Since writing my last essay, wherein I thought I might have a moment or three to breathe afterward, I have been writing my dissertation conference presentation, which is of course, due tomorrow in the form of me standing at the lectern and giving my ideas to a bunch of sleep-deprived twenty-somethings who are more concerned about their own research presentation to ask me any questions beyond a tertiary consideration using words they picked out from my speech. That being said, I'm gonna just get through it, though I haven't any idea of whether or not it will ultimately help the writing of the dissertation/ pilot project.
Don't get me wrong. The sleep-deprived twenty-somethings are incredibly smart, and love all things Shakespeare (why else would they be here?). Their level of interest has less to do with their own intellect and more to do with my topic of dissertation. As this is a very public forum, I can say that it is on Shakespearean Theatrical Design, but nothing more than that really, and that I am the only person at the Institute (teachers included) who has a remote interest in producing anything of academic value on the topic of Theatrical Design. Really. There are actors here, academics and poets, scholars and pretentious thinkers aplenty. When I say that I am doing a full day of tech for a show, everyone's response (and I do mean everyone) is "boooring."
I love my topic, and I love-loving doing the full days of tech. It is the reason I decided to come here in the first place. I don't believe anyone in this town would find it nearly so interesting save for a passing glance at the topic and a cursory reading of the research findings. In two weeks, I have an interview with an RSC designer. I'm to sit down and pick his brain. Then I will hopefully have more and more interviews as the summer wears on, and even more when the PhD. kicks in, and I'll be positively swimming in research. It'll be fantastically boring to all but me.
I bring all this up because this is the first time I've ever attempted an original idea for an academic paper. I've been at school so long I've grown accustomed to teachers telling me what they'd like to see, and questions they'd like answered. I'm now in uncharted territory, both figuratively and figuratively. Uncharted as I have never done this stuff before, and uncharted as this research has never before been done... (to my knowledge). Hearkening back to an earlier set of blog posts, wherein I feared my research had already been explored and I was saying exactly nothing new, I'm scared. For entirely different reasons this time, but scared nonetheless.
My research could change the way people design the works of William Shakespeare, or even change the way theatrical design is perceived by audiences everywhere. Really, if I'm up to the task, I could change the damn world and the way we see it. If I believe that, I can make it through these next couple years. I don't want to think about what will happen to me if I do lose sight of that goal to change the world.
Don't get me wrong... again. The world I'm talking about isn't the globe of the earth. It isn't all of mankind. It isn't made up of every poor schlub who decides he or she wants to become a professional actor and jumps the bus to Hollywood to make it big. It's my world. The one that I can see, taste, touch, and smell. I can change that world, as I have many times before... and hopefully, a few other worlds will fall to my dominating intellect. That's all.
So. Now all I gotta do, is give a speech tomorrow. Interview many famous designers of Shakespeare. Write a champion dissertation. Get my scholarship. Research and write a PhD thesis. And that is my recipe for changing the world... for right now. Check back with me in a year and it'll probably be different.
We know what we are, but know not what we may be. - Hamlet, IV.v
Year 1, Day 234 - Words Written: 24,000 (give or take a speech or two)
Wednesday, 15 May 2013
Thursday, 2 May 2013
Year 1, Day 221: Shakespeare Institute -- Smart ass.
I find myself wandering the halls of my brain. In the past twenty-four hours I have chosen to care about some random things, and none of them Shakespeare. The first worth mentioning is Ender's Game the Movie. This book, by Orson Scott Card, was an influential part of my life, and its one of the few that I read again and again every year or so. My problem wasn't with the book... or really even the movie (cos' they always do this to good books... turn them into blockbusters with poor acting and heavy special effects, and they get a guy who failed at his first film X-Men Origins: Wolverine just to see if he'll do better on his second. He won't.)
Ok, maybe I don't like the movie either, and it hasn't even come out yet.
