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I was really hesitant to watch the reboot, because queer and mainstream are strange bedfellows, but I ended up really appreciating it! Laurie Penny's take is amaze (and has some Halberstam thrown in, which I think you'd appreciate) https://thebaffler.com/latest/the-queer-art-of-failing-better-penny I almost didn't go through with my apps this year, thinking I'd just stick where I was and avoid the stress but really I think I was afraid to actually want something - because then not getting it would be tragic. And having completed apps I now really hope I get in to Berkeley and of course that comes along with a feeling of certainty that I'll be rejected. So, I've been procrastinating on my thesis and instead reading every piece of queer Icelandic literature in existence, playing Civilization VI, and helping my friends remodel their house. @rxing963I haven't jumped into Three Body Problem yet, but I really want to - are you liking it? Have you read Leckie's Ancillary Justice?? I devoured it last spring.

The post-Brexit London episode is one of my favorites. There's something really soothing, and somehow hopeful?, about Nigella Lawson making a hungover Tony breakfast. I'm glad that moment exists.

a thread of positivity!

I ended up spending my two years in Seattle in the graduate apartment building - it was easy to get a contract while still living across the country and I am normally abroad on research during the summers and don't really have time to move. It's expensive, but not egregiously compared to the rest of the city, and is conveniently close to campus. But, by my second year I was feeling the financial impact of living alone. The U District itself is also not the coziest neighborhood - and you run the risk of seeing your students on your midnight ice cream/tacos/whatever run. If I end up staying for my PhD I'll probably move, which I'm not really looking forward to. (also the problem with the efficiency pod apartments here is that often they're worse than studios and lack their own kitchen, but you still have to shell out a grand a month!) I'm in Iceland currently. My MA thesis is a translation of a contemporary Icelandic poet and an article on the intersections of translation theory and queer theory, with a side of queer kinship studies. The Nordic countries are great, though often idealized in US media, and while I don't know if I'll ever live here full time I've basically been splitting my time between Seattle and here for the last three years and will probably continue to do so. Immigration can be tough, and with the rise of national populism movements across Europe the barriers might become even higher. It's a weird time everywhere.

So I'm actually in the Scandinavian Studies department, but have taken classes in English and have friends in the grad program. Mixed is an accurate descriptor. The impression I get is that the department is large (at least, compared to my department, so YMMV) and doesn't have a defined cohesion in terms of atmosphere - with that said the faculty and grad students I know are wonderful and are doing really amazing work. Funding wise, the entire College of Arts and Sciences is in a difficult place, and I get the sense that English may have over-enrolled or admitted students without adequate funding. I guess, double check that when your acceptances arrive/get any promises in writing, etc. I know procuring funding as an International Student as you advance in the program can become difficult and competitive. But, UW does have some great things to offer: the Simpson humanities center has great programming and funding opportunities, the departmental certificate programs seem to have been revamped and provide great ways to expand your network outside of your department, the library system is robust (I'm abroad on fellowship right now and miss it terribly), the union and grad council are active, and under our current contract we don't have to pay healthcare premiums. I think support networks are really important - especially for a PhD. I love my department, but have honestly had a hard time adjusting to Seattle (I relocated from Chicago) and that, along with funding worries (I'd really love the opportunity to teach something other than beginning language classes for the next 6 years) and my advisors insisting I apply to Berkeley (where I do have a large friend group/support network) are pretty much the reasons I'm here right now. Housing is tricky, and perhaps @mandelbulb has better tips here than I do, but if you end up at UW I'm happy to send along my advice. Basically, unless you want to live in a pod, or very far away, roommates are usually the best bet.

Thanks for making the folder! I've dropped pdfs there. I added the introduction to Kadji Amin's Disturbing Attachments, on Genet and queer history - as it seemed like there were some other queer theory people here. It makes a really interesting critique of queer studies as a field and its, at times problematic, relation to its objects of study. I also added the intro to Dean Spade's book Normal Life, which is a strikingly lucid legal argument about the administrative erasure of trans existence. @Bopie5 Traffic in women!! I have read Sexual Traffic - there are some really fun moments there! I remember it being both very theoretical and historical but also super humanizing. Like, I remember some really cute/cheesy jokes? Like about how hot they were for Foucault? I really love Rubin's work, I know some of it is dated, but in undergrad I was an economic anthropologist for a few years and her work reminds me of how much I used to enjoy anthro. Now I use it mostly for work on queer kinship. Also, @mandelbulb are you at UW (the google drive folder has a uw email)? That's where I'm getting my MA.

