Hoping Grad School Likes Me

Patting myself on the back for my own insights.

[esdean]

Do you know what you’re reading this summer?

Who wants to read?!

Not you, probably, as you slog through to the last stretch before finals. And I get it, you’ve read hundreds of pages of theory, history, literature, science, etc., and if you’re a humanities major you’ve probably read more Freud than you think should be legal under the Geneva Convention. But whether you believe in it or not, there is life after finals and a whole summer stretched before you. Maybe you have an internship, a summer job, vacation plans, or just plans to buy more shorts. Whatever your plans, making time for reading is a great way to decompress, practice self-awareness, or get ahead of the curve for next year (you may be reviled for the last one). I’ve proposed a few ways to go about planning your summer reading so you get the most out of the time you have to be in charge of your own readings. This summer, take back the books

1. Reading for a Class by You

Or, How to Sound Smarter Than Your Friends Next Year. The idea is that you will embark on a reading binge/project that is relevant to what you’re studying, particularly what you will be taking next year. If you know ahead of time what your reading lists will be, you might be tempted to do that, but by the time class discussions come around you will probably have entirely forgotten everything you read. It can be fun and rewarding to think up your own reading trajectory for the summer based on what you’re interested in at school--maybe you want to sample prominent but fun Victorian books (like Wuthering Heights), read a series of pop-science psychology authors (think Malcolm Gladwell), or delve into the history of U.S. politics (Master of the Senate and other LBJ books were popular last summer). Whatever you’re reading, you’re confident you’re spending your time wisely, and will be delighted to tell literally everyone about how much you learned in the fall. A bunch of times.

2. Expansion by Recommendation

Or,  Make Your Friends Do The Work For You. If, in the true spirit of the liberal arts, you want to use the summer to have a broader base of learning and explore worlds outside your major, this strategy is for you. Ask friends in other academic disciplines what their favorite book in their field/favorite assigned reading has been. You may get a few stuffy articles that are just too dreary to read in June, but chances are you’ll be recommended a wide variety of interesting novels/memoirs/books that will take you on a summer adventure that changes course with every book. You can also ask professors for recommendations, if you’re willing to run the risk of them asking you in the fall if you actually read what they recommended. This is a great option for those who desire more variety than the first strategy or get distracted from a topic easily (case in point: me). All you really need are a few friends who actually do assigned reading, and you have a summer reading list already on hand!

3. Don’t Plan

I know I said that I would propose ways to plan your summer reading, but this is a legitimate alternate direction. Planning ahead of time will help you reach your summer reading goals and is great for those with specific time periods to fill up, like long commutes or awkward family reunions. However, the most freeing and sometimes most exciting way to plan your summer reading is not to plan at all. Start with something you bought but never got around to reading, with a book you got as a gift. From there, branch out to similar or differing books based on your tastes. Read for pleasure like you did when you were a kid: what you want to when you want to, often featuring dragons. There’s no reason you can’t incorporate parts of the first two strategies either: maybe you want to read a friend’s recommendation, or finish a book you only read selections with in class. The only big problem with this strategy is that you will always find another book you want to read, and by the time the summer is over it is impossible to have read them all. You will have to tear yourself away from whatever genre obsession or author worship you fell into during the following months in order to return to assigned reading. But as they say, it’s better to love reading and have to leave it than never to have loved reading at all---right?

Whichever strategy you choose, or even if you decide to give your brain a break this summer and not read at all, I hope you have luck at finals and a great summer!

[esdean]

On Language in Dogeaters by Hagedorn

This dichotomy between refinement and commonness is clear in the opposition of the words themselves, which reflect the anxieties over language usage which permeate the social scene in the Philippines. “Gossip” in an English word for the refined if chatty, and tsismis is rude, often negative, and subversive in the hands of the weakened. Sometimes, tsismis has no speaker at all but rises as its own entity from the chorus of voices of the people of Manila. Like the islands of the Philippines, the many small voices of the weak can come together through collective tsismis to be one force. This force/voice  subverts the oppressive government and asserts the voice of native Filipino language and the culture it reflects.

[esdean]

An Old News Brief

On Nov. 16, militant group Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) published a video online claiming to document the execution of 26-year-old United States aid worker Peter Kassig, also known as Abdul-Rahman. The White House confirmed later that the deceased man in the video was indeed Kassig, who was kidnapped in Syria in October of last year.

During his captivity, Kassig converted to Islam and began using the first name Abdul-Rahman. Kassig was beheaded in what appears to be Dabiq, Syria along with several Syrian soldiers. (Time Magazine, “White House Confirms Latest ISIS Beheading,” 11.16.2014). Secretary of State John Kerry stated that he and Kessig’s home Senator Joe Donelly had been working since his capture to rescue him, and called ISIL “wicked” for ignoring their work as well as a plea written by Kessig’s mother.

