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Post by mimicry on Dec 8, 2009 6:34:23 GMT
So, I am taking a brief break from writing this paper and I thought, hey, I haven't started a thread on the Wolfboard in quite some time maybe I should do that or maybe I shouldn't But anyway, let's cut to the chase. I am an academic nerd. I read feminist art theory for fun. I like talking about critiques of social space. Clement Greenberg gives me a rage-on. How about you? Are you in an institution of higher learning and learning about highly theoretical stuff that may or may not have any practical application? Do you hate it? Do you have no one to discuss these things with and are forced to start a thread on an unrelated internet forum to do so? Does this sort of thing give you a headache? I have a love-hate relationship with academia. I love reading this stuff because I really just like learning things and it makes me feel really smart. I also hate it because the language is so complicated! Seriously, this one feminist art theory book I'm trawling through now every other word is Cartesian dialectic and Brechtian this and blah blah when really she could have simplified her language more. But oh well. I'm expanding my vocabulary. (This thread inspired by my current paper: "Are we at the end of art?" Can I copy and paste NO to fill 5-7 pages?) And if you're not into this stuff, that's cool, too. You probably lead a more fulfilling life than I! OR, just use this space to complain about school, no matter where you are in it. I don't want this thread to just be populated by Tara and I, haha (yr one of my favorites, though bb )
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Post by idreamofcherrypies on Dec 8, 2009 7:00:28 GMT
I read your critique of social space and didn't understand a word of it so it must have been good. What do you think of the recent arty programmes (if you've watched them) like Why Beauty Matters and School of Saatchi?
I'm at Uni doing English Literature And Linguistics (QQ13 for you UCAS obsessives) and there is a ton of theoretical stuff that has little practical application except when I piss my friends off by informing them that what they've said is actually incredibly Marxist, or that Simone de Beauvoir would not approve at all. I don't hate it but I do find it incredibly difficult and struggle a lot. And there's no one to talk about it with. No coursemates, and flatmates all doing either science or maths.
I like how interesting it is when it's understandable or has some relevance to real life. I like knowing how to draw phrase structure trees, I like knowing that 'the cowboys the cowboys the cowboys fight fight fight' is a sentence, I like knowing roughly half the IPA by heart, I like knowing that in some Chinese dialects there's no easy hypothetical tense, so you would have to say "John is not going to the hospital, but if he did go to the hospital, although he is not" rather than "If John went", I like reading books and thinking I understand them and then going to the lecture and having everything I ever thought turned on its head, I like quoting Alice In Wonderland in an essay and having "Good use of second text" written next to it.
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Post by mimicry on Dec 8, 2009 7:41:54 GMT
I read your critique of social space and didn't understand a word of it so it must have been good. What do you think of the recent arty programmes (if you've watched them) like Why Beauty Matters and School of Saatchi? I'm at Uni doing English Literature And Linguistics (QQ13 for you UCAS obsessives) and there is a ton of theoretical stuff that has little practical application except when I piss my friends off by informing them that what they've said is actually incredibly Marxist, or that Simone de Beauvoir would not approve at all. It is entirely possible that I was butchering Lefebvre there (by the way, who the fuck has a name like Lefebvre?) so no worries. I haven't seen any of those programs because a) I am in America and it seems that smart things don't happen on TV often and b) I don't watch TV at school except for pirated episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm. I just don't have time. I can definitely relate to your second point. I took this art theory class on photography and it absolutely ruined me for how I look at photos now. And when I say "ruined" I mean that in the best way possible because now I kind of want to be a photographer, haha. But basically we read a bunch of Frenchmen (Barthes, Guibert) and talked about snapshots and how photos are both image and text simultaneously. And now whenever I pose for a family photograph I am SO aware about posing and "performing the self" for the camera. Recently my boyfriend's mother tried to take a picture of us as we were eating lunch. She told us to move an empty glass out of the way and I muttered that Susan Sontag would call her a coward. But it's interesting, though, to see how all these cultural commentators' ideas filter back down eventually, or seeing their ideas play out in front of you. People think that academia is o far removed from culture (which it definitely is in a way, since it's seated in elitist institutions) but ultimately it all comes back to daily life. Tangent: Have I mentioned that I really like your David Byrne avatar? He's pretty awesome and I like TH a lot. Now I have your sig stuck in my head. I mentioned David Byrne at the beginning of the semester, because at that time my senior thesis was going to focus on altering the body through costume and I was like, "Big suit? Anyone?" but no one had seen Stop Making Sense
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Post by tarantella on Dec 8, 2009 20:48:58 GMT
♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
Oh man, I love academia so much, and especially theory. But I just handed in my senior thesis for my Gender and Women's Studies major yesterday, which effectively marks the end of my theory-based career. ;________; No more classes in feminist-transnational-critical race-queer-postmodern-disability theories ever again! I have one semester of legal studies classes left, and then hopefully I'll be accepted to a law school, and wow this is making me really sad. There is so much still to learn! Why am I not applying to grad school again?
