| SAGE Advice |
| The newsletter of the Student Association of Graduates in English (SAGE) at the University of Kansas |
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A Note from the President "Gena" arrived by train at 2:00 in the morning, which was a little surprising, especially to those of us who did not know that Lawrence had a train station. She traveled 30 hours one way. Because she only spent one full night in town, her travel time more than doubled her time spent at her destination. During her one day in the area, she visited with professors, attended a poetry reading, and ate dinner on Mass Street with graduate students. She stayed at our house on her last night in town, and conversations with Gena suggested that she was erudite, articulate, and personable. She asked all of the right questions about the department and sounded eager to begin her studies in the fall, rather than returning to her high school teaching job (the whirlwind trip was part of her Spring Break). She came to Lawrence with the sole intention of surveying her potential new home. |
May 2002 |
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The catch in this story,--and you knew there was a catch--is that Gena is not yet officially part of the department. She is on the waiting list. But she wanted to be here so badly that she thought a personal visit might help her cause. In spending several hours visiting with her I never once felt superior. (My hunch is that she lands a scholarly article in a major publication before I do). But I did feel an enormous sense of privilege, a sense of being in the club when others are still waiting for the word to come back concerning their nomination. She is applying, interviewing. She makes phone calls, sends e-mails, lobbies. And you know what? I did the same thing. I applied to KU twice. For the Master's Program I was rejected (and, perhaps, with good reason, as I reconsider an early application); for the Doctoral Program I was accepted. No one forced me to apply. No one forced me to re-apply. I made a conscious decision that this is where I would like to be and this is what I would like to do. And because my path here was rocky (I went through rejections from various schools and--gulp!--two years at an actual job), I appreciate everyday in academia. I have a stack of 80 papers that I need to evaluate. I'm a month behind in reading for my Ph.D. exams. I've not had a chance to write creatively for the past eight weeks. My income tax return was actually 10% of what I took home last year (I'm not sure if that is good or not, but I thought I'd mention it anyway). You need a machete to get from my front door to the mailbox, because the grass in the yard has been neglected since August. I'm so behind that the Newsweek on the top of the stack says something about a recount in Florida. And when my wife and I recently stole a late dinner together, I noticed her hair had grown considerably since we last visited. But, as the bumper sticker (kinda) says: A bad day at Wescoe Hall is better than a good day most anywhere else. And my guess is that Gena would agree. Kirby Fields Click here to
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A Poet's Wisdom The following is a sonnet I wrote in a moment of frustration last year. So this poem is dedicated to those of you experiencing a kindred frustration as you struggle through grading final papers on Robert Frost's excellent poem "The Mending Wall," or the effect of World War I on the poetry of Emily Dickinson. Just remember, all's well that ends, and it will all be over soon . . . at least for a few weeks. Instructor to Student I don't expect complete revelationof Dickinson, Frost, Pound-the depths of their allusions, or explanation of subtleties profound. I will accept a comma splice, an awkward phrase, even occasional ambiguous pronouns. Just get the author's name correct--weave in some semblance of a point and get around to telling me what it is. Quote the text, cite the source. Throw some active verbs in there. Spell-check, proofread, print the paper. Check for all your pages. Staple them together. I just expect coherence and your name, Joanna Harader |
The Lazy, Hazy, Crazy As the semester comes to a close and warm weather beckons us away from the murky corridors of Wescoe Hall, I would just like to say what a pleasure it had been been a more active part of SAGE in putting out the newsletter. I am happy that I'll be able to continue bringing you the Advice again next year, along with Kristin Bovaird-Abbo, who is our web-design expert! She and I hope that all of you will crowd our mailboxes next semester with ideas for the newsletter, articles, announcements, anything you'd like to see in print. You don't have to be funny or clever or erudite to be in SAGE Advice. Just have an opinion, and share it with us. For me, Spring holds the promise of a restful vacation, at least a rest from teaching, and I hope that all of you, even those who are teaching, find time to enjoy the simple things in life that so often get overlooked during our busy school year. I can't remember the last time I could just sit down and watch T.V. without feeling 100% guilty afterward, because of the stack of papers and books in the corner. But I have resolved to let this summer--with its vacations and picnics, baseball games, family and friends, and just plain "hanging out"--be a time of peace and enjoyment, (oh, and yes, there is that reading list!). I hope the summer brings all good things to you also. Ellen Fangman
