Her situation was what it was. She belonged to a class of people who suddenly find themselves with neither extensive social support, besides parents and an online social network, nor a clearly delineated future. One reaction to this plight might be: Get over yourself! Find work that pays the bills! Or, as Karen Kelsky, a former anthropology professor who founded a counseling service called The Professor Is In, has put it: “find a ‘real job.’” (I paused at this, wondering how being a professor was not “real” in Kelsky’s mind.)
