I was working on a student’s paper this morning and giving them title ideas to help them gain an advantage during keyword and Boolean searches to make sure their published work gets as many eyeballs as possible, and it occurred to me:

I haven’t checked my own citation counts in….years.

How long has it been? I used to check quite a bit.

I didn’t feel particularly compelled to look now, either.

Then it occurred to me; I haven’t check those damn numbers since I got promoted to full. I remember some grad school partner of somebody laughing about how a professor made her keep monthly counts of his/her citations, and I remember thinking, man, that’s some ego. But I think I probably checked my mine about monthly.

And I know why I check then and why I don’t check now: places like USC use them damn numbers for tenure and promotion, and if even if you aren’t checking, they are.

The inhumane and yucky things we do to junior faculty–smh.

I’m not going to check now, either. They don’t matter.

Have a good weekend, if you are fortunate enough to have one.

Words written: 250
Book I’m Reading: LeavingAtlanta by Tayari Jones 
Listening to: Fear of a Black Planet by Public Enemy
Beverage: Coffee, black