All posts tagged: graduate school

#phdlife: On Adopting a Dog & How Instagram Makes Academic Life Easier

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We adopted an adorable pit bull rescue on Valentine’s Day and it was only a matter of time before she somehow made her way onto the blog. And believe it or not, bringing her into our family has helped my academic life in myriad ways, from minimizing study-induced back pain and loneliness to off-time full of unlimited cuddles and kisses. Adopting a pup also means I’ve discovered the world of pet-friendly Instagram (if you’re the sort that follows doggies, she’s @raven_puppie), which is one of the most supportive communities I have ever been part of and one that makes the copious use of emojis that I’ve been desiring from everyone in my normal life. (Seriously. Why aren’t you guys texting me multi-colored hearts and snoozy faces all the time?) These doggie mamas and papas are ever present to tell my girl that she’s cute and special and that she’s part of a caring community of dogs and owners committed to animal kindness for all breeds and types, especially hers, one so often maligned. And so, as I’ve engaged for the first time with an …

Conference Save the Date: Graduate Association for Food Studies, October ’15

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Mark those calendars people! The Future of Food Studies, the first conference of the Graduate Association for Food Studies, will be held 23-25 October 2015, at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The conference will include a keynote talk by Fabio Parasecoli, food studies scholar and coordinator of the Food Studies program at the New School, as well as graduate student panels that you won’t want to miss. The conference theme directly engages the complexity of food studies’ status as a “burgeoning” field, as so many characterize it. With roots in the late 1980s, food studies has consistently gathered steam—as well as a critical mass of articles, dedicated monographs, professional organizations, journals, and university programs—with more opportunities surfacing each year. The conference will engage these changes, actively pondering what the future of the discipline holds, conceptually, methodologically, and publicly. Graduate students are encouraged to submit paper and panel proposals by the CFP deadline of 31 May 2015. And I welcome everyone interested in the future of food studies to mark your calendars and plan to join us at Harvard in October. Please share widely—including this snazzy save …

Announcing the Graduate Journal of Food Studies 2.1

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In case you haven’t heard, the second issue of the Graduate Journal of Food Studies came out last week online and will soon make its way to the mailboxes of subscribing members! I was thrilled to have my research on trophy kitchens included in the first issue and the second issue is just as thoughtful and beautifully designed, featuring four original research articles, multiple reviews on some of the most recent food studies publications, and stellar photography. So with this news, what should you do next? Read the Graduate Journal of Food Studies winter 2015 issue (2.1). Join the Graduate Association for Food Studies, an organization that connects graduate students with an interest in food studies, promotes their work, and provides myriad resources for publishing, networking, presenting at conferences, and more. It’ll be the best $20 you ever spend. Submit a proposal for the first edition of the biennial Graduate Food Studies Conference to be held in Boston, 23-25 October 2015. The submission deadline is 31 May 2015. Submit an article, book review, or photography/art for consideration for the Journal’s third edition. The …

‘Graduate School Will Kill You’ and Other 18th Century Health Advice for the Studious

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Before I began my doctoral studies, I worked for five years in the field of worksite wellness, an experience that made me painfully aware of the growing evidence that sedentarism—spending too many hours sitting on one’s glorious behind—has deleterious health effects. Unfortunately, as a striving academic, I often find myself seated squarely on my rear for what sometimes feels like endless amounts of time. While many a modern day inforgraphic can summarize how sitting may be killing us, William Buchan, MD’s domestic medicine manual, Domestic Medicine Or, a Treatise on the Prevention and Cure of Diseases By Regimen and Simple Medicines (1772, second edition) provides period recommendations for the studious, which I found entertaining, enlightening, affirming, and worrisome in equal measure.[1] Many of Buchan’s recommendations ring as true today as they did nearly 250 years ago. Buchan writes: Intense thinking is so destructive to health, that few instances can be produced of studious persons who are strong and healthy, or live to an extremely old age. Hard study always implies a sedentary life; and, when intense thinking is joined to …