I cried in my therapist's office on Friday, wondering why I felt like such a failure. She looked at me with compassionate eyes, but I was frustrated that she couldn't fix my problems. The stale air combined with the soft lighting made me tired. I wanted to run home, crawl back in bed, and sleep … Continue reading Mental Health in Graduate School
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#OrgCommSoWhite and Postcolonial Representation
So far on my comprehensive exams list #1 journey, we have covered the territory of nonprofit and faith-based organizations, as well as the basics of postcolonial scholarship. Now I want to explain why both are important in my field of organizational communication (AKA org comm). To begin with, I want to clarify that org comm is a … Continue reading #OrgCommSoWhite and Postcolonial Representation
Postcolonial What?
In my last post I covered the first part of my comprehensive exams list on non-profits and faith-based organizations. Next up is the part about postcolonial organizing and representation. Now you might be wondering, what does postcolonial even mean? For those who aren't familiar, postcolonialism is "a way of articulating resistance to dominant, Eurocentric perspectives … Continue reading Postcolonial What?
Nonprofit and Faith-Based Organizations
The first part of my comprehensive exam reading focused on nonprofits and faith-based organizations. I am interested in studying such an organization for my dissertation, so this is helping me to prepare. In my reading I found several similar themes, but for this first post I will focus on two. Theme 1: We need more … Continue reading Nonprofit and Faith-Based Organizations
The Comprehensive Exams Process
As I mentioned in my last post, this semester I am preparing to take my comprehensive exams. The structure of these exams varies greatly based on the university and department. For mine, the standard is that you work with your committee members to create reading lists (roughly 60 sources per list), which then prepares you … Continue reading The Comprehensive Exams Process
New Year New Goals
Happy New Year everyone! I have always loved New Year's because it is a chance to start fresh and revisit my goals. I have several goals for this year, but one of them is to write more on this blog. Since starting graduate school (I'm on year 4 now! Two years of the masters and … Continue reading New Year New Goals
‘O Me! O Life!’: Taking My Own Advice
One of the shortest of Walt Whitman’s great poems, ‘O Me! O Life!’ was featured in the 1989 film Dead Poets Society: Robin Williams’s character recites it to his class. ‘O Me! O Life!’ contains many of the features of Walt Whitman’s greatest poetry: the free verse rhythm, the alternation between long and short lines, […] … Continue reading ‘O Me! O Life!’: Taking My Own Advice
The Power of Positive and Negative Talk
This semester I am teaching Interpersonal Communication for the first time. The class focuses on relationships and how they are formed, maintained, and/or destroyed through communication. One of the required readings for the course is the book Blink by Malcolm Gladwell. In Chapter 1 of the book, Gladwell discusses the psychologist John Gottman, author of … Continue reading The Power of Positive and Negative Talk
Back to basics
It's been over three years since I last wrote on this blog. I considered deleting it multiple times, but then I would hold off for the hope that I could one day go back to writing just for fun. In the time that has passed, I got married to my wonderful partner Jason, we got … Continue reading Back to basics
Practicing Love
Growing up, the weight of deep obligation haunted me every week following Christmas and my birthday. My mom would provide the small cards, the envelopes, the stamps, even the pen. But what would I say? A lack of words left me with a lack of motivation. This was the dread of writing thank you notes. … Continue reading Practicing Love