Butler's Giving an Account of Oneself (the whole book I suppose) somehow finds its way into most things I write, lol. And Rubin's Thinking Sex. Roderick Ferguson's work in general, but “Administering Sexuality" sticks with me as does M. Jacqui Alexander's “Not Just (Any) Body Can Be a Citizen." And if anyone is interested in animal studies, the article "Bestiality and the Queering of the Human Animal," blew my mind. (I think I have pdfs of all of these for sharing) @Bopie5 have you seen Stryker's short doc about Compton's Cafeteria? It's really great https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-WASW9dRBU @kendalldinniene that anthology on sci-fi & reproduction sounds amazing! I don't know if you work at all with kinship but Victoria Pitts Taylor work has been really great.

Every department will have its own dynamic/issues/tensions but some can definitely be more welcoming and accepting for graduate students and graduate work than others. There's also institutional politics that can impact your experience - sometimes antagonistically. I love my current department - there are differences but on the whole we're a close, collegial bunch. My institution on the other hand could do a lot more for the humanities - for as much as they love to tout the strength of our programs, they love to cut our funding. Echoing others, a graduate employee union can be really helpful too, and I recommend inquiring as to whether your potential programs have them, what membership is like, and what the organizing is like. My union has definitely ensured part of my happiness. Current graduate students in potential programs are great resources as to atmosphere, department life, and institutional politics. Also, re: Frankenstein and abjection, Susan Stryker's article, on Frankenstein and Transgender Rage is great! Somewhat tangential to your original research - but could be an interesting read.

This is a really fascinating approach! And I imagine quite productive for affective work as it's visual and dynamic. Written texts and affect have always proven tricky to me, as words can certainly express/mobilize affect but obviously can present static definition and crystallization of emotions (an image of Deleuze and Guattari's non-representational sensation painting haunts me lol) - I've mostly used affect theory for work on music. But the idea of a shape ! I really enjoyed the beginning of Sedgwick's article on Tomkins, and found the axioms to be a really helpful way of assessing the field. But on the whole, Cvetkovich's and Muñoz's public feelings approach has felt more accessible to me - though they are by no means mutually exclusive. It's been a while since I read the Sedgwick though, I'd love to know what you found life-changing! I also remember reading Jennifer Nash's article on Black Feminism and Love-Politics in an affect seminar and felt similarly like why had I not known about this before?! Her book on African American visual culture and pornography, Black Body in Ecstasy, is also amazing! (I am loving that this convo is not only about stress and panic - though that is SO real - but talking about good books/good theory is a v. pleasant distraction to break up the inevitable panic)

Tim Dean's book on the intersection of Lacan and queer theory, Beyond Sexuality, really allowed me to work through my knee-jerk disgust with Lacan, imprinted from stumbling through Feminine Sexuality as an undergrad. Still not my fave, but I appreciate his work in a new way - I really recommend it!

I was in a similar position when I applied to my MA program. I had been out of school for a few years, excited to re-enter academia, but not really sure what I'd do if I didn't get in. The wait is painful, but you all have come so far already and taken some big risks. Try to be gentle - y'all are doing a lot of hard work! This time around my position is a bit different. I'm confident that, barring any disasters, my current program will accept me to the PhD no problem. It's my reach schools I'm more nervous about. Last night these worries resulted in a dream in which someone pointed out a typo in my SOP and my heart broke. Lol.

Congrats! Having finally finished my apps, I have joined the waiting fun as well. I'm glad there's holiday stuff to distract me for a bit, the wait is hard. I'm currently finishing up my MA and applying to PhD programs. I work in contemporary Nordic film and literature, queer theory, critical race theory, affect, and translation studies.

I would recommend searching the fulbright reddit page in regard to the medical forms. I recall a few people commenting on medical issues, including mental health related conditions, that had been treated or were currently being treated and didn't have any problems being accepted. As long as your physician recommends you and reports that you're currently in a stable condition (either with or without medication or treatment) you should be good.

When I relocated for my program it was a cross country move, and similarly, I needed a place to store my stuff for the summer as I was doing some research overseas. Because the distance was so great and I needed to get my stuff from point a to point b somehow, I ended up getting a Uhaul pod. I loaded it with all my stuff, they moved it across the country and stored it in their warehouse in my new city, and then when I returned to the US I unpacked it and moved in to my new place. I only had enough stuff to fill one pod, so it ended up being more cost efficient to have Uhaul do all the moving and storing for me, rather than doing more of it by myself (like renting a car and driving all my stuff with me, which would have taken at minimum 5 days of driving) or using multiple services (like moving and storing separately). I followed Uhaul's directions for packing the pod and didn't end up with any damages. Since you're close to where you're moving, it might make sense practically and financially to just rent a storage unit in Penn State for the time you'll be away. Then you know your stuff is there already.

