What can I say? I started this blog because I believe in celebrating triumphs and mourning setbacks, and I believe in transparency about the lived experience- especially about the graduate school experience. Through the journey of grad school, I discovered Imposter Syndrome-- and also found out that several of my peers felt the exact same way.
I also realized that the hoops you jump through, are kind of generic guidelines to get you to the right place. For instance, learning Latin is a hoop. Most PhD programs expect 3 years, and I've had 2, but I can translate a passage with a dictionary, which is what I really need to be able to do. The hoop is a hoop, and I need to (emotionally) get over it as I get through it.
Academic conferences are a great way to get yourself out there and feel like a real scholar. So is buying a suit, and wearing it at the conference. Jessica Simpson heels are optional; I think some design school has to give her an honorary degree, like, yesterday.
Politics- some teachers have them, some teachers hide them, but I have come to the conclusion that American academics need to step up to the plate. Especially historians. It's okay to have a perspective, and it's okay to take a stand! My involvement with the QRC has neither hindered nor affected my academic career, but it has allowed me to have more honest relationships with a couple of professors and a lot of colleagues. Your passions are an asset wherever you go, I am telling myself now.
I am in a great and exciting place right now. An excess of nostalgia for the lost soul I was last year has prompted this post. Feel free to disregard it. But if by chance, you are embarking on an academic career, pay close attention to your advenchies, for they are the stuff of life. And now I'm off to do brilliant things in Norway and elsewhere!
