danieleWrites

I did my UG in a small Div II university (7,100 average total enrollment). One of the Gen Ed requirements gives students a choice between Intro to Sociology or Intro to Women's Studies. I took both because my first degree is in sociology. Anyway, the course had an enrollment of 30 and 11 of those spots were taken by men. Only two were left after the first week and only one stayed the course. I'm pretty sure it's because his girlfriend was involved.
 
Women's studies is very uncomfortable for men, I think. It examines patriarchy and finds it abusive. It points out male privilege, privilege that many men took for granted as normal or a right, something everyone experiences. When they're forced to see the opposite point of view, it feels like a personal attack, perhaps even an examination of all the ways in which men are bullies and women are victims of that bullying. I also think that it's says a lot about your women's studies professors that they did not alienate you. I've been in a few classes that were either specifically women's studies or were run as if they were feminist studies. There was a lack of sensitivity to the men in the class; there was a sense that there was an expectation that men would just have to suck it up and get what it feels like to be the second class citizen for a change, that as beneficiaries of systemic privilege, they had no room to complain about feeling disenfranchised, powerless, and devalued. I think that's wrong because it just serves to alienate men from the subject---not women's studies, but the subject itself. It alienates men from embracing the feminism they already participate in. (Few men believe in unequal pay anymore, or that women should not work, or should not participate in all parts of civil life.) There is a place for anyone in women's studies. I don't think a field of study can be legitimate if there is a restriction on who can study it based on gender, sexuality, ethnicity, or social status. I also think that there's a lack of men in women's studies because of that sense of alienation men get from the very beginning. I also think that women's studies would be a stronger discipline if it did have men in it on a broader scale. Men are fully capable of understanding, researching, and adding knowledge to the field. Women's studies should no more be a female privilege than any other field should be a male privilege. Maybe that makes me weird or wrong in some people's eyes, but there is (should) be a place for men in women's studies. Women's studies instructors need to develop a method of teaching the subject without alienating men from it. There's a difference from making people uncomfortable (good teaching should challenge beliefs) and making people feel that the curriculum finds personal fault with them and that everyone in class blames them for things they have no control over.
 
Full disclosure: I characterize myself as a humanist, but that still means I'm a feminist. I'm also a masculinist. It's telling that spellcheck doesn't recognize the term masculinist, but it picks out feminist just fine. The key is that neither gender should have hegemony.

This is a bit of a rant piece but also an attempt to get other's experiences and insight.
 
During my UG and while getting my MDiv, I took a fair deal of coursework in Women's Studies and LOVED it, did exceptionally well, and received encouragement that I had a future in the field if I was so inclined. The problem came, as more than one professor and student put it, is the fact that I'm a heterosexual male and professors and students simply found it odd that I was interested in the material, let alone interested enough to do well.
 
My first couple of courses in WS in UG, until my name got around, was that I was a confused jock who thought the class would be talking about sex all day. By my third course that reputation was shed and it was known that I was serious about the material but people still told me they found it weird I was so into the material. Perhaps weird like your atypical white male student studying African American Lit? I never asked why people found it so weird to begin with, partially because I always felt constantly being challenged and forced to prove myself. That said, I think such experiences help me relate to others in a similar boat.
 
Anyway, my question is really - Just how rare was it for some of you to have non-typical students in your WS classes? For example, heterosexual white males. In all of UG, I was the only known one (it was a very small program to begin with) and while doing my MDiv, I had one class that had two others.
 
Going further, is there a place for heterosexual males in the field of Women's Studies? Academically (grad. student/professor) but also as far as 'meaningful' contribution to the field itself. I would compain about constantly being tested and doubted until I proved otherwise, but I know many of my female friends went through the same in science programs.
 
Well, that's my late night rant while I work a 3rd shift at the hospital. Take care everyone.

It's cheaper to ship in an open trailer than a closed one. You've seen them on the road, a semi pulling a trailer that has two rows of cars, one on top of the other. The damage is usually little to nothing. An exposed car will have weather elements, bugs, and whatever rocks that get kicked up by the drive tires on the semi and aren't deflected by the flaps. The difference between a broker and a company is the difference between who pays for the guy in the seat of the semi. A company has a fleet and that company pays the drivers, or subcontracts to another company that does it. A broker offers the job up and companies/owner-operators take the job. The broker is a middle man who can sometimes swing a better deal, but sometimes not. Logistics is very competitive right now. I don't know if you're more likely to get a better driver from a broker or a company. Most of that would depend on price and insurance, I would think. Shop around for price and make sure they're insured. The other consideration will be delivery time.
 
