1Q84

THREAD: Don't cry for me... I'm already dead.

So... I'm just going to leave this here. Utah boy brings gun to school, cites Newtown fears

Same! Not sure if anyone would want to read mine, though...

Thirdeded. I absolutely plan on finding a high paying job from now until next August, however. I really don't have an option. If I don't get any admits, I'll just continue on with that job...

Now it makes sense for rural farms to have a access to a rifle of some kind for reasons you outlined above, in much the same way that it makes sense to drive a gigantic 4-wheel drive pickup if you live on a rural farm but not if you live in downtown Manhattan. But aside from the incidence of a rabid animal, I still don't see why it's necessary to own or use a gun. Use a knife. Use pepper-spray. Use a taser. Use a captive-bolt pistol like Mr. Chigurh. Use anything else but a gun. It makes no sense to me why people insist on having guns lying around their house. I'm not talking about you in particular but people need to realise that if you have it lying around, the kids will think it's cool and take it to school; if you hide it, the kids will find it; if you lock it up, the kids will find the key, and on and on. Why run the risk? No one plans to have a gun accident at home. Same old rhetoric. This is not 1776. This is not the Wild West. You are not a cowboy. Yes, criminals access guns illegally. No one is talking about gang warfare and robberies here. The fact is that in every single one of these mass murders, the gun (or guns) have been legally acquired and kept "for sport" or whatever inane reason people have for leaving pistols lying around their house.

Well, you quoted my words but then asked a question about a conclusion that I didn't state in the end so... I'm not sure which question I'm supposed to answer. But the second op-ed that rising_star posted pretty much hits the nail on the head. Regulate guns like you regulate anything else in this world. It's anachronistic and bizarrely out of step to defend the 2nd Amendment so ardently in the 21st century. We had a horrendous school shooting incident in Canada in the 80s and the immediate fallout was Bill-C68, which heavily restricted buying and owning guns. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89cole_Polytechnique_massacre It's really not that difficult if people are willing to be rational about the constitution. Anyway, I know the whole issue doesn't revolve around gun control itself and it's more of a societal issue but the point is that restricting gun ownership and ease of purchase is a piece of the puzzle and it is (as it should have been many years ago) impossible to argue against.

Why oh why did I read this? It shattered my Lionel Hutz-like vision of grad school: (don't know why my youtube won't embed like everyone else's....)

Seriously. I mean is it about time that pro-gun control people can speak freely and not be labelled whiny, bleeding-heart liberals? Because I think it would take a real unfeeling or unhinged American now to deny that weapons ownership needs to be fiercely restricted if not outright banned (but yeah I know... baby steps). Shame that 20 children had to die for that that to occur; I think maybe that should have happened after Columbine, in which case maybe Virginia Tech and onwards could have been prevented or diminished in severity.

I didn't say people proclaimed themselves to be perfect candidates. My perspective is that everyone else is a perfect candidate.

Your best bet is to call the graduate secretary and see what he or she advises. Graduate secretaries know all.

27 here and only applying to my MA... so I'll be in your shoes soon too. :/ My point was... it seems like everyone here is the perfect applicant. It was good to see someone saying that they lived a "normal" life during undergrad too.

Thank you! Finally someone else here who isn't some super genius, 16 year old PhD applicant who has 5 publications and 10 conference presentations under their belt. I really want to know where all of the other non-cyborg applicants are. The time I spent after undergrad was somewhat related to the field but most of it was not... it was spent in the "real world," (service industry, office jobs, etc.) Do adcomms really look down on that or do they know that people who do things other than academics can still be pretty good candidates as well?

Alternatively get one of the smoothies with an espresso shot (or several!) and another banana and ask them to put it in a venti cup. Definitely will get you through the morning...

Excuse me. Who exactly are you to tell someone that their emotions are ridiculous? You're diminishing the OP's feelings by saying that his/her reaction is "over the top" "unnecessary", etc. I'm sure the OP wasn't looking for advice like "Get over it and grow up". I think that advice is unhelpful and insulting, so my opinion is that I don't think you've contributed anything to the thread. I do feel emotional about the issue because I've gone through the same thing. If you haven't, then maybe your advice might be ill-informed. The severity to you is not comparable. So, again, you minimise the OP's experience, which is fine because it's quite clear that there's no convincing you otherwise. I would say something about how undoubtedly you're of the hegemonic majority but I'm sure you would counter that with some tale of minor discrimination at some point in your life... I've already detailed what I feel I've contributed to this thread. Maybe you can go back and read over that. Oh if only it were so easy to smile and turn the other cheek. Yes, that's the great philosophy that propelled, and ultimately made successful, the American Civil Rights movement. Just smile and take it...

