20080828

Knowledge is power!

Sadly-classes are starting everywhere in the world, and I am not a student anymore. It's pretty surreal for me especially because being a student is the one thing I am actually good at. Though I do have to say I can be a bit of a slacker, but I still enjoy being in that environment. So seeing students with their books and backpacks gets me really sad. There's an empty feeling I get whenever I get home from work. I feel as though I lost something along the way. The thought of grad school has been on my mind lately, but I've been very hesitant about the idea.

My dream graduate program is in Rochester. Woopdeedoo. The introduction to the Visual and Cultural Studies Graduate Program in the University of Rochester reads:

The Graduate Program in Visual and Cultural Studies provides students with an opportunity to study critically and analyze visual culture from a social-historical perspective. The Program stresses the close interpretation of artistic production within historical and cultural frameworks. Housed in the Department of Art and Art History, the Program offers an interdisciplinary doctoral degree drawing on coursework and faculty expertise in several University of Rochester humanities departments. Because the primary faculty work in Art and Art History, Film Studies, Modern Languages and Cultures, and Anthropology, students are able to relate literary and cultural theory to visual culture, and to investigate the connections between cultural productions, critical theory, and society. Students may also take courses in such departments as History, English, Music, and Philosophy.

These are some of the courses from Spring 2008:

DIRECTOR: JEAN-LUC GODARD
CONTEMPORARY ART: THEORY/PRACTICE
WOMEN, CLOTH AND CULTURE
POP FILM GENRES: COMEDY & HORROR
FILM HISTORY: MUSEUM STUDIES
MOTHERS, COMRADES & WHORES
THE POWER OF PRINT

This literally screams ANGELICA VERGEL!!! I love art history, but I can't bare to take the typical Masters program for art history. Perhaps maybe if the program was all about contemporary art. One of my professors who is a SVA alumni has always expressed her feelings that I should really apply to SVA's Art Criticism and Writing program, but it's missing something for me-and that a more wider range of understanding society. Though SVA does have a new program called Design Criticism which sounds really interesting to me.
But all that is beside the point. The Visual and Cultural Studies program is meant for someone like me although it's mostly a ph.d program they do accept masters.  The only thing that is holding me back is the fact that it's in Rochester. What the hell is in Rochester? I feel like I'll wither away if I go there. I need to be in a city that is not NYC, with a community of people that actually know each other. 

Grad school is in hold for now, but in the meanwhile I'll keep on looking for that perfect grad school.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I hate to know you are thinking of leaving so far but I love the idea of you living in a place called Woopdeedoo!

Aaron said...

It's perfect timing that you wrote this. With me starting grad school this past Monday, I was going around trying to figure out who was still on campus and who hadn't graduated yet, just taking inventory of who I can hang out with and eat lunch with at school haha. And while I was making the rounds, I was gonna MySpace message you about how bummed I was that you aren't on campus anymore and how much I wish you were still around to hang out with inbetween classes.

I went through what you're going through last Spring...my internal clock was telling me that it was time to go back to school, time to start gathering up my pens and notebooks and backpack. Only problem was, I wasn't enrolled anymore. And that was a weird ass feeling. Being a student was my greatest skill, so I naturally felt very awkward and uneasy. Sleeping in and working late everyday SUCKED. Aside from the money, I got absolutely nothing out of it.

This is why I'm so happy to be back in school (I'll write to you in more detail about how my first week of teaching has gone...it's been amazing) and I absolutely recommend that you do the same. I think you and I are the types that need to be constantly surrounded by academia, so I fully endorse the idea of you applying to a graduate program.