This book is a journal kept over 15 months from January 1987 to March 1988 by a tenured member of the English Department at Ohio State University (OSU). The book is an attempt to convey the quality and texture of life at OSU, with its ups, downs, and level places; its satisfactions, frustrations, and routines; its successes, disappointments, and standoffs. The emphasis of the book is on the events of work life including teaching courses, relationships with students and colleagues, committee work, and research. Each section tries to capture the changing rhythm of work and the author's feelings about its progress. The book occasionally criticizes and occasionally honors the institutional structures of academic life. Influences of family relationships are also discussed. The five sections of the journal have the following titles: "Winter 1987: Juggling--and Wobbling"; "Spring 1987: Recovering--and Gaining Momentum"; "Summer 1987: Pushing Progressing, Mellowing"; "Autumn 1987: Loading Up, Wearing Down, Hanging On"; and "Winter 1988: Searching, Waiting, Steadying." (JB)