My problem, or the stuff I chose to care about, is when friends of mine (acquaintances, really) got excited about the film. So excited in fact, that they forgot to use grammar... at all. "!!!Its COMING!!!" and "SO excited fur this!!" Of all the things I chose to care about, I decided to get indignant that my Facebook compatriots would profane a brilliant novel and story with their poorly written expletives. I really need another project, or paper. It's only taken 36 hours, since I turned in my last essay, to get antsy for the next thing on the horizon. How do I know? I actually wanted to reform the uneducated by doing something I'd heard a friend of mine did a long time ago... correct grammatical mistakes made by stupid people on the internet. (In this instance, I'd heard she had actually gone onto an MTV chat room and begun to edit people's posts just as fast as they could write them.)
Another thing I chose to care about was dancing, and not my dancing either. Other people's method of artistic expression, and I started judging. Hard. (In case their [there] are one or two people I don't know personally who reed [read] this blog, I used to be a professional swing dancer[.]) I chose bad grammer [grammar] and crappy dancing as my realease [release]. I wanted to go on a rant so bad my palms started to itch.
I guess it is a side affect [effect] of actually doing research into something I care very deeply about. A genuine hate for those peoples [people] who take being a sentient human for granted. Rather than let stupid people exist in they're [their] bubbles of ignorance, I feel as if it is my job or calling to reform them. On the internet. "Why the hell would they choose a song for a routine that had absolutely zero chance of evoking an emotional response from an audience member? Or is dancing to a metronome the new 'killing it' and 'bad-ass' piece of repetitive crap that is done socially these days?" I need another hobbie [hobby].
*Also, memes (those pictures of people from history with quotes supposedly given during inspirational moments in time) are never accurate, worthwhile, or even uplifting anymore.*
"Thou protestest too much." - Michelle Bachmann (24 April 2013)
Don't get me started on this. My brain at the moment is on rapid fire anti-stupidity. I gotta go for a walk, and see if there are any smart people I can talk to.
"Better to remain silent and be thought a fool
Than to speak out and remove all doubt." - William Shakespeare [Abraham Lincoln].
Year 1, Day 221: Words Written - 22,000 (Total), Hobbies Needed - More.
Ok, maybe I don't like the movie either, and it hasn't even come out yet.
My problem, or the stuff I chose to care about, is when friends of mine (acquaintances, really) got excited about the film. So excited in fact, that they forgot to use grammar... at all. "!!!Its COMING!!!" and "SO excited fur this!!" Of all the things I chose to care about, I decided to get indignant that my Facebook compatriots would profane a brilliant novel and story with their poorly written expletives. I really need another project, or paper. It's only taken 36 hours, since I turned in my last essay, to get antsy for the next thing on the horizon. How do I know? I actually wanted to reform the uneducated by doing something I'd heard a friend of mine did a long time ago... correct grammatical mistakes made by stupid people on the internet. (In this instance, I'd heard she had actually gone onto an MTV chat room and begun to edit people's posts just as fast as they could write them.)
Another thing I chose to care about was dancing, and not my dancing either. Other people's method of artistic expression, and I started judging. Hard. (In case their [there] are one or two people I don't know personally who reed [read] this blog, I used to be a professional swing dancer[.]) I chose bad grammer [grammar] and crappy dancing as my realease [release]. I wanted to go on a rant so bad my palms started to itch.
I guess it is a side affect [effect] of actually doing research into something I care very deeply about. A genuine hate for those peoples [people] who take being a sentient human for granted. Rather than let stupid people exist in they're [their] bubbles of ignorance, I feel as if it is my job or calling to reform them. On the internet. "Why the hell would they choose a song for a routine that had absolutely zero chance of evoking an emotional response from an audience member? Or is dancing to a metronome the new 'killing it' and 'bad-ass' piece of repetitive crap that is done socially these days?" I need another hobbie [hobby].
*Also, memes (those pictures of people from history with quotes supposedly given during inspirational moments in time) are never accurate, worthwhile, or even uplifting anymore.*
"Thou protestest too much." - Michelle Bachmann (24 April 2013)
Don't get me started on this. My brain at the moment is on rapid fire anti-stupidity. I gotta go for a walk, and see if there are any smart people I can talk to.
"Better to remain silent and be thought a fool
Than to speak out and remove all doubt." - William Shakespeare [Abraham Lincoln].
Year 1, Day 221: Words Written - 22,000 (Total), Hobbies Needed - More.
Wednesday, 24 April 2013
Year 1, Day 213: Shakespeare Institute -- Academics For Everyone!
