distension

[truepenny]

Trying to schedule my defense is turning into the punishment of the Danaids, carrying water in a sieve.

So the newest wrinkle is that I have to have a second outside reader (new regulation handed down from on high; I am the first person to defend under the new rules, which is truly the story of my academic life in a nutshell). So I wrung my hands and howled, and, having gotten approval, asked the non-Shakespearean Renaissance drama professor to be my 2nd reader (I'd have asked him to be on my committee in the first place, except that he wasn't hired until the semester after I had my prospectus conference).

He emailed me back this morning to say he'd be delighted, except ...

I felt it coming, you know. It's been the fatal flaw all along.

He has an unalterable commitment at exactly the times we'd bashed out to be okay for the other four committee-persons.

I've emailed all five of them with the problem. If I can't get a satisfactory answer out of them this time around, I'm going to say, Fuck it, and hand the problem over, lock, stock, and barrel, to my dissertation director. Because I'm about two frayed strands away from the end of my rope on this one.

***
In other news, the dissertation is printed out. I've worked my way up to page 9 (there was a lot of avoidance yesterday), and already found a place where there needed to be a paragraph I'd blithely forgotten to write. So, much as I hate it, this process is necessary and valuable.

The ms is 352 pages long, plus 10 pages of bibliography. It's not a patch on the ms of SL or LW, but it's still a sizable wodge of paper. I'm not entirely convinced that I actually wrote it all; the dissertation in my head feels like a measly 100, 150 pages. But there it is, the material object, and it's hard to refute.

Comments

[oracne.livejournal.com]

If I can't get a satisfactory answer out of them this time around, I'm going to say, Fuck it, and hand the problem over, lock, stock, and barrel, to my dissertation director.

Very wise decision. It's their lousy fault, and you don't have time for this crap.

I've worked my way up to page 9 (there was a lot of avoidance yesterday), and already found a place where there needed to be a paragraph I'd blithely forgotten to write. So, much as I hate it, this process is necessary and valuable.

Coolness!

[kate_nepveu]

Delegation is the key to getting through stressful times: it's worked well to get me through my wedding, bar exam study, and trials. I strongly recommend dumping the scheduling problem on your director.

[naomichana.livejournal.com]

I had similar problems scheduling the midpoint meeting thingy which my department had instead of a defense. (Long story short: my department is weird.) It worked out eventually, but not before I suggested that we all meet atop the tallest building in the city at midnight. ;) Getting groups of professors together is a massive pain no matter what, and when it comes to dissertations I do believe that schools should delegate that responsibility to some admin person who isn't personally involved. For the student, it's like herding cats, only the cats have a huge quantity of power over your future career.

[wintersweet.livejournal.com]

*sympathetic twitching*