"The time has come!" the blogger said, "To talk of many things. Of domain names, how to blog on one, of server space and pings. And how to get more google hits, and whether meta-tags are strings."
It is long overdue, folks! The Dithyramb of the Black Swan has officially migrated to my brand spanking shiny new domain name. Join me at www.daniprose.com for the continued adventures of our intrepid hero as she quests after the elusive PhD.
See you there!
Danielle
June 21, 2011
May 18, 2011
Pomp and Circumstance
Well folks, this is it. The end of an era. The closing of a chapter. The valiant conclusion of our hero’s epic tale of love and loss as she battles the dragons of English literature (or at least book two of such).
As of yesterday, I have had officially conferred upon me the degree of Master of Arts and I have a pretty certificate to prove it.
“How do you feel?” seems to be the question on the minds of the people and, honestly, no different than I felt the other day. The feeling of accomplishment was achieved when I submitted my last paper. The elation of being finished really hit me when I saw that all of my grades were in. The discovery of this rumored thing called “free time” occurred late last week. I no longer wake up in the morning and run through a mental checklist of everything that I have to do to keep my head above water. I can feel the stress begin to roll off my shoulders in waves of calm (well, you know, as much as can do so when I still have a move to plan and a veritable wall of things which I had put off doing until all of my coursework was in). I have returned all of my library books. I have sold back my unwanted textbooks. I have purchased the requisite school hoodie to keep me warm in Boston.
As I tie up loose ends here, I keep having to fight the urge to mourn what I’m leaving behind. As I addressed in a previous post, it’s not so much that I’m leaving anything, but rather that a golden time has passed. My friends are moving on too, with no coursework to do here and no library access it’s not like my research would flourish, I think at the end of it I just have a tough time saying goodbye (and I’ve had the muppet song stuck in my head all morning.. trust me, it’s not helping misty-eyed matters).
The convocation was nice (though our graduation speaker was atrocious… note to the world at large: if you need someone to speak at a graduation, get someone from the humanities not the hard sciences… we want a touching and inspirational message not a lab report). Post-convocation family dinner plus friends and their families was perfect. I am still trying to figure out what to do with this egregiously expensive polyester cap and gown, but I’m a creative person and I’m sure I’ll think of something.
At dinner after graduation, my dad looked at me and said “Congratulations, Doctoral Candidate Rosvally!”. It really hit me at that moment that it was time to don the new hat (over my MA cap, of course… you can’t really leave something so mind-altering as a theory-intensive program in your sock drawer). I guess it was such a shock because I had been so relying upon the summer as a time during which I wouldn’t have to be in the process of becoming something. This summer, I am something. And that’s enough. The Doctoral hat can wait on my bookshelf; I’m not quite ready for it.
In the meantime, I think I’m going to take a much-needed (and well-deserved) break. I keep threatening to pretend that I’m illiterate. We’ll see how long that lasts.
May 6, 2011
Anticipatory Nostalgia
Ho… ly… crap. As the semester draws to a close and the number of days until graduation slips into the single digits (nine days… can you believe it?), I am (less frantically than I was a week ago) scrambling to finish the final coursework of my MA while simultaneously planning my great Northern Migration and looking forward to a summer of pretending to be illiterate (well… maybe at least a few days out of the week).
I have two papers which I am currently putting the final touches upon before they get gleefully patted on the bum and sent scampering along down the e-mail trail to their intended recipients. After that, we are in the clear for a long-anticipated and much-deserved break before I dive back into this crazy mess that is my life as a scholar in September.
I haven’t really planned any sort of celebration (besides the obligatory post-graduation family dinner) to commemorate this achievement… but I’m sure that at some point someone will decide that it’s at least worth a trip to a good micro-brewery and drag me out accordingly (hint… hint…).
In wrapping things up, I’m not-so-slowly becoming nostalgic about everything that I will miss about my life here. It’s not the place I’m going to miss per say (though there are some local spots that have their charm), but rather the moments in time which comprised my existence as a Master’s student. I have before hinted at the importance of this program to me as an individual and a scholar, and that importance remains. I really can’t think of a single (feasible) thing that would have made this great learning experience more positive, more fruitful, or more full of personal and professional growth.
So since I haven’t done one in a while (and since I’m running on empty for brilliant ideas right now), here’s a list of all the things that I know are going to be different upon my arrival in the new fishtank that is Tufts and thereby will miss about my old fishtank that is Rutgers.
1) The feeling of comfortable ease which allows me to say whatever it is I want whenever it is I want. There is something to be said for being a big fish in a small pond and being the type of student who is known by the faculty. Having pre-established relationships with my professors and colleagues, I have never felt stifled from speaking out in a class, even if my point of view is completely unpopular, tangential, or downright wrong. This feeling will return once I manage to find a certain comfort zone at Tufts, but for the first little bit of time there is always a difference when moving in to new territory. I’m going to have to get the lay of the land before I make any critical mistakes, and that could take a while.