I suppose it is a significant point in anyone's life when they know they will never have to write another paper that does not pertain to anything they enjoy. Oh sure, they will always *need* to write essays or papers to submit to stay in the academic game. The universal "they" will ultimately need to take tests that do not wish to, a driver's test, a certification exam, a drunk test... but, there is a moment when people eventually realize, I don't have to write any more essays on stuff that I know practically nothing about.
And why not?
Playing the devil's advocate here, why don't we continue to write essays about things we know nothing of? Wouldn't it, in essence, make us smarter or at least appreciate those that are smarter than us in a particular field? The whole you-can't-knock-it-until-you've-tried-it adage seems to fit perfectly here. In a world where academia is looked down upon by the cognescenti of entertainment (i.e. Hollywood producers who make millions of dollars putting Kim and Khloe Take New Jersey at the head of the Thursday night line-up), is ignored by the majority of politicians looking to score a few points with the ('Merican) fly-over states, and has become somewhat a parody of itself. Insert UK and European references here to academia being a shadow of its former self.
If everyone assigned themselves an essay once in a while, to write about anything that they knew nothing of but came across and were fascinated by, wouldn't we all have a better idea? A better idea about our own world, about our jobs, about our friends, about anything? Wouldn't it get us out of our comfort zone and help us explore?
That being said, I don't have to write any more essays. I've submitted the last essay having to do with my term's classes, and though I still have plenty to do before I finish my terminal degree, that's all on the stuff I came here for. I'll have to keep this in mind when I feel like I want to write a four-thousand word essay on well, anything ever again.
Besides the monster PhD due in a few years, maybe I'll write an essay on 'Us against Them', the polarization of thought that occurs every time a teenager (or one of similar maturity) meets an authority figure. Or sit down and edit a copy of Measure for Measure, just in case I have need of a one-hour version of it someday. Or design my ideal theatre, complete with blueprints of the building and the actual performance space ('wait, actors don't need bathrooms.') Imagine what I could do if I had that kind of free time on my hands? Do I already? Can minutes spent writing here be spent better somewhere else?
I wasted time, and now doth time waste me; - Richard II (V.v.)
Year 1, Day 213 - Words Written: 10,000 (+/- 300), Words Yet To Write: 4,000 (+/- 16,000).
And why not?
Playing the devil's advocate here, why don't we continue to write essays about things we know nothing of? Wouldn't it, in essence, make us smarter or at least appreciate those that are smarter than us in a particular field? The whole you-can't-knock-it-until-you've-tried-it adage seems to fit perfectly here. In a world where academia is looked down upon by the cognescenti of entertainment (i.e. Hollywood producers who make millions of dollars putting Kim and Khloe Take New Jersey at the head of the Thursday night line-up), is ignored by the majority of politicians looking to score a few points with the ('Merican) fly-over states, and has become somewhat a parody of itself. Insert UK and European references here to academia being a shadow of its former self.
If everyone assigned themselves an essay once in a while, to write about anything that they knew nothing of but came across and were fascinated by, wouldn't we all have a better idea? A better idea about our own world, about our jobs, about our friends, about anything? Wouldn't it get us out of our comfort zone and help us explore?
That being said, I don't have to write any more essays. I've submitted the last essay having to do with my term's classes, and though I still have plenty to do before I finish my terminal degree, that's all on the stuff I came here for. I'll have to keep this in mind when I feel like I want to write a four-thousand word essay on well, anything ever again.
Besides the monster PhD due in a few years, maybe I'll write an essay on 'Us against Them', the polarization of thought that occurs every time a teenager (or one of similar maturity) meets an authority figure. Or sit down and edit a copy of Measure for Measure, just in case I have need of a one-hour version of it someday. Or design my ideal theatre, complete with blueprints of the building and the actual performance space ('wait, actors don't need bathrooms.') Imagine what I could do if I had that kind of free time on my hands? Do I already? Can minutes spent writing here be spent better somewhere else?
I wasted time, and now doth time waste me; - Richard II (V.v.)
Year 1, Day 213 - Words Written: 10,000 (+/- 300), Words Yet To Write: 4,000 (+/- 16,000).
Friday, 19 April 2013
Year 1, Day 208: Shakespeare Institute -- Smarter People.