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Comps, comprehensive examinations, are a major phase in doctoral degree work, the last exam you'll ever take, and a fine way to develop a teaching repertoire. They're also a source of much graduate student lore, often a cause for groundless anxiety, and sometimes more time-consuming than need be. Hopefully a few remarks about the exam, along with some general practical tips, will help those of you to look forward to this remarkable experience as one of the stages on life's way. A formal statement concerning the "purposes" and procedures of the comprehensive exam appears on page 16 of the current graduate student handbook and I encourage all doctoral candidates to read that section carefully. I'm always available for advice and consultation about the initial states of the exam process, i.e. constructing your committee and selecting the three areas of study that will make up your exam list. In what follows, however, I'll try to address some general aspects of the exam and to summarize the kinds of advice I usually give students as they begin preparing for it. First, I advise candidates to think concretely about the process involved in the exam and the goals it helps you reach. Understood properly, I think the exam should be a manageable process that makes you, the doctoral candidate, a better-prepared, more professional scholar and teacher. The exam is not an amorphous and unmanageable trial of your ability to master all of English studies, but concerns three specific reading lists that you construct in consultation with your chair and committee. In constructing these lists you are able to tailor the exam to your professional needs and interests, extend your previous work and establish a solid background in the areas you select, as well as prepare materials that will be useful in your future dissertation work and teaching. I often remark that the last general work you do before proceeding to the specialized work of the dissertation is your comps preparation. Once you complete the dissertation ad begin teaching, the areas of study you prepared for your exam effectively provide your teaching repertoire until you develop further. Although your immediate concern is preparing for the exam itself, it may help to remember that the exam will have a very concrete payoff when you begin using these materials to prepare classes in your first faculty job. Even in today's very difficult job market, positive forward thinking can help you undertake the task at hand. Secondly, I emphasize to every candidate preparing for exams (whether MA or PhD) that the three secrets of success are COMMUNICATION, COMMUNICATION, and COMMUNICATION. Consult early and often with your chair and committee members. Set standing appointments with your committee members and meet with them regularly as you work through your reading lists. The more you meet with your committee members, the more you communicate with them about your preparation and your thought concerning your exam lists, the better you will know your committee and the better your committee will know you. By meeting regularly and discussing the texts on your lists, you develop working and discursive relationships that prepare you for the actual exam and help ensure that examiners and examinee alike are familiar with each other's thinking and styles of questioning and discussion. Besides your basic familiarity with all of the texts on your lists, there is no other single aspect of exam preparation that will benefit you as much, both during and after the exam process, as this regular consultation with your committee. Finally, I encourage all exam candidates to develop their lists and schedule their reading and exam dates in as timely a manner as possible. Copies of previous exam lists are on file with Graduate Secretary Lydia Ash and you should consult them as examples. There is no need to spend months preparing lists on standard period, national, and genre categories (e.g. "Nineteenth-Century British Literature," "Modernism," "The Novel"). Using previous lists as examples and tailoring these categories to your purposes, in consultation with your chair and committee members, it is quite possible to finalize your lists and be on your way in weeks, not months or semesters. Although I'm certain your chair will be a more affirmative and nurturing mentor than Melville's Captain Vere, his advice to "Be direct!" is well-taken in this instance. Please drop by or let me know if I can give you any other information about the exam process. Have a great summer and please let Lori, Bob, Lydia, Robin, and Erin know that you appreciate the invaluable work they do in keeping the department running! Philip Barnard |
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