2) Getting away with whatever I want to in certain courses run by the Best Professor in the World/my Boss. This overlaps thing one, but definitely deserves its own category. Since a mutual respect has been developed between myself and said professor, I try not to push the limits on this one. I am a model student when it comes to reading and deadlines, but class discussions make me spunky. I really do try not to de-rail conversations too horribly much, but having the freedom to “peanut gallery” (yes, I just made up a verb) really adds to my classroom experience. Thank you, Best Professor in the World (you know who you are) for putting up with my antics. This will be missed.
3) The Best Professor in the World. Here is a man who mentored me through my program, gave me advice about sensitive professional topics when I was nervous, wrote me glowing recommendation letters whenever I needed them (at least, I think they were glowing…), bought me wine when I deserved it, and overall provided the sense of always having an academic big-wig batting for my team. Of all the people who I’ve met in this land of Oz, I’m going to miss him the most… and part of me wishes that he could come to Boston with me (though since he just got tenure, I wouldn’t really wish the implications of that fate upon him). Thank you, BPitW. For everything and more!
4) Our local dive bar. There’s something to be said for having the popular watering hole within walking distance of both my apartment and classes. There’s also something to be said for being able to say, at any given time, “come out with us for drinks!” and having everyone in the room know exactly where to meet you. They do killer wings, they always have Blue Moon on tap, and our waitress loves us and consistently buys us free rounds and SoCo shots at the end of the night. God bless her and bottoms up. I can’t believe I’m going to have to find a new dive bar.
5) My jobs. All of them. This includes my co-workers, my bosses, my students, and the administrative officials associated with said forms of gainful employment. Not much to say about this other than god I hope I find something as good as what I’ve got here in the next port of call.
6) My friends and colleagues who have made this experience a pleasure. There are very few fields in which you may directly glean the quality of your relationship by the quality, consistency, and vehemence of the fights in which you partake together. I’ve met some amazing people in the past few years, two of which in particular (and their attached significant others… so I guess that makes four) have added so very much to my existence. We’re scattering to the winds this summer (literally. I’m moving North, B’s moving South and L’s moving West) and I can’t help but marvel at the fact that our lives intersected at all. I very much hope that, someday, we will be drinking at the MLA convention (after we have each spoken on our completely disparate panels) and recall fondly the days when we were just bright-eyed kids in Newark with two nickels, a dream, and access to the OED.
7) Living across the street from the library. For reals.
8) New York City. It’s my home. Even though I don’t exactly visit regularly, just seeing the skyline while I’m driving around doing errands is comforting. It is nice to know that, if I want to, I can go see a play, or walk through Central Park, or do a run for Thai food at four in the morning. When myself and aforementioned colleagues were talking about moving, we were all in agreement that NYC was what we would miss the most about Jersey (which is funny in and of its own right). I’ve always known that my road would take me away from New York, but I’m a New Yorker and reserve the right to be anxious/sad about that. Boston’s okay, but it sure ain’t New York.
9) The relative proximity of mom-cooked meals. Okay. I live an hour away from my parents if the traffic is good. I don’t visit them all that much, and when I do it’s usually waving from the car as I pick something up to whisk myself to my next destination. But there’s something very very comforting about being close enough to get that special mom-food when you really really need it. Come on, who doesn’t like mom-food!? It’s the one thing you NEVER grow out of. And the leftovers! My god the leftovers! Koogle and Matzoth Ball Soup and Brisket, oh my!
10) My local coffee / tea digs. From the coffee shop with the muppets, to the coffee shop/art supply story, to the café with the best half-cooked tollhouse cookie soufflé ever invented, to the tea shop that has an array of pots and mugs from which you pick your own de la guarda style. I collect awesome coffee shops. I only hope that Boston delivers, because man this area is chock full of amazing grading/homework/paper-writing/class reading spots. And everyone knows that a graduate student runs on caffeine and Derrida.
April 27, 2011
Guest Speaker
Yesterday, I had the good fortune of attending a reading/talk with Nobel-prize winning author Toni Morrison.
By now, you very likely have heard about the Rutgers Snooki scandal (just to sum things up: Rutgers paid Morrison 30K to appear. Rutgers paid Snooki 32K to speak. Anyone else sick to their stomach?). I’m not going to rant about this. I’m also not going to talk about the ethics of a public university which serves a largely under-funded student body spending so many zeroes on things like guest speakers. Notably, I do not believe that the reading which I attended was part of Morrison’s 30K commencement speech deal. I’m not entirely certain how/why Morrison wound up in Newark, but I’m frightfully glad that she did.