I know more than you do. It was this week that I realized Uncle Ben had finally given me the speech, "with great power, comes great responsibility." I could actually say that I knew more than some people here on just one given topic, and its a topic that no one but me cares about. So, why would I say such a thing? To feel better about myself. Yes, I'm insecure, why not? I will find someone else who feels insecure about themselves and we can tell each other that we are smarter than one another. Over and over again. Until our pores are soaked in pretentiousness, and both of us have written our dissertations in the sand, and we will finally feel better about ourselves. Cos' we will have been smarter than you for a few minutes... As after we've written our dissertations down, and you read them, well, you will know what we know, and well, then I'm gonna have to read something else that someone else wrote down to feel smarter than his friends.
I really think that academia was started by a bunch of dudes who wanted to feel better about themselves by writing down something that no one had ever thought of before, and then kept writing things down because they couldn't think of anything else to do. Yeah, not much has changed in that area of evolution since the Gutenberg Bible was printed.
I think at the end of all this, besides having a PhD, I'm looking forward most to wisdom. The book-learning will be great, don't get me wrong. I have every intention of ruining all parties everywhere. However, I think I'm looking forward to the wisdom I'll get at the end of it all. It won't be something I'm conscious of, except in story form (I'll have plenty of stories). But I'll be wiser. Not in a folksy 'don't ruin your appetite' kind of way, but in a 'I didn't know that before' kind of way and in a 'I know what I am doing' kind of way. Cos' right now? I haven't a clue what I'm doing... I know that I'm trying my best. I know that I'm reading a lot. I know that I have written many words down to be evaluated by people smarter and wiser than I. Do I know the true purpose behind it all? Sure. Yeah. I'm totally smarter than you... No. No. Not a chance in hell do I know why I've just spent a week of my life looking at the source material of Measure for Measure.
But I do have faith. Faith that I knew what I was doing when I signed up to this program. Faith that my professors will help me when I don't know what's happening, or why I've lost my mind somewhere in the library and could they help me find it again? Faith.
I know more than you do. That's what I'll keep telling past versions of myself, and keep the faith that future versions of myself are speaking to me. I know more than you do... Oh, and if you are reading this, I've just spent ten days straight writing essays, and I've got two weeks more of this before I can crawl into a corner and cry, so I might be a bit short with you, I might like to buy the world a Coke, I might break into song, I might sleep on your shoulder, I might try drunk cooking, I might kill a plant to feel like God for a moment, I might talk to myself, I might learn something from you and then tell you about it later as if I'm smarter than you. Just go with it. Please. I'll be done with the papers in two weeks.
"Then we have here young Dizzy, and young Master Deep-vow, and Master Copper-spur, and Master Starve-lackey the rapier and dagger man, and young Drop-heir that killed lusty Pudding, and Master Forthright the tilter, and brave Master Shoe-tie the great traveler, and wild Half-can that stabbed Pots, and I think forty more, all great doers in our trade, and are now 'for the Lord's sake!" - Pompey the Great, Measure for Measure (IV.iii.11-18).
Year 1, Day 208: Words Written -- 16,000 (+/- 1,000), Words Stolen from other writers. -- All of them.
I really think that academia was started by a bunch of dudes who wanted to feel better about themselves by writing down something that no one had ever thought of before, and then kept writing things down because they couldn't think of anything else to do. Yeah, not much has changed in that area of evolution since the Gutenberg Bible was printed.
I think at the end of all this, besides having a PhD, I'm looking forward most to wisdom. The book-learning will be great, don't get me wrong. I have every intention of ruining all parties everywhere. However, I think I'm looking forward to the wisdom I'll get at the end of it all. It won't be something I'm conscious of, except in story form (I'll have plenty of stories). But I'll be wiser. Not in a folksy 'don't ruin your appetite' kind of way, but in a 'I didn't know that before' kind of way and in a 'I know what I am doing' kind of way. Cos' right now? I haven't a clue what I'm doing... I know that I'm trying my best. I know that I'm reading a lot. I know that I have written many words down to be evaluated by people smarter and wiser than I. Do I know the true purpose behind it all? Sure. Yeah. I'm totally smarter than you... No. No. Not a chance in hell do I know why I've just spent a week of my life looking at the source material of Measure for Measure.
