my voice for hurling insults and curses at my fellow motorists and threats at my taxicab passengers. "Stop playing with the automatic window button, or you will be walking!"

This has not caused me any great problem to date, but on occasion a cab drivers needs to be loud and aggressive to defuse a potentially violent situation. If some people sense weakness, they go right for the throat, sometimes literally. There are a lot of angry people out there. Last Sunday after the 49er game, for example, there were many drunk, angry and abusive people out and about. Had the 49ers won, they would have been drunk, happy, and abusive, much easier to deal with. In retrospect, given that I drive in the greater San Francisco Bay Area, perhaps it was the wrong night for me to wear my Seattle Seahawks jersey.

With the drugs, my speech has improved greatly. But if I am talking, that only lasts 5 or 10 minutes before it is gone. I hear some people describe this as "slurred speech." For me that misses the mark. For me the words stick in my throat; they are there but won't come out. Very frustrating! I sound like a stroke patient trying to get out the words. One of my passengers though I was having a stroke, fearful that we were going to die in a fiery crash. My dad used to say that someday I would "choke on my words." Dammed if he wasn't right.

I hope your speech situation improves. BTW, what is your field?

-Mark-