Now the Question Becomes...
Should I go on for my PhD, or not? To help me decide, I've been looking at old posts from grad school. I seem to get progressively more insane:
Post #1 (Sept. 2005): Ihad my first Pop Culture seminar tonight. It was fabulous! Tonight, we went talked about semiotics. I think I like this stuff just a little too much. Honestly, I had semiotics as an undergrad and never enjoyed it this much. Nerd that I am, I sat in class and plugged Che Guevara and CSI into the different models. ;)
Post #2 (Sept. 2005):Okay, I want to state for the record that Stuart Hall is one of the most mind-numbingly boring writers I have ever experienced.
Post #3 (Sept. 2005):In Pop Culture today, we talked about the whole "pop culture as a basis for struggle" model. Okay, "struggle" tends to mean struggle between the dominant class or sector and the lower class or sector (where most of us fall). So here's the thing: Apparently (according to the scholars, anyway), society is divided into kind of a grid, or hierarchy. On the board, it looked like an atom. But anyway, in the middle, is what society (as decided by the dominant class), has deemed "valid," and outside, is everything that is "invalid" or "deviant." In between those, lies a kind of Neutral Zone (I immediately thought of Star Trek at this point).
Good. So, this whole organism exists to maintain an equilibrium between the dominant class and everyone else. Basically, the dominant class gives us "goodies" or "bribes" to keep us happy and thereby prevent a Marxist revolution (hmm). And, there's a kind of Checkpoint Charlie at the boundary between valid and invalid to prevent the deviants on the outside from effecting the status quo. Also, it keeps the invalid elements from breaking in and collapsing the system.
So in CSI terms, TPTB can keep Nick/Greg shippers from getting too rowdy if they continue to give us little flirty scenes. This is supposed to keep us satiated, so that we don't demand too much (like a canon Nick/Greg relationship).
Now, this system can be challenged. For example, when Ellen came out, this disrupted the system a bit and set up the circumstances for later challenges to the system. This has left the dominant class (these are my professor's words, or the gist of them), trying to find a way to plug up the holes in the dike. *cough* At this point, he realized what he said, and we all had a good laugh.
But anyway, the system is now in a place where it could potentially be challenged, or even collapsed. So all we need to do, is rent a van, sneak into the valid part of the organism, grab Nick and Greggo, and get past Checkpoint Charlie. :D
So yeah.
Oh, the Homer Simpson thing. Well, we decided (okay, a theorist decided, but we didn't shoot him down) that organic, or vernacular intellectuals rise up in any given group of people that becomes aware of itself. So, we were arguing about who or what constitutes an intellectual. We volleyed back and forth for a while about K-Mart, football coaches, and Thomas Jefferson. And somehow, during the course of the night, Homer Simpson was branded an organic intellectual. Go Homer! Go Homer!
Post #4 (Feb. 2006):
I think I've reached a point of academic burnout. I'm sitting here, working on my thesis, and I'm quite literally, shaking. I'm a writer, for crying out loud. Why is this causing me so much anxiety?
Post #5 (Oct. 2006):I am never going to get my thesis done! I can't form a single coherent thought.
*bangs head against wall*
Post #6 (July 2006):When you're writing, never look at a calender and remind yourself of your deadline. Really.
Post #7 *July 2006):The finished draft of my thesis is due in a little over a week. I'm going to go curl up in a fetal position.
Post #1 (Sept. 2005): Ihad my first Pop Culture seminar tonight. It was fabulous! Tonight, we went talked about semiotics. I think I like this stuff just a little too much. Honestly, I had semiotics as an undergrad and never enjoyed it this much. Nerd that I am, I sat in class and plugged Che Guevara and CSI into the different models. ;)
Post #2 (Sept. 2005):Okay, I want to state for the record that Stuart Hall is one of the most mind-numbingly boring writers I have ever experienced.
Post #3 (Sept. 2005):In Pop Culture today, we talked about the whole "pop culture as a basis for struggle" model. Okay, "struggle" tends to mean struggle between the dominant class or sector and the lower class or sector (where most of us fall). So here's the thing: Apparently (according to the scholars, anyway), society is divided into kind of a grid, or hierarchy. On the board, it looked like an atom. But anyway, in the middle, is what society (as decided by the dominant class), has deemed "valid," and outside, is everything that is "invalid" or "deviant." In between those, lies a kind of Neutral Zone (I immediately thought of Star Trek at this point).
Good. So, this whole organism exists to maintain an equilibrium between the dominant class and everyone else. Basically, the dominant class gives us "goodies" or "bribes" to keep us happy and thereby prevent a Marxist revolution (hmm). And, there's a kind of Checkpoint Charlie at the boundary between valid and invalid to prevent the deviants on the outside from effecting the status quo. Also, it keeps the invalid elements from breaking in and collapsing the system.
So in CSI terms, TPTB can keep Nick/Greg shippers from getting too rowdy if they continue to give us little flirty scenes. This is supposed to keep us satiated, so that we don't demand too much (like a canon Nick/Greg relationship).
Now, this system can be challenged. For example, when Ellen came out, this disrupted the system a bit and set up the circumstances for later challenges to the system. This has left the dominant class (these are my professor's words, or the gist of them), trying to find a way to plug up the holes in the dike. *cough* At this point, he realized what he said, and we all had a good laugh.
But anyway, the system is now in a place where it could potentially be challenged, or even collapsed. So all we need to do, is rent a van, sneak into the valid part of the organism, grab Nick and Greggo, and get past Checkpoint Charlie. :D
So yeah.
Oh, the Homer Simpson thing. Well, we decided (okay, a theorist decided, but we didn't shoot him down) that organic, or vernacular intellectuals rise up in any given group of people that becomes aware of itself. So, we were arguing about who or what constitutes an intellectual. We volleyed back and forth for a while about K-Mart, football coaches, and Thomas Jefferson. And somehow, during the course of the night, Homer Simpson was branded an organic intellectual. Go Homer! Go Homer!
Post #4 (Feb. 2006):
I think I've reached a point of academic burnout. I'm sitting here, working on my thesis, and I'm quite literally, shaking. I'm a writer, for crying out loud. Why is this causing me so much anxiety?
Post #5 (Oct. 2006):I am never going to get my thesis done! I can't form a single coherent thought.
*bangs head against wall*
Post #6 (July 2006):When you're writing, never look at a calender and remind yourself of your deadline. Really.
Post #7 *July 2006):The finished draft of my thesis is due in a little over a week. I'm going to go curl up in a fetal position.