About this blog

Who am I?

I'm a 24-year-old straight, white, Jewish atheist, middle-class ciswoman.  I've lived in the Boston area my entire life, I graduated from college in 2009, and I started a cell and molecular biology PhD program in fall 2011, also in Boston.  I live with roommates near my university, and I have several friends in the area whom I spend a lot of time with.  I'm a runner, a former classical musician, and a passionate feminist.

Why am I writing this blog?

I decided to write this blog for three reasons.  The first reason is that I'd like something to remember my time in graduate school, specifically the little bits of it.  Sure, I'll remember things like my project and the general atmosphere of the lab.  But I want to remember the hilarious day-to-day events, and the obnoxious little frustrations.

The second reason is that I think that the non-scientist crowd has a warped idea of what scientists are like.  We're not all white dudes in lab coats and glasses, who make lots of money and are socially awkward.  In fact, choosing academic science in order to get rich is sort of a mistake.  I'm sure we're all varying degrees of socially awkward, so that's accurate, but for the most part, we're just awesomely regular people just trying to discover cool new things about the world.

The third reason I'm starting this blog is that my younger sister is going into television.  I have no idea if she'll end up as a writer and/or show-runner, but just on the off-chance that she does, I'd like to have this blog so that she can have a glimpse into the life of a graduate student.  Then she'll realize how AWESOME it would be to make a TV show about being a graduate student, based on my life.

Because really, I'd watch that.

So I'm just going to be invading everyone's privacy by writing about them?

I'm going to do my best to use pseudonyms, nicknames, and initials in this blog in order to protect people's privacy.  While I can only be so vague while writing about people and places, I'll still try as hard as I can.

How long am I going to be blogging for, and how often will I post?

I will try to post once a week once the semester starts in late August.  If I can keep this up throughout my graduate student career, it'll run for five or six years.  Yes, I will be a graduate student forever ... on the same stipend.  When I'm 30.

What kind of writing style/content will this blog involve?

I have a tendency to overuse footnotes and asterisks, and I'm also a fan of sarcasm, ALL CAPS FOR EFFECT (ACFE), and questions that end in periods (when mixed with ACFE, that leaves us with such gems as, "HOW DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND.").  I also am a fan of swearing for emphasis/fun, and so while I do try to make my content interesting using PG-13 language, I have been known to drop the f-bomb.  All the fucking time (WHOOPS).*

While this blog is about graduate school, it is also about my life.  My identity, as I've demonstrated above, is multifaceted; I'm not just "a grad student."  While this blog will mostly be about that aspect of my identity, it would be impossible to write this blog without making references to my family, friends, relationships, activities, and health.  In fact, without all of those things, I won't make it through graduate school!

* DO YOU SEE WHAT I DID THERE.