The two first items on my Google Reader today: Tina at Scatterplot, writing that misfortunes highlight how lucky I am, and A. over at On My Commute, who is feeling lucky no longer putting off the inevitable. A double-whammy of good advice to quit whining and get some perspective — coincidence, or just good luck? [...]
Category Archives: Dissertating
Luck of the Draw
28-Apr-09This, and That
03-Apr-09I’m pretending I’m an art student today, hanging out in the very pretty but comfortable offices over at Steinhardt, doing work and drinking tea. When I imagine an alternate life at an imaginary university in Europe somewhere, my imaginary office looks a lot like the one I’m in right now — stacks of magazines, slide [...]
Putting the Late in Late Capitalism
25-Mar-09I keep thinking back on Emily’s post of a few weeks ago about learning how to manage your time and be more productive, but also feeling suspicious of that tendency — like, wtf with all this being productive all the time? I’m wondering again why the work overload in academia goes so unquestioned. It’s complained [...]
On Writing
20-Feb-09Rachel and I are doing some work at a cafe. We got the best seats, against a wall of windows, and our friends behind the counter are playing only good music. In between reading and writing we’ve been talking, mostly about reading and writing, and about how hard writing can be. And how finding a [...]
I’ve Missed You!
08-Dec-08But now I’m back. I was buried in work, and then occupied with rebelling against work, then suffering from post-rebellion malaise. Now I’m returning to work, happily, maybe even with some enthusiasm. Since last we spoke, I finished a draft of my introduction, which felt significant. Though I will undoubtedly have to change it quite [...]
Awesome
15-Jul-08Via the always resourceful Wicked Anomie, I discovered Wordle, which will create “word clouds” out of pasted-in text or a blog feed. Here’s what it made of an article based on my dissertation: That basically does say it all. We should be able to submit dissertations in Wordle format, don’t you think?
Tearing Down the House
03-Jul-08I am back in the blogosphere after another trip out of town, this one to Northampton to help the chosen fam out with their new home purchase. I spent a few days tearing out sub-flooring, which I have to say was amazingly therapeutic: I didn’t think about my dissertation or the job market even once. [...]
Tuesdays With Mannies
11-Jun-08The temperature seems to have returned to something resembling a habitat suitable for human life, which I’m happy about, as I’m planning to be out and around on my bike later. Though first I need to fix a flat — the second in one week! Defying everything I know about having (and keeping) a bike [...]
Synesthesia, and Finishing School
06-Jun-08Sometimes when I can’t sleep, or am barely sleeping, I get a word or phrase running through my head over and over. The insomnia episode of a few nights ago featured just a few lyrics from an Alicia Keys song (“no one, no one, no one”) as I flipped uncomfortably around in bed. This morning, [...]