PhD, Semester 8: It’s Been a Lot
In February 2020, I wrote a post titled “PhD, Semester 4: An Inventory of Exhaustion.” It was a very long post about being tired. I…
Category: Reflections
Qualifying Exams II: How They Fail
In my last post, I wrote about my day-to-day experience taking the qualifying exam (“quals”) in September. As I worked through that blog post, my…
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Qualifying Exams I: How It Went
I took my qualifying exams ("quals" for short) September 13-15, 2021. Then for the rest of September, I tried unsuccessfully to write about the experience.…
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It’s Okay to Be Surprised by a Horrific Event
“It’s terrible but I’m not surprised.” It’s been over a week since the Atlanta shooting and I’m suddenly feeling averse to statements about surprise. If…
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My University Cancelled Spring Break, So I Took My Own
From March 1-5, I took my own spring break. Like many schools, my university shifted our academic calendar in response to the pandemic, starting the…
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Is it the pandemic? / Easing back in
“Is it because of the pandemic?” my brain asks, and the answer can always be yes. At the very least, we should all be entitled…