However, it's Seattle. Washington in the summer is for bicyclists. They have a metric ton of public transit. While I wouldn't move to one of the midwestern states without a car (no public transportation at all around K-State!), if there were other options for transit, and I was to be there for a few months, I would leave the car behind. We're talking a thousand or more to transport the thing. But that's me and not everyone else!

You do not need to read every word of every article. I always read the abstract, results, and conclusion/discussion. If I find something especially novel in those sections, then I'll skim the intro and methods for more detail.
 
When I'm working through a pile of articles for the background/intro section of an assignment, I'll make a spreadsheet to organize the information. One column for the basic citation info, one for the study design and sample size, and one for the most salient findings. For me, the process of distilling articles down to those basic points helps me retain the important stuff and it serves as a guide for skimming/speed reading. I go back and forth on printing artciles. I prefer reading on paper vs. a computer screen, but hate printing so much. Now I'll do the initial skim on screen, and only print if I think the article will be heavily used for studying or writing. I also have a nook, which is great for reading articles on the bus if I remember to download them.
 
I prefer hand writing for in class note taking, but I'm old school like that. I find it is easier to engage in the class when I don't have a screen in front of me. If ppt slides are available before class, I print 6 slides to a page and write notes in the margins. When my notes are right next to the slide, I only have to jot down a few key words to remember the point. I keep my annotated slides in a binder, and use that like a text book.

Heh. As a 34 year old starting my PhD this fall, I can assure you that many of us have not been spending all of these intervening years just soaking up literature. Many of us have been working full time in careers unrelated to academia, getting married, having kids, getting laid off, divorced, etc, etc. If anything our only advantage is maybe some perspective and experiences with hardship and failure, since many early 20's PhD students have basically been academic rock stars most of their lives. But I'm not sure that makes up for the type of energy that only somebody in their early 20's can have. If you pour that energy into your work, you'll thrive.

Nah, you aren't too rare. I am 45 and just starting the PhD program. I haven't even thought about being too old. Guess I should start worrying about that too!

I'm a writer, creative and academic. I've noticed a strong correlation between "writer's block" or "muse" issues and stress. The more stress, pressure, and expectations you (and others) pile on yourself, the more difficult it is to write. I'm particuarly used to opening up a word processor document, typing away, and watching satisfactory prose make its way across the page. Sometimes, though, it changes from pleasure to chore and the only thing I read on the screen is an unspooled fishing line of syntax. I forget how to spell words like "their" and doubt every comma placement.
 
That's me, of course. I have no idea what your writing is like, beyond what I see here. You express yourself clearly and your prose is relatively clean and pleasurable. It seems to me that it's less that you can't write and more that you doubt that you can write. There are some easy-peasy ideas to fix ailing text, but I don't know what to do for ailing confidence. I never believe anyone when they tell me that I'm smart and I'm great and I'll do fantastic. All I know is that the 25 page essays that were always due at the end of the semester were more difficult to push out than the baby was all those years ago.
 
Sometimes, you just have to give yourself permission to suck. Write the essay. When you don't know what to write, fake it. Write until you've reached the end of the essay (not the end of your patience, because you've probably left that behind). Then put it away for a day, three if you can do it. Then come back and revise. That's the key to good writing: revise. Yeah, I'm in English. We revise. A lot. And then some. Hit up your writing center for some face-to-face help, too.
 
Book rec: William Zinnser's On Writing Well. I love it more than I do Strunk & White. Though, Strunk & White is still da bomb.

I'm a writer, creative and academic. I've noticed a strong correlation between "writer's block" or "muse" issues and stress. The more stress, pressure, and expectations you (and others) pile on yourself, the more difficult it is to write. I'm particuarly used to opening up a word processor document, typing away, and watching satisfactory prose make its way across the page. Sometimes, though, it changes from pleasure to chore and the only thing I read on the screen is an unspooled fishing line of syntax. I forget how to spell words like "their" and doubt every comma placement.
 
That's me, of course. I have no idea what your writing is like, beyond what I see here. You express yourself clearly and your prose is relatively clean and pleasurable. It seems to me that it's less that you can't write and more that you doubt that you can write. There are some easy-peasy ideas to fix ailing text, but I don't know what to do for ailing confidence. I never believe anyone when they tell me that I'm smart and I'm great and I'll do fantastic. All I know is that the 25 page essays that were always due at the end of the semester were more difficult to push out than the baby was all those years ago.
 
