skybythelight

Pull ups and push ups are my least favorite things.

Finding the motivation can be a serious struggle for sure! Have you thought about working out at home? That's what helped get me to actually enjoy fitness.

I totally hear you! I honestly hate the gym. I would force myself to go use the one on campus because I had free access to it, but it was just always such a hassle to get myself to actually get up and GO. Have you ever considered working out at home? I use DVDs now and am head over heels in love with not having to make myself look presentable enough to actually go anywhere, haha

I started working out seriously in November, shortly after beginning my first year of grad school, and I have to say it has made a HUGE difference in not only my physical health but also in keeping my sanity (relatively) intact! Right now I'm doing Chalene Johnson's new program PiYo. What does everyone else enjoy doing to stay in shape?

Thank you! I had some of those but a few are new to me. I appreciate it.

Hi everyone, So I'm going to be starting my MA project in the fall and plan on using the summer to read, read, read and read some more. My project is specifically on Biafran War literature, but I need to develop my background in postcolonial theory more generally, as well as in relation to Africa specifically. I'll of course be doing my own research and working with my advisor to construct my summer reading list, but I thought it couldn't hurt to check in with my fellow students: do you have any texts you'd recommend as "must-reads" for a student interested in post-colonial theory? (other than Orientalism!)

Hi everyone, and sorry for being MIA. School's been hectic and I haven't been on here in over a month. If any of you have accepted your offers at UW and would like to talk more about some of these questions, please feel free to PM me! Also, re: the funding competition. Yes, it is competitive. Yes, it is distracting and discouraging and frustrating and stressful. The main issue is that until last year, this was never an issue. It was more or less true until last year that if you did not receive funding for your first year, you would for your second and beyond. That is no longer the case due to budget cuts/TA raises/etc. So not only is this frustrating and upsetting for those of us who accepted our unfunded offers under the assumption that we would be funded beginning in September, but it's just as frustrating for the department staff because this is pretty much out of their hands and something they haven't had to deal with in the past. So overall, yes: it's a sucky situation.

Have you contacted the department?

No prob! I will fwd you those PMs sometime in the next few days--I didn't mean to ignore that request, I'm just on a mini-spring break vacay at the moment.

The DGS assigns you to a prof for your first year based on the conversation he'll have with you about your interests, and after that you can choose to stay on with that person or ask another professor with whom you think you'd like to work.

Of course! I'll copy and paste my response to apixelrevolt in a PM to you as well.

Hey again--I'm going to send you a PM answering this at some point tonight or tomorrow. I'm a little pressed for time at the moment and I want to give your question a thoughtful response.

I second this--native Rhode Islander here!

I would say the majority of the department are Lit and Lang/Rhet people. I don't know exact percentages. I can only speak to my own experience, which is that the majority of my classes have been with other Lit students, but there have absolutely been some MFA and Lang/Comp/Rhet folks in there as well. I think this is probably more true during the first year while we're all sort of trying to get some solid grounding: for example, there's a Feminist Theory seminar next quarter and I know there are a few MFA students taking that because it's obviously relevant and useful across the board. I'm glad you talked to Jennifer! She's great, and so is Kathy. Very informative, and I would definitely say that their demeanor is a great representation of the department in general. Will you be able to come out and visit?

I have no idea if they've all gone out, unfortunately--I didn't even know they had started notifying. I don't think they would be irritated by a phone call. The office opens around 8am on weekdays. I would suggest trying to call around then or possibly around 1:10pm or so when they're back from lunch, before they get super busy.