You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch

A while ago a long-time PJMB reader pointed me to a great run-down of how the APA works, called "How the APA Stole Christmas." Then, because my organization skillz are so mad, I forgot to post about it. (NS, I owe you an e-mail!) Lucky for me, a few days ago the author of the piece, Carl Elliot, who works on bioethics in Minnesota, reminded me about it. There's a lot in it I want to come back to at some point, and you should go read the whole thing, but for now I'll give you a little taste. Elliot writes that the schedule of the APA

has the virtue of simplicity and predictability, but its simplicity and predictability are also the reason why it inflicts such psychic distress. The APA holds job interviews between Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve, thus ruining the holidays for everyone involved. Job applicants must leave family gatherings early or skip them entirely. Even Christmas dinner is ruined by the anticipation of the distress to come.

"Ruining the holidays for everyone." No doubt. And to be clear, the holidays aren't just the time we get to see our friends and family. They're the time we get off from teaching in order to get some actual work done. Right now, I'm blowing day after day on interview prep, instead of finally--at long last--getting back to my dissertation.

Friends, family, and philosophy. A guy like me wouldn't ask for much more in life than that. And the APA fucks it all up.