{"id":1767,"date":"2012-04-13T14:24:38","date_gmt":"2012-04-13T18:24:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/?p=1767"},"modified":"2013-12-13T15:40:19","modified_gmt":"2013-12-13T19:40:19","slug":"hall-to-mcnair-october-27-1980","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/hall-to-mcnair-october-27-1980\/","title":{"rendered":"Hall to McNair: October 27, 1980"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
\"Hall-to-McNair-10-27-1980\"<\/a><\/p>\n

[Click image to view]<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

27 October 1980<\/p>\n

Wesley McNair
\nBox 43
\nNorth Sutton, NH 03260<\/p>\n

Dear Wes,<\/p>\n

I will see you before I mail this \u2013 but I\u2019ll be
\ndamned if I\u2019ll give up the opportunity for writing a
\nletter. I like your notepaper. How do you like mine?
\nMine is courtesy of Peru, Indiana, where most of the worst
\nand most notorious letter writers of the United States
\nbuy their stationary because it is so cheap. Marianne
\nMoore and I, Robert Creely and I all share the same
\nstationary.<\/p>\n

Please realize that the main problem is that jobs
\nare terribly difficult. That is, probably two thousand
\npeople apply for each job listed, and of those two thousand
\none thousand have a Ph.D. already, and another seven hundred
\nalmost have it. And for a job in creative writing, if only
\nand probably most of them can claim a \u201cbook\u201d or two\u2026 Because
\nhiring is done on the basis of statistics rather than value,
\nthey<\/span> are most likely to get the job than you are \u2013 at this
\nmoment. Once you have a book things will get easier. There
\nwill still be hundreds and hundreds of and hundreds of people,
\nterrible poets with terrible books, who will statistically<\/span>
\nequal you! It is all so ridiculous!<\/p>\n

I fear for Colby-Sawyer also. And I admire the place,
\nand think there are a lot of good teachers there, certainly
\nmany very hardworking ones, and it is a good place for those
\none out of four girls who will manage to mature in the head,
\nto get alive, while they are there. I fear for it. Muller
\nseems to be a clever man, and maybe he can work miracles. But
\nit is scary. I feel really frightened for the good people
\nteaching there \u2013 which obviously includes you! Jack Jensen
\nmy minister and dear friend\u2026 so many others. Maybe Carl
\nis the lucky one, retiring at this time.<\/p>\n

The payscale also I realize. though the other thing is
\nmore serious. But of course if you were paid twenty-five per
\ncent more in Tempe, you would probably have less money in
\nTempe than you have in North Sutton!<\/p>\n

Therefore if I were you and I were offered a decent
\njob elsewhere I would probably go also! I think you will
\nnot be offered a good job elsewhere right now \u2013 which is not
\nto say that you should not try. I believe that you should try.
\nI believe however that the chances are against you, and that
\ntherefore you can take your sabbatical!<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

\n

A note from McNair about this letter:<\/strong> <\/em><\/span>The \u201cMuller\u201d referred to here is Nick Muller, then the president of Colby-Sawyer College. Though the College had fallen on hard times in this period of its history, it eventually bounced back and is now thriving.<\/p>\n\n

\n <\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[Click image to view] 27 October 1980 Wesley McNair Box 43 North Sutton, NH 03260 Dear Wes, I will see you before I mail this \u2013 but I\u2019ll be damned if I\u2019ll give up the opportunity for writing a letter. I like your notepaper. How do you like mine? Mine is courtesy of Peru, Indiana, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2206,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[35324,596,42965,35504,42976],"tags":[],"builder_content":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1767"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2206"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1767"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1767\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11001,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1767\/revisions\/11001"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1767"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1767"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1767"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}