This is my first post on my new, private blog space for my dissertation. I'm going to post thoughts, ideas, ramblings, and general musings on my dissertation to help me get some thoughts bouncing around in this ginormous head of mine.
I'm going to keep my other blog up and running but post only theories or ideas that I don't want to share with the world here.
Can't have anyone stealing my dissertation before I get to write it.
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9 comments:
Oh, I know. My old professor is always telling me, "The last people you can share your ideas with are your colleagues down the hall." For enlightened and educated people, they apparently aren't the most ethical bunch.
Scary, isn't it? And THIS is the world we are killing ourselves to join? Sheesh...
Donna
Hello all...It's been a long time Donna.
I am just now surfacing after the trauma of my comps. Things are still fuzzy, but I feel better than I have since before Christmas. Onwards.......
Hmmm..here's thinking I should change my name to newbie. Does this mean I get to be the group cheerleader?
Hey - I'm ALL FOR cheerleaders. In fact, during this entire process it "feels" like you're "at the big game" for everyone to cheer and boo, so I say - seel hot dogs, wave a banner, build a pyramid! It'd just feel more friendly!
Katt - can I send you an invite to my blog?
Donna
It seems that the higher you rise in academia, the more vicious it becomes. I'm going to write myself a promise not to be that way and open it in 10 years to see if I kept my resolution.
Thanks Rochelle for the invite; I believe I will begin an independent study with Rochelle as my -- shall I say -- professor?
LD
I really generally think that life is pretty vicious (given the right circumstances) - but I agree; academia does seem oddly vicious (in that it SHOULDN'T be so evil - you know?).
However, I do think that it is this way all along the way; it's just that as undergrads (or new graduate students - in many cases) you just don't pose a threat to the accepted order of things. It's even more complicated when you stay at the same university and move up in the ranks and suddenly walk side-by-side your earlier mentors. there is a reason, I've recently decided, that baby birds "fly the coop," so to speak...
I know that academics roam in tight knit groups everywhere, but I wonder if what we've experienced (through a series of individual teaching, presenting, and general life events) isn't a more uniquely American phenomena? That fear of the carnival? The unknown - the mixing of social classes? Regardless of what people admit, I don't think that most Americans are comfortable with others (even those we've deemed "worthy" via their rise on the college hierarchy) encroaching on our "territories." More and more we avoid human contact, and as a result, we have become so lacking in trust, that we become suspicious of anyone's intentions when they get "too close." The worst of us behave in a offensive (pun intended!) manner - attacking those we perceive to be weaker than us.
Well, this is a fine way to begin, folks! Seriously, I don't think academia is any more vicious than other professions. The only difference is that because of tenure, you might be working with that jerk for the next thirty years.
As for stealing ideas, I actually did have two professors steal ideas from me when I was at TCU. But I had plenty more where those came from, and I probably wouldn't have gotten around to doing those projects anyway.
And they're both dead now.
I agree - I don;t really think it's "academia specific." I really think it's a trend... one that's been a long time coming. I decided last week that I blame it on suburbia -- you know - that "cult" mentality that lets us THINK we "see" or know our neighbors even when huge wooden fences separate us. When I was a kid, we had chain link fences, and though (granted) our yards were bigger, we were often in the yard at THE SAME TIME AS OUR NEIGHBORS. Imagine! Seriously, I feel weirdly uncomfortable when I can "hear" my neighbors let their dog outside...
I really think technology has made us more comfortable with defined boundaries (and our renewed isolationist attitudes) in every aspect of our lives --- and it's THAT trend that I think is responsible (ultimately) for the overall viciousness that's the norm. Even movies (more and more) celebrate this attitude - The Devil Wears Prada is an example that strikes me at the moment(Meryl Streep is good --- but an Oscar nod - really???). But I digress...
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