Something about going to campus to work on the weekend is an abomination to me. But because I need many copies of a multi-color report for a meeting Monday morning, there was no way around it. Our department has long-standing supply stringencies and so I found myself printing on the backs of papers left behind by the former occupant of my office.
As one would expect, sometimes the printer jammed (only once) but several times it threw more than one page through at a time. I grabbed the outputs and sorted into piles so I could return the blank-sided papers to the feeder tray. Some offending pages seemed destined to be rejects again so I turned to toss them into the blue recycle bin — and it was gone! I looked around and saw that the putters of the former office owner were also gone. He had taken the recycle bin! Come and gone, over the weekend, without notice or without leaving a note or even a signal.
I continue sorting papers as I create a pile to take down the hall to the big bin. I flip a few pages over and scan the text: interview transcripts, chapter drafts, course handouts, etc. Suffice it to say I occupy this office because all of these went unpublished. The one that caught my eye and seems especially pitiable was a list titled "You Might Be a Grad Student If …" Here are some choice entries:
As one would expect, sometimes the printer jammed (only once) but several times it threw more than one page through at a time. I grabbed the outputs and sorted into piles so I could return the blank-sided papers to the feeder tray. Some offending pages seemed destined to be rejects again so I turned to toss them into the blue recycle bin — and it was gone! I looked around and saw that the putters of the former office owner were also gone. He had taken the recycle bin! Come and gone, over the weekend, without notice or without leaving a note or even a signal.
I continue sorting papers as I create a pile to take down the hall to the big bin. I flip a few pages over and scan the text: interview transcripts, chapter drafts, course handouts, etc. Suffice it to say I occupy this office because all of these went unpublished. The one that caught my eye and seems especially pitiable was a list titled "You Might Be a Grad Student If …" Here are some choice entries:
- You have ever brought a scholarly article to a bar.
- Everything reminds you of something in your discipline.
- You have accepted guilt as an inherent feature of relaxation.
- Professors really don't care when you turn in work anymore.
- You wonder if APA style allows you to cite talking to yourself as "personal communication"
Nothing too outlandish here (and not as snarky as other descriptions of grad student culture). Except that this list reminds me about what can happen to those who embrace graduate school so much that they are unable or unwilling to make the leap to independence. Of course all of this comes to mind given the events that lead me to be sitting at the desk I now occupy. And yet it reminds me that for many people, the concern is getting students into graduate school. My worry is how to help them get out and stay out.
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