November 2011
1 post
Tool Roundup: Mind Mapping Software | GradHacker →
I use mindmapping software, but I don’t really swear by it - I’m more of a mind-drawer (as in pen and paper) myself. But cheers to those of you who can map it out on a screen.
April 2011
2 posts
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Moving out.
Dear Readers and Fellow Tumblrs,
Over the past two weeks, I’ve been in the quiet process of moving out of Tumblr. You most likely didn’t notice the silent scrubbing of a few select posts in favor of my new, pseudonym-free blog, but it was a nice process of recalling old vices, quibbles, and moments of halfway decent writing. My tumblr followers are my new favorites and I’ve...
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On the Myth of Professionalization Among Grad... →
Reading the hell out of this right now.
FACT: A post-doc in the English department at UC Davis (for which there will likely be hundreds of applicants) with a one-class-per-quarter teaching load pays $50,000/year, with benefits. The same teaching load at UC Berkeley, performed by a “lecturer”? $7,000/semester, without benefits. SCARIER FACT: Chances are, you won’t be the Davis hire. You’ll be...
March 2011
8 posts
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On Meanness and Graduate School
I had a long talk with a colleague of mine yesterday about the state of our department. At one point in our conversation, he told me he read a post on my blog a couple years ago about him. In the post, I made fun of the language he used in a birthday party invitation. The specifics aren’t important, what IS important is that what I said was mean and it continues to have measurable effects....
February 2011
18 posts
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Ga. Law Could Give Death Penalty for Miscarriages →
Sometimes even a fertilized egg will fail to adhere to the uterine lining, so would that make a uterus a murderer?
Amazing. And totally fucked.
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Wisconsin Power Play →
For what’s happening in Wisconsin isn’t about the state budget, … It is, instead, about power.
Correct.
Madison is a republican test case and the de facto front line for the labor struggle in the United States. We live in an oligarchy and until we push back against corporate interests in the form of reclaiming our labor rights, this WILL mark a fatal blow to what remains of the...
monochromaticblack asked: I appreciate your insight. When I find the time, hopefully I'll remember to check back to your post and look at a few of your references. It's really interesting, this topic and discussion.
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Monochromatic Black : "A professor of mine... →
monochromaticblack:
A professor of mine presented me with an interesting theory. He began our discussion by stating: “Other peoples such as Indians were tried as slaves, but the utilization of Africans was the only slave system that lasted and benefited the slave owners. Why did Africans survive the best amongst…
A professor of mine presented me with an interesting theory. He began our...
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Anatomy of a Rejection Letter
I am sorry, but the department will not be able to nominate you for summer funding.
This is your third denial for a departmental fellowship. Seriously, stop asking!
The work is, as you know, completely supportable.
I’m required to say this because we all know you grad students take EVERYTHING seriously. So, you know, it’s not you, it’s us, whatever...
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Redesign Underway
As you can see, I’m revamping TDA. I thought all was good to go last night when I launched, but it looks like the Disqus functionality has a glitch and I can’t get my comments to show.
I’m going to do some diss work and then come back to this later on, thanks for your patience.
-the disgruntled academic
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Mental Health and Graduate School
lowendtheory nails it:
… a lot of the mental health problems that i see graduate students struggling with have as much to do with the forms of micro- and macro-hierarchy through which the academic profession is structured, as well as the attitudes toward graduate students through which it becomes naturalized. there is so much that graduate school leaves you completely alone to figure out,...
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Writing Fiction
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WTF Am I Doing?
This:
My dissertation, “Is a Laugh Treason?” Caricature, Slavery, and Citizenship in the Age of Revolution, considers print culture, specifically caricature, in the Atlantic World from 1760 to 1848. My work situates the history of eighteenth century caricature and capitalism as a history of bodies in transit, both literally and figuratively. This movement created within the bodies an increased...
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Halle Berry: Daughter Nahla Is Black From 'One... →
WAT?
BLACK NERDS ARE PODCASTING! →
As a black nerd, finding a community of fellow black nerds is a challenge. The term “blackness” has been circulated and exchanged for so long that it’s an abstract commodity — it’s value determined only in how it is used. For me, this is the “blackest” show around, because their topics defy any fixed definition of the term.
Anyway, comedian Elon James...
Fuck Yeah Dissertation! →
Shameless plug alert!
I simply can not get enough advice on writing this often god-forsaken dissertation so I decided to deposit my collection in the tumblr repository. FYD! is a place for me to submit words of encouragement (which we so often need) as well as practical advice for the day to day practice of writing and researching. That’s where you come in, fellow dissertators: there is a...
