The three most hideous letters: ABD. If you have to, just write enough to get by. It doesn’t have to be perfect, just DONE. Even if you don’t want to teach or do anything with it (I’ve moved on to a different field entirely), for your own sanity, push as hard as it takes, and then know that you’ll never have to go through it again. And you won’t have to spend the rest of your life thinking, “I didn’t make it.”
Just join a local produce co-op and get deliveries made to your house. The only problem is winter: fresh vegetables include squash, squash, squash, and rutabagas.
It’s pretty difficult to get better at something if you can’t find teachers willing to help.
Yes, we’re leaving Silly-Con Valley, home of the self-absorbed, land of the materialistic. We’re headed off to Chicago, and no one says, “Oh, I hear there’s great X there …”. No, it’s always, “How will you put up with the weather?” There’s plenty of great X in Chicago, and from now on, if I hear of anyone moving out here, I’ll ask, “How will you put up with the arrogance?”
