MedievalMadness

Just wanted to say congrats to person who got the MA acceptance!

I tend to shy away from Facebook. It's a bit too... public for me. But I do keep an eye on Babel through the In the Middle blog and the punctum crew. They published an awesome translation of Beowulf a couple summers ago! If you haven't checked it out, I highly recommend it. I started following their blog when I became interested in J.J. Cohen's work. And I was curious about Fradenburg's book too. Haven't had the chance to read it yet.

I agree with AC. The Kzoo is the absolute best!! There's so much variety of topics and sessions ... and lots of happy hours and even a bizarro 'dance' on Saturday night. (You haven't lived until you've seen Asa Simon Mittman getting down on the dance floor with medievalists in their sixties.) I very much wish I could go this year! sigh. Unless circumstances change at work, there is absolutely zero chance for me. Also, someone mentioned a Babel Working Group listserv. I went looking online last night and couldn't find a way to get access to it. Any tips? Lastly -- to all those asking about Judith Butler -- yes! I used that section from Gender Trouble! (And it's hilarious that your school refers to her as 'Judy B'!) Gah, I need medievalist friends. My husband just stares at me like I'm a nut.

UGH. I still have not heard from ANY schools -- not even waitlists or rejections. I know it's early, but this is driving me nuts.

You should definitely pick Santa Cruz over UMD. (I'm just kidding, really! I hope you go to the school that is right for you.)

This is how I feel about WashU! It's my top choice, but a total reach.

Ah! Dr. Karen's blog was referenced in an article this morning: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/02/18/u-texas-grad-students-push-bill-rights-secure-better-support

Kamisha: I have two recs. Inside Higher Ed (.com) has a great daily digest of academic and university life news. And, if you're into that sort of thing, In the Medieval Middle (.com). This one is the main blog for the Babel Working Group, a mostly medieval studies group though they also indulge in cultural studies, ecocriticism, and various other fields. The big stars here are Eileen Joy and Jeffrey Jerome Cohen. It's without a doubt my favorite blog. (edited for typos.)

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/02/18/u-texas-grad-students-push-bill-rights-secure-better-support This was in today's Inside Higher Ed. UT Austin's grad student committee put together a draft bill of rights in the spirit of all the unionizing that's been going on lately. Well worth reading -- especially for those of you who were accepted there. (Also, in case you guys don't already follow this publication, I highly recommend it. They send one email digest a day with articles pertaining to university life and academia. They also have a lot of jobs listings.)

Congratulations! I'm so excited for you!

Thanks. I wanted to punch him. Geezus. But then he bought me beer. So... Yes, it feels like my entire world has been consumed by PhD apps. It's like I won't be able to breathe properly until its over. The process has even infiltrated my dreams. (Hence my husband's desire to tease me with what he saw as an innocuous prank.)

I have a terrible, terrible confession to make. It really is a fake. My husband was teasing me for checking the website every few minutes (on my phone, on my computer, at work... ergh) and he posted an acceptance to drive me nuts. Now we can't figure out how to remove it. I clicked the 'report spam' link, but the fake is still there. God, I am so sorry to anyone this may have freaked out. My husband thinks it's funny... and kind of doesn't realize that a lot of us are living and breathing program decisions right now. Again, I am sorry to everyone!! I wish I could figure out how to delete the damn thing! This is so embarrassing. Seriously, I feel like I'm jinxed now.

So, is the website down for anyone else? Or is it just me?

Sadly, no. I'm not attending Kzoo this year! My finances have been completely eaten up. Are you, by any chance, participating in Larry Swain's panel? As for Tolkien and his crew... I am interested in this concept of 'philology' and their analysis of medieval languages. For example, have you checked out Tolkien's Middle English glossary? It's fabulous. Also, C.S. Lewis's 'The Discarded Image' was incredibly influential in my way of thinking about what we call the 'medieval period'. It's such a vast time frame and covers so many cultures and ideas... it's all too numerous to be reduced down to one philosophy or basic timeline. Lewis and Tolkien were participants in a new era of academic study. The Literature degree didn't come to Oxford until right around the turn of the century, so prior to that students had to train in languages if they wanted to read literature for a degree. And, if you think about it, that's how Tolkien approaches writing literature. The story is there to suit the language -- not the other way around. Hmm... I could talk about this all day. Don't let me bore you!

Agreed! People tend to lump us together, but 'Medieval Studies' covers such a massive array of not only subjects of study, but methods of study! We have it all... archaeology, art history, linguistics, literature, history, etc. This is why I love attending the really big conferences like Kalamazoo. (One of these days I'm going to go to the Leeds conference!) I really enjoy sitting in on such a variety of different kinds of sessions. I'd be curious to hear more about the intersections of visionary literature and queer theory. I've studied a bit of both, but neither in any really extensive context. Right now I'm playing with applications of Judith Butler's gender performance theory and transformations in the lais of Marie de France. I'm supposed to be presenting on the topic next month in Austin. Oh and speaking of... anyone else going to the Vagantes conference at UT Austin?