January 2011
3 posts
Reblog: top ten most awesome comments from my... →
From not that kind of doctor. #3 is my favorite.
One Year.
There will be no toile decorated, DIY, hand-sewn, fair trade chocolate, grapefruit scented, individual cut, artisanal candle, alice in wonderland themed garden parties in this house, thank you very much. We’re having cupcakes, pulled pork, and beer to celebrate the Noodle’s eviction from my uterus.
For reals, you guys. I have a 1-year old kid. What happened?
December 2010
5 posts
A Cure for HIV →
Whoa!
Doctors who carried out a stem cell transplant on an HIV-infected man with leukaemia in 2007 say they now believe the man to have been cured of HIV infection as a result of the treatment, which introduced stem cells which happened to be resistant to HIV infection.
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Pedagogy Fail.
I made a promise to myself, before returning to school this year, that I would lock myself in my office until my dissertation was done. I did this because my department, as with, I suspect most humanities departments, can be a big ol’ social time suck. The moment you run into another student, a casual hello can easily turn into a rant over coffee to “well, that day was a wash,...
November 2010
2 posts
October 2010
2 posts
Link: 10 books every graduate student should read →
It’s Sunday night, which means I’m catching up on my favorite blogs from last week, and planning this week’s to-do list.
Protoscholar is a great little blog about grad school, technology, and Getting Things Done (GTD). In this roundup post, PS links to Destination Dissertation, my new favorite guidebook, but a host of others about everything from research, writing, and deciding...
Link: McSweeney's Internet Tendency: It's... →
It’s fall, fuckfaces. You’re either ready to reap this freaky-assed harvest or you’re not.
September 2010
3 posts
Potential Earth-like exoplanet discovered →
Jason Kottke says:
we could send a signal there, and if someone of sufficient technological capability is there and listening, we could hear something back within our lifetime.
This. Blows. My. Mind!
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Peace Out!
It’s been over three weeks since my last post, what the hell is up? In a nutshell?
- A heinous double commute. I take the train from way the hell out Brooklyn to Bourgie Brooklyn to drop off the Noodle, then commute to school. On a good day, I only have to do that in the morning, but it is exhausting.
- The Fall Disease. The moment that first cool breeze of the season whips up, I catch a...
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ControverSunday: I Want My MTV
It’s ControverSunday time again! Thanks to Kathleen for hosting this week, Accidents for badging, and Perpetua for launching. Not clear on what this is? Head over to Our Lady of Perpetual Breadcrumbs for the rules.
This week we’re talking about vices and as I type this on my iPad, within reach of my iPhone, and MacBook, while Mr. Disgruntled sits on the floor with the Noodle watching...
August 2010
9 posts
Link: Longshot! →
Where have I been? Longshot magazine launches tonight and I can’t wait to read it on my brand spanking new iPad.
What they’re about:
Longshot magazine is going to create a magazine start to finish in the space of 48 hours. We’ll announce a theme on Friday August 27th at noon, Pacific Time. Then, for the next 24 hours, we’ll accept submissions based on that theme. We’ll then use the...
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And miles to go before she sleeps (Part Two) ...
Our long national nightmare is over!
The Noodle slept from 8:30 to 6am, when we had to wake her up! I feel 15 years younger. The Noodle was psyched as ever to see us this morning and is currently clapping and laughing. Let me tell you what happened after her morning nap yesterday:
1:25pm: I put the Noodle down for a nap. She instantly started crying and I thought, oh god, here we go again. I...
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And miles to go before she sleeps ...
The Noodle has been waking up at 3am like clockwork for the past month. I don’t mean crying out in her sleep, or needing a diaper change, or a snack, I mean full on, clapping, chatting, ready to start the day, AWAKE. It takes us an hour to get her back to sleep which involves the following: picking her up, nursing on both sides, giving her a pacifier, putting her in her crib awake at which point...
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Career Advice: Stop Admitting Ph.D. Students -... →
thedisgruntledgradstudent:
disgruntled:
In short, I think academia shares many of the classic elements of a social trap: It is in most faculty members’ and departments’ best interests to recruit a lot of graduate students. … [y]et, as in any social trap, when everybody acts in their self-interest, a negative collective outcome ensues.
What I’ve witnessed, more than anything else are...
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Career Advice: Stop Admitting Ph.D. Students -... →
In short, I think academia shares many of the classic elements of a social trap: It is in most faculty members’ and departments’ best interests to recruit a lot of graduate students. … [y]et, as in any social trap, when everybody acts in their self-interest, a negative collective outcome ensues.
What I’ve witnessed, more than anything else are students right out of college hoping...