Spring break and plans

At Downtown U the campus is covered with fresh snow and today we waked up to find out that the temperatures dropped significantly during the night. It was cold on this morning walk! 

I had a chance to grab a coffee with Gentle Colleague and to hear about hir plans. And to take some time to think about my situation and what I want to do in the future. I like DownTown U, it's not perfect but if offered a tt position I would like to stay. Now the chances that this would happen are really slim. We have two Senior Colleagues way over 70 that are not planning retirement at all and this create a situation where nobody new can be hired, except that with a contract like mine. Now, there might a possibility to extend my appointment from a 3 years contract into a 5 years one. But again with no possibility of a tt (unless it will opened in the far far future). Anyway, from where I stand now, and the economic situation more or less everywhere, it's a sort of a wait and see game. If I don't find anything else, I will stay, of course, and if a tt will be available I will take it even somewhere else. 

The only thing I am scared about is getting stuck in a position where I am "forced" to teach only language classes. I love to do it, I love to see the students progress and see how they expand their knowledge but I also like to engage in some critical thinking with my students while we are reading and discuss theory. And I miss doing that. A lot. So I know that this position is an excellent point of departure but its not the position I want to be in forever.  I want something that will engage me more and will give me a chance to teach literature. After all this is what my Ph.D. was about: it was about literature and not pedagogy. This is what really interests me. 

Yesterday I passed by to sign a petition into the office of a colleague who is also the Union representative. I took the chance to ask hir (this is like a million dollar question) if (s)he knew if I could be competing for Major Grant next year because I was excluded last one and nobody can give me a clear answer on the topic. UR said "oh, even if you are an Assistant Professor, we do have two classes of professors here?", well, yes, there is a discrimination and the university is not particularly welcoming with people that have this visiting gig. And you see, this is what it is all about. I want to have the same opportunities as anybody else. And I want to work and put my energy in a place where I know all my best assets will be used and actively engaged. 

Am I asking for too much?