As an added bonus, we were graced with the presence of Newark’s Mayor Cory Booker who has been making a real splash on the political scene with the things that he’s done for this city. He’s an articulate, smart, passionate individual and it was a true joy to heard him give Morrison’s introduction.
When Morrison took the stage, I noticed a few things instantly. First: Toni Morrison is old! She’s an eighty-year-old woman! They wheeled her on and off the stage in a wheelchair, though she managed to walk herself to the center-stage table where they had a seat prepared for her. I suppose I’ve never really thought about her age; like all literary figures she’s ageless to me. In addition, with the frequent highly sexual and sexualized nature of her works, I don’t really want to think of her as a grandma.
She still has her trademark dreads (though they’re a lovely silver color) and she wore them back in a pink bandana. Her voice is rich and soothing with an occasional Southern-esque drawl to it which comes out more the more she speaks. She started out faltering with frequent pauses, but as she became comfortable lit up the stage with energy, light, and life.
She read us a section of a work in progress (which was a treat in and of its own right). Sitting in the room with hundreds of other people, somehow as she was reading I was brought right up next to her. As my imagination collided with hers (an image which she herself used in describing fiction), I was no longer seated in an audience but rather in her living room. She was speaking directly to me, telling me the story, making sure I was listening, seeing what I thought about her work… I would have listened to her go on all day.
Of course she’s a transcendent writer, but more than that she’s an engaging person. She answers questions with grace and personality, never lacking in an entertaining anecdote which clearly displays her fearlessness.
Toni Morrison writes the sublime (and I mean that in a very aesthetic sense). Her writing isn’t pretty or neat, it’s not tidy or simple. Instead, it’s raw and deeply deeply uncomfortable. I have trouble picking up her books because I know that the entire time I am reading them my stomach will be in knots. Her books are terrible, powerful, and beautiful. They are not something I willingly subject myself to more than once every few years.
So to see this little old woman speaking… this little old woman whose mind does and has encompassed and encompasses such genius… is like being in the presence of a true divine conductor. It’s like some greater literary power flows down through her; like she channels the soul of an age and transmits it to paper and there it is, for all to see.
Maybe it’s time for me to pick up Song of Solomon… it’s been at least six months since I’ve considered slitting my wrists as a direct result of a piece of literature.
April 21, 2011
The Twilight Zone
As you may have noticed by now, I am slightly pre-occupied with vampire fiction. As such, the Twilight phenomenon has utterly fascinated me. I’ve thought long and hard about it. I’ve read the books. I’ve seen the movies. I’ve blogged. Repeatedly. And I’m still not certain that I entirely grasp it.
My midterm for Jack’s Gothic class was a piece connecting Twilight with the vampire genre as a whole and attempting to fasten it to the greater issues at stake within vampire fiction. My attempt was only slightly successful, mostly due to the fact that I was juggling the impending MA exam at the time, but also because there seems to be a dearth of serious scholarship on the matter. I would say “you can’t really blame them”, except for the fact that I’ve unearthed a plethora of Buffy scholarship. Why should Twilight be so different? Same genre, similar demographic, granted Buffy has been around a bit longer so it’s had longer to be kicked around by the requisite minds… but eight years isn’t all that long. Something about the situation didn’t sit right with me, and it took me some time to realize why.
I never really thought about the major difference that a good, solid piece of literature makes to a paper as opposed to shallow drivel. Because really, let’s face it folks, Twilight ain’t Finnegan’s Wake. It wasn’t until I was deep within my paper’s crafting that I realized how difficult it was for me to write anything truly meaningful, insightful or original about it… even though it wasn’t a scholarly village horse like Frankenstein or the Shakespeare stuff that I’m used to working with upon which everyone’s had a go and thereby much less likely to be shocked, awed, or otherwise affected by your own turn with it.
What I’m really getting down to is a simple fact: Joss Whedon can write. Stephenie Meyer can’t. Whedon makes something deep and engaging, Meyer makes brain bubblegum that will do nothing but rot your proverbial mental teeth. It may taste good, but trust me, it has no caloric or nutritive value whatsoever.
Anyway, I cranked my midterm out, thoughts of publication only vaguely floating through my mind. Yes, there was a place for the scholarship but A) did I really want to be that Twilight girl and B) the paper itself wasn’t really up to my usual par. I blame the literature. Wait, no, not literature… book. It’s just a book.
Suffice to say that Stephenie Meyer and I haven’t really been on speaking terms since that midterm paper. Imagine, then, my surprise when I walked into Jack’s office before Gothic this week and saw, sitting proudly upon his desk, a paperback copy of Twilight. I arched my eyebrow at him, trying to formulate a suitably smart-ass remark.
