Structural_Realist

Waitlisted at UW-Madison. Nice!

My approach is to take my urges to refresh GradCafe and my email account and direct those towards other things. For example, I recently got into photography (I bought a used Canon 60d and some used lenses). So far I've been focusing on waterfowl (e.g., ducks, geese, ibises, and anhingas), but I might branch out to trees later on if I feel adventurous. I've also been trying to reach out to the general public more than was possible when I was in school. I gave a public lecture based on my master's thesis at a short story/poetry reading a few weeks ago. I know that sounds boring, but I was able to make it so accessible that I was later approached by a literary magazine --and I was doing straight up analytic philosophy of science! I would highly recommend that people on this forum do that; it's easy, fun, and you're all more than qualified. I have also been collaborating with a group of artists, musicians, and actors in an interdisciplinary story telling group. Each month we select a text, set it to music, and perform it. My role is to provide an entertaining analysis of the text and juxtapose that with the performance. We had a performance this Thursday where I would enter the stage and give my analysis while the actors and musicians would basically just freeze in place. I would highly recommend doing these sorts of collaborations; not only are they fun (I felt like a rock star at the after party and have since been recognized by people on the street), but we can learn a lot about presentation from actors. Working for money can help to remind you why you want to get into academia, so I'd recommend getting a job. I studied music before I got into philosophy, so I play a lot of gigs and teach music lessons (I also invented a teaching tool that I have been developing, which has involved website design, patent stuff, negotiating with factories, & etc.), and I work as an editor. So just find ways to redirect your urges towards more positive things. A less charitable interpretation of my recommendation is as follows: I think it's best to have so many things on your plate that you can constantly distract yourself from being overwhelmed by the terror that you would feel if you actually allowed yourself to contemplate the horror of your situation.

Just got waitlisted at WashU for Philosophy!