I spoke to some old-schoolers at my job who were around when they first won the union vote with NEA. Turns out my vitriol was a bit misguided (due to someone else misinforming me). Fact is (I guess) that it is a violation of state law for the professors at the community college to strike. I don't yet understand this, because it has always been my understanding that the right to strike was protected under federal law - the National Labor Relations Act. I know that there was a similar reason why the MTA workers in NYC got fined hen they struck. I don't know why the an officer of the local union bargaining unit told me that NEA did otherwise; perhaps he was also misinformed. Nonetheless, I need to talk with a labor lawyer about that.

I'm thinking of going back and getting a graduate degree in mathematical physics here at the state university. It looks as though it is going to be very difficult for me to find a job in education because I am either way over qualified for the job or lacking adequate credentialing for a job. Going back and getting finishing my doctorate in educational theory would likely make things no easier for my wife and I, because two academics finding jobs in the same exact (small) field within driving distance from each other is a rarity indeed. Also, with a graduate degree in mathematical physics, it will be much easier for me to find a job in industry if need be while I wait around for an academic position to open.

But then there's the whole question of leaving middle America. My wife wants to go back to the east coast, and getting into a doctoral program in physics means committing to middle America for at least another 6 years. What to do, what to do? Perhaps I can just start in the masters program and re-assess after two years. Man, I hate the hoop-jumping of credentialing, but I guess I can't expect the world to make exceptions when I'm the exception just because I'm the exception. Fricking world.