Flash back to earlier in the semester when Jack had been poking around for suggestions for the last week of class; a time he wished to devote to the “modern Gothic”. I believe the first thing out of my mouth when he suggested that perhaps Twilght would be a great option was “Please don’t willingly subject people to this.”
Wavy lines and funny music bring us back to Jack’s office, present-day. He looked at me slightly sheepishly, “Yea, I decided that it’s the most popular example of Gothic out there these days so… I’m assigning a chapter.”
I sighed, “I want it on record that this was against my advisement.”
“Duly noted.” He said, and we began talking about much more consequent things.
Flash forward again to the last ten minutes of class. Jack reaches over to the ubiquitous stack of copying that has been lurking on the table in front of him for the entire class period as he launches into an explanation of the class for next week. “So, there are some songs on blackboard and we will be watching some film clips, and Danielle told me that you should all be reading a chapter from her favorite book so… here you go!”
He passed the dreaded pages down and my colleagues groaned as they saw the title. “Jack!” I said, “What are you doing!? I’m going to get beat up in the alley after class!” … I didn’t remind him (or them) that this was the second time the syllabus suffered at my hand. The first, of course, was a fight to the end for the inclusion of The Mysteries of Udolpho which (by the by) is the foundational text of modern Gothic… it’s also a six-hundred-page-slow-moving-book-from-hell. I think my colleagues have finally forgotten about my role in their being forced to read this thing so far be it from me to freshen their memories.
That didn’t stop them from being upset about the Twilight thing. “Hey, Danielle, I hear there’s a dumpster out behind Robeson…”
It’s a good thing that I do a lot of cardio.
In any case, I’m sitting here now attempting to read this chapter and, for the first time, I’m actually having trouble getting through it. I am pleasantly surprised by this fact, and would be more happy about it if I didn’t have to get through said chapter for class next week.
This is the first time that I’ve returned to any of the Twilight books since the midterm debacle. I would like to say that demystifying their allure has helped to break their uncanny spell upon me, but I’m pretty sure that it’s mostly due to end-of-semester mental gridlock.
My midterm for Jack’s Gothic class was a piece connecting Twilight with the vampire genre as a whole and attempting to fasten it to the greater issues at stake within vampire fiction. My attempt was only slightly successful, mostly due to the fact that I was juggling the impending MA exam at the time, but also because there seems to be a dearth of serious scholarship on the matter. I would say “you can’t really blame them”, except for the fact that I’ve unearthed a plethora of Buffy scholarship. Why should Twilight be so different? Same genre, similar demographic, granted Buffy has been around a bit longer so it’s had longer to be kicked around by the requisite minds… but eight years isn’t all that long. Something about the situation didn’t sit right with me, and it took me some time to realize why.
I never really thought about the major difference that a good, solid piece of literature makes to a paper as opposed to shallow drivel. Because really, let’s face it folks, Twilight ain’t Finnegan’s Wake. It wasn’t until I was deep within my paper’s crafting that I realized how difficult it was for me to write anything truly meaningful, insightful or original about it… even though it wasn’t a scholarly village horse like Frankenstein or the Shakespeare stuff that I’m used to working with upon which everyone’s had a go and thereby much less likely to be shocked, awed, or otherwise affected by your own turn with it.
What I’m really getting down to is a simple fact: Joss Whedon can write. Stephenie Meyer can’t. Whedon makes something deep and engaging, Meyer makes brain bubblegum that will do nothing but rot your proverbial mental teeth. It may taste good, but trust me, it has no caloric or nutritive value whatsoever.
Anyway, I cranked my midterm out, thoughts of publication only vaguely floating through my mind. Yes, there was a place for the scholarship but A) did I really want to be that Twilight girl and B) the paper itself wasn’t really up to my usual par. I blame the literature. Wait, no, not literature… book. It’s just a book.
Suffice to say that Stephenie Meyer and I haven’t really been on speaking terms since that midterm paper. Imagine, then, my surprise when I walked into Jack’s office before Gothic this week and saw, sitting proudly upon his desk, a paperback copy of Twilight. I arched my eyebrow at him, trying to formulate a suitably smart-ass remark.
Flash back to earlier in the semester when Jack had been poking around for suggestions for the last week of class; a time he wished to devote to the “modern Gothic”. I believe the first thing out of my mouth when he suggested that perhaps Twilght would be a great option was “Please don’t willingly subject people to this.”
Wavy lines and funny music bring us back to Jack’s office, present-day. He looked at me slightly sheepishly, “Yea, I decided that it’s the most popular example of Gothic out there these days so… I’m assigning a chapter.”
I sighed, “I want it on record that this was against my advisement.”
“Duly noted.” He said, and we began talking about much more consequent things.
