feuervogel: photo of the statue of Victory and her chariot on the Brandenburg Gate (Default)
feuervogel ([personal profile] feuervogel) wrote2012-11-05 02:49 pm

Updatery: grad school + glitch

I had a chat with the friend in grad school at UNC, and it was awesome. We talked about racism, sexism, the election, grad school, and suddenly it was 2:30. I'm going to apply, and she said she'd help me use the library so I can access journals. (I have no idea how to search journals in the humanities! I don't know what databases to use... Medicine is easy; go to pubmed.)

She said I could contact the department and ask if I can talk to professors and grad students, to find out a little more about the department. I haven't done that yet, but I don't know if now (being the end of the current application cycle) is the best time. Meh, the worst he can do is say "email again in January," or something. I just need to figure out how to word the email. I can include that I'm a non-traditional student, I guess.

I definitely think I've been stagnating because I have this hesitancy about having wasted time getting to where I am, so I should use it. But I don't want to be ruled by 17-year-old me, because she wasn't very smart.

And the options for what you can do with a PhD besides academia (which could be fun, except for the wandering life of an assistant faculty member until you find a place to offer you tenure track) are terrifyingly infinite. Translation work could be interesting.

I liked talking with L about feminist theory (or, rather, having a conversation with someone for whom it isn't a foreign language) and dissecting popular culture with it. It's really fun. Like, when I complained that there was no reason for Uhura and her roommate to walk around in their underwear in ST:reboot, one male friend said, "You're bisexual, why are you complaining?" Uh, because I don't really like gratuitous objectification of women in my entertainment? If it's a scene where being in underwear makes sense--like a sex scene, say, or getting out of the shower (of which, one could ask, is it a necessary scene or for titillation? Is there character or plot development, or is it there for the pleasure of the audience (read: straight men)?)--it's less gratuitous.

See? Fun. I like that kind of thing (I miss metafandom).

Aaaanyway.

I signed up for Glitch. My username there is Feuervogel. Friend me :D

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