I've noticed a few more Iceland applicants on the spreadsheet. If y'all are on the forum it'd be great to connect and commiserate during the wait! Our projects seem excitingly disparate!

Hey, thanks for creating a new one - we've all been using the one below for this application season (created around page 5/6 of this thread), probably easiest to stick with that one at this point. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Cd86U9AreH9k_-WKLKnLCLn_C5MC3FKvZZ9RhlqSAq4/htmlview#

I just got my notification, 15:01 PST - I'm a semi-finalist to Iceland. Looks like they're all going out today. Sending you all good vibes and good thoughts.

I was on my way to a RPDR All Stars viewing party because I, like probably all of us, needed something to take my mind of off this thing -- and then as I was getting on the bus I severely sprained my ankle. So now I'm at home, with frozen vegetables for company, and nothing but time to anxiously google fulbrighter blogs and incessantly check embark/email/the spreadsheet. tomorrow will get here soon, I hope

Oh goodness, I don't think I can process the idea of a shutdown and this waiting period. I tried to think through it in my head and it just got darker. Maybe all the overseas commissions would go rogue and email us like the Czechs.

@Loujoelou I'm pretty sure the 2017-2018 round is the round of Fulbright-ers that are currently on program, in the middle of their fellowships. Sadly, I don't think our apps have been sent to our respective commissions yet. But thanks for making me aware of their Instagram! I didn't even think about following them on social media.

Thanks for reviving this thread @snickus ! I put off my French language exam last year and my advisor wants me to get it done asap. My department's language exams are pretty similar to the ones you posted from Harvard - short excerpts, usually from some type of secondary source on literature (history or theory) as I'm in a lang & lit department. We have a few hours to translate them to English with a dictionary. I think the requirements people might face for language vary by department, but the translation one seems pretty common -- I have yet to see one like Michigan's for secondary languages which does seem like a lot more is expected! My department also allows for passing an accelerated reading course to meet the requirement, and those are often offered over summer term so they don't necessarily take away from the rest of the year. I've also seen the English department at my university offer a few graduate translation courses that if passed can meet the requirement, and those courses are usually theory based so I'm not sure how much one is tested on actual language mastery, but certainly displays familiarity in working with a language. Like @Carly Rae Jepsen (love that username!) I purchased a French for Reading book from Amazon and go through the exercises there, which is helpful. It can feel like a lot, especially if you're trying to learn a completely new language for your exams (I took French in middle and high school, so I'm really just reintroducing myself to the rules), but reading knowledge is definitely attainable with study and a dictionary (again the Michigan test probably would require a lot more instruction). Also, other grad students in your department are a great resource, especially if they've taken their exam already. I was gifted a nice French-English dictionary and some laminated grammar sheets from a fellow student and will probably pass them on to others in my department. In my field it's an expectation that you have reading knowledge (and speaking as well) in quite a few languages (modern and ancient), but usually they are closely related so learning one helps with the others. All the funded TA positions are usually language instructor positions, so the emphasis on language proficiency might be different than an English department, so YMMV. It's quite common in my department to take undergrad language classes pass/fail to help brush up your skills. If your university offers the language you need, I really recommend this -- especially if your exam wants listening/speaking/writing proficiency. I'm taking an accelerated Ancient Greek class this quarter for some future research and am really enjoying it so far. Also, if you expect you'll actually be using one of your second languages a lot for research (or that you might want to teach it one day) there are a ton of accelerated immersion programs, usually offered over the summer in a country where that language is spoken (but also available for ancient languages too). And grant funding is usually available by the program or your department/university. I've done month-long summer immersion programs for three of my languages, two for brushing up or expanding my skills and one as a beginner. They're a lot of fun and usually full of other grad students doing interesting research. I did two back to back before starting my program -- not sure if I'd recommend this, they were closely related and the transition was tough, but it was a lot of fun!

We have unlocked the mysterious website! We've levelled up!

Just got an email from my advisor stating that IIE was going to be waiting until the end of January to announce all semi-finalists. No mid-January notifications this year ??.

No, I haven't either. I've been fruitlessly googling for the NSC list because I saw that a link went around these forums last year, but haven't been able to find it this year. Maybe it will get released later?

This is the only one I know about... I think it's quiet because we've all entered the dreaded waiting period >.< Hopefully January will come quickly!