But I do have faith. Faith that I knew what I was doing when I signed up to this program. Faith that my professors will help me when I don't know what's happening, or why I've lost my mind somewhere in the library and could they help me find it again? Faith.
I know more than you do. That's what I'll keep telling past versions of myself, and keep the faith that future versions of myself are speaking to me. I know more than you do... Oh, and if you are reading this, I've just spent ten days straight writing essays, and I've got two weeks more of this before I can crawl into a corner and cry, so I might be a bit short with you, I might like to buy the world a Coke, I might break into song, I might sleep on your shoulder, I might try drunk cooking, I might kill a plant to feel like God for a moment, I might talk to myself, I might learn something from you and then tell you about it later as if I'm smarter than you. Just go with it. Please. I'll be done with the papers in two weeks.
"Then we have here young Dizzy, and young Master Deep-vow, and Master Copper-spur, and Master Starve-lackey the rapier and dagger man, and young Drop-heir that killed lusty Pudding, and Master Forthright the tilter, and brave Master Shoe-tie the great traveler, and wild Half-can that stabbed Pots, and I think forty more, all great doers in our trade, and are now 'for the Lord's sake!" - Pompey the Great, Measure for Measure (IV.iii.11-18).
Year 1, Day 208: Words Written -- 16,000 (+/- 1,000), Words Stolen from other writers. -- All of them.
Friday, 29 March 2013
Year 1, Day 187: Shakespeare Institute -- Academics make the best party guests.
I'm actually getting through this stuff. In the past month, I have read more about the beginnings of gas lighting and its effect on Shakespearean acting, Measure for Measure and its craftsmanship, and the ideals of modern Shakespearean performance than I ever thought I would. (Did you know the reason that modern lighting fixtures are hung on pipes is a carry-over from the days when gas was pumped everywhere in the theater to light the stage? Yeah, I didn't either, but now I'm full of those kinds of strange facts.) I'm kind of enjoying this stuff. It's reading a lot when you wade through metric tons of useless factoids, which eventually sticks around so that you can bore people at parties with your crappy "Did you know...?" rantings. I've actually surprised myself at how boring some of the stuff is that I find interesting. For instance, Henry Irving, who was a great Shakespearean actor in his day (the late 19th century) was one of the first great lighting designers, and sort of brought about modern stage lighting and set designing as we know it today. He was the mentor of E. Gordon Craig (who practically worshiped Irving), and was the father of the grand spectacle of the stage... I think I can go so far as to blame him for the sensationalism of modern cinema, and the realism of modern acting theory (though I'm sure Stanislavsky bogarted that dubious honor before Irving could release a book about it.)
Bored yet? Yeah, this is the stuff I find fascinating. Don't invite me to your parties.
I'm midway through the research I have assembled for one of my papers. I've mostly written another one of them. I haven't yet tackled the smallest paper yet, at all, and I've got some of the research (yet none of the transcribing) done for the last one. I've got about a month to finish it, and next week I go to Paris for a week. The library and the Institute are closed for Good Friday and Easter, and we've finally got internet again at the house (don't bother ever signing up for BT, it's worth paying for Sky TV/Broadband if you can swing it, if only for the American TV shows.)
After my papers are due, I'm production designing yet another show, Much Ado About Nothing, and tech-ing A Yorkshire Tragedy. I'm one the IT people for the BritGrad conference in June, the tech-guy for the undergrad summer school at the Shakespeare Institute, and, oh yeah, they've asked me to teach a few classes next year in Lighting and Sound for the Shakespeare Institute. (Just classes, not full modules. For you Americans, we would call them sessions. I think.) Who said I wasn't biting off waaaay more than I could chew with this PhD-thing?
At the moment, I'm procrastinating the reading I have for Measure for Measure, and even though it is one of my favorite Shakespearean plays, who actually wants to read the source material that Shakespeare used to develop this play... well, I kinda do. Sort of. Really, never invite me to parties.
Life is as tedious as a twice-told tale
Vexing the dull ear of a drowsy man. -- King John, III.iv.
Year 1, Day 187 -- Words Written: 5,200. Words Stolen from Other Writers via Quotes: 15,000 (I'm not even kidding.)
