Stultus Valley Days - I Make a New Start

First post in a recurring series

I got an email a while back from a friend I hadn’t heard from in a long time, informing me that a mutual acquaintance from Stultus Valley had passed away. 

Stultus Valley…God, hearing that name takes me back!  I’d only lived and worked there a short time, less than two years in all, but the experience left a lasting impression.

I landed in Stultus Valley after the Great Recession very nearly ended my academic career before it could begin.  I was working toward my doctorate at a research university when budget cuts eliminated my teaching fellowship and with it my ability to cover tuition and expenses.  I tried, unsuccessfully, to land an adjunct position that would have kept me in the game for the time being.

Since I enjoy eating and having a roof over my head I clearly needed to get a job, even if that meant getting a “straight” job.  Fortune soon smiled upon me.  Scouring the interwebs for a viable situation within a 50-mile radius of where I was living, I found one.  On Craigslist, no less.  It was a civil service post with a social services agency in a town called Linden.  I’d never heard of Linden even though it was only 48 miles away according to Google Maps. 

A few mouse clicks later I discovered Linden, population 650, was located in the remote Stultus Valley.  Remote…and yet still within my geographical distance criteria.  Intrigued, I uploaded my resume. 

To my great surprise, I was notified just days later that I had received a civil service exam waiver and when was I available for an interview? 

My luck held as I made my journey through a light snowfall to Linden.  The interview was brief, but pleasant.  I’d gathered what scant data I could concerning Stultus County and its social services programs and used it to good effect answering the questions posed to me. 

I’m not much of a charmer usually, but I clearly made a good impression that day.  Within an hour of leaving the interview, I got a message on my voicemail telling me I’d landed the job.  As it was the best (and only) prospect I had at the moment, I accepted.  What else was I going to do?

And so, inside of two weeks, my life changed completely as I blindly followed my chosen course.  I withdrew from graduate school and moved into a rented house in Linden. 

I started off with enthusiasm and hope at my new job.  My naïve optimism soon foundered as I got to know my new neighbors, a breed of folks I found at once strange and familiar.  Stultus Valley and its residents were to leave a lasting impression, memories which I now feel compelled to revisit.

Next installment: Meeting the Neighbors

© 2013 The Unassuming Scholar