Bloggin on a Saturday night...
Seriously, though, I just finished a draft of the Dread Personal Statement and I feel much better. Of course, it might be awful. Usually by the time I write these things I know what I want to say and so they come out structurally intact in the first draft (although I usually replace all of the words with new, better words...it's sort of an odd process). But this one is especially tricky because the English PhD is such a strange entity with so many particular considerations. For instance, should I use jargon? Should I cite critics? And most importantly, should I try to hide my horrible secret*? People at JK's birthday party #1 were saying that the horrible secret must be hidden in general or everyone will think you're dumb as a stump.
Well, I decided that I had to attack the horrible secret head on. My whole essay is about addressing the misconception that the H.S. means I'm a fuzzy-headed lightweight, although the essay does it gently and also throws in specifics about my impresive qualifications. I hope it's okay. My essays, even for this kind of thing, tend to say what I really believe and to veer into the profound--no joke, I usually get goosebumps writing the conclusion--and I know that could go over poorly with the uber-cynics on English Dept admissions committees. But on the third hand, I want a school that wants the real me, not some simulacrum I've cleverly invented to fool it. So . . . that's pretty vague, but any advice?
Also, there's something terribly wrong with my computer's CD drive. It sometimes gives these sad little whimpers, and other times it starts braying really loudly and shuts the computer down. Uh-oh. I wish my student didn't work at the Apple Store, because I want to have a crisis and it's just embarrassing to do that with the teacher face on.
Now, off to JK birthday party #2.
*The horrible secret: that I'm a "poet."
4 comments:
Who is H.S.?
I love you and your H.S. I think you are smart to tackle H.S. head-on, for all the reasons you gave. That's what makes you special, after all. No reason for you to be in a PhD program where you have to suppress that.
I think for your personal statement you should write only "See http://littlemarvelstove.blogspot.com." Your blog is Profound and You.
Dear Sarah,
I suspect the Jories and, say, Stanley Fishes of the world would be more interested in having a poet/scholar on the roster than just a bunch of scholars. Scholars are boring. And only rarely are they able to drink as many beers as poets. That's why, when you go to parties where both are in attendance, the poets are still getting buckwild at 4am while the scholars are a) barfing, b) talking unintelligibly about their "big theory" on Husserl, or c) home in bed. I vote that you be as sincere as possible, but with a measure of slickness.
Which reminds me, I think I've still got the statement of purpose a friend of mine wrote for Irvine's PhD program. If I can find it, I'll send it to, uh, HenHen, and you can see what you think of it. I think it's genius, and throat-cuttingly sincere, but it's also a giant parody of Derrida's writing on Beyond the Pleasure Principle.
Be well,
Nico
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