Bored yet? Yeah, this is the stuff I find fascinating. Don't invite me to your parties.
I'm midway through the research I have assembled for one of my papers. I've mostly written another one of them. I haven't yet tackled the smallest paper yet, at all, and I've got some of the research (yet none of the transcribing) done for the last one. I've got about a month to finish it, and next week I go to Paris for a week. The library and the Institute are closed for Good Friday and Easter, and we've finally got internet again at the house (don't bother ever signing up for BT, it's worth paying for Sky TV/Broadband if you can swing it, if only for the American TV shows.)
After my papers are due, I'm production designing yet another show, Much Ado About Nothing, and tech-ing A Yorkshire Tragedy. I'm one the IT people for the BritGrad conference in June, the tech-guy for the undergrad summer school at the Shakespeare Institute, and, oh yeah, they've asked me to teach a few classes next year in Lighting and Sound for the Shakespeare Institute. (Just classes, not full modules. For you Americans, we would call them sessions. I think.) Who said I wasn't biting off waaaay more than I could chew with this PhD-thing?
At the moment, I'm procrastinating the reading I have for Measure for Measure, and even though it is one of my favorite Shakespearean plays, who actually wants to read the source material that Shakespeare used to develop this play... well, I kinda do. Sort of. Really, never invite me to parties.
Life is as tedious as a twice-told tale
Vexing the dull ear of a drowsy man. -- King John, III.iv.
Year 1, Day 187 -- Words Written: 5,200. Words Stolen from Other Writers via Quotes: 15,000 (I'm not even kidding.)
Sunday, 17 March 2013
Year 1, Day 175: Shakespeare Institute -- Patience.
Last night, A Midsummer Night's Dream closed at the Shakespeare Institute. We had curtain call at 10:00 pm, and the entire set, lights, and sound for the show was struck 30 minutes later. I have to hand it to the cast and crew for that, as they all participated and it was an incredible group effort to strike the show (so that I and others would not have to return today, Sunday, and strike.) It was impressive. I also learned that the tree, built for the show, was to be saved as the Players would like to revive the show for the Stratford-upon-Avon Fringe Festival at the end of May. I'd have really liked to have just gotten rid of it (via a sledgehammer and a few makeshift flamethrowers), but as it happens I was overruled.
Besides kick-starting the writer's juices with a blog entry, today is all about the essays and the mountain of research I must conquer to gain perspective on my topics. I have sought out a great deal of advice on what to do, and it seems that the professors can help clarify the approach and what directions my research should take, they seem to be reticent to tell me exactly what they expect when it comes to the writing itself. I am meeting with the head of the Institute tomorrow (as I am writing an essay for him this term as well), and hopefully I can come out with a few more hints as to what kind of writing I should be looking at to help find a format that works for both me and the Institute.
What I have heard from other students, is that every one of them has bailed on at least one essay. All of the PhD students have gotten that one incredibly low grade that made them feel as if they should probably pursue a career in the fine art of petrol dispensation rather than continue trying to be an academic. So, in that respect, I seem to be right on course. It also means that I've used up my one get-out-of-hell-free card. It's step up or go home time.
Here is a little piece of how I am going to work out these essays:
1. Research the topics by approaching the question in as many ways as possible. So, if the research question is "How did gas lighting impact Shakespearean acting?", I'm going to be researching not only when gas lighting was invented and the actors who were around at the time, but also any critical opinions of the shows that were going on at the time gas lighting was invented and when gas lighting was on its way out to see if there were any critical thoughts on the differences in lighting that came before as well as after that period in history.
2. Write down all the pertinent quotes I have highlighted in the research in one Microsoft Word document. So far, on Gas Lighting, I have more words in quotes than is necessary for the entire paper. Overkill, I know. However, from all these quotes I can then pick and choose to help form the discussion, not an argument, that will then make up my paper.
3. Repeat that process over for each side of the argument.
4. Repeat the entire process over for each topic.
5. Then sit down and write each paper as it can be shaped from the research and quotes I have assembled.
---
Five weeks from now, this part of my life will be over. Ten weeks from now, I will know how I did on those essays. By then, I'll be hip deep in writing my Master's Dissertation which is a prelude to writing my PhD Thesis.