A lot of my friends are in the same department as me, so I've got plenty of people to talk with, but occasionally I'll forget and tell my mom about selective racializations or something and then have to deal with her rather forceful expressions of disgust. Or, like, the other day I was telling a friend about how fucked up it was for Pocahontas to 'listen to [her] heart' and then start speaking the language of the colonizers. Because, really, WTF. And then my friend became all upset and want-to-be-defensive but really just sad and accepting... Woops? Academia has given me the power to crush a lot of dreams.
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Post by newslang on Dec 8, 2009 21:14:20 GMT
I am on a path of spending the next 4.5 years still taking part in some kind of university education, and I already have 3.5 years down. And then I keep making plans that lead to more schooling. The idea of actually graduating seems so far away, even if the plan I have has me finishing my undergrad winter 2011.
So yes, I do genuinely love education! Although I am studying Finance, which is more quantitative than the above posters and so I won't ramble on about mutual funds and mortgages. Hopefully minoring in Business Communications which allows me to take interesting theoretical courses and write research papers and whatnot.
Edit: In the nerdery sense, isn't the feeling after getting an A on a paper or difficult test amazing?
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Post by husbandwifeheroin on Dec 8, 2009 22:04:22 GMT
Oh god, yes Victoria!
Three moments completed my life: 100% in an English Reading test, 100% in an English Writing test and 100% in an English Speaking & Listening test. Also, A* in my mock Art exam.
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Post by vomited on Dec 9, 2009 0:32:50 GMT
Oh neat, hello fellow gender studies wolfboard people! I am in my fourth year of university finishing up my BAs in Women's Studies and French. Two useless degrees at once, I'm pretty stoked. I love academia! I'm so happy to be studying exactly what I love (even if it means working my ass off to pay for it). It makes me sad to hear my friends complain about how they dislike their majors, but keep on because they hope they'll get a decent job. I'm actually supposed to be finishing up three separate 10-15 page papers that are due tomorrow for finals, but am completely distracting myself here instead. FML.
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Post by allison on Dec 9, 2009 2:11:54 GMT
Well apart from the fact that I'm failing out of college, I love academia! I love thinking and learning and exploring and pondering and I love the feeling you get when you really understand an idea. But these days I just feel so overwhelmed that I can't get anything done. There is just so much interesting stuff, and I haven't the ability to comprehend it all, but its bad: I've gotten to the point where even browsing my NYTimes homepage is daunting. I want to overcome this pervasive anxiety and shit, but until then I wish I could resign myself to some menial & forced task, something mindless but productive. Like long-haul trucking, maybe. For now, though, I escape with fiction.
I guess I'm struggling with the fact that so much interests me I could never get it all, but even if I could I don't reckon I'd be much better off cause what can one do with deep deep knowledge? I mean, I think that more information produces less understanding, it gets you more lost. Maybe enjoyment is enough reason to pursue this sort of shit but in my case I think it's led to this sense of daunting.
Another problem I'm facing with Academia right now (and this is tied into everything being overwhelming, I suppose) is my inability to write papers. What good is an academic who can't express her ideas in print? And even if its not about publishing or writing papers, its damn hard to follow/finish/flush out thoughts if one can't articulate them. I can't hold so many threads in my head at once, but I can't organize them into coherent sentences, either... I get so frustrated. And drownnnnnnnnn.
But allison, stop being so whiny. I do love research. And I love theory. Here's what I've most recently studied (or at least tried to). Recent Iranian 'Green Revolution' - women's role in the election & protests, modern media/communication/journalism's role, etc. WGS transnational feminism and stuff. Ethics in Medicine. Immigrants in Brazil. War criminals. The only class I'm passing at the moment is Critical Thinking (its basically me and the prof. totally interested by the material while everyone else roles their eyes and watches the clock). I love it because I think its what I try to do, naturally, and no one gets upset or defensive about my questions and lack of knowledge.
