Academia is not a meritocracy…and other lessons I’ve learned as a scholar abandoned by the academy

Someone (probably on Twitter) once said that academia is like a bad relationship where the aspiring academic gives and gives and never gets anything in return. Countless PhD holders sacrifice everything to “succeed” in academia, with success defined as attaining a tenure-track job, a position that guarantees you at least seven years of job security, good benefits, and institutional support to conduct research. (No matter that you might be a wonderful teacher or have published a whole book —…