I've already had moments of panic. I've thought about everything I have to do, and it seems impossible. However, if I take this moment and write, read, or investigate just one thing that I'm supposed to do in that process, I get further along in the process than I was a minute ago. I can only hope I have enough minutes from now until the end of April to get it all done.
So, back to step one. I gotta go and read something now.
Though patience be a tired mare, yet she will plod. -- Henry V, Act II, Sc. i.
Year 1, Day 175 -- Words Written: 0... Words Stolen From Other Writers via Quotes: 4,524.
Besides kick-starting the writer's juices with a blog entry, today is all about the essays and the mountain of research I must conquer to gain perspective on my topics. I have sought out a great deal of advice on what to do, and it seems that the professors can help clarify the approach and what directions my research should take, they seem to be reticent to tell me exactly what they expect when it comes to the writing itself. I am meeting with the head of the Institute tomorrow (as I am writing an essay for him this term as well), and hopefully I can come out with a few more hints as to what kind of writing I should be looking at to help find a format that works for both me and the Institute.
What I have heard from other students, is that every one of them has bailed on at least one essay. All of the PhD students have gotten that one incredibly low grade that made them feel as if they should probably pursue a career in the fine art of petrol dispensation rather than continue trying to be an academic. So, in that respect, I seem to be right on course. It also means that I've used up my one get-out-of-hell-free card. It's step up or go home time.
Here is a little piece of how I am going to work out these essays:
1. Research the topics by approaching the question in as many ways as possible. So, if the research question is "How did gas lighting impact Shakespearean acting?", I'm going to be researching not only when gas lighting was invented and the actors who were around at the time, but also any critical opinions of the shows that were going on at the time gas lighting was invented and when gas lighting was on its way out to see if there were any critical thoughts on the differences in lighting that came before as well as after that period in history.
2. Write down all the pertinent quotes I have highlighted in the research in one Microsoft Word document. So far, on Gas Lighting, I have more words in quotes than is necessary for the entire paper. Overkill, I know. However, from all these quotes I can then pick and choose to help form the discussion, not an argument, that will then make up my paper.
3. Repeat that process over for each side of the argument.
4. Repeat the entire process over for each topic.
5. Then sit down and write each paper as it can be shaped from the research and quotes I have assembled.
---
Five weeks from now, this part of my life will be over. Ten weeks from now, I will know how I did on those essays. By then, I'll be hip deep in writing my Master's Dissertation which is a prelude to writing my PhD Thesis.
I've already had moments of panic. I've thought about everything I have to do, and it seems impossible. However, if I take this moment and write, read, or investigate just one thing that I'm supposed to do in that process, I get further along in the process than I was a minute ago. I can only hope I have enough minutes from now until the end of April to get it all done.
So, back to step one. I gotta go and read something now.
Though patience be a tired mare, yet she will plod. -- Henry V, Act II, Sc. i.
Year 1, Day 175 -- Words Written: 0... Words Stolen From Other Writers via Quotes: 4,524.
Wednesday, 6 March 2013
Year 1, Day 164: Shakespeare Institute -- Thesis Question, Not A Statement.
In America, I was taught to write critical essays using a thesis statement. I would then back up that statement by presenting a series of opinions or facts in series. In the conclusion I would restate my thesis, and come to a broader point that has been made by my argument... maybe even a few new questions thrown in. Granted, this is an oversimplification of the process, and these critical essays can contain a great many facts, figures, sections, and opinions from other writers and speakers, however it all can be boiled down to the same kind of writing.
It is not so in the UK. Or at least, not here. Through my investigation, and with the help of one or two other American students, I have learned that this is not the way they write critical essays at all.
First, let me be clear. I want to learn new ways of writing, researching, and exploring in my studies. I want to know exactly how the UK conducts itself in writing, so that I can become a better writer. That being said however, the fact that I found this out only after turning in and receiving the grade for my first term papers of the year, through fellow students and not my professors, is not cool. I suppose I am to blame for the majority of this problem, as it is I who decided to come here in the first place, and I should have thought to read anything and everything about the process for writing so that I could do well in my essays. I guess I could blame a lot of people for getting poor grades the first semester, but I think I'll stick to pointing the finger in my own direction.