According to CNN, some analysts see the killing and video as a sign of “desperation” by ISIL. Haras Rafiq of Quiliam Foundation told CNN that the brutality of video reflect greater violence to come because the United States has made recent gains against ISIL, thus provoking insecurity and an attempt to prove further strength. It is also different from previous execution videos of Westerners released in recent months by ISIS. Kassig does not speak to the camera like previous victims and is not the only victim in the video. Further, the video does not name a future victim. According to retired U.S. Army Lt. Col. Joe Ruffini, it may be primarily intended as a propaganda video to intimidate Iraqi and Syrian civilians and keep them from resisting ISIS authority by featuring the execution of several Syrian men. On the other hand, a ISIS member in the video directly “taunts” the US to invade the Iraqi city of Mosul, currently occupied by ISIL. (CNN, “Analysts: ISIS video 'sign of desperation,'” 11.16.2014)

United States veteran Kassig was a former Army ranger who returned to the Middle East after his tour of duty, serving as a medical aid worker in Syria. He wrote in a 2012 email published by the BBC that he returned to the Middle East because “what I do know is that I have a chance to do something here, to take a stand. To make a difference.” (BCC News, “Abdul-Rahman Kassig in his own words,” 11.16.2014) He continued to write about his humanitarian goals during his captivity, telling his parents in early 2014, “If I do die...I went out as a result of trying to alleviate suffering and helping those in need.”

President Obama released a statement later on Sunday condemning the beheading as “evil.” (Time) He focused on Kassig’s aid work, and also highlighted that Kassig had converted to Islam during his captivity, stating that ISIL members who killed Kassig betrayed the religion that they shared with him because of the violence that they committed.

[esdean]

On a Maritime Chuckchee story

Even the structure of the narrative itself reflects the flexibility and decenteredness of the Chukchee perspective. The story’s title, “How the Earth Was Made and How the Wood-Chips Became Walrus,” implies to the reader that it will be a creation myth, and that the central point of the story will be about how the world came to be and that process’s significance for the reader. However, the tale ends with a parable about discovering one’s sexuality and how mankind learned to procreate. The story ends by explaining gendered differences in sexuality, and sums up with “This is a truth. This is the story about how humans became plentiful” (69). This summary implies that the entire point of the tale was centered on the ending scene about sexuality, thus defying the reader’s expectations and decentering the tale. It erodes even the tale-tellers authority by leaving the central matters of the myth unaddressed. In this way, the form of the story creates a more equitable relationship between teller and audience, because while the teller holds the knowledge of the story, the audience is left to draw much of their own conclusions. Meaning is created between the two.

[esdean]

On Song of Myself

In section 15, Whitman compulsively catalogues varieties of men and women at their everyday occupations, highlighting differences among them and their separateness through his need to list them. However, he resolves the section of verse by forcing them to be together and equal by identifying them to be elements of his/the universal “self,” that which from the beginning of the poem he sets out to “celebrate.” Thus, in this section, Whitman celebrates the differences among American people and their inherent diversity, yet is unable to allow the tension of difference to exist and subsumes this diversity through identifying them all in oneness, and ultimately, in his/the universal familiar self that allows for no “others.”

[esdean]

On Dickinson, Women, and Liminality

Dickinson addresses the trauma of the wedding night in her untitled poem, number 461. The poem opens with the capitalized primary subject: the status of "Wife" (line 1). The first stanza elevates the transition from "Maid" (3) to "Bride" (4), saying that through the night the speaker will "have passed from thee [virginity] / Unto the East, and Victory—" (5-6). However, the poem takes a darker turn in the second stanza, creating a sense of frightened innocence by evoking the child's prayer and a sense of helplessness ("I fumble at my Childhood's prayer / soon to be a Child no more—" [10-11]), which is a response to her construction of a horrific tension: "Softly my Future [husband] climbs the Stair," (9). Finally, the end of the second stanza evokes imagery of death in association with the loss of virginity on the wedding night. Dickinson writes, " Eternity, I'm coming — Sire, / Savior — I've seen the face — before!" (12-13). Dickinson alludes to death through her use of "eternity" as well as her reference to the Victorian belief that the dying see Christ in their last moments. With this poem, Dickinson confronts the romanticized notion of the wedding night by revealing the anxiety for women surrounding their purity. Women are taught, particularly by the Cult of True Womanhood, that their purity is the biggest signifier of their worth. Yet, they are later asked to yield it up submissively to their dominating husband on their wedding night, a trauma that results in a sort of rebirth as a wife. Dickinson criticizes this practice by approaching the feelings in her mind, but finding them disturbing, she aligns this event with death and the violation of childhood. This poem is an example of Dickinson's ability to understand and empathize with the expectations and lived experiences of women of her time and situation, but also her ability as a self-constructed outsider to see the power structures behind these experiences and critique the metanarratives created and believed by those very structures.

[esdean]

On Chang-Rae Lee's Native Speaker

Henry invokes his identity not as a part of his self-conception or as a member of a community, but only as a site of vulnerability in his opponent, exploited for his own monetary gain. When Henry destabilizes the meaning of his identity as Korean American, he reflects the instability that he feels in his life. This instability almost ruins him: when he over-identifies with a kind Filipino therapist, his cover is nearly blown and he almost loses his job. Henry is unable to fully connect with his own identity and it left him emotionally vulnerable, seeking some sort of identification in others, specifically with Asian American others--which almost ruined him.