Imogene

Congrats, Swagato! I know you really wanted this one, so good luck! And, of course, congrats to Dazedand!

Amen.

^bumping Do you guys think all the UMass TA interview notifications have gone out? I only saw 2 go up on the board, which seems low compared to what I remember from last year, but maybe the cohort is small this year and/or folks are not posting about it there this year? Anyone have info?

yes, that is a good plan -- I'd suggest mix of MA and PhD, in addition to the mix of English and philosophy. I'd love to be able to pursue independent scholarship, but got to pay bills. I've been out of academia for a few years now and thought that I'd be able to do both, but that bohemian vision is not so easy to achieve. sigh. but also: don't give up hope yet for this cycle!

happy!

I think it's safe to crown bluecheese as the prom queen/king of this cycle -- way to go! Can you remind us of your focus again? Congrats!

http://explore.org/#!/live-cams/player/great-dane-service-puppies-indoor-puppy-room

Definitely a Paul Auster fan. And I find it really interesting that he's been much more popular abroad than here in the U.S. (the French love him).

Was that you who just reported the Delaware MA acceptance (Scotland MA and undergrad ivy . . . ?) I hope so! and if so, congrats! (I know it's not the Phd, but now you know it's NOT going to be a washout, no matter what!

Yes, please join this pity party; and yes, let's all get good news eventually, m'kay?

No hard feelings, Sursie and Asleepawake -- I can imagine the post-acceptance drunkenness causes you to do these kinds of things . First and foremost, congrats on your acceptances!

Ok, I have to say that I am in this "0%" thread because I'm really nervous (now, when I can't do anything about it), that my SOP was too generic. I applied to programs last year and erred in the other direction (I was REALLY specific about my research interests, and was way too narrow, almost to topic-proposal territory), and that got me 2 waitlists and no admits when all was said and done. This year, I fear that I may have gone too far in the other direction, and didn't get across enough of "me" and my "brain" on the page for adcomms to feel they know where to put me. I'm hoping that my WS makes up for this, but I don't know if, when all is said and done this year, it will be enough to get me beyond the waitlists. So 0%/pity-party pretty much sums up how I feel right now.

Feb 14 is a Friday, and I bet that is going to be a very busy day on the board and this forum, in general (I didn't apply to Pitt). And for lots of folks, it might result in a:

So three things: 1. Wow, what an amazing set of acceptances already here -- congrats, y'all! I am in the "happy for you despite you're not me" crowd, for sure 2. UIUC MA acceptance up on the board -- any other notifications from Urbana-Champ yet? Any info on PhD news? 3. Am I the only one who is annoyed by people who post duplicate acceptance/rejection posts to "correct" an earlier post? Come on people, don't mess with the system. It's probably not necessary for you to add info there, but if so, please use "Other" for your 2nd post -- it screws with the scanning of # of notifications! (ok, pet peeve, but am I unreasonable about this?)

yeah, this pretty much captures it. it's not even quite February (and none of my schools have started notifying) yet.

But don't you already have your MA?

Also, two things: 1st: Fridays, ugh. It's going to be like this for the next, what, 6 weeks? Word. No word, Not the words you wanted . . . . 2nd: Datatape is my gif-giving god

Congrats! so happy for you!

This thread is already causing me anxiety. I might have to start another "no word yet freak out" thread.

Thanks for clarifying -- it is interesting stuff. And it sounds like maybe I wasn't misunderstanding, as this is what I meant by "infinitely divisible, replicable, and interchangeable" -- which is where a whole new door (or hallway of doors) opens up for exploitation, new kinds of commodification and valuation, especially disembodied classification. I guess there's nothing "new" there, except that it's a new "new" -- I think there'll always be a way to deconstruct a paradigm, and always a way to exploit a life or a cell or a chemical reaction -- and bingo, that must be the essence of us, afterall: always be deconstructing; always be exploiting (ABD and ABE). And I'm joking, but maybe this isn't so funny after all?

Even though I may be revealing my ignorance and penchant for over simplification (I hail from the school of C.S. Lewis, I suppose) in saying this, this debate about the "role" of humanists (vs. scientists), or, alternatively, the posthumanist future, strikes me as leaving out an important part of the equation: the art and the artists. It seems to me that a very real objective in the ongoing "making new" is both to better *represent* and to *destroy* (sometimes simultaneously) human thought, experience, and institutions. I can agree that the current "fetish" may be data, and both artists and interpreters (as well as philosophers and scientists) feel compelled to be more data-driven. But I foresee a reaction in the very art and literature that we "interpret" and "measure" or "observe" to reveal/invent/question data itself and our attempts to quantify, measure, map, and correlate everything (and I say this as someone who has a slight data fetish). Furthermore, I question those who might say that posthumanisim is our way out of capitalism/exploitation. I think it *is* another form of exploitation of the very essence of humanity (whatever that might be - I know this is up for debate, even whether it exists) -- where capitalism might exploit specific bodies and tastes, posthumanists seem to seek to exploit identity/knowledge itself (making these things infinitely divisible, replicable, and interchangeable). And, again, revealing my naivete, no doubt, I look forward to analyzing/interpreting/observing the data-humanity dance in academia and the arts (inshallah I ever get into a program). I'd also like to add that much of this discussion is new territory for me, and I've really enjoyed and learned from this discussion thread. So, please be kind in your inevitable strikes against this post -- I mean it when I say I'm fascinated by this debate and have more questions than firm opinions about it.

i am so late to this party (nice thread, y'all!), but i just wanted to add: Joyce would have been so much better with an editor Austen wins me with her wit I tried reading Harry Potter but could not get past the terrible, terrible, terrible writing I want to like Henry James for so many reasons, but his sentence structure annoys me -- it's like he's translating from the French, and not very well I'm not really that ashamed but have to admit that I haven't read much contemporary lit, period George Steiner immediately comes to mind as a critic I have a negative emotional reaction to when reading I also remember feeling personally offended by Lawrence Sterne when I had to read Tristram Shandy-- like he was mocking me, specifically, as a reader. Later I totally admired him for being able to evoke that. Sebastiansteddy: you really need to read HoD

Yes with the dreams. Last night I had a dream that one of my schools sent me this elaborate scroll of parchment paper that announced my acceptance. And then I noticed the "send date" on the scroll (because of course it's like an email) was like 2 days after the school's deadline had been, so I became skeptical of the scroll and didn't know if I should post on gradcafe about it or not. Damn you trick acceptance emails and gradcafe for making it into my subconsciousness! (and yet here I am)

sigh. this is always my fear, and probably my downfall.

Thanks for the help, themomo! This is what I had guessed, generally, and good to know there's no surprises. It sounds like they're pretty equal/balanced in terms of resources and opportunities. Congrats on your 5th year.