One of the hardest things to do in any job is to watch co-workers, who have become your friends, leave. Darren Shannon, OUP Senior Publicist, is leaving and it is a sad day here. This is not to say that I am not truly excited for him, his new job his is a promotion he deserves and Cambridge is very lucky to get him, but nevertheless, the desk across from mine will now be empty.
Darren has kindly offered to share a bit of his infamous wit and wisdom on the blog with us today and below is his “goodbye” post. Perhaps it will help you, dear readers, understand what a wonderful person Cambridge is gaining.
The story I always like to tell about Oxford University Press is about something that happened during my job interview. I interviewed with our esteemed Publisher, Niko Pfund, and my soon to be manager, Rudy Faust – an intimidating duo to say the least.
As our meeting came to an end, I asked them what qualities they were looking for in the person who would fill the job for which I was applying.
“We want someone who’s polymath,” Niko said.
“Yep. Polymath,” Rudy agreed.
Polymath… Polymath… Polymath… I didn’t remember taking that in college.
After I got home from the interview, I looked “polymath” up in the dictionary: A person of great or varied learning; one acquainted with various subjects of study. I closed the dictionary with a sigh and assuming that I probably wasn’t going to get the job. I mean, if you have to look up “polymath,” you’re definitely not a polymath.
That pretty much sums up the nearly four years I’ve spent at OUP. In that time, I had the pleasure of meeting and knowing freakishly intelligent coworkers and authors. Sitting across from these people in meetings and listening to them speak about everything from quantum physics to Tolstoy always left me feeling a little bit like Joey on the sitcom “Friends” when he struggled to find the meaning behind Chandler’s quip about sitting at the “Algonquin kids’ table.”
Next week, I’ll begin a new job at another publisher. I leave Oxford with mixed feelings. On the one hand, I’m looking forward to the challenges that lay ahead. But on the other, I will very much miss this place. I’ve made wonderful friends here, worked with some of the greatest minds writing today, met revered media reviewers and personalities, and all while learning more about a vast array of subjects than I ever thought possible. I will miss the people in the Publicity Department, a place that had become a home away from home. I’ll miss gossiping in the kitchenette, free bagels on Friday, my current manager’s “unique” expressions (“Well, you can put a dinner jacket on a dinosaur, but it’s not going to make your airplane leave the runway any faster”), and working in close proximity to not one but two Chipotles. Man, Chipotle’s good…
So goodbye, Oxford University Press. I had a terrific time.
Oh, and if you’re reading this and you happen to work for the New York Times Book Review, can you tell me if you’ll be reviewing Marshall Goldman’s PETROSTATE: Putin, Power, and the New Russia (June 5, 2008)?
Sorry. I am a publicist.
Darren Shannon, ladies and gentleman. Darren Shannon.
You faked that? At that moment an academic publicist was born…
Good luck at CUP, man!