waitinginvain?

Thank you both for the lists. I'll check my library for these titles. By the way, Lolita is my daughter's favorite, too.

Thank you for the Yale link. I see MIT, Harvard, Notre Dame and some others also have open course ware. I followed your link and started watching the video. It's so amazing to be able to watch a lecture given by a Yale professor for free. Thank you for the link!

Thank you! This is so valuable to me. Juillet, I especially like the idea of planning time to procrastinate. I never would have thought to do that! Setting smaller goals than my peers is also a good tactic. They are all more prolific than I am, but not necessarily any more talented. I'm going to check out Scrivener, too. . Fuzzy, I'm going to use your guidelines the next time I have to write a paper. By the way, I could see how writing subsections could work with playwriting, too; they could serve as scenes! I'm grateful to you both for your detailed suggestions.

Hi Everyone! I am in an MFA program for dramatic writing. Ironically, I have a difficult time writing! I either procrastinate or write very slowly. One of my professors is expecting me to add 50 pages to my latest play over the summer. It seems impossible! I know, I know, why am I in the program in the first place? I guess it's because when I do finally finish something, it's pretty good. I've had productions around the country and have had plays published. But if I can't compete with my prolific, fast-writing cohorts , I'll fail. Any helpful tips are appreciated--especially if they are not, "Shut off your internal editor as you write." That just doesn't work for me. Thank you all!

Hi everyone. I made it though my first year of graduate school. But my GPA is only a 3.41. I need to do better. So I'm planning to develop my vocabulary over the summer and to read even more than I usually do. Can anyone recommend any books/journals/authors to aid my intellectual development? I've never taken classes in philosophy or literary criticism--both of which I suspect would be helpful. I've heard somewhere that Bertrand Russell's A History of Western Philosophy should be required reading. Does anyone agree? I am a dramatic writing student, by the way. Thank you for your suggestions!

What makes you think I haven't "sweated it" through annoying graduate courses?

I'm in an MFA program that requires us to take 20 credits a year in order to graduate in 3 years. I'm currently taking a class that's combined with undergrads. I hate it. We are required to play "games for actors and non-actors" for the majority of each class, twice a week. The rest of the time in class is spent talking about oppression. I'm 50 years-old. I really don't want to play acting games any more. Worse, we have to find a community in which to present a 90-minute workshop to an oppressed community. I've found another class that starts in March that will actually be helpful to me--teaching English composition in secondary schools. But I'm afraid that if I take that class and don't do well, (it's an accelerated class) I'll be put on academic probation. If I don't take it, I'm stuck in this other class because I need the credits. What to do? Stick with the annoying/time-consuming class, or go for the maybe-difficult but relevant class? I have a paper due in the annoying class tomorrow! I really don't want to write it!

Thank you everyone. I should aggressively pursue publication and theatrical productions to increase my chances for employment. Graham17, I found the picture on Google images. I just searched "circus." There are a lot of them on there. I hope I'm not committing some sort of crime by using it!

Have you checked the professor out on ratemyprofessor.com? I had one whom I suspected didn't like me. I looked her up on ratemyprofessor and found comments from others who felt the same way.

Thank you, JoeyBoy for putting it into perspective. I think I have a poverty mentality that makes me feel trapped and dependent.

I'm self-employed but don't make a lot of money. I'm afraid that if I stay in the program, I'll still be self-employed but in debt too.

Thank you, Laura for telling me about how the loan repayment works. I'll look into it. Thank you too, takeruK. I should see what community colleges require. But I wonder if any of them would tell the truth about whether or not they hire people my age.

Thank you.

Due to my age and lack of funds, I'm seriously thinking about not going back to school. But I've been assigned a TA- ship (I lead a discussion on my own) and was given a small scholarship for my talent (I'm in a dramatic writing program). I'm worried that I'll let down my mentor and the other TA who will have to take over my position. School resumes Jan. 7th! Any advice for how to handle this? Thanks so much.

Hi everyone. I've posted a questions about whether or not to drop out of grad school, due to my personal problems and lack of money. A few people have told me that I probably won't get a tenured track position because of my age (50). I really had no hopes for that anyway. But are there other jobs at maybe community colleges for older people with MFAs? Does anyone know? My degree would be in dramatic writing--writing for the stage and screenwriting. Thanks for helping.

Regarding the tenure track position: I know the odds are against me getting one. But are there any other jobs I would qualify for with an MFA than without it? I know you guys don't necessarily know about theater jobs. But is it possible to teach at a community college? Thanks for your comments.