It's analogous to cultural and nationalist discrimination... either way, it's a negative act based on perceived difference, no matter how you want to slice it. Why you want to defend these xenophobes by saying, "well, people discriminate against Americans too! So what?!" is beyond me. What I fail to understand is why you're wasting all this time trying to diminish the OP's experience. The only reason I can think of is that you're just disagreeing with me because it's me. If we want to go along with this ridiculous "everyone should be invulnerable and imperturbable to what people say on the internet" thing, then why do you care so much? Why do admins care so much when people swear? Why does this community care so much when caw_caw_caw and his ilk troll and push peoples' buttons? You all seem to care a great deal. Why is that? Yes, a lot of international students may not understand English very well, which is unfortunate. But why perpetuate the stereotype or use it as a benchmark, as the OP said? The issue the OP had was that she is a native speaker of English but learned it outside of North America/Europe and that people are simply lumping her together with other international students like the ones you describe. I don't know how you can't how that would be frustrating.

FYI: you can ask baristas at Starbucks to add protein powder to your latte (sounds weird but it's good with soy or lactose free). You get espresso and protein all in one for about the same price!

Not so artfully, as that was me. But all right, apology accepted and water under the bridge.

Well, see now you're doing what you've criticised me for and bickering instead of addressing the OP. If you had addressed her concerns in the way that you just did, I would have no complaint. But you twice condescendingly and paternally told her to "grow up". That kind of talk is not helpful at all to someone who's being discriminated against, not in my view at least. And telling someone that they're over-reacting when they're being discriminated against is simply insulting. Don't minimise the OP's feelings like that. And PS. I made a newbie mistake by sending you a revised SOP by PM without asking you. You "confronted" by bad behaviour by hanging me out to dry in my SOP thread that I started and publicly castigating me in front of the board to prove a point. You chose to do so instead of simply telling me not to send you an SOP by PM. How ridiculous for an apparent arbiter of mature discussion. Necessary? Not really.

Showing solidarity and support is more helpful than telling someone to grow up. Maybe you could've done the same. And I don't think ignoring bad behaviour is the best way to go. It should be addressed and confronted... much like what you do to me on a regular basis.

I'm not sure how helpful it is to tell someone to just "grow up" and not be bothered by things. It's obviously much easier said than done. The point that our reactions to everyday experiences are a choice is true but it's not much comfort when you face (what sounds like) pretty intense discrimination simply based on place of birth. As a native speaker of English but one that was born in Asia, I feel your pain. Despite majoring in Latin and English, I don't know how many times I've had people talk to me like I'm handicapped when I simply didn't hear what they said the first time. It's ridiculous. Interestingly enough, I also face discrimination from other Asians as they deem me unworthy to teach their children "real English" because I don't fit their vision of what an English teacher should be.

Okay thank you... I was getting really nervous about my future prospects as a grad student if what you said was true for all schools. I'm assuming I may not fair so well at top tier schools then...

I'm coming to this conversation late but it's giving me heart palpitations. Can you give some context for these comments? Surely not all schools would kick students out for having an A- average...

Why I chose gender studies and early modern lit? Because I happen to enjoy both separately and even more when put together. Or are you asking why I'm not studying contemporary Japanese literature considering my Murakami themed profile? As for 1Q84, TBH, I'm not actually done the novel yet. I'm trying to read it in tandem with my partner but he reads much, much slower than me so... I'm about 3/4 of the way through. I like to withhold judgement until I finish a work but yeah, overall, not the best when it comes to women so far. It doesn't come as a surprise to me considering his other works (I'm thinking Sputnik Sweetheart and Norwegian Wood here) but I'm trying to be confident that he's making a point with the safe house for women plot point. Anyway, I'm still grappling with the role of women in his works, to say the least... I would hardly say 1Q84 is the worst of his works but it's not my favourite. I don't know what your definition of salacious is but...

I can see why. And yes, I get the Team America reference. My thoughts on that? Lololo ahahha Asians can't pronounce the letter L! It's satire, guys!