, but he can hang them on the wall. I finally got around to picking up and framing my M.Phil, the boon of the orals experience, yesterday. Unfortunately, it may take a PhD to figure out — or care about — the difference between a Master of Arts in History and a Master of Philosophy in History. But, hey, two pieces of paper with my name on them…that’s gotta mean something, right?
Tag: Orals Reviews
The End of History.
“The tradition of all the dead generations weighs like a nightmare on the brain of the living. – Karl Marx” Yeah, well, not anymore. As of this afternoon, the orals process is complete (although I do plan to fix up the subsite quite a bit), and I’m now ABD (All But Dissertation for you folks out there with real jobs.) I’m not going to go blow-by-blow into it here, but the exam went well for the most part…I definitely think I could’ve answered a few of the questions more lucidly, but so be it. At any rate, plan for updates here to resume their usual schedule, once I complete the rest of the week’s goal of doing absolutely nothing. Speaking of which, I think it’s nap-time…
7 Days.
Hey y’all…one week left until my orals, so expect it to be preternaturally quiet in these parts for that much longer. I’ve finished 98% of my reading at this point…I just need to spend the next few days getting psychically prepared for the test and fighting back the starting-to-become-omnipresent nervousness in my gut. Of the mocks I’ve taken, two went well and one went…not so well, but I’m chalking up that last one to sheer dogged tiredness and jetlag (from the recent break-even Vegas trip, which was decently fun, albeit being hampered by dark thoughts of the pending exam most of the time.) At any rate, I think I have the knowledge at this point…I just need to make I sure I can access it through the fog of encroaching anxiety.
Irish Eyes are Reading.
A very happy St. Patrick’s Day to you and yours. (Don’t miss this chance to rent Miller’s Crossing and/or have a Guinness or three.) My own St. Paddy’s should be relatively downbeat, for, as I suspected, it’s been much busier than usual over in these parts. Freelance work aside, I’ve been swimming neck-deep in political theory for a solid week now in prep for the big day. And I’ll be lugging a sack of books with me this weekend on what passes for my Spring Break vacation…Vegas Redux. (I know, I was down on the place last year, but it’s always good to catch up with old friends, and perhaps the glitz of the Strip will seem less jarring this time without the 24-hr CNN greenscreens of war on the other channel.) At any rate, if you want to approximate the GitM experience this weekend, peruse The Road to Serfdom or Democracy in America, while occasionally plying your hand at Deuces Wild. Between Hayek and games of chance, I’m feeling like Bill Bennett’s dream American at the moment.
21 Days.
Orals at three weeks and counting. And, what with various freelance projects coming to closure right around now, postings might get sparser than usual around here. If so, apologies in advance.
The April Fool.
Well, it was starting to look like I’d have to wait until May, but after some negotiating with the various professors on my panel, I’ve obtained a revised orals date: High noon, April 1. Should be more fun than you can shake a stick at.
An Historic Lull.
Ok, so it’s been quiet around here again. The freelance textbook project that I thought was almost over turned out to be far from it. But now, after another week of hellaciously long days, I can almost see the Shire, the Brandywine River, Gandalf’s fireworks, etc. etc. again. Meanwhile, on the orals scene, my original date – March 4 – got torpedoed by conflicting schedules on my panel, and it now looks like I won’t be able to amass the entire posse again until early April. So, at any rate, both of these recent developments should lend themselves to more posting here, provided there’s something more interesting to talk about than the ridiculous national outrage over Janet’s stunt nipple. Stay tuned.
Politics by other means.
Well, due to various other projects — end of term grading, freelance history textbook work, attending multiple job talks for a pending Columbia hire — my online note-taking has fallen even farther behind my orals reading lately. But, the spirit marches on. So, without further ado:
| John Lewis Gaddis, Strategies of Containment: A Critical Appraisal of Postwar American National Security Policy. David Kennedy, Over Here: The First World War and American Society. |
Dust, Discrimination, and Domestic Containment.
Some thanksgiving orals reading, for you and yours…read with lavish amounts of stuffing and cranberry sauce.
| Elaine Tyler May, Homeward Bound: American Families in the Cold War Era. C. Vann Woodward, The Strange Career of Jim Crow. Donald Worster, Dust Bowl: The Southern Plains in the 1930s. |
Brave New Century.
Slow and steady wins the race, I hope: