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Kirobaito

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  1. Thanks for the Kennedy suggestion. That might pair nicely with No Place of Grace chronologically, as I'm pairing these off to do every other week. But I'm not sure if it's a little too conventionally political. Though something from the Progressive era would make sense. (Also add Rodgers, Atlantic Crossings, to my previously-read.) I've read Roediger (and Ignatiev, Foley, Jacobson, Guglielmo, etc., etc.), and Suburban Warriors is on my list for my political and policy history readings course this quarter - plus it'd be a little too similar to The Silent Majority. Maybe MacLean would pair with Cohen, since they're both about the workplace? Thanks for your help!
  2. Hi guys, I've got an independent readings class this quarter, and I need to finish off a very generalized US social reading list for it. I still need 2 more, preferably from the 20th century. Here's what I'm sure of so far, in chronological order:: Appleby, Capitalism and the New Social Order Blumin, Emergence of the Middle Class Johnson, A Shopkeeper's Millennium Lebsock, The Free Women of Petersburg Jackson Lears, No Place of Grace Cohen, Making a New Deal Lassiter, The Silent Majority Payne, I've Got the Light of Freedom Things I'm thinking about: Farber, Chicago '68 Self, All in the Family Schulman, The Seventies Pells, Radical Visions, American Dreams (is this even social history?) I've read Sugrue, Canaday, Gutman, Chauncey, Hirsch, Sanchez, most of the Whiteness historiography, and others already. I'll take any suggestions from my possibilities list or your own thoughts. Most of my struggle is from the reality that social histories of the post-1950 era are hard to identify as such. Self and Schulman, for example, delve rather deeply into assumptions about the family, religion, and culture, but are also very focused on its effect in politics. Thanks for any help you guys can give me.
  3. If I don't need to take a foreign language (I don't), I only have two classes and those are pre-decided, so registration isn't all that exciting.
  4. July 6th is my last day. I want to give myself some time to do some traveling. My lease runs out at the end of July, but my lease in what will be my new hometown won't start until September. I'll be living with the 'rents during August. But yeah, I do data management and IT work for a media conglomerate, while all of my interests are in the liberal arts. It's torture still being here, but I don't really have another choice.
  5. From a lifetime resident of the Metroplex: Everything in Uptown near the Medical Center is expensive. You can go a little further north and find things a bit cheaper, but I don't think there is really a great solution. Downtown Dallas isn't really the cultural center. It's there for business and sporting events. Uptown is basically Dallas's theater district, and you have all the UT-Southwestern students there. Deep Ellum (east of downtown) is the historic music district that rotates between being terrifying and awesome depending on the year. Lakewood is where you go for jazz, the Balcony Club in particular. That's northeast of Deep Ellum. And Lower Greenville is the primary general entertainment/bar neighborhood, northeast of downtown and north of Deep Ellum, and where the SMU students hang out. I've never found the traffic, crime (no firsthand experience myself), or pollution to be that bad, but I'm probably used to it. In general, Dallas housing is cheaper than a lot of other big cities, because it's got the most expansive, sprawly suburbs imaginable to beef up the supply. That said, it's still expensive on an absolute scale, particularly the closer you get to Downtown and Uptown. The suburbs have nicer, cheaper places that people get away with having because everybody has a car, and the northern suburbs themselves have an increasing amount of businesses themselves. I'm not too happy about the general suburb-focused nature of the Metroplex, and I'm moving away in five months. I don't like having to have a car to do everything.
  6. I'll be coming to Seattle in September, as well, for history. I'm a bit terrified, not because I'm moving across the country to start another chapter in my life (that part thrills me), but because I've been away from school for two years and made fantastic grades in undergrad despite loafing and I know I won't be able to get away with it any longer. Also, it's very expensive. UW was the only place I applied (long story), and I didn't get any funding (yet). I kind of have to move, though, for my own sanity, and while I have the money to pay for a couple of years of grad school, I'll be devouring my entire savings. I'm taking a trip up at the end of April to meet my department and get a grip on the city, as I've only spent about three hours in Seattle (it was a waypoint on the way up to Vancouver). I'm looking strongly at Wallingford or Ravenna. Because it's so early, securing housing won't really be an option yet, but I'll probably find units that I like in neighborhoods I like and be ready to pounce when they do become available over the summer. It's much more expensive, but I'm so used to living alone now while I've been working that I couldn't really go back to living with roommates, much less blind ones. But good to meet you all!
  7. Undergrad Institution: Medium-sized private religious university in the South, not particularly well-regarded in my subject. Graduated in 2010. Senior Thesis: None, but I did spend significant amounts of time (almost two semesters' worth of research) on just a regular seminar paper. Senior theses weren't required or even an option. Honors Program: I was in it my first year, but I couldn't get the course requirements to line up with my degree path, so I dropped out. Major(s): History Minor(s): Religion, Great Books GPA in Major: 3.96 Overall GPA: 3.95 Position in Class: There was never a formal ranking, but only two of us graduated Summa, so that makes me one of the top two. No idea who technically had the higher GPA. Type of Student: Hopelessly bourgeois white male, returning to school after two years in the work force. GRE Scores (revised version): Q: 162 (87%) V: 168 (98%) W: 5.5 (96%) Research Experience: Just what I did in class. Awards/Honors/Recognitions: I was on the Dean's list every semester, made Phi Beta Kappa. Other than that, not a lot. I was a great student, but not a particularly active one. I never cared to be published in anything. Pertinent Activities or Jobs: I worked for a year in the Oral History Department doing transcription and general researchey kinds of things. Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: Applying to Where: One (yes, only one) top 30 program in history for an MA, with the option of a PhD when I'm done with that if I want to (I'm still undecided). Research Interests & Areas of Focus: 20th-century American social history, African-American history, labor history, history of social movements Language: When I'm immersed, I am decently fluent in Spanish, but when I'm out of it for a while (as I am now), I have to play catch-up. Letters of Recommendation: Had to go a bit differently. Very flattering from the undergraduate director I had multiple times in my subject area and who became a good friend as well (along the lines of "this is the best student I've had in thirty years," which he mentioned to me several times). I didn't have any other profs multiple times, so I had my boss at the Oral History Institute write one (he was also an associate professor, but only knew me through my work, not studies). Lastly, I worked heavily with a journalism professor who was writing a book tangentially related to my area for a full year, transcribing all of his interviews and aiding him in his research. So I only had one LoR that came from a professor who actually taught me in a class. Statement of Purpose: Since I only had to write one, I narrowly tailored it to their purposes. A thousand words on how I became interested in my area, my preferred methodologies, and the kinds of works I was familiar with. I basically turned in my second draft, only having two close friends look at it. Writing Sample: A seminar paper I wrote my last semester, and which I worked very hard on (again, my prof said it was the best paper he had read from an undergrad in his thirty years of teaching). The subject matter had never before been written about in such detail, so it was totally original. Communication with POIs: I only applied one place, and only sent one e-mail to one of the potential advisors (my school had numerous people I would be happy working with). I suffered from a bout of depression during the application process, which is why I only applied to one school. Obviously, my lack of communication didn't keep me from being accepted, but it's not an ideal move. Lessons Learned from Application Process: Well, I didn't decide to go to grad school until early October, so obviously starting earlier would have helped. And obviously, I should have applied to more than one place, but it all worked out for the best in the end. Where I'm going is really where I want to be. Because I was undecided about my PhD, I had to limit myself to places that offered terminal MAs (because I have to finish what I start). Obviously, being more sure about my career path would have expanded my options. Results: One acceptance from top-30 graduate institution. Zero rejections.
  8. Kirobaito

    Seattle, WA

    I'm heading up to Seattle for a few days at the end of April to meet my advisors and scope out a living situation. I'm generally used to getting things done as early as possible, but is trying to find housing for September 1 in April too much of a stretch? If it is, I guess I'll just look at neighborhoods (Wallingford and Ravenna both seem ideal), come up with a list of possibilities, and then rent-from-afar later when they become available.
  9. I lived in Edinburgh during the fall of 2008 as an international student. It is my favorite city in the entire world and I can't wait to go back (and I will be this summer before heading off to my own MA program). I lived on the Pleasance (which is a big street that runs north-south a few blocks east of the main campus) up near the Royal Mile in university self-catered housing (Darroch Court). Obviously, this was as an undergrad, but I paid about 500 quid a month for a medium-sized room. My flatmates were all younger than me, but they all became good friends. Edinburgh is a very friendly and low-key city. It's got the splendor of London without the hustle. Old Town is magnificent, and I loved living amid all the medieval history, and everything was close. Tesco was just around the block on the Road of Many Names (South Bridge, North Bridge, Nicholson, Clerk, etc.), which is where commerce happens in Old Town. The Pleasance Bar (and Edinburgh Folk Club) was literally a block away. I don't know the outlying neighborhoods as well, besides that New Town is a lot newer (comparatively speaking; it's still older than anything I knew in the US). The bus system works great, for whenever I wanted to quickly get anywhere. And Waverley is a great train station. I did every International Student thing I could, and made some good acquaintances, though most of my friends came from joining clubs. They're not all from North America, so you have both the shared experience of being new while also having all the differences of where you're actually from. An Australian girl asked me if high school in the States was like The OC. And it's a very cheap way of seeing some of the rest of Scotland. One of the big shocks for me was the latitude difference. By the time I left, it was dark at 4 PM. It's something you should be more used to living in Vancouver, but I'm from Texas and it was a big change. Thinking about Edinburgh again is getting me all emotional. I do so love that city.
  10. Hey guys, first post, and a rather strange question that might get me laughed at. I decided rather hastily that I wanted to go to grad school last fall (after two years in the tortuous corporate world) in the humanities. I applied to my first choice, and sent a "hey, look at me" e-mail to a professor I potentially wanted to work with, and he responded saying he'd be happy to answer any questions I have about the program, gave me his phone number, and encouraged me to apply, which I already had. Pretty much immediately after that, I fell into a depression like I tend to do, never asked him anything (though I openly stated my e-mail was to start a dialogue), and never even applied anywhere else, which I obviously immediately regretted doing. Well, as bad as the wait was when you've put all of your eggs into one basket like I did, I got accepted (one of 15 out of 224 applicants), though without funding for right now (I'll know for sure in a month). I'm going, regardless, and now am visiting next month to find housing and get to know the department. I need to re-engage with the prof I exchanged one e-mail with last fall to see when he'll be around, but now I'm rather embarrassed that I didn't actually do what I said I'd do and ask him anything. How do I go about doing this? Do I even mention that we spoke before? Do I somehow apologize, come up with a lousy excuse or something? How likely is it that he would have no memory of me whatsoever? Am I making a mountain out of a molehill? I'm terribly awkward, socially, and don't know how to deal with these situations, but at the same time I hate making bad impressions and feel like I did here.
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