Famous Last Words: Week 12

Week 12 Mythology Reading: This week, I read Celtic fairy tales. I chose this unit because my family has some Celtic ancestry, and I thought it would be interesting to read some of the fairy tales from that culture. The readings were a bit difficult, mostly just because of the jargon, but they each came with a Librivox recording of the story, which was read by a man with an extremely Irish accent. Those recordings made it a bit easier to follow along with the stories.

My Best Writing This Week: To be honest, I thought my best writing this week was an assignment I did for my Policy Analysis and Writing class, but the grade I got on that assignment definitely was not reflective of that sentiment. It just goes to show that writing, even in academia, is subjective. While I felt I wrote something good, and was passionate about the subject, that doesn't mean that it is what everyone (in this case, my professors) is looking for.

Other People's Writing: Something I've noticed about a lot of my classmates in this class is that they're all really good at giving unique twists to classic tales. They take an old legend and put it in a totally different setting, while still holding onto the core of the original story, and it is so impressive to me. I am always too nervous to try and completely change the setting like that, but maybe I should be braver and try it.

My Other Classes: To be honest, this was a rough week for me in terms of my other classes. Like I mentioned above, I got a bad grade on an assignment for one of my grad seminars, and it kind of threw me into a bad mood. It was the second of two really bad grades, and that's honestly not something I'm super used to. I grew up in a family that was very focused on good grades, so I was terrified of getting anything less than an A my whole life, and I for the most part have managed to avoid that. I've accepted that perfect grades probably aren't always going to happen in grad school (I have gotten a few B's by now in those classes), but these grades are so much worse. And when I asked my professor how I can do better on the next assignment, they told me to pick a new topic, because my argument "isn't working." That was especially disheartening, because that topic is the same as my thesis topic, and this professor is teaching the policy class in tandem with my thesis chair. I had a whole identity crisis and had to call my sister, and finally we decided that I'm going to try and do a summer defense for my thesis, and just try to barely pass this class, and take the Pass/No Pass option at the end of the semester. The sad thing is, I think I'll have to change chairs. I've been working very hard on my thesis, and while I'm not as close to finishing it as I maybe should be, it is still very disheartening to know that people find my subject invalid. I don't think I'll need to change my thesis subject entirely, but I do have to rework my committee, because unfortunately, this is one of a thousand communication problems my chair and I have had this semester. Hopefully by pushing the defense back to the summer, I can take some of the stress off me and focus on my other classes.

Outside of school: In happier news, I ordered a custom paint-by-number canvas of my dog, Juno, and am now working on creating my masterpiece. It's hard having her so far from me, especially now, so I thought it was worth the bit of extra money to try and do something that would bring a little piece of her here.

Next Week: The goal of this coming week is to just reassess my current academic situation and try to be productive without burning myself out. In times like these it is important to take time for yourself and things you enjoy, and up until now I had been focusing so much on work that I had been neglecting those things. I plan on trying in the coming week to give myself a little more space to breathe.

The canvas I ordered for myself (personal photo)

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