sometimes-a-writer

[sometimes-a-writer]

how is it june next week how are we already on the 6th month of the year wasn’t it just march

[sometimes-a-writer]

❌ Corrupted ❌ too much information

#independent works

[sometimes-a-writer]

where's that quote abt like. being embarrassed abt the thinness of ur life the way ur embarrassed by a threadbare piece of clothing. bc like yeah

[sometimes-a-writer]

#photography #ocean aesthetic

[sometimes-a-writer]

my profs’ advice/comments on impostor syndrome –

“i’ll tell you how i’ve learned to deal with this sort of thing. i didn’t develop a sense of joy in my academic study until i realized that what really matters is the work itself. it’s not about trying to impress anybody or trying to earn a specific grade. it’s all about loving the work, the reading, the writing, the critical conversation. and i think you do love those things, and you do enjoy your academic work when you can get out of your own way about it. now, where i’m at in my career, i have to think about what gets me up in the morning, and that’s not publishing 20 articles a year or seeking external approval. what it is, is writing, reading, and teaching about what I love, my own little academic world that i’ve created.” – prof c

 “i wrote shitty papers in college, and i still got a phd. you’re not supposed to know everything yet! you’re still learning! you know what, write that on a post-it and stick it on your laptop. you don’t have to know it all yet. you don’t have to be perfect.” – prof s

“while i can assure you that you should not feel like an imposter, i can also confess that the syndrome is common at all levels of academia – so you should not think yourself abnormal to be experiencing it.” (x)

“i hate to say/write this, but it’s sort of true: that you having these impostor-syndrome reactions, these worries about disappointing those you respect … to me, that sort of signals that you do have traits common to many successful academics! even people who have masses of success behind them – and, come to think of it, particularly the people who have a lot of cred *and* outside affirmation of it – suffer from impostor syndrome *if* (and the if is important) they genuinely care about the quality of their work. so: if it’s possible to think of these feelings as symptomatic of a characteristic many good academics share, then please do.                                                                                          (…) the important thing is this: how counterproductive it can be for self-sabotaging people to think of themselves as being ‘born’ to do something. it makes any possibility of missing the mark immediately existential. academic work is something one chooses because one has a strong interest in a certain field of study, an ability to study and produce credible work (as judged by ‘authorities’ in said field), and a social possibility to choose to proceed in that direction. sometimes, i, at least, find it helpful to remind myself of the simple facts of this.                       (…) i do think it’s important to put the activating gesture of entering grad school very firmly in your own hands. you are choosing this. you are choosing it because you want it, others have said that you are capable, and you have the practical possibility of choosing it. this is enough. the work will be enough without the existential heft, and the existential heft will not make the work better.” – s

 from my lit teacher’s wife, an english prof at ucb who graduated from yale – ”yes—i feel like this often—and so does every person i’m close to in academia, and every graduate student ever. the key is to just feel the fear and do it anyway, especially when ‘do it’ means ‘write.’” 

#imposter syndrome #academic advice

[sometimes-a-writer]

#independent works #titsay

[sometimes-a-writer]

further into the saga, do i email my other prof asking for an incomplete for their class as well? its been three days since the end of semester, but hey, what could it hurt, right?

[edit] omg, i did it, i emailed my prof and asked and not i'm either going to sleep or going to have a panic attack.

does anyone know what happens if you fail your last semester of college 'cause i really fucked up at the finish line here

#im so stressed #and anxious #i fucked up #college life

[sometimes-a-writer]

#independent works #titsay

[sometimes-a-writer]

“There have been real instances of antisemitism on campuses since the protests began; here and there we’ve seen real instances of malevolence and idiocy. But to believe, on the basis of anecdata, that hatred and ignorance have motivated the vast majority of students who’ve set up encampments and other pro-Palestinian protests over the last month ⁠– in their many thousands at well over 100 colleges and universities in all but four states ⁠– is to believe what can only be described as an extraordinary propaganda campaign, one pushed by critics in the press and in office who can’t seem to agree on what the protesters are like. These students, we’ve been told, are both popular and unpopular among their peers. They are both ugly and chic. They are fragile and cold-blooded, pathetically soft and remarkably violent. They hate Jews. They are Jews who hate themselves. They’ve exercised both too little message discipline and too much caution with the press at demonstrations that are both laughably chaotic and suspiciously organized. And whoever they are and whatever’s spurred them into action, the students are, clearly, in need of either a good sock to the mouth or a good lay ⁠– the better to focus their attention away from politics and on their studies, on political matters close to home rather than halfway across the world, or political matters halfway across the world more deserving of their attention, like the plight of the suffering in China, Cuba, Venezuela, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Sudan, Iran or Azerbaijan.

No one with their eyes on Gaza denies that there are many bad things happening in the world at any given time. None of those who’ve troubled law- and opinion-makers so with their insistence that the Palestinians are people would argue that the Palestinians are the only suffering people on the globe. But they are suffering largely as a consequence of American foreign policy.”

—“US students, once again, have led the way. Now we must all stand up for Palestinians,” by Osita Nwanevu (The Guardian)

#things to read #palestine

[sometimes-a-writer]

Hey, Versobooks have made the above ebooks free to download

These resources challenge zionist ideology and offer a clear history of the occupation, Israel's military industrial complex, and the BDS movement. (X)

Download here because some of you can use some reading tbh

#free books #palestine #things to read

[sometimes-a-writer]

They once said Palestine will be free tomorrow. When is tomorrow? What is freedom? How long does it last?

— Mosab Abu Toha, from "Palestine A–Z," Things You May Find Hidden in My Ear

#palestine #things to read

[sometimes-a-writer]

half-life in exile by Hala Alyan

#palestine #poetry #things to read

[sometimes-a-writer]

Being a young adult is so strange. You enter a coffee shop. The 20 year old girl waiting behind you cried all night because she just came to a new city for university and she feels so alone. That 27 year old guy over there works a job he is overqualified for, he lives with his parents and wants to move out but doesn't know what to do about it. That one 24 year old dude already has a car, a house, and a job waiting for him once he graduates thanks to his dad's connections. The 26 year old barista couldn't complete his higher education because he has to work and take care of his family. The 28 year old girl sitting next to you has no friends to go out with so she is texting her mother. That couple (both 25 years old) are married and the girl is pregnant. The 29 year old writing something on her laptop has realized that she chose the wrong major so she is trying to start all over. We are not alone in this, but we are actually so alone. Do you feel me

#being in your 20s

[sometimes-a-writer]

#independent works #titsay

[sometimes-a-writer]

okay lie, what happens is you file for an incomplete for a class you should've passed but your brain refuses to cooperate so you try to make the email sound sane but really you're stressed and over apologetic and I should probably be looking into that therapist

does anyone know what happens if you fail your last semester of college 'cause i really fucked up at the finish line here

#college life #i fucked up #student life #anxiety

[sometimes-a-writer]

weepy girl

#independent works #libbyframe

[sometimes-a-writer]

so what happens when you fail your last semester of college? you take another semester in the fall and graduate in december. which is kind of anti-climactic, but don't be fooled by my nonchalance as i've experienced such a rollercoaster of emotional turmoil i'm convinced my partner keeps an ongoing list of reasons why i should see a therapist and is merely awaiting his moment to unravel such a scroll down some staircase as to have it best appreciated for its dramatics.

does anyone know what happens if you fail your last semester of college 'cause i really fucked up at the finish line here

#college life #i fucked up #but it's not as bad as i thought #though my anxious thoughts would convince me otherwise