NaNoWriMo 2021

Back when I started grad school, a friend in the cohort ahead of mine told us about NaNoWriMo and how she uses it not to write a novel, but to work on her thesis. I thought it was a neat idea. I still think it's a neat idea. NaNoWriMo is short for National Novel Writing…

Finding my voice

One podcast I used to listen to religiously, when I listened to podcasts regularly, is Waking from the American Dream. It is Kelly Carlin's podcast. She has amazing guests on that end up having these amazingly deep conversations. My favorite episodes are the "Octagon Table"s, where she has a bunch of friends (many of whom…

Conference Help

This weekend I was a part of the Wayne Pop virtual conference. There were 4-5 sessions per day with time in between to be off of Zoom and take a break. It felt so good. Not only to be able to be a part of a conference without all of the stress of attending, but…

“Overthinking”

I have been terrified of overthinking things while in school. It's part of why I would put off working on a paper until almost the last minute. Part of it was I never felt ready to write about the topic and would do research until I had to start working on the paper. I know…

The impact of fandom

I'm watching "The Making of Gettysburg" and a thought hit me. When they made Gettysburg, they had around 50,000 Civil War reenactors who came to be a part of it. But when they first talk about them, the documentary calls them "living historians." I love that. Because they are historians. They learn details about the…

Overthinking Definitions

I have been focusing on writing one article because it's what I'm presenting in a few weeks at PCA. I got to the point yesterday where I was ready to submit it to the journal, and after hours of tweaks so it fit the requirements of the journal, I did. Eek! But I've been working…

The gender neutral Cogenitor

I've been doing some Star Trek watching lately. I fully watched all of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine for the first time. I watched Star Trek: Lower Decks just so my hubby wouldn't have to keep from spoiling it for me. I've moved on to "re"watching Star Trek: Enterprise. (Voyager is way too problematic for…

Focus and Dissertating

Being in graduate school at the same place for both my master's and my PhD means I have seen a lot of people working on their dissertations. I have seen the way dissertations can effect people. One friend has said they have some PTSD from their dissertation process and I just want to hug them.…

Ah-ha!

"Theory is chosen to illuminate the artifact, rather than vice versa. A work of popular culture scholarship begins with the artifact, whether it is a television show, a song, a celebrity, a movie, a performance, a consumer object, a comic book, or a romance novel."

Productive in a pandemic

I am not the greatest at staying on track with things, let alone trying to do a bunch of things at once. I realize that's a lot of the job description for getting tenure track at a university or college. Or just teaching at a university or college. I am trying to use this time…