Academic Ruminations for a Monday Night/Early Tuesday Morning

Ladies and gentlemen, I think I have myself a thesis topic. I don't want to say too much about it on Blogger right now since the project's still in the early stages (I won't actually start research until the end of this year), but if you're really curious about the topic, e-mail me. Or comment below and I'll e-mail you.

I even think I may have a supervisor lined up. I have to talk about this with her a little more, but she seemed very interested.

This is the same woman who recently forwarded me a call for papers for the American Comparative Literature Association's conference at Princeton University in March. Is it safe to assume that she thinks the research I'm doing on manifestations of hysteria in nineteenth-century literature is interesting? (Incidentally, my thesis is not going to be on hysteria; the hysteria research is for a paper I'm working on right now.) If I can get a decent abstract written in time (by the 30th of this month), I definitely plan on submitting it! They may not select my paper, but the whole process will be a good learning experience nonetheless--I mean, I've yet to have to write an abstract. Ever. And I'm just swamped with work (which begs the question--why am I blogging right now??)

Still, I know that this is important. If I have any real interest in academia as a profession, I need to start attending conferences, and giving and publishing papers. I need to start developing a professional reputation beyond my university.

If my paper isn't picked for the A.C.L.A. conference, hopefully it'll be selected for my university's grad conference. I'm really passionate about my research and, all career aspirations aside, I think it needs to be heard!

That being said, I really need to stick to the task immediately at hand. I'm a respondent to a paper being given in one of my classes tomorrow and I still need to review a couple more things--film theory, namely. I never got to take any film classes in my undergrad years and the girl who's presenting tomorrow has a background in film. I want to be sure I can ask at least some intelligent questions!

Listening to "Elsewhere" by Sarah McLachlan.