Sometimes, you just have to give yourself permission to suck. Write the essay. When you don't know what to write, fake it. Write until you've reached the end of the essay (not the end of your patience, because you've probably left that behind). Then put it away for a day, three if you can do it. Then come back and revise. That's the key to good writing: revise. Yeah, I'm in English. We revise. A lot. And then some. Hit up your writing center for some face-to-face help, too.
 
Book rec: William Zinnser's On Writing Well. I love it more than I do Strunk & White. Though, Strunk & White is still da bomb.

Why did you want to do a PhD in the first place? You mentioned enjoying the masters but "recapturing the glory of past years" isn't a sufficiently good justification.
 
It sounds like you aren't in the Engineering/Sciences, so the "why PhD" question is more pressing I think, especially if you're sinking a lot of money into it.
 
From what you are saying I don't see any reason why you are doing the PhD.

But am I a rarified beast? I'm starting on my PhD at the same time my son is starting on his BA. Most of the people in my MA cohort weren't born when I got my high school diploma. I remember research before the Internet, though I have no idea how I lived in a world without google. No, really. I can live happily without a microwave, without cellular service, without bar code scanners, without DVDs and CDs, but no search engines or wifi really sucked in retrospect.
 
Sometimes, I feel like I'm going to be that old lady at my MA graduation ceremony, the one who got a standing ovation and a write up in the paper because she got her degree as an old lady. Of course, she was not only 88, but a really nice woman. I'm 41 and, well, nice is usually used ironically. I hope I'll be done way before I turn 88. It seems like I've been at this education thing forever. I like being older. I don't get the kind of guff from students that most of my cohort did. I don't know if that was age or just me. I have some insight into Raymond Carver because I remember the 70s. Too bad I'm not fond of Carver. I also saw Star Wars, opening night, in the theater. I was 8, but what the heck, right? Billy Idol videos make perfect sense because I grew up under the threat of global thermonuclear destruction. Degree-seeking at this age is fun.
 
Anyone else starting out later in life? Do you think we'll have problems keeping up at recess?

I got accepted off the waitlist on Wednesday with full funding. I'm still in shock.
 
Best of wishes to everyone; I hope you hear good news soon!

But am I a rarified beast? I'm starting on my PhD at the same time my son is starting on his BA. Most of the people in my MA cohort weren't born when I got my high school diploma. I remember research before the Internet, though I have no idea how I lived in a world without google. No, really. I can live happily without a microwave, without cellular service, without bar code scanners, without DVDs and CDs, but no search engines or wifi really sucked in retrospect.
 
Sometimes, I feel like I'm going to be that old lady at my MA graduation ceremony, the one who got a standing ovation and a write up in the paper because she got her degree as an old lady. Of course, she was not only 88, but a really nice woman. I'm 41 and, well, nice is usually used ironically. I hope I'll be done way before I turn 88. It seems like I've been at this education thing forever. I like being older. I don't get the kind of guff from students that most of my cohort did. I don't know if that was age or just me. I have some insight into Raymond Carver because I remember the 70s. Too bad I'm not fond of Carver. I also saw Star Wars, opening night, in the theater. I was 8, but what the heck, right? Billy Idol videos make perfect sense because I grew up under the threat of global thermonuclear destruction. Degree-seeking at this age is fun.
 
Anyone else starting out later in life? Do you think we'll have problems keeping up at recess?

Because you'd not heard of JSTOR, I thought maybe it would be worth posting this list of resources.  It's copied from where one of the librarians at my university has compiled a who's-who kind of list for research on the library website.  I don't mean to assume that you're uninformed, but I just thought it might be useful to give you an idea of other resources of value if you're not familiar with some of the staples that I think most of us sort of take for granted.  This is definitely not an inclusive list; I'm just copying and pasting from a site that I use to find things (and I recommend it to my students every semester as a good collection of the things they'll likely be looking at anyways).
 
