Academic Status- White Flag
Tuesday, March 31, 2015
As an academic, the biggest horror story (besides submission for conferences) is not finding the right words to articulate. You could argue with me for not finding the right ideas to submit could be at par with the words, although I'd get one up on you with deconstructing your argument. There, I can have my peace now.
If I can allow myself the luxury to write about my schedule, I sure as hell need to type out my lethargy. I'm falling back on deadlines. The kind where I haven't checked a single paper/essay/submission from my to-do list in close to a fortnight now. March was a delightful month, wherein I slept more than I ate and read, ever in my life. All my weekends were spent in the bed, all my nights were spent sleeping. For those of you who have the fortune of knowing me, sleeping is a luxury I don't treat myself to. Twice a week, on submission heavy days and thrice when I'm particularly cranky. After returning from Pune (and pretty much eating-sleeping-chilling with FTII students), I spent a week watching new/old releases in the theatre (at some point, I felt uneasy about the time I was spending 'watching' as a cinema scholar). I also met friends, bumped into some and behaved as though my board exams just got over (the drill where I act as though I've earned my casual time- NOT).
My current status has two proposals, a brief of chapterization, an archival report and about 15-20 readings to finish before Thursday. This comes to some 5k words and reading time of atleast 96 hours straight, no break for sleep/coffee/ablutions. I'm also convinced I'm missing some from this list, which I shall be reminded in a mail/conversation at some point very passively (Hi, I seem to have lost your submission. Can you please send the mail? Thanks.)
The shit's starting to look real now. I'm less than a month away from presenting my proposal to a panel full of experts who will possibly judge me more on my choice of nail paint than their choice of font used in the proposal. I think design academics (or whoever is the equivalent there) need to collaborate with the social scientists to come up with something with more character (no puns intended) than Times New Roman. Not Avenir and nor Joker. Something that defines young academics and their passion towards sitting on the bed and staring into nothingness while thinking about how university and corporates behave in a similar fashion. Work hard and party harder, immortalized by startups and SAA.
Only 1% done. Always.
If I can allow myself the luxury to write about my schedule, I sure as hell need to type out my lethargy. I'm falling back on deadlines. The kind where I haven't checked a single paper/essay/submission from my to-do list in close to a fortnight now. March was a delightful month, wherein I slept more than I ate and read, ever in my life. All my weekends were spent in the bed, all my nights were spent sleeping. For those of you who have the fortune of knowing me, sleeping is a luxury I don't treat myself to. Twice a week, on submission heavy days and thrice when I'm particularly cranky. After returning from Pune (and pretty much eating-sleeping-chilling with FTII students), I spent a week watching new/old releases in the theatre (at some point, I felt uneasy about the time I was spending 'watching' as a cinema scholar). I also met friends, bumped into some and behaved as though my board exams just got over (the drill where I act as though I've earned my casual time- NOT).
My current status has two proposals, a brief of chapterization, an archival report and about 15-20 readings to finish before Thursday. This comes to some 5k words and reading time of atleast 96 hours straight, no break for sleep/coffee/ablutions. I'm also convinced I'm missing some from this list, which I shall be reminded in a mail/conversation at some point very passively (Hi, I seem to have lost your submission. Can you please send the mail? Thanks.)
The shit's starting to look real now. I'm less than a month away from presenting my proposal to a panel full of experts who will possibly judge me more on my choice of nail paint than their choice of font used in the proposal. I think design academics (or whoever is the equivalent there) need to collaborate with the social scientists to come up with something with more character (no puns intended) than Times New Roman. Not Avenir and nor Joker. Something that defines young academics and their passion towards sitting on the bed and staring into nothingness while thinking about how university and corporates behave in a similar fashion. Work hard and party harder, immortalized by startups and SAA.
Only 1% done. Always.
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