The manner, which I have come to understand, in which writing is done in the UK begins with a thesis question, not a statement. The essays are formatted to include all arguments, or possible answers to that question, and after all possible sides have been expanded upon, only then is the writer allowed to take sides or express a preference, based only on what has been presented in the paper. Technically, this is a more sound way to answer a question, giving the readers all of the facts before stating a preference, however it also makes whatever argument or statement which occurs at the end of the paper weak by comparison. It does all the research for the reader, and does not incite any kind of further research in the reader if the intent of an essay is to inspire the reader to take up opposition or agree.
All this thought on the way in which I have written papers in the past, and the manner in which I must write for the next 3.5 years, makes my head reel. I can see the pros and cons of both, but I must grasp another way of thinking before too long, or my next term papers will suffer the same or worse fate, and I can't have that.
The general manner in which I have grown up and been taught in other scholarly environments has been that of polarization. "If you aren't with me, you're against me." That sort of thing. Now, I am forced to try not only to find those polar opposites but all viewpoints in between. The amount of research I must get into has tripled overnight, and I'm way behind only because I have never done this before, and all of the 20-something British students have an edge because this is the way they've been writing their entire lives.
So, the image of "cutting deep and narrow" into a topic must now be revised. The papers I must produce do not move in a straight line, but rather in concentric circles swirling around and finally coming to a point. Or at least to a circle so small that the point is all that can be seen from a certain distance. I think I'm gonna need a flow chart or something to track all this research that I have yet to do, or even think of.
Here goes nothing.
Now I am alone.
It is not so in the UK. Or at least, not here. Through my investigation, and with the help of one or two other American students, I have learned that this is not the way they write critical essays at all.
First, let me be clear. I want to learn new ways of writing, researching, and exploring in my studies. I want to know exactly how the UK conducts itself in writing, so that I can become a better writer. That being said however, the fact that I found this out only after turning in and receiving the grade for my first term papers of the year, through fellow students and not my professors, is not cool. I suppose I am to blame for the majority of this problem, as it is I who decided to come here in the first place, and I should have thought to read anything and everything about the process for writing so that I could do well in my essays. I guess I could blame a lot of people for getting poor grades the first semester, but I think I'll stick to pointing the finger in my own direction.
The manner, which I have come to understand, in which writing is done in the UK begins with a thesis question, not a statement. The essays are formatted to include all arguments, or possible answers to that question, and after all possible sides have been expanded upon, only then is the writer allowed to take sides or express a preference, based only on what has been presented in the paper. Technically, this is a more sound way to answer a question, giving the readers all of the facts before stating a preference, however it also makes whatever argument or statement which occurs at the end of the paper weak by comparison. It does all the research for the reader, and does not incite any kind of further research in the reader if the intent of an essay is to inspire the reader to take up opposition or agree.
All this thought on the way in which I have written papers in the past, and the manner in which I must write for the next 3.5 years, makes my head reel. I can see the pros and cons of both, but I must grasp another way of thinking before too long, or my next term papers will suffer the same or worse fate, and I can't have that.
The general manner in which I have grown up and been taught in other scholarly environments has been that of polarization. "If you aren't with me, you're against me." That sort of thing. Now, I am forced to try not only to find those polar opposites but all viewpoints in between. The amount of research I must get into has tripled overnight, and I'm way behind only because I have never done this before, and all of the 20-something British students have an edge because this is the way they've been writing their entire lives.
So, the image of "cutting deep and narrow" into a topic must now be revised. The papers I must produce do not move in a straight line, but rather in concentric circles swirling around and finally coming to a point. Or at least to a circle so small that the point is all that can be seen from a certain distance. I think I'm gonna need a flow chart or something to track all this research that I have yet to do, or even think of.
Here goes nothing.
Now I am alone.
Oh, what a rogue and peasant slave am I!
Is it not monstrous that this player here,
But in a fiction, in a dream of passion,
Could force his soul so to his own conceit
That from her working all his visage wanned,
Tears in his eyes, distraction in his aspect,
A broken voice, and his whole function suiting
With forms to his conceit? And all for nothing -- Hamlet, Act II, sc.ii
Year 1, Day 164 -- Words Written: 0... Research done: Not enough.
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