    Desk-top reference collection   • Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Online • American National Biography Online • Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online • Dictionary of Irish Biography • Oxford English Dictionary Online • Blackwell Reference Online • Oxford Reference Online (Premium) • Oxford Scholarship Online • Dictionary of Literary Biography Online • Literary Encyclopedia • Companion to Digital Literary Studies • Chicago Manual of Style Online • MLA handbook for writers of research papers • OWL (Purdue Online Writing Lab)   Primary sources: indexes   Indexes • English Short Title Catalogue (1473-1800)
(an index but the backbone to EEBO & ECCO) • Nineteenth Century Short Title Catalogue (1801-1919) • ArchiveGrid • C19, the nineteenth Century Index • Nineteenth Century, in association with the British Library   Full-text sources (primary)   • British Literary Manuscripts Online • Victorian Manuscripts from the Berg Collection of the New York Public Library • Literary manuscripts. 17th and 18th century poetry from the Brotherton Library, University of Leeds • Perdita manuscripts: women writers, 1500-1700 • Gerritsen Collection of women’s studies • Orlando, women’s writing in the British Isles from the beginnings to the present • Early European Books: printed sources to 1700 • EEBO (Early English Books Online), 1473-1700 • ECCO (Eighteenth Century Collections Online), 1701-1899 • Early American Imprints. Series 1, Evans (1639-1800). • Early American Imprints. Series 2, (1801-1819). • Eighteenth Century Journals II: Newspapers and Periodicals, 1699-1812. • American Periodicals Series Online (1740-1900). • Nineteenth Century Collection Online • Victorian Popular Culture • 17th-18th century Burney Collection Newspapers • Defining Gender, 1450-1900: Five Centuries of Advice Literature Online. • Past Masters - (Full text material from Antiquity to Modern). • Electronic Enlightenment - (17th-18th Century letters, documents, and correspondence). • North American Theatre Online - (Texts and production info).   Secondary sources   • ProQuest Dissertations and Theses • MLA Bibliography • ABELL online • Periodicals Archive Online • LION, 600-1903 (Literature Online) • Annotated Bibliography of English Studies • International Medieval Bibliography • Bibliographie Internationale de l'Humanisme et de la Renaissance • Iter: Gateway to the Middle Ages and the Renaissance • IIPA (International Index to the Performing Arts) • Theatre in Video • Cambridge Histories Online • Shakespeare Collection Digital Archive • World Shakespeare Bibliography • CPI.Q • Canadian electronic library. Canadian publishers collection. • Canadian Literary Centre • Canadian Reference Centre • Gender Studies Database • JSTOR • Academic Search Premier • Expanded Academic ASAP • Humanities Full Text (Wilson) • Humanities and Social Sciences Index Retrospective (Wilson) • Science in the Nineteenth Century • Film Index International • Film Literature Index Online • FIAF International Index to Film Periodicals plus • Films on Demand • NFB (National Film Board of Canada) • The Year's Work in English Studies • The Year's Work in Critical and Cultural Theory • Royal Historical Society Bibliography Online • Historical Abstracts   Newspapers   • Gale NewsVault • American Periodicals Series Online (1740-1900) • Times Digital Archive (1785-1985) • New York Times (1851-2007) • Washington Post (1877-1994) • PressDisplay     ETA: I'm in Canada, so some of these are CanLit-oriented and will be less relevant.  I'm posting them anyways.  (That also means that there are probably several key resources that I'm not including because this list is geared a bit more towards potential CanLit scholars.)

I'm 35.  I walked in December at my M.A. graduation 9 months pregnant with my 5th child.  It's crazy, but fun.  Also, I feel like I am so invested in this---I know the value of every spare second, and I can organize my time well (I understand what it means to be busy with 5 kids under 8, phd apps, conferences ... ).
I think it actually helps!

But am I a rarified beast? I'm starting on my PhD at the same time my son is starting on his BA. Most of the people in my MA cohort weren't born when I got my high school diploma. I remember research before the Internet, though I have no idea how I lived in a world without google. No, really. I can live happily without a microwave, without cellular service, without bar code scanners, without DVDs and CDs, but no search engines or wifi really sucked in retrospect.
 
Sometimes, I feel like I'm going to be that old lady at my MA graduation ceremony, the one who got a standing ovation and a write up in the paper because she got her degree as an old lady. Of course, she was not only 88, but a really nice woman. I'm 41 and, well, nice is usually used ironically. I hope I'll be done way before I turn 88. It seems like I've been at this education thing forever. I like being older. I don't get the kind of guff from students that most of my cohort did. I don't know if that was age or just me. I have some insight into Raymond Carver because I remember the 70s. Too bad I'm not fond of Carver. I also saw Star Wars, opening night, in the theater. I was 8, but what the heck, right? Billy Idol videos make perfect sense because I grew up under the threat of global thermonuclear destruction. Degree-seeking at this age is fun.
 