Where online are you studying Welsh? And is it medieval Welsh? I would love to read Mabinogi in its original language (and in fact picked up a copy of it in medieval Welsh when I was in Aberystwyth a couple years back). Curiously, my MA thesis covered a similar treatment from Giraldus. I discussed his use of Welsh folklore and marvels in his manipulation of ecclesiastical power relationships, particularly for the decentralizing of Canterbury's power over the see of St. David's. I'd be very curious to read your paper, though I fully understand that you probably don't want to share since you haven't published it. I too looked at Harvard's Celtic Studies program, though I knew my GPA/GRE would keep me from admission. Still, I attended one of their panels at Kzoo a couple years ago and was very impressed by their scholarship. I attended a conference a few years ago just outside Aberystwyth and got the chance to visit their National Library. Unfortunately, I didn't have a LOR to permit me access to the manuscripts. I did get to check out some of the facsimiles though, which was pretty cool. They house some of the biggies - such as the White Book of Rhydderch, a Geoffrey manuscript, the Book of Taliesin, and the Black Book of Carmarthen. I still have my student library card. It's too bad we won't be attending the same school! Do you ever attend any of the conferences?

I'm a vegetarian, so British food isn't quite as appealing! Oran Mor used to have veggie!haggis on their menu though and that was pretty tasty. (Basically, it's just the filling and no meat.)

When I lived in Glasgow, we ate nonstop Indian. Ugh, so good.

Hey there Katia! Have you read Alison Walker's article for the Digital Humanities Quarterly? I think it would be right up your alley. (digitalhumanities.org:8080/dhq/vol/7/1/000140/000140.html) I found it yesterday while perusing some digital medieval studies projects. And hey! Welsh studies! Have you actually studied the language? Everything I've read has been in Latin (mostly in translation) with a sort of disjointed orientalizing of the Welsh people. (Aside from the Mabinogi, and other such collected stories.) My MA thesis has a whole chapter discussing Geoffrey and Giraldus Cambrensis's textual relationship with the HRB. Have you published anything on Welsh identity or Geoffrey? Sadly, I did not look at Rochester. I will look into Higley's work though. Thanks for the rec!

Hey there! Great idea to lump us medievalists in together! If you don't mind my asking, where were you accepted for PhD? I applied to four programs, though the fourth (Calgary) is specifically through a grant and outside the normal application process. That would specifically be a digital medieval studies (either lit or languages) program. I'm pretty sure I have to offer up a proposal if I make it through the first round, so I'm busily studying up on the various projects out there for some inspiration. My research interests have primarily been twelfth century depictions of Welsh hagiography and folklore, most specifically as represented in the works of Giraldus Cambrensis. Lately I've been playing with gender theory and fabliaux, though I'm still pretty keen on the Welsh marvels and folklore. I'm interested in Old English texts, though I have not had much of an opportunity to study the language outside of one class. I've approached Bede from a Latin standpoint. I also work on the Anglo-Saxon Studies journal 'The Heroic Age', which relies on commons-based peer collaboration. (My only real 'digital humanities' project.) My other interest at the moment is late nineteenth and early twentieth century critical medieval studies. I'm fond of Lewis, White, Eliot, Tolkien, and all the others. I haven't actually done anything with this, I've just been reading. There's a great book on the subject by Diana Glyer titled 'The Company They Keep'. I'm interested in the changing opinions with the Modernist movement of what it meant to be 'literate' and 'educated'. (Thinking here of Eliot's 'The Wasteland'.) And I'm rambling now... Anyway, I am very excited to hear from all of you!

Good luck to you too!! I really need to call a hiatus on all this website checking... geezus. If only I could pry myself away from the damn computer. Think of all the research I could be doing if I just shut off the computer for a bit!

FYI to any Catholic U applicants: I contacted them by email last Friday to ask about the Cardinal Station login info. I got a reply email this morning that said my application is complete and currently under review. I was then given a student ID and a phone number for their tech support. They provided me with a login and I checked status. Sure enough... applications are under review. My guess is that we'll start to hear back in the next couple weeks.

For me, it's early medieval lit. I picked GWU because of Jeffrey Jerome Cohen. I'd love to work with him! I'm very interested in the 'post-medieval' work of the Babel Working Group and Punctum Publishing.

Just out of curiosity, how many of you have participated in any digital humanities projects? Or attended conferences/written papers? I'd love to hear about your experiences and what kinds of things you have done.

This gave me a good chuckle. I've been under so much stress that reading 'giant dongs' actually made me laugh. Thanks for that! (Also, I agree with the point made here.)