A less whiny post about cover letters

Wow, last post really channeled my whiny/emo side. This week I'm onto job applications that are for early modern Europe positions rather than generalist. Shocking that the job apps that are specific to my training are substantially easier to write than the generalist application that wanted a candidate who could teach a range including "non-Eurocentric World History, American Political Thought, Reformation Ideology". This week's letters are going much better because I can actually talk about how and why I teach early modern Europe, instead of saying "I'm trained in early mod Europe, but spent 2 years as a modern Europeanist, and can teach World Jewish History, Food History, fully dedicated to teaching undergrads, fully dedicated to research and scholarship. I slice, I dice, I'm your woman!" 

This week I have 4 letters to produce. 2 for early modern positions as small liberal arts colleges (SLAC) and 2 for modern Britain positions at one SLAC and one R1 Uni. The last two will be a stretch, but I hope to emphasize that I"m in the late early modern (1600-1800), instead of the early  early modern (1400-1600), my research will easily transfer into the 19th century, I have a 20th century project in the works, and my MA is in modern Europe (post-1789). It'll be a hard sell, but it's worth a try.

My job market search is stressful like most others. Dealing with the 2-body problem is not so much frustrating as somewhat painful. Mainly because L's job is going really well, the work is really interesting, and we recently received news that they will move their HQ to Boulder, CO (not Huntsville, AL) in 4 or so years. On the one hand, if they moved to Huntsville it would have been easier for us to move if I receive an offer. On the other hand, if I was SOL this year, it means we'd be looking at Huntsville (really, we'd just both be back on the market). So now I have a partner in a job he likes, with a group who really likes him, doing work that's interesting, possibly a career position, and moving to a place we want to live in. Sort of like him being in a TT position at a great school. It will be awesome if all goes as planned and I get a pity interview from my alma matter but no other job bites. But really painful if I do get a good offer somewhere and we have to figure out what to do. Whose career we follow. Don't get me wrong, it's a fantastic problem to have, but I have to admit that some very small, sick part of me is hoping I don't get interviews just so I don't have to make the hard decision. We kick Plan B into high gear (me working PT and focusing on publishing in order to improve my CV for the next go around), and try to plan for a big job push for me when we relocate. Which really sounds pretty cool.