Grad school: the purgatory of academia, burning out any sins of inner weakness
A few things:
First, tracks 7-10 of Hootenanny Volume 2 are now available on the myspace page. We started there because the previous 6 have all at some point been available. We'll cycle 'em through as needed.
Second, a word to those of you that have just started grad school, or who will at some point. I hated it at first. My department was bizarrely unorganized. They assigned me to teach when I had a class (that was actually being taught by the person who made the assignments). One of my professors made us do tai chi in class. I was teaching film, when I don't really even like watching movies.
A year into it, I like it a lot more. I think that this shift has more to do with other circumstances than school. As much as I thought I hated my department (and it's still got its quirks, gaping holes in thought and design, what have you), I look much more kindly on it now. I think the reason I'm a lot more contented in my place in life is because I have friends (in Tallahassee), a good church, we've got better funding, and Tallahassee feels way more like home than it used to.
So in our case, all of the distaste we had for what we thought was grad school, I think was more for our loneliness and such. I hope that's some solace. In the end, though we are the proletariat of the academic system, devoid of healthcare, living wages, and other such antiquated ideas of what people need, our essential purpose is still to learn and to facilitate learning. Not so bad.
10 Comments:
That's a good word, Brother (or should I say 'Brothah') Elliott.
So I was driving along a rural road today in the autumn rain, when I noticed that there was a mouse crawling along the gap between my hood and my windshield where the wipers are. Where did he come from? I can only surmise that he fell from a tree. My car had been parked on campus for the previous few hours and the engine would have been cool - so I don't think he would have crawled in that way. However he got there, by the time I spotted him he was quite anxiously scurrying from the right side of the windshield to the left. I did not wish death on this poor creature, but he obviously wished it upon himself, because when he got the edge of the hood he just scrambled right off - there was no stopping this guy. I can only hope that he lived to have a less adventurous existence.
That's all nice and good, but may I remind us all that some of us are afforded more conjugal visits than others.
Also, as to learning, those of us at more theoretical programs (I mean beyond the run-of-the-mill theory reviews) would appreciate some insights on what kind of learning, precisely, it is we want to advance. It's riveting to be part of the group that's revising the canon, but it's also fairly disorienting.
So, down by the lake the other day I saw two fellows playing mumblypegg. They had to have walked at least a mile to get to where they were, but maybe this was a really prime mumblypegg playing venue. And learning, Reinhardt, is a sham. It's just buying the line of whatever discourse is dominant at the moment.
Reinhardt, well spoken. I imagine that conjugal visits make the daily stresses of grad life more bearable.
What sort of canon revision are you talking about?
Boys, boys. Enough with the conjugal visits! May I offer a few alternative stress-relievers: 1. backpacking. 3 days, 40 miles minimum, and preferably including a near-death experience 2. laughing. try Dave Chappelle 3. reading books/wathcing movies beloved in childhood. for me, this involves Laura Ingalls Wilder and Anne of Green Gables 4. Christmas shopping (but not so much as to cause money worries) 5. trampoline jumping 6. holding other people's babies 7. picking out the names you'll use when you have babies 8. pretending you're in another century (pre-industrial revolution, of course) 9. baking bread (it's the kneading that does it) 10. reading the Yahoo personals and laughing at how pathetic people are, and then feeling a little bad about it, but only a little 11. taking one-day beach vacations 12. reading the Patriot Act aloud with friends 13. firing rifles 14. deciding who everyone else should marry (I love that one) 15. cataloguing everything you know
Good names for Kelly and Jeremy's offspring:
1) Hambone Guthrie Elliott
2) Puddle Whomper Elliott
3) JoJo Paul Elliott
4) Black Jack Elliott (after the house, may it rest in peace)
5) Karie Isbell Elliott
6) I Eta Pi Elliott (club baby!)
7) Paige Paul Elliott-Cross
8) Terence
I don't know, Kelly. It's not that I want to knock babies and pre-industrial role-playing; but conjugal visits are still looking pretty good from here.
As for names, what about Draco? Of course, that's a lot to live up to for a kid.
Ooh, I really like Puddle Whomper. Reminds me a bit of Puddleglum. Shouldn't Everett and Melody have a Draco? Though I would hate for Wee-diddy to be supplanted by Draco. Black Jack is a good idea, too. T-lor, do at least try the pre-industrial role-playing; I really think you'd enjoy it. You could pretend to be a Connecticut Congregationalist in the throes of the Second Great Awakening. Or just stick with Mr. Tumnus, since you and he are already awfully alike. Narnia is pre-industrial--or just outside industrial--so that should qualify.
Speaking of conjugal visits and lack thereof, I will be teaching on the Lysistrata, a raucous Greek sex comedy, this week. It should be interesting.
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