I did it. I survived the Fall 2016 semester of graduate
school. What this means is that I am ¾ done with my Master’s degree at Ball
State University! I don’t even mean to sound corny, but time sure does fly,
doesn’t it? It feels like a week ago that I made the decision to attend Ball
State, and now here I am, one semester away from graduating. I would totally be
lying if I said I wasn’t excited to get that diploma and see where the future
takes me, but at the same time, it is all so nerve-wracking.
Suffice it to say, this semester has been good to me. In
the independent study I worked on (that helped the beginning of this very
blog), I received an A. Which felt gratifying. I had noticed that graduate
school prioritized academic writing, which makes sense. After all, a lot of the
work we do here is to help prepare us for potential PhD programs. But for the
time being, I do not want to do that… like, at all. So my goals for this study
were geared more to how I wrote and when I wrote. I do not consider myself much
of a writer. But what I wanted to do was write in my voice. And to add to that, I also wanted to extend how I wrote.
For instance, I had become accustomed to writing literature reviews, merely
saying what former research can tell us. But here, for the sake of my own work,
I wanted to blend this together. So that is why I chose a book to use, and then
I would work from there, making claims from the readings. My posts were
definitely not perfect, but I wanted to expand my thinking and writing. I think
I did that.
Beyond that, I was excited to engage in texts that were
predominantly queer. That’s why Queer
Popular Culture worked so well for this semester. The scholars were able to
just dive into texts and see what is different, or queer, about them. Sometimes
these texts were about queer characters. But other times, it was finding what
made these texts/ storylines/ characters queer. I loved it so much. And these
weren’t just academic writings. They were grounded and written in a way that
didn’t privilege scholars. Mind you, I can try and slog my way through dense
academic articles, but there was something so chill about these readings. I
underlined, annotated, and enjoyed this book thoroughly.
So where does this leave us, readers? All… like 2 of you?
Perhaps I’m being idealistic and this blog will fall by the wayside, but I do
not want that to happen. I’ve enjoyed carving out some time to write about
things that pique my interests. So my goal is to contribute to this
semester-long work and extend it beyond my schooling experience. I will add
posts with lists, general thoughts, etc. For instance, I am already working on
a piece that gives my ten favorite television series of 2016. There are a
couple shows I need to catch up on, but I like my list so far. But I will also
be busy! I just got accepted to do some freelance work with Film Inquiry, an alternative film
magazine. Look out for my first post about the 2016 film Other People, slated for publication on December 21! I will link to
that website, because it is truly awesome.
Since I made the decision to not go into my PhD, I’ve
been scared and excited. Scared because… I don’t know what I am going to do
with my life. It is daunting. But I am also excited. I like the idea of just
living. Which sounds totally gay, I know. But there is something so intriguing
about just going off and doing something with my life, that isn’t just school.
It’s just not for me, not yet. Therefore, this blog will function as a place
for my to talk about… well, everything. And I hope to write more about texts
that are queer, or those that spark my interests. Basically, I am still
figuring it out: my blog and my life. So stick around. We will see where life
takes us.
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