Riotbeard

Haha I know! I went 8 months without a cigarette and now I am a bit off the wagon but mostly socially.

I am not too worried about my orientation, because I have already met close to half my cohort and been chatting with another on facebook. I would say in my experience on facebook, it would be a good thing. I have a lot of prof friends on facebook and they seem to talk a lot with other academics from conferences, etc. on facebook. It's just an easy way to keep in touch with people you meet in academia. I agree that these things are silly, but networking and appropriate self-promotion (no matter what field and how loathsome) is essential for success. I was out with some English Profs for happy hour while visiting where I went to undergrad, and they all stressed the importance of networking. These will just make things easier, even if you feel uncomfortable sometimes. Also my dad was disliked forever at his job because he loathes small talk, but it was something he had and did change in order to work effectively in that environment.

1. Have a good social life! 2. Finally get my poorhouse paper published (and some more hopefully) 3. Don't take back up smoking 2 packs a day 4. Keep my apartment clean and studies organized. Approach my work more professionally but keep my interactions casual. Don't try to outshine people, and judge my work against my own perceived potential. 5. Loose the ten pounds I have gained since college, the past year(This should be easy, I don't eat when I am stressed.) That's about it...

I would send an e-mail asking why they want the info and/or whether their are any other options. The checking info is weird..., but I would ask, if you have seen the place in person and really like it.

I agree. I have an intentional look that I go for that functions in the social circles I run in, but it is by no means applicable to everyone. It is important to have a look, but also one that fits your personality and you feel comfortable in. As for the stacks of paper on the floor, look me up in 30 years, because that's just my hermit-esque style.

This whole post just blew my mind. Nicely done.

My rule is, if it looked good on Happy Days it will good on me. So what I am saring is cardigans. As a dude, Thriftstore is a great place for blazers of the nerdy humanities sort (I.e. Courduroy/Tweed,), and if stuff a little to big chip in 15-20 bucks to get it altered, it will be worth the savings. Also I liked striped stirts a lot , but I don't wear ties. There is nothing more boring than kaki pants, white buttondown and a navy blazer... I am glad I don't have wear slacks but I wear old blazers (they don't look old, because my dad was meticulous about his crap. A couple are older than me!) and button downs with skinny jeans and beat up dress shoes all the time (Punk on bottom, history nerd on top, haha. I also like to call it the hobo professor look), that along with the cardigan is my go to look. Cheers!

I use the cheapest spiral notebook I can find or the one with the coolest cover for many of the same reasons. I once found a stack of dick tracy spiral notebooks at a thriftstore that had never been used. Musta been from 20 years ago. I also like legal pads but not for notes that I want to keep in the note book.

I have one more week of work, and then I am done paralegaling forever (except for after I get my PhD to find there are no jobs!)! I have registered for classes. I am doing my summer reading and got some text book recommendations for Latin American Social History (I ended up needing to take this class but have absolutely no background in Latin American history so...) After I finish my work I am going to visit friends in Charleston for a week, then I have a week to pack up my life. I did order my furniture from Ikea this week.

You should check out the journal PostMedieval that just started this year. One of my undergrad lit professors edits it, and it sounds like they are doing really interesting stuff there. I would suggest maybe looking at various theoretical approaches alongside New Historicism (not that you can't settle with that), but if I had to guess, there are tons of essays working on situating Gawain in its historical period and within it's cultural milleu. Not that your paper doesn't sound incredibly interesting, but it's possible that bringing other lenses could shed more light on your topic. Have you every thought about issues of gender and sexuality, and masculinity in the creation of gawain and chivalry, etc. I did an ind. study on Donne and Queer theory and found a real vacuum of scholarship in the direction I wanted to go. Everything seemed to be situated in the Harold Bloom style of scholarship (bleh!). I think new historicism is valid and probably an essential basis for most good scholarship (maybe this is why I am getting my PhD in history and not Lit), but I think you may find other theoretical lenses will bring more complexity and shed new light on your own scholarship.

I don't think my fashion taste made it into my LOR haha or else I doubt I would have gotten in anywhere, except the school with lovers of ratty jeans, 70s punk shirts and chain smoking (That has changed since college though). I think its common sense that if you go to a professional engagement (conference, etc. or teaching but to a lesser degree), you should dress professionally, but I don't think it would matter on a day to day basis.

Whatever postbib does it is obviously not a big deal, but it's better to let'em know the risks involved. I would find it presumptious, and that's probably unfair, but I am being honest.

You said well what I couldn't. Thanks!

The detractors are humanities people, and it may be worth noting that postbib is a humanities person also.

My point, poorly stated (hence the too many beers comment), was that "knowing" post bib from the grad cafe, I would give him the benefit of the doubt on his intention, but if I actually met someone in the real world for the first time in my same situation and they gave me a business card, I would probably judge them poorly. I am not the only person who would respond this way and it is worth postbib noting. I view school as work also, it's just my style to tend more towards informality. I am very professional about my own studies, but I prefer a "unprofessional" environment and style ( if that makes any sense). I don't like dressing up, etc.

See I am not crazy. To me, it feels like the girl who was SGA President at my College and always had on a business suit every day of school. Maybe the sciences are different, but I think formality and professionalism scares many of us in the humanities field (at least it does me). That being said, if you were closer to the job search phase or shopping a manuscript, they would be obviously helpful.

I didn't say he would be, just that if another first year phd student gave me a business card I would view that way. Maybe you wouldn't. Also we are not talking about grad cafe, but the real world. Too many beers means I should stop talking...

I will be honest, it would seem like putting on heirs to me, even if you only intended it to be pragmatic.

Your GPA isn't shoddy. Major GPA is the most important and a 3.7+ isn't gonna bring you down. As long as your other components are there, you'll be fine. That's really only a hair below the median for top schools. And your Major GPAs are fine. A D in your last semester (even in an unrelated course) isn't gonna look great on your transcript but if your application is strong, people won't care.

Humanities people are just one step away from having stacks of newspapers in their garage, haha.

American Studies: I would look at UT Austin Maryland (Very strong on pop culture) Indiana combined PhD in history and American Studies Can't say on the history side as I am not a contemporary historian, but these are the places I tended not to apply to when applying to Amer studies because they were so focused on 20th century. Good luck, I am sure everybody tells you that you picked the most swollen branch of history (truth be told every branch is swollen and tough to get a job in, so scru it. Good luck.)

My school is athletically irrelevant so I can keep supporting Auburn. War Eagle.

I have plastic hanging file trunks (about a foot cubed) where I organize them by subject/project, same with photocopies of primary sources, etc. I am trying to get more digital despite the fact that I hate reading off a computer, so I usually read, mark on the article, and transcribe the notes, etc. It's a pain but it forces me review what I just read.