Anyone else starting out later in life? Do you think we'll have problems keeping up at recess?

But am I a rarified beast? I'm starting on my PhD at the same time my son is starting on his BA. Most of the people in my MA cohort weren't born when I got my high school diploma. I remember research before the Internet, though I have no idea how I lived in a world without google. No, really. I can live happily without a microwave, without cellular service, without bar code scanners, without DVDs and CDs, but no search engines or wifi really sucked in retrospect.
 
Sometimes, I feel like I'm going to be that old lady at my MA graduation ceremony, the one who got a standing ovation and a write up in the paper because she got her degree as an old lady. Of course, she was not only 88, but a really nice woman. I'm 41 and, well, nice is usually used ironically. I hope I'll be done way before I turn 88. It seems like I've been at this education thing forever. I like being older. I don't get the kind of guff from students that most of my cohort did. I don't know if that was age or just me. I have some insight into Raymond Carver because I remember the 70s. Too bad I'm not fond of Carver. I also saw Star Wars, opening night, in the theater. I was 8, but what the heck, right? Billy Idol videos make perfect sense because I grew up under the threat of global thermonuclear destruction. Degree-seeking at this age is fun.
 
Anyone else starting out later in life? Do you think we'll have problems keeping up at recess?

But am I a rarified beast? I'm starting on my PhD at the same time my son is starting on his BA. Most of the people in my MA cohort weren't born when I got my high school diploma. I remember research before the Internet, though I have no idea how I lived in a world without google. No, really. I can live happily without a microwave, without cellular service, without bar code scanners, without DVDs and CDs, but no search engines or wifi really sucked in retrospect.
 
Sometimes, I feel like I'm going to be that old lady at my MA graduation ceremony, the one who got a standing ovation and a write up in the paper because she got her degree as an old lady. Of course, she was not only 88, but a really nice woman. I'm 41 and, well, nice is usually used ironically. I hope I'll be done way before I turn 88. It seems like I've been at this education thing forever. I like being older. I don't get the kind of guff from students that most of my cohort did. I don't know if that was age or just me. I have some insight into Raymond Carver because I remember the 70s. Too bad I'm not fond of Carver. I also saw Star Wars, opening night, in the theater. I was 8, but what the heck, right? Billy Idol videos make perfect sense because I grew up under the threat of global thermonuclear destruction. Degree-seeking at this age is fun.
 
Anyone else starting out later in life? Do you think we'll have problems keeping up at recess?

But am I a rarified beast? I'm starting on my PhD at the same time my son is starting on his BA. Most of the people in my MA cohort weren't born when I got my high school diploma. I remember research before the Internet, though I have no idea how I lived in a world without google. No, really. I can live happily without a microwave, without cellular service, without bar code scanners, without DVDs and CDs, but no search engines or wifi really sucked in retrospect.
 
Sometimes, I feel like I'm going to be that old lady at my MA graduation ceremony, the one who got a standing ovation and a write up in the paper because she got her degree as an old lady. Of course, she was not only 88, but a really nice woman. I'm 41 and, well, nice is usually used ironically. I hope I'll be done way before I turn 88. It seems like I've been at this education thing forever. I like being older. I don't get the kind of guff from students that most of my cohort did. I don't know if that was age or just me. I have some insight into Raymond Carver because I remember the 70s. Too bad I'm not fond of Carver. I also saw Star Wars, opening night, in the theater. I was 8, but what the heck, right? Billy Idol videos make perfect sense because I grew up under the threat of global thermonuclear destruction. Degree-seeking at this age is fun.
 
Anyone else starting out later in life? Do you think we'll have problems keeping up at recess?

I got accepted off the waitlist on Wednesday with full funding. I'm still in shock.
 
Best of wishes to everyone; I hope you hear good news soon!

I've been waitlisted in one school, reject by the rest, and I'm "near the top of the list". I've pretty much reconciled myself to a no at this point. It's only been a week since the first round of offers *should* have been rejected, and I apparently wasn't in the second round. I started late last year in the application cycle, so I'm going to start early for this fall. Summer = full time job getting applications ready!

I've been waitlisted in one school, reject by the rest, and I'm "near the top of the list". I've pretty much reconciled myself to a no at this point. It's only been a week since the first round of offers *should* have been rejected, and I apparently wasn't in the second round. I started late last year in the application cycle, so I'm going to start early for this fall. Summer = full time job getting applications ready!