I knew it was coming. I’d seen enough students complaining online to know that it seemed to happen to everyone. This summer I finally felt it: I hate my dissertation. I’m entering year 6 of my PhD program and I’ve heard all the complaints before. At this point, they’re either

Somehow I Enjoy Giving Academic Talks. Here’s Why. I’ve never liked public speaking. Even into college, I identified with – or passively accepted – labels like quiet, shy, and introverted. Public speaking was uncomfortable, awkward, and something to be dreaded. Which is why in graduate school, finding out that I

7:30am. I open that messy bird app that I’ve been wanting to quit and see someone’s celebratory post announcing that they’ve won a grant. It’s a grant I’ve also applied for. Shoot. I haven’t checked my email yet, but the post says they found out yesterday. I would have seen

I’ve been asked a few times about how I chose my dissertation committee, mostly by friends who are currently going through the process themselves. Personally, forming my committee just seemed to happen. The choices I made felt natural and effortless (in contrast to most things in graduate school, ha). But

Reflecting on my dissertation proposal, the one topic I had to write about was feedback. I first wrote about feedback in my first year of graduate school. That post was my way of trying to figure out why the feedback I was getting in grad school, on class assignments and

December 2, 2022, 11:50 am Tapping my feet nervously, I’m sitting at my home “office,” which is just my dining room table with my laptop and a second monitor. My wi-fi has been spotty lately, so I have an ethernet cord stretched halfway across the room, probably a safety hazard.