Thank you IQ84. I'm starting to think there are a lot of people who have a mentally ill friend or family member. Good for you for convincing yours to take medication. I hope she's grateful. By the way, I envy your major--literature! Good for you for following your passion.

Thank you both for responding. He's unmedicated because he believes the medication is damaging his heart. He's seen a cardiologist who told him that wasn't the case. Still he's waiting for yet another doctor's appointment to get on yet a different medication that won't have side effects. So, by my asking him to take medication, I'm asking him to die of a heart attack (by his logic). I haven't asked him to leave because I didn't think I could make it on my own financially. But I know I need to figure out a way to do that.

I forgot to add that my student loan debt would be about $15,000. And there's the possibiltiy that I could get a 1/2 time TA-ship or another job to help pay tuition.

Hi everyone. I've been trying to make a decision about whether to stay or leave grad school, and thought I could ask some of you for advice. I am the 50 year-old mother of two daughters, both of whom live at home with me. I also have an unmedicated schizophrenic partner (ex-husband) who pays the mortgage out of his disability check (the mortgage is less than $450). He has become verbally and emotionally abusive--last night, for example, he referred to me and my daughters as motherf*ckers. I asked him why he stays if he's so miserable--was he trying to get revenge for some reason? He said, "If I wanted revenge I would sh*t in your food!" He also hates my mom, and has said he would like to cut her head off and sh*t down her neck. I should add that he doesn't say any of this in front of my daughters, and that he's not mean to them. I'm in my first year of grad school--I'm going for an MFA in dramatic writing, with 2 1/2 years to go. Half of my tuition is waived because I'm a TA. I'm also given a stipend that comes out to a little less than $150 a week. I sell books online for an income of about $1000 a month. If my partner leaves, I don't think I can afford to stay in school without taking out loans that would cover my tuition and living expenses. But I don't think I can put up with 2 1/2 more years of him either. Getting an MFA is my dream. But it is just a pipe dream? I could sell my house--I owe less than $25,000 on it-- and repay my loans after I graduate. But at my age, I don't know if anyone would even hire me to teach. I need to make a decision soon so that I can notify the school to find a TA to replace me. Thank you for reading and offering any constructive advice.

I know there are a lot of grad students who are struggling and/or in debt (I fall into the former category). But many of them seem to have been born with a silver spoon in their mouth. For instance, one student has seen lots of Broadway plays, worked with famous directors and playwrights, and traveled all over Europe. I've heard others talk about their summer trips to Japan or Kiev. I believe the one who went to Kiev was studying abroad. But she went to Skidmore College, which isn't cheap. Another pays to have her olive oil imported from Italy! So, do a lot of graduate students come from money?

Thank you, ZeChocMoose. This is conceptual work (the subject is dramaturgy). So I'll try your tips for reading that. I hope the readings do get easier! DalPhDer: Your encouragement and advice are so appreciated! I hadn't thought of trying the writing center for help with reading. But it may work! I'll also see if I can get help from other students--both past and present. I just have to get over this fear that everyone will think I'm an idiot.

So it's not just me. I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one who struggles with these types of readings. Maybe some of the articles are poorly-written. I've managed to decipher the authors' intention in some of them, and they seem to be repeating themselves--and taking pages and pages to do so. Imonedaful, I'm going to try to find reviews of the articles. That's a great idea! Thank you. And thanks to everyone else for your help.

Hi everyone. I'm ashamed to admit to my professor that the readings she assigns us are difficult for me to understand. I read them over and over with the aid of a dictionary and the internet, and still can't grasp all of the material. We're going to be asked to lead discussions based on the readings. If I don't understand them, I'm going to look stupid. Is there tutoring available for someone like me? Can anyone suggest ways of reading them for understanding? As it is, I'm reading every word, looking up the terms I don't know, searching the internet to shed more light on the subject, etc. Needless to say, it's taking more time than it should.Maybe I'm just not master's material? How do international students whose first language is not English handle this? Any constructive advice is appreciated. Thank you.

After attending another one of my classes tonight, I've concluded I'm probably in over my head. Even though I graduated summa cum laude, I am intimidated by my classmates' intelligence. I feel like I've walked in in the middle of the conversation! Syllabi are vague, everyone knows everyone else, and they use words like "normative" and "performative", and they just assume that everyone knows how to give a presentation in "conference" style. I'm so lost!