By Kareme D’Wheat

When I read Jay Atkinson’s account in the Boston Globe of the forgotten and overlooked adjunct who died without so much as a consolatory flower arrangement, I could easily see this happening to me.

While discussing it with a fellow educator, what struck us as especially tragic is the fact that major life events—events that mark and enrich our lives—are completely ignored by our employers and colleagues when we live an adjunct lifestyle.

As far as major life events go, I’ve had no less than 3 babies during my work as an adjunct. Most of my colleagues did not acknowledge it. Worse yet, those that did marked my motherhood as a possible conflict of interests when considering my availability to teach.

I had my last baby one month before a fellow pregnant teacher, a tenured faculty member, had hers. I sent an email to my boss announcing…