User blog comment:Pvg3/Am I the only spouse who is about to have a breakdown if her husband doesn't get a job?/@comment-99.249.33.16-20100226134423

My wife is in a similar position. Thankfully, she has a good job, but finances are hobbled by my thin teaching load and a large student debt. Now that the RAP is in effect for interest-deferral, I simply do not qualify because they take into consideration the entire family income (which isn't that fabulous, but just high enough to get declined for RAP).

The only indication of hope I can give my wife, now that my PhD is a year old, is the fact that I've taught 9 courses for the same department so far and published over 25 articles. However, I'm hardly a shoo-in for full time employment. I tried to get a jump on the "game" by publishing articles in journals while still in my undergraduate. One commenter here recommended the literary option which is perhaps just as anxiety-ridden and dismal as the academic one. I run a literary practice on the side which has resulted in plenty of books and so forth, but the money is feast or famine. Here are some suggestions I've done to make some cash for the lean waiting times while still retaining some dignity:

-Write for the local newspaper -Offer to give public lectures at other universities and libraries -apply for provincial and federal arts grants (if you have a vis-art or literary practice) -think laterally: if you have a humanities degree, you probably have some skill with critical reasoning, language, and strategy. These skills are very handy in the most unlikely places. Someone else here mentioned think tanks. Another option could be the private sector. -volunteer to be an associate editor for good journals. It's good CV fodder and keeps the mind limber when not immersed in academia. -go into politics for a while. Many of the same seedy games in politics many academics are already familiar with in their own experience in university.