Flash forward again to the last ten minutes of class. Jack reaches over to the ubiquitous stack of copying that has been lurking on the table in front of him for the entire class period as he launches into an explanation of the class for next week. “So, there are some songs on blackboard and we will be watching some film clips, and Danielle told me that you should all be reading a chapter from her favorite book so… here you go!”
He passed the dreaded pages down and my colleagues groaned as they saw the title. “Jack!” I said, “What are you doing!? I’m going to get beat up in the alley after class!” … I didn’t remind him (or them) that this was the second time the syllabus suffered at my hand. The first, of course, was a fight to the end for the inclusion of The Mysteries of Udolpho which (by the by) is the foundational text of modern Gothic… it’s also a six-hundred-page-slow-moving-book-from-hell. I think my colleagues have finally forgotten about my role in their being forced to read this thing so far be it from me to freshen their memories.
That didn’t stop them from being upset about the Twilight thing. “Hey, Danielle, I hear there’s a dumpster out behind Robeson…”
It’s a good thing that I do a lot of cardio.
In any case, I’m sitting here now attempting to read this chapter and, for the first time, I’m actually having trouble getting through it. I am pleasantly surprised by this fact, and would be more happy about it if I didn’t have to get through said chapter for class next week.
This is the first time that I’ve returned to any of the Twilight books since the midterm debacle. I would like to say that demystifying their allure has helped to break their uncanny spell upon me, but I’m pretty sure that it’s mostly due to end-of-semester mental gridlock.
April 19, 2011
MacBeth hath Murdered Sleep
It was a dark and stormy night.
We walked the gray streets of Chelsea under a steady drizzle of rain as we gazed upon the generic building fronts hoping to arrive at our destined address sooner rather than later. It was just cold enough for the rain to be unwelcomely chilly, like little specks of recently-melted ice oozing upon us.
We arrived at a warehouse attended by two men clad all in black. “Are you looking for the McKittrick hotel?”
Upstairs, a gay lounge decorated with an eye towards thirties glamour is hopping. A four-piece jazz band plays while a singer lovingly croons period music, a bartender dressed in spats serves up cocktails, and a woman in a blue sequined gown slinks around from table to table asking if you are ready to join the party yet.
By now, anyone even remotely connected to the theatre has likely at least heard about the Punchdrunk theatre company’s immersive theatre experience “Sleep No More”. The New York revival (currently playing at the McKittrick Hotel on W. 27th street) is a re-make of the phenomenon which hit Boston in October of 2009 (ran Oct. 8, 2009 – Feb. 7, 2010 at The Old Lincoln School in Brookline). To support the sheer amount of space required for the endeavor, Punchdrunk has taken over three conjoined Chelsea warehouses. According to the New York Times, 200 unpaid volunteers spent approximately four months meticulously putting the over-100 rooms in the hotel together. And believe you me it shows.
As you enter the hotel, you are given a white Venetian mask which you are asked to keep on during the duration of the production (my comrades with glasses reported that this made things a little difficult for them). You are asked not to speak, and (as usual) to silence your cell phones.
You are then ushered into a large freight elevator where a porter randomly assigns chunks of the party to begin their journey at different floors. We held hands to keep from getting separated (by the by, if you do go, go with a very small group or decide that you will get separated and agree to meet at the bar afterwards – it’s difficult to keep track of people in the dark when everyone’s wearing the same white mask and nobody is allowed to speak).
You enter a veritable labyrinth of rooms (environments really) where you are permitted to touch, move, examine and explore. We found everything from a foggy London street, to a taxidermist’s shop, an apothecary with dried herbs hanging from every available surface, a hedge maze, a ballroom, a Victorian hospital, a Victorian asylum, Macduff’s children’s rooms, to a large room with a bathtub filled with bloody water (I take this to be the Macbeths’ room). In every room there is something to discover (some of my favorite discoveries were hand-written letters strewn about the place including the famous letter which MacB writes his Lady Wife – “They met me on the eve of ascension…”).
As though the living museum aspect of this weren’t enough to sate the rampant voyeur, there is a human aspect as well. Actors dash about around you (easy to spot – they’re the ones without the masks) and you can choose to follow them and watch them meet up with other actors to portray wordless scenes in various environments of the hotel. Amongst some of the scenes we saw were the famous Macbeth banquet, a couple dancing in the ballroom, the Witches’ first encounter with Macbeth (complete with shot roulette), and the murder of Duncan.
I really can’t describe to you how wonderfully creepy the entire experience was. Imagine floating about darkened rooms, not knowing where you will end up when you turn a corner, constantly meeting with white-masked individuals who are somehow comforting rather than terrifying, and occasionally being grabbed by actors who seem to appear from nowhere. Perhaps the highlight of our time in the hotel came when we were attempting to find our way out. We had reached the stairway and were trying to follow an actor one way (at the back of the white-masked cloud) when a woman’s scream echoed through the hall. We all looked at each other, about-faced, and (like good heroes) ran towards it to find Macbeth standing over the body of a very pregnant Lady Macduff. Somehow, the knowledge that we had just missed the murder (even if there was nothing we could have done about it) sank sickly into my gut. Had there even been anyone there to observe her last moments? Had she expected to see him coming round the hall? Had she greeted him or did he surprise her? And did she try to fight him off or gracefully accept her fate?
