It's mid-December, and I am flabbergasted:  I have NO interviews yet for the MLA.  I have submitted more than two dozen applications to schools all over the country.  I have fine-tuned my cover letters and have updated my CV, which is much-improved over last year.  And yet... .... .... ....

silence

The phone does not ring, no "You've Got Mail" chime (not that anyone's computer makes that noise anymore), no carrier pigeons, nor smoke signals.  Nothing that even remotely resembles interest on the part of the departments to which I have applied. 

just... nothing.

It's shocking, just shocking.  Not because I hold myself in such high regard, but because I really thought this year-- as did everyone else-- that I was a "much stronger candidate" for The Market.

I am forced to wonder if it's "just the Economy" or if it's something I've done, something I've said or failed to say in my letters of interest, or maybe just the topic of my wacky dissertation.

Whatever it is, I am dumbfounded. 

WTF, academia?!?!  I knew you were cruel but, c'mon, this... this... is RI-DI-CU-LOUS!!!