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Post by tarantella on Dec 9, 2009 21:38:27 GMT
... but it is just academic masturbation... Yeah, sometimes it is, but have you ever had the experience of reading a text that just blows your mind? Those experiences are like really good sex. Intercourse with discourse! :P Or, well, okay. I know I'm a bit weird, but I can't be the only one who gets turned on occasionally by a really amazing theory/algorithm/whatever you study in your field. Like, last semester I read Judith Butler's Precarious Life, and it was the most incredible experience. It was sexy. And then Butler spoke at my department's graduation, and seeing her hanging out with all my professors in their caps and gowns was like watching academic porn. For serious. All of these extremely smart ladies (a couple of whom I might have crushes on as it is), all dressed up and interacting in one space together, and watching them made me feel like a voyeur. I sense that I might be alone in this, and that's okay! This year, at my own graduation, ANGELA motherfuckin DAVIS is going to be the keynote speaker. Listening to her speak is going to be an insanely hot event.
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Post by idreamofcherrypies on Dec 9, 2009 21:45:36 GMT
Tangent: Have I mentioned that I really like your David Byrne avatar? He's pretty awesome and I like TH a lot. Now I have your sig stuck in my head. I mentioned David Byrne at the beginning of the semester, because at that time my senior thesis was going to focus on altering the body through costume and I was like, "Big suit? Anyone?" but no one had seen Stop Making Sense Aww thanks ;D I know, we need more TH fans in the world I bought a big white coat to try and make my head look smaller but it didn't I really like yours too. I like it a lot more since I stopped just glancing out of the corner of my eye and mistaking it for a cartoon Dalek. Annnnd I read your blog that you link from your profile and it was really interesting! I like this thread a lot, it's been fun to read. Yay for enthusiasts and pondering and thoughtful people etc!
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Post by mimicry on Dec 10, 2009 4:09:01 GMT
I sense that I might be alone in this, and that's okay! This year, at my own graduation, ANGELA motherfuckin DAVIS is going to be the keynote speaker. Listening to her speak is going to be an insanely hot event. WHAT SO JEALOUS I don't even know who my graduation's speaker is going to be. I was told, but he was unremarkable. Last year's class got the guy who did Postsecret.
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Post by allison on Dec 10, 2009 6:06:53 GMT
ew, i hate postsecret. my high school graduation we got fucking james franco. he was really good, actually. today i did think and produce thoughts. then i got overwhelmed again. i don't know how you guys do it. also today i read this: tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/09/art-theory-jordan-wolfson/and thought of this thread.
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Post by mimicry on Dec 10, 2009 8:02:06 GMT
Take it slow! Time is infinite. Things happen eventually.
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Post by idreamofcherrypies on Jan 6, 2010 16:35:08 GMT
This seemed like the best thread to post it on, so apologies if it isn't. I have an essay to do about standardisation, and how the notions of good and bad English can affect people positively or negatively, or maybe not at all. I've made this survey, and if anyone's interested enough for a proper discussion then feel free to post your answers here as well If you do it I will be so so so so grateful Thanks!
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Post by jay on Jan 6, 2010 17:22:06 GMT
i answered your survey!
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Post by husbandwifeheroin on Jan 6, 2010 17:34:10 GMT
I did it too! The lolcat made me laugh.
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Post by jay on Jan 6, 2010 17:45:36 GMT
same, and then i felt bad, cos i'd spent most of the survey bitching about how i hate how people destroy words with their crappy spelling...
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Post by idreamofcherrypies on Jan 6, 2010 17:54:46 GMT
Aww thanks so much you two It's a really interesting read! Haha the answers made me laugh too. Suprisingly about half the people so far (out of 24) hate the lolcats, and a large majority think that the joke mainly hinges on the picture and the spelling is just something small and stupid.
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Post by newslang on Jan 6, 2010 17:58:01 GMT
I had my first class of the semester today and my prof kept saying "fiNance" instead of "FInance" and it was driving me insane!!!
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Post by husbandwifeheroin on Jan 6, 2010 17:58:36 GMT
whut dey iz stoopid lolcats are so funni
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