Now this is theatre.
The experience jostled me. As we explored the different rooms, there was no doubt that I was moved; to tears, terror, laughter, excitement, suspense, pity and everything in between. Being able to touch and be touched by what was going on brought the story home to me in a way that I’ve never experienced before. Of course, there isn’t really a cohesive story. There is no set path for a visitor to explore, there is no pre-determined way to experience the hotel. Proprietors estimate that each guest only sees 1/16th of the total experience. And I won’t say that at times I wasn’t left wondering “so what does this have to do with Macbeth?” But even in those times, I was too enraptured with what was going on around me to mind too horribly much.
Some reviewers find that Shakespeare haunts the attraction rather than is the attraction. I don’t entirely disagree with them, but I find it difficult to lend their argument full credence. Certainly liberties were taken with “Sleep No More”, and there are things which still don’t make sense to me. That, however, is what I think holds the greatest appeal. The entire thing is a puzzle which can be solved one of ten billion ways and it is up to each individual to determine her own experience and what that experience means.
When I left the hotel I was exhausted. I felt like my mind was going to leak out my ear. I had a difficult time forming coherent sentences, and we drove home through the now-torrential thunderstorm in almost complete silence. As I collapsed into my bed that evening, all I could think was “Macbeth hath murdered sleep.”
…for that… I slept like a baby. Despite having bizarre blood-soaked dreams with figures in white Venetian masks and random time-traveling with an eye towards steam-punk style globetrotting antics.
Go. Seriously. Find some way to get there. This is a veritable revolution in the way audiences experience Shakespeare and I can only hope that this cutting edge cuts deeply into the fabric of American Theatre. I don't think that saying "I will cheat on the bard" works here because technically I didn't really.... it's more like having a tryst with his similar-yet-different twin brother.
April 14, 2011
Time for a Quick Re-cap
You know what hit me today?
A few more weeks and I’m done. Done with the MA. Done with English lit. Done with Rutgers. Done with Newark. Not quite done with Jersey, that will remain for another few months, but almost there!
I have previously lingered upon how bittersweet this is. This program has been a wonderful and fruitful growth experience for me personally and professionally. I have met some amazing people; colleagues, mentors, students, and everything in between. The program also came at a time in my life when I was in a very dark place and, almost single-handedly, is responsible for my rehabilitation into the functional and successful (albeit often harried and eccentric) intellectual that I am today.
It’s been an awe-inspiring and sublime two years.
As I dive into writing the final few papers of my MA, I wanted to take a moment to dwell upon all of the work that got me here. Here’s a little review of the courses that built this degree for me, the papers I wrote for them, and what I did with those papers subsequent to the lecture ending.
Enjoy!
Semester one: Fall 2009
Intro to Graduate Literary Study
Final Paper: “One of These Things is Not Like the Others”
Analysis of Frankenstein using Race theory
Later Became: recycling. I didn’t have many ambitions at this juncture…
Rhetoric and the Teaching of Writing
Midterm Paper: “Great Expertations; an Examination of the Novice-as-Expert Predicament in College Freshmen Papers”
Analysis of a batch of undergrad papers in which I explicate what I call the “novice-as-expert” phenomenon. How does a college Freshman deal with being put in a situation where he must form an opinion on a field he knows nothing about? What rhetorical strategies does he use to accomplish this, and how can teachers use those strategies to better teach paper-writing to young college students?
Later Became: Conference paper
Final Paper: “If Lost, Please Return To… Imitation and Abandonment in the College Freshman Paper”
A second analysis of a batch of undergrad papers in which I uncover what I call “rhetorical abandonment”; students giving up on their arguments for one of several reasons. I discuss how students do this, why they may do this, and how we can use this discovery to (again) better teach paper-writing as a whole.
Later Became: Conference paper; Presented at the NJCEA annual conference 2010
Chaucer
Final Paper: “Act One Scene One: The Tabard Inn; Performativity and Theatricality in the Canterbury Tales”
A theatrical examination of the “Canterbury Tales” postulating that the Tales were, in fact, the first modern example of playwrighting.
Later Became: Conference Paper; Presented at the Virginia Tech Graduate Student Conference Jan. 2010; also became the basis for the paper which I presented at the University of Montreal’s Graduate Student Conference in Feb. 2010
Semester Two; Spring 2010
Studies in Satire
Midterm Paper: “Everything you Wanted to know About Dildo but Were Afraid to Ask”
An analysis of the Earl of Rochester’s Signior Dildo arguing that it is more pornography than lampoon.
