#phdlr

[absinthemindedly]

June 1st, 2025

Starting off June right with a short morning reading session. I've accepted that I just don't have the energy for academia after my day job and have adapted accordingly. It's somewhat eerie to visit an empty cafe when they open in the morning! I do appreciate the quiet.

[frontrowhandup]

Getting ready for comps like

[fortunatelyitsayellowday]

Had a break through moment today with school stuff.

What to archive, what to pare down, what do I really NEED.

Verbal processing with someone who knows their stuff helps push us all along.

[kaitlin-writes]

03.29.26

This week’s literary study is focused on Dante Alighieri and his literary canon. My graduate seminar on comparative literary theory is reading Canto’s I—XIV from Inferno; I’m personally reading in addition Vita Nuova.

[kaitlin-writes]

Ph.D Studies Journal #4: The End is Near

“Surely something resides in this heart that is not perishable ― and life is more than a dream.” ― Mary Wollstonecraft

In all honesty, this semester has gone poorly—not because my classes are terrible (they’re not) or because I can’t competently write (arguable), but because being a grad student with a chronic illness sucks. I’ve been battling a new mystery thing for over a week now while trying to finish out the semester well. I’m in the last four weeks, and I need all my attention on research—not my body and its fickle self. It’s disheartening sometimes. I’d rather keep this to myself, wanting instead to be associated only with my writing than with personal health complications, but then who else might feel inadequate because everyone puts up a damn good front?

Perseverance, I suppose, is on my mind. I’m trying to be transparent about what it’s like to navigate PhD studies as a first-gen while retaining optimism about my program and faith in my ambitions—essentially, admitting that *some* things in life suck while others are imperfectly good.

My latest mini personal essay reflects on relocating for my program, trying to detangle responsibility from simply living, and my hope for ending the semester well. It means the world to me when people read these little essays, so I hope you do—and I hope it spurs thoughts of your own.

Take care. 🤎