Long ago, John asked for prayers, that he might be successful in his search for employment at Mount Saint Mary’s. I pass a Catholic church (a parish too modern for my tastes, but I walk by, nonetheless) at least twice daily between home and campus; a statue of the Blessed Virgin stands in front of the parish school. Along with my regular “Ave Maria,” I tossed in a prayer to Mary, Aquinas, and St. John Cantius on Schwenkler’s behalf.

Add that to the pattern, and generalization you have.

Seriously, though, that’s great news. Good luck to you.

Now if he could just tell us how he managed to get an academic job in this market in philosophy, that would be really interesting.

Step One: Have an exceedingly vague, barely articulate sense of where you’re going with your almost-entirely-unwritten dissertation.

Step Two: Apply for exactly one job, in an AOS that is not your own.

Step Three: ?

Somehow I feel that this pattern isn’t going to generalize …