Later Became: submission for 1st ever Rutgers Newark MA Publication
Final Paper: “Dirty Words: The Utilization of Graphic Imagery Within Satire”
An examination of the use and purpose of graphic imagery which runs rampant through (especially eighteenth century) Satire. Expectedly, I focused mainly upon Swift, Rochester and Voltaire.
Later Became: not much of anything due to the fact that I can’t present it to a professional colleague or especially mentor without blushing (I still have trouble looking Jack in the face because of this one).
Rhetoric of the American Revolution
Final Paper: “Obnoxious and Disliked”
An examination of the character of John Adams within the musical 1776 and his relation as a projected political personae within the play to his projected personae via letters, biographies and historical documentation.
Later Became: a bragging point that I actually got to write a legit academic paper about a musical.
Intro to Renaissance Literary Studies
Midterm Paper: “More Will than Will Serve”
A look at how Shakespeare uses the word “Will” in Sonnet 6, as informed by Erica Zilleruelo’s similar examination of Sonnet 135.
Later Became: A conversation starter. Will really loved his Willy.
Final Paper: “Walk Like a Man”
An examination of the roles of cross-dressing within The Merchant of Venice and As you Like It
Later Became: Not much of anything because there was almost nothing original about this paper. I really think I was running out of steam that semester…
Semester Three: Fall 2010
Science Fiction
Final Paper: “Let’s do the Time Warp Again”
Well, if you listened to my podcast earlier this week, you’d know exactly what this paper was about. So go listen! Go on!
Later Became: Conference Paper, presented at the first ever Rutgers Newark MA Consortium
Romantics
Final Paper: “Beyond the Sea”
A discussion of the role of the ocean in “The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner”.
Later Became: the reason why I’m friends with my arch-nemesis. She’s my doppelganger and will likely be forced to kill me someday because we two cannot live in the same world. If you think I’m joking, ask Ben. He will (once again) corroborate the facts of the case.
Jane Austen
Midterm Paper: “Parlor Theatrics; Jane Austen and the Reader/Audience”
An examination of the role of theatricality within Northanger Abbey and the implicit suggestion that the book is more of a play script than novel. Also a defense of Catherine Morland as a theatrical character for an actor to play rather than a novelistic heroine.
Later Became: My PhD writing sample. Also hoping to publish this…
Final Paper: “Jane Needs More Brains”
A look at Pride and Prejudice and Zombies as a piece of literature as well as the role of the Zombie within it.
Later Became: Again, hoping to publish this.
Semester Four: Spring 2011
Research Sources and Data Technologies
Final project: research proposal based upon Kenneth Brannaugh’s Love’s Labour’s Lost. That’s about all I can say about it right now. What? I’ve still got time!
Henry James
Midterm Paper: “Daisy Miller: Leading Lady”
A look at Daisy Miller as a character, a piecing-together of her role within the book as well as James’ play by the same name. Daisy has (notably) never before been assembled this way as a conglomeration of all the parts which James wrote for her.
Later Became: Proof that I could write a paper and study for an end-of-the-world exam from hell.
Final Paper: something about Gothic, "The Turn of the Screw", and "The Uncanny". Again... I have time!!
Gothic
Final Paper: An analysis of Macbeth as a Gothic piece. A lot of work has been done with this and Hamlet, but almost nothing about this and the cursed Scottish Play.
A few more weeks and I’m done. Done with the MA. Done with English lit. Done with Rutgers. Done with Newark. Not quite done with Jersey, that will remain for another few months, but almost there!
I have previously lingered upon how bittersweet this is. This program has been a wonderful and fruitful growth experience for me personally and professionally. I have met some amazing people; colleagues, mentors, students, and everything in between. The program also came at a time in my life when I was in a very dark place and, almost single-handedly, is responsible for my rehabilitation into the functional and successful (albeit often harried and eccentric) intellectual that I am today.
It’s been an awe-inspiring and sublime two years.
As I dive into writing the final few papers of my MA, I wanted to take a moment to dwell upon all of the work that got me here. Here’s a little review of the courses that built this degree for me, the papers I wrote for them, and what I did with those papers subsequent to the lecture ending.
Enjoy!
Semester one: Fall 2009
Intro to Graduate Literary Study
Final Paper: “One of These Things is Not Like the Others”
Analysis of Frankenstein using Race theory
Later Became: recycling. I didn’t have many ambitions at this juncture…
Rhetoric and the Teaching of Writing
Midterm Paper: “Great Expertations; an Examination of the Novice-as-Expert Predicament in College Freshmen Papers”
Analysis of a batch of undergrad papers in which I explicate what I call the “novice-as-expert” phenomenon. How does a college Freshman deal with being put in a situation where he must form an opinion on a field he knows nothing about? What rhetorical strategies does he use to accomplish this, and how can teachers use those strategies to better teach paper-writing to young college students?
