dilby

You sound like a really wonderful mom. Best of luck to you and your daughter.

Happy holidays folks :] I hope you're feeling good about things today. You all deserve a break.

Setting an example for all of us :]

Current undergrad seniors applying, I feel your anxiety about leaving school. I really couldn't envision myself doing anything else but took a couple of years to do other things because every single mentor told me it was a good idea. I started applying to on-campus administrative jobs (in the English department, libraries, stuff like that) shortly after graduating and struck out after about 20 of those (maybe about 6 weeks in application time). I ended up getting an entry level customer service job and it's been pretty wonderful. If you end up in a similar situation (I hope you get in, of course), I think you'll find that it can be really nice to watch and read literally anything you want. Especially if you can manage to stay in the town where you went to school and can remain connected with your mentors. I pretty much only spend money on food, rent, used books, and criterion collection flash sales, so I've also been able to build up a little nest egg to help pay for living expenses when I'm (hopefully) living on a stipend next year. :] I'd say don't worry too much about lining up other plans until you know for sure that you'll need to find a job. Employers don't really hire more than a month or two out anyway, and because you're strong writers/communicators you'll have an easy time of it.

After a few weeks of lurking I think I'll say hello. :] Finished up applications to a hatful of literary/cinema studies programs last weekend and am now waiting. I graduated with a BA in English about a year and a half ago and am very grateful to have taken a couple of gap years. But also, I'm happy to be getting back into the swing of things. Applying was a blast for me because I've really missed this part of myself. Anyway, I'll be curious to see if anyone else has done something similar to me. I applied to Stanford Modern Thought and Literature, Duke Literature, Chicago/Wisconsin/Toronto Cinema Studies, UCLA/Penn/Rice English, and the combined PhD in English and Film Studies at Yale. My undergraduate thesis looked at animation and affect theory as systems for understanding the connection between body and mind. I've pitched myself in statements of purpose as hoping to expand that inquiry to address other media (documentary and experimental film as well as video games, cell phones, etc. depending on the department I'm writing to) as well as a broader array of cinematic and literary theories of subject formation, including film theory post-deleuze, cognitive humanities and ecocriticism. I love reading about what all of you are interested in. It's fun to be reminded that other people's passions exist far outside my own little bubble. Best of luck to you all and I hope to meet more of you soon. :]