Graduate School Blog

Last week, Rackham celebrated Signing Day, when incoming students make their decision to pursue a graduate degree at the University of Michigan. Signing Day is a celebration for incoming graduate students, current Rackham students, and alumni. Guests signed their names on a map of Michigan and took photos for a Rackham photo wall. The event also included free t-shirts and mugs, as well as breakfast and lunch in the Rackham lobby.

Food, mugs, and our signing map.

This past month has been rough. I have lost a father, a mentor, and a staff member in my department in the span of three weeks. These three deaths were soul-crushing, inviting me to consider what it means to deal with sorrow and despair while managing an array of expectations and demands.

This blog piece asks a question that continues to gnaw at my mind and heart: How do we unplug in order to spend time processing sorrow amidst the chaos of deadlines, milestones, and obligations?

I am concerned.

Earlier this semester, I attended a writing workshop organized by Jacqueline Stimson, who is not only my cohort-mate in the Department of Classical Studies, but also a very skilled writer and someone who has thought (and continues to think) deeply about the process of writing. She organized this panel with two of her colleagues from the 2016 Rackham/Sweetland Dissertation Writing Institute (DWI)—Sarah E. Erickson (Communication Studies) and Kelly E. Slay (School of Education).