I have started this lately - try to get involved and steward events at theatres, arts centres, galleries etc. That way you can sometimes end up being paid to watch on event and work at the same time.

That way I have seen arts and film events for free.

When the BBC came to town with a orchestra and Blue Planet film show - I stewarded the event and thus got paid to watch the (very expensive and impressive) show.

Gah! I have had to withdraw from a conference today - one in which I had organised a panel with a friend. I feel awful and really sad especially since my co-organiser is a friend.

I'm really embarassed and miserable that I had to do it. But wacking another 300 pounds onto my credit card would have put me into further penury and despair!

It's really weighed on my mind, and I am actually pretty annoyed that the conference organiser would not allow me to register for the concessions rate, even when I sent an email outlining in neutral and professional language my financial situation as a almost-done PhD with no job and no funding. Without even transport and living costs the fee alone is over £100.

Still I must try and concentrate on the thesis.

I am still worried about my reputation in the field (people will know I have withdrawn) but also more about the friendship being tarnished by withdrawing :( Gah!

Argh!

Has anyone needed to withdraw from a conference before when they have had a small stake in organising one aspect of it?

======= Date Modified 20 Mar 2010 12:04:19 =======


One would not expect to understand the highly specialised language, methods, and theories of quantum mechanics, molecular genetics, or neurology. Nobody would argue that these fields don't need intellectual constructs that are widely understood by professionals in the field and yet obscure to those outside it. This is obviously part of a process of professionalisation and protectionalism BUT also a reflection that there are some things that are not immediately transparent and cannot be made easily intelligible without education and time. Nobody would expect to understand the finer points of theoretical cosmology or other fields of the sciences - why then should other areas of cultural life like literature and history be somehow easily intelligible (i.e. reducible to basic English or any other language vocab without a loss of nuanced argument and theorisation)

For example, how is it possible for example, to give an historical account of the Renassiance reception of Aristotle or Enlightenment notions of hereditary, or of Victorian hysteria without using a vocabularly or theoretical framework? These are complex things that cannot often be expressed in "plain English". Nobody expects to read Marx or Foucault et al. and have the words somehow spring off the page and make sense. It takes time and training. And there is neccesary complication.

Of course, academics should be able to communicate their work to broader audiences in a reasonably straightforward way - but there certainly needs to be room for highly specialised vocabularly and thought processes within professional fields. These form the intellectual hardware we need to think with - and take years of education to develop - they don't just happen not can they be somehow seperated from what might seem a more straightforward way to express an idea. Without the demanding vocab and theory and ways of thinking it is improbable that a more simple way of understanding would have emerged i.e decades of high level mathematical, astronomical, and physical work that nobody understands outside those circles goes into the potted theory that makes up a 45 minute episode of Horizon. The complex neccesarily goes before the more simplified explanation.


Of course there is plenty of waffle and dressing up essentially simple or hollow ideas in "Emperor's Clothing" - and these should be weeded out. But there are many ideas within academia that can not - and should not be simplified because they then loose some of their rigour, nuance, and explanative power.

Also, I have never understood the antipathy towards a dictionary or thesaurus. Nobody expects to understand every word in their mother tongue or adopted language and should be open to enhancing it if required. There is no shame in needing to look up a word and then internalise its meaning so that you can reproduce it and the idea it communicates again!!

The final thesis draft was due weeks ago, and I am still quite some way to finishing. I know what to do, but just can't seem to be motivated to finish, even though money has run out. Just keep thinking of the lack of jobs etc.

Urgh, must beat this feeling and get on with it.

Sanity slipping away. Endless redrafting. (sprout)

I hadn't intended to scaremonger. Of course publications aren't required for a humanities PhD. But then, they don't hurt either as long as the thesis itself is up to scratch. Since the thesis is being evaluated.

======= Date Modified 17 Mar 2010 14:36:01 =======

I am in the humanities, and it is normal here not to publish until completed - though increasingly some do get papers out towards the end of the third year. So don't worry. My supervisors wanted me to get papers out earlier in part because they thought it would help me write the thesis and it will also bolster the cv.

It is still possible to get postdocs and posts in humanities disciplines without publications, but I expect that these will become increasingly rare as the humanities adopt the "publish several papers" before you're done mentality. I am not sure if it is good or bad. Certainly if feels nice to have things in print or press - but this has pushed me some way over the 3 year deadline.

Also, at least in humanities PhD's there is no requirement that one publishes to pass the PhD. It is still all about the thesis. Hence why I am worried because the thesis is patchy - so time spent away on publications was perhaps not best spent.

Jojo: it is exactly my last chapter that is creating the problem too!
Good luck with yours.

The better one of my papers will be in a flagship journal of my field this summer, so I am pinning my hopes that with this under my belt, a pass is more likely.

I am interested in the same thing. I was encouraged to publish and have done several times. But now I am exhausted and my almost final thesis product is not exactly fabulous - more a collection of papers, and potential paper - but not a convincing thesis.

I am hoping that this is enough

I am glad that you are happy now in your job and have left.

But I would say that your emphasis on product, financial generation, and customers is very specific to your industry. Sometimes a PhD is not about generating those things. I do not think that all knowledge needs to be instrumental.

Also, the reason that many people stay stick to it is because whilst doing a PhD it is a rollercoaster of emotions and stresses, and it is entirely possible to want to quit one month - and love it the next. Obviously on a forum of doctoral students there is going to be a bias to advising people to stick it out. That is unsuprising given that everybody on the forum, including you, was at one point - or still is - enrolled on a PhD. Forums readers should take any advice with a pinch of salt and their own decision making processes -so any forum can hardly be held accountable for advising students to stay/go.

Anyway, best of luck. Glad things have worked out for you. Although I have stayed with my PhD, my boyfriend really hates and struggles with his and is trying to decide whether to stay or leave. I actually think he should leave, but it is his own decision and I tell him that offering both options (whilst concealing that I don't think he should really have started!)

Best wishes

======= Date Modified 17 Mar 2010 12:06:50 =======
Urgh! Flip flops! (aka thongs)

I have never understood why people wear them, least of all men. Especially those with hirsuite toes. There is probably not a sight more revolting (other then completely rotten teeth horror pictures on the internet) then a big lumpy mishapen male big-toe poking through a flip flop. Especially since said toes are often poorly cut (the nail looks like it has been shortened with teeth or a hacksaw) and have the inevitable fungal infection.

And even here in England in a large inland city (hardly a small costal resort) - everybody starts wearing them in the spring until autumn. They end up getting caught in escalators, bus doors, suoermarket trolleys, or you end up treading on them as they make that "slap, slap, slap, slap" noise (offensive in itself) and getting evil eyes from the wearer....

(down)

======= Date Modified 17 Mar 2010 00:02:32 =======
I was procrastinating and looking at pictures of Foxy on the Twitter profile - and he is a real cutey. (up)

======= Date Modified 16 Mar 2010 23:14:38 =======
Because I am doing corrections and do not require total concentration, I am listening to some of the songs that were played on German radio all the time I was back there earlier this year, especially Silbermond:(all can be found on t'youtube)

Silbermond: Krieger des Lichts

Silbermond: Ich bereue nichts

Silbermond: Irgendwas Bleibt