bgt28

Congratulations!! Finally, NEWS lol

I'm not trying to discredit the very real shit that is bequeathed us from time and, you know, the economy...BUT, I'm too absorbed with the desire to get in somewhere first before worrying about whether or not I'll graduate in a decent amount of time, let alone the issue of tenure/professional security. I get enough of that trauma from my parents: Parental: When will you be able to support yourself financially? Me: Mom, I'm a minimalist. Give me a chair, a toilet bowl, a desk, and a bed, and I'll feel right at home. Parental: Why do you always have to be such a radical? Now, let's take it back to me. When will you stop asking me for money? Me: When I'm convinced that I've quenched my brain enough to know what it is I think is worth making money for. BYEEEEEEEEEEEEEE. Parental walks to the pharmacy and hands condom back for refund.

I mean, totally, from a commonsensical point of view a less-than-responsible Fb profile would make a difference. And, you're right, it takes all kinds on an admissions committee. Perhaps I would react differently if I had anything other than a Tumblr...

I love Warner...I devoured Publics and Counterpublics/ Sex in Public last night. I'm definitely a fan! I love Muñoz for POC/QOC critique, and David Román too.

What are comrades for? Lol thank you so much! Same to you!

I'd say 100% fit...you're ABSOLUTELY more than qualified for Ohio State (and Emory, for that matter). A reader for my thesis is familiar with both programs, and I was a Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies major in UG, and she said these programs were super competitive/major crapshoots and steered me towards English/Comparative Lit instead as I was preparing junior year. xx

Lol same...I guess I can look at videos of California weather on the internet

This might sound like a dumb thing to say, but I've never really understood the significance of the "social media incrimination" fear, so long as, you know, you're not bad mouthing your professors/schools on facebook because "I got an A- and I wanted an A+ and fuck them." I've always been a firm believer that people should have wacky/fun/irreverent things on the internet if they choose to have lives on the net, and almost all of us have some sort of "funny" on the net. Why is this important/incriminating/anathema? Isn't it just another form of elision by professionalization?

Have you read Families We Choose: Lesbians, Gays, Kinship by Kath Weston? It's an absolutely necessary read, and while problematic in some regards, a truly revolutionary text in its own right. Any literature suggestions? You know, other than No Future lol

I completely agree and I too have made use of mental health resources...indispensable. It's so interesting/enriching how I go to therapy and all of a sudden have an "Aha!" moment, when it all of a sudden becomes possible for me to redirect some of the emotional ick into a paper, a reading, or even just a really good dinner. Thanks so much for posting! xx

You're so welcome. I figured other people had to feel the same way. It is always important to acknowledge the inestimable importance of the personal in the academic, particularly as budding humanists.

James Baldwin It was perhaps the most important course I've taken in my college career. We read Baldwin's entire corpus of novels, films, and essays, and situated him within the Black Arts, Civil Rights, and Gay movements, although quite frankly, the work spoke for itself. I've never read someone whose work seems to be reading me as much, if not more than, my reading them. It was also an important course to gauge may own level of preparedness for graduate-level work, being the only undergraduate in a graduate seminar. It was a rare confluence of sheer literary perfection, workshop, seminar, and love. So much love. I never knew English could have so much love, growing up speaking two languages at home (if you're also with an immigrant background or familiar with them, you know how much immigrant parents make fun of the English language. Boy, were they wrong!)

BUFFY. Enough said.

I've been reading across forums on this topic and wanted to put this out there, if anyone is interested, with much love! I identify as gay, and made that pretty explicit in my personal statement, because it is directly related to my research: I identify as a queer African, and want to study the visuo-cultural genealogy of racial and sexual formations in transnational contexts, mostly straddling US/France and Africa. But besides this, my life as a gay man has directly impacted my comportment in the application process, with all its ups and downs and in-betweens; going through a breakup, a self-avowed "sex-fast," writing papers for publication becoming my personal coitus, searching actively for queer academics who I can connect with on multiple registers. I wanted to know/share/connect with all people who "came out" in personal statements/writing samples to either "even the score" or to situate oneself within one's research interests and history; or all who feel a connection to these categories of personhood and their particular joys/sorrows/foibles. How are you doing? How have you been? Let's talk! xx

Also, every single person here is an AMAZING candidate...I'm loving the vibes and the collective impact this thread is having on my otherwise horrendous evening xx

Fruit and nut chocolate is the answer. Cadbury, preferably.

I feel myself falling into a pit of anxiety, depression, crippling nausea, and blinding headaches. Oy. Bad bad day, ending with: Dad: What are these? Me: Oh, they're my antidepressants. Dad: Why are you still taking them? Me: Ummmm Dad: Grumbles something about my mental constitution and the shadow it casts upon graduate school and walks out. I need alcohol now.

Precisely: this is a calling, meandering included!

It's always such a difficult compromise to make/discussion to have, but I suppose I'll give my two cents. I recently broke up with my partner (for reasons I believe were related to my being older than him and ready to potentially move to new cities for grad school, which led to a galleria of bullshit [whether or not this is accurate is perhaps not up for discussion]). It's been rough, and it's been quite the experience, going through the application process having had and very suddenly lost a very particular kind of support system. It was heartbreaking, no doubt, but I've come to realize one very important thing while applying that has indeed been extremely restorative: I can and DID do this without him, and I'll get to great places whether or not there is a lover by my side. I know it sounds shady in this context, and heaven knows I don't mean it to be, but perhaps it might be helpful to locate that same need/yearning within yourself, such that eventually you become able to locate the quenching power within yourself. If you're like me, you'll be like "All By Myself...so damn what? Let's go!" But if you have a partner, spouse, and/or children, I feel like this attitude is useful regardless, since any compromise you will end up making won't feel like a compromise at all, since you've gained surety within yourself. I totally get how incredibly naive I sound, but feel free to respond! xx

LOL I totally bought into the whole "GRE = FORMALITY" thing my faculty advisers insisted on, and all of them have supposedly worked in admissions committees in the past...I literally got lucky...I posted this for face value, but I completely see the GREs as a form of fascism and don't even think I'll pay much attention to them if, Goddess willing, I end up on an admissions committee one day... YOU'RE ALWAYS WELCOME (I will only pull the "I STARTED THIS DISCUSSION" card this time lmao)

Thank you so much for those words...who knew it would get this difficult AFTER the applications were sent in?

hypervodka, you're an AMAZING candidate, and I'm rooting for you all the way...Heidegger? On point. I love how eclectic and dynamic your areas of interest are! What are your programs/schools of interest?

WERK

PS: Program Lists/Departments Cornell: Comp Lit Columbia: English and Comp Lit Harvard: Africana Yale: Africana/Film and Visual Studies Brown: Modern Culture and Media Stanford: Modern Thought and Literature NYU: English UPenn: English/Literary Theory

My attempt: Enjoy xx