Later Became: Conference paper
Final Paper: “If Lost, Please Return To… Imitation and Abandonment in the College Freshman Paper”
A second analysis of a batch of undergrad papers in which I uncover what I call “rhetorical abandonment”; students giving up on their arguments for one of several reasons. I discuss how students do this, why they may do this, and how we can use this discovery to (again) better teach paper-writing as a whole.
Later Became: Conference paper; Presented at the NJCEA annual conference 2010
Chaucer
Final Paper: “Act One Scene One: The Tabard Inn; Performativity and Theatricality in the Canterbury Tales”
A theatrical examination of the “Canterbury Tales” postulating that the Tales were, in fact, the first modern example of playwrighting.
Later Became: Conference Paper; Presented at the Virginia Tech Graduate Student Conference Jan. 2010; also became the basis for the paper which I presented at the University of Montreal’s Graduate Student Conference in Feb. 2010
Semester Two; Spring 2010
Studies in Satire
Midterm Paper: “Everything you Wanted to know About Dildo but Were Afraid to Ask”
An analysis of the Earl of Rochester’s Signior Dildo arguing that it is more pornography than lampoon.
Later Became: submission for 1st ever Rutgers Newark MA Publication
Final Paper: “Dirty Words: The Utilization of Graphic Imagery Within Satire”
An examination of the use and purpose of graphic imagery which runs rampant through (especially eighteenth century) Satire. Expectedly, I focused mainly upon Swift, Rochester and Voltaire.
Later Became: not much of anything due to the fact that I can’t present it to a professional colleague or especially mentor without blushing (I still have trouble looking Jack in the face because of this one).
Rhetoric of the American Revolution
Final Paper: “Obnoxious and Disliked”
An examination of the character of John Adams within the musical 1776 and his relation as a projected political personae within the play to his projected personae via letters, biographies and historical documentation.
Later Became: a bragging point that I actually got to write a legit academic paper about a musical.
Intro to Renaissance Literary Studies
Midterm Paper: “More Will than Will Serve”
A look at how Shakespeare uses the word “Will” in Sonnet 6, as informed by Erica Zilleruelo’s similar examination of Sonnet 135.
Later Became: A conversation starter. Will really loved his Willy.
Final Paper: “Walk Like a Man”
An examination of the roles of cross-dressing within The Merchant of Venice and As you Like It
Later Became: Not much of anything because there was almost nothing original about this paper. I really think I was running out of steam that semester…
Semester Three: Fall 2010
Science Fiction
Final Paper: “Let’s do the Time Warp Again”
Well, if you listened to my podcast earlier this week, you’d know exactly what this paper was about. So go listen! Go on!
Later Became: Conference Paper, presented at the first ever Rutgers Newark MA Consortium
Romantics
Final Paper: “Beyond the Sea”
A discussion of the role of the ocean in “The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner”.
Later Became: the reason why I’m friends with my arch-nemesis. She’s my doppelganger and will likely be forced to kill me someday because we two cannot live in the same world. If you think I’m joking, ask Ben. He will (once again) corroborate the facts of the case.
Jane Austen
Midterm Paper: “Parlor Theatrics; Jane Austen and the Reader/Audience”
An examination of the role of theatricality within Northanger Abbey and the implicit suggestion that the book is more of a play script than novel. Also a defense of Catherine Morland as a theatrical character for an actor to play rather than a novelistic heroine.
Later Became: My PhD writing sample. Also hoping to publish this…
Final Paper: “Jane Needs More Brains”
A look at Pride and Prejudice and Zombies as a piece of literature as well as the role of the Zombie within it.
Later Became: Again, hoping to publish this.
Semester Four: Spring 2011
Research Sources and Data Technologies
Final project: research proposal based upon Kenneth Brannaugh’s Love’s Labour’s Lost. That’s about all I can say about it right now. What? I’ve still got time!
Henry James
Midterm Paper: “Daisy Miller: Leading Lady”
A look at Daisy Miller as a character, a piecing-together of her role within the book as well as James’ play by the same name. Daisy has (notably) never before been assembled this way as a conglomeration of all the parts which James wrote for her.
Later Became: Proof that I could write a paper and study for an end-of-the-world exam from hell.
Final Paper: something about Gothic, "The Turn of the Screw", and "The Uncanny". Again... I have time!!
Gothic
Final Paper: An analysis of Macbeth as a Gothic piece. A lot of work has been done with this and Hamlet, but almost nothing about this and the cursed Scottish Play.
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