JustAnotherModernGuy

Thanks for the great link! And if one did temporarily forget about one's vegetarianism while ordering poutine, in which Montreal restaurant (in your opinion) should this single, unfortunate "forgetting" happen? JAMG

Jeff (& Others too), On that note, have you seen the following (from Michael Wesch at Kansas State)? If this catches your eye (and you have an hour of free time), checkout his (very traditional) lecture about a possible solution: JAMG

Hello All, For those interested in learning more about Providence, RI, here is some information I recently gathered together for a perspective student (at URI) that might be helpful. She was interested in food, coffee, films and music. Hope this is helpful: Coming from Boulder Colorado, it took my wife and I quite sometime to warm up to Providence--however I think this fact speaks more for Boulder than against Providence. There are some great restaurants out here--though we're of the opinion it's better to save and splurge on great restaurants here (than eat out frequently at cheaper places). Great restaurants (in our opinion) include: Pizzico http://www.pizzicoristorante.com/ A cheese shop (which also opens as restaurant for dinner/lunches) http://www.farmsteadinc.com/ SHOP http://www.farmsteadinc.com/lalaiterie.html Restaurant Red Stripe http://redstriperestaurants.com/ Restaurants close to, but not on the "Eastside" include: Julian's. http://www.juliansprovidence.com/ Loie Fuller's http://www.loiefullers.com/ Venda Ravioli (Italian Market)/Costantino's Ristorante http://www.vendaravioli.com/ (and just down the block for desert) Pastiche http://www.pastichefinedesserts.com/pastiche/home.html Our favorite Coffee Shops are: Blue State Coffee http://www.bluestatecoffee.com/ Seven Stars (also an amazing bakery) http://www.sevenstarsbakery.com/ And Cable Car (shows films--recently hosted Brown's French Film Festival) http://www.cablecarcinema.com/ Films (see Cable Car above): The other good cinema in town is the Avon http://www.avoncinema.com/ Further out of town (Newport, RI) is another great film festival: http://www.newportfilmfestival.com/2009/default.asp I'm not too familiar with the local music scene, but a good place to start getting information might be following (not very user-friendly) website: http://www.lupos.com/ (almost every picture and text at the website is link)

So Ben shoots Penny, but is she dead? First I assumed that Penny was dead (before seeing the "dock scene"

If you have limited time and you're going to read one single book this summer, I have a suggestion to consider: Semenza, Gregory Colon. Graduate Study for the Twenty-First Century: How to Build an Academic Career in the Humanities. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005. I stumbled across some people talking about this book here at grad cafe (in reference to getting published). I would like to echo their praise of this book. Reading chapters 1-5 will be a great way to get back to the "student mindset" (chpt 1 The Culture of a Graduate Program, chpt 2 The Structure of Your Graduate Career: An Ideal Plan, chpt 3 Organization and Time Management, chpt 4 The Graduate Seminar, chpt 5 The Seminar Paper). You'll learn a lot, get practical advice (task lists to accomplish) and even have a good laugh (how to quickly identify the 11 stereotypes of professors--and which ones you should avoid). Rather than reading novels from your area (surely you will spend enough time doing this for the next couple of years) or guessing which literary theories your future advisor might want you to brush up on, I think this book would be a tremendous help for your return to academics. This book has been a tremendous help to me; I hope it helps you too! JAMG

Given that I will probably be in Montreal for a conference this year, I have one pressing question before my arrival. Now I know this inquiry will make true Montrealers cringe, but I will still ask my blasphemous question: is there such a thing as vegetarian poutine and where can one find it in Montreal? Thanks.

Hello everyone, Out of curiosity, how many have accepted at URI? Will you be working towards your MA or PhD? I would love to meet my fellow in coming classmates. Best wishes to all, JAMG

Hello KatanianQ, I thought I would weigh in here and mention a few items to keep in mind. While I'm not sure if we are all heading back to New Criticism, it does seem that there is significant movement to return to some sort of a new formalism. I do not think a new formalist movement would necessarily be "ani-theoretical" (in a way that we commonly, but perhaps wrongly, view New Criticism), but simply (and perhaps drastically) uses and focuses literary theory differently. It's also not entirely clear which formalist traditions a new formalist movement would build upon (perhaps the New Critics or the Russian Formalists), so do keep this in mind. I post my above thoughts because you might want to be looking for both "anti-theory/New Critical professors" (sterotypically grey-haired and educated in the 40's-50's) but also, perhaps, young professors who are publishing discontented articles lamenting New Historicism and attempting to formulate new formalist approaches. I don't want to start a big

040404 Can you clarify your situation a bit more? While I have advice for Americans looking to borrow money to fund their overseas MA's (I am an American who took out loans for my MA in England), it seems this advice would not be of any help to you. What country are you coming from? If you post additional information someone is bound to offer a few words of advice. Best, JAMG

As a Colorado native (who lived in the Boulder area from 98-06) I

If you are interested in learning about public transportation in Rhode Island, check out the RIPTA website. I believe that it is 66 bus that goes from Providence down south to Kingston (and then on further south). Providence has great public transport (trains to Boston for $7), but there's not too much that goes down to the south county. I don't know about the graduate students, I think many live in the Peace Dale/Wakefield/Narragansett area, but I'm sure others live in the Providence area and commute down. Much of the faculty live in Providence, generally on the "east-side" of Providence (not to be confused with "East Providence"--different 'city' with own zip code, taxes, etc.) which is an attractive, but expensive area, where the RISD and Brown community is centered. The commute down from Providence to Kingston is roughly 40-60 minutes depending on traffic (mainly highways, but a few back-roads when you get closer). If you love the suburbs, you can easily find a cheap place in the Warwick/Cranston area. I think that some of the faculty with family (i.e. young kids) tends to gravitate towards this last option. Feel free to PM or email me for additional information. Best, JAMG

This might be one of those "pick-your-battles" situations. Do we really want to make a lot of noise about this (having this be the department's first impression of us)? However, it does seem that URI is rather "out-of-line" here--see information below: Council of Graduate Schools: http://www.cgsnet.org/Default.aspx?tabid=102 University of Rhode Island is a member: http://www.cgsnet.org/Default.aspx?tabid=102&ctl=InstSearchResult&mid=437&TYPE=REGION&VALUE=NORTHEAST Actual resolution (with PDF indicating URI supports the resolution--as of 2004): http://www.cgsnet.org/Default.aspx?tabid=201 Good luck and keep us informed about your actions and what happens. Best, JAMG