by Jon Lackman | 17 May 2006 | Career, Conferences
From blogger mister mutt: “initially i had a dissertation topic. which was very theoretical. i wrote about 400-500 words on it, to get my thoughts together, and realized it fit a certain conference, so i impulsively sent my little paragraphs off as a conference abstract, as a sort of exercise in practicing good job habits. the next day, after discussing it with my prof, i realized it wouldn’t make the best dissertation, being so theoretical, especially since i wanted to do something more art historical for my dissertation. so i abandoned the idea and decided to work up a previous essay, a choice that my professor encouraged me to publish. so far so good. one month later, after forgetting about the whole thing, i come back from cuba, sunburned and exhausted, to find an email in my inbox saying that my abstract was accepted. i quickly check the bios of the keynote speakers and main organizers, and realize i am on a conference with the philosophy and art theory HoDs of major ivy league and state universities. good going kiddo. now you have have 3000 words to write in addition to your dissertation. my first conference. and if i tank, i’m going to tank in front of some very big people. so i’d better not tank. but oh, fuck. why oh why didn’t i accidentally pick a small half-day graduate student symposium to wet my feet! right into the cold choppy sea i go…”
