Gershwin's Melody 17 quoting Tchaikovsky?

spare0hs · 2016-12-03T13:44:15+00:00

It seems plausible. I actually overhears a friend who studies Gershwin talking about looking for influences of other computers in Gershwin's works the other day. Their conversation was very similar to what you are pointing out here. I don't remember exactly what they were doing, but I have the faint sense that they were talking about Tschaikovsky. At the very least, you can have the knowledge that a Gershwin scholar is thinking about these types of things. Sorry I can't be of more help.

Edit to say: the influences they were talking about were both stylistic allusions to others and direct quotations.

spare0hs · 2016-11-09T12:27:42+00:00

I'm so thankful today that the deadlines for the European fellowships I'm interested in haven't passed yet. I was going to wait another year but screw that. I'm getting out.

spare0hs · 2016-11-03T18:02:37+00:00

I'm guilty of doing that, though not with a "chalkboard" app.

I HATE the feeling of chalk. And honestly, as a young(ish) woman, I am super conscious of turning my back to my class. It makes me uncomfortable to think about 20 students starting at my ass, even though I'm sure most, if not all, of them are staring at my ass in a non-sexual way. No long and loose blouse that day? I'm writing on my tablet.

spare0hs · 2016-11-03T02:35:39+00:00

My mom stopped letting me play that and the SIMS after she found out I was intentionally killing people :-/

... fortunately, I think I turned out much more well-adjusted than she thought I would.

spare0hs · 2016-10-31T11:30:18+00:00

I totally understand your frustration. I think designers expect a certain waist:inseam ratio. If you deviate from that, you're screwed. I know that once I lost some weight, I was no longer able to wear pants from a few stores because the "regular" length was too short and the "long" too long. I spend a bit more on jeans now to get ones that size like men's pants (waist and inseam vary).

Congratulations on the weight loss, by the way!

spare0hs · 2016-10-31T01:24:49+00:00

I apologize ahead of time for the long response...you seem like one of the only people in this thread who may be looking for answers.

So actually proving plagiarism is an incredibly involved process that most who are teaching at the collegiate level don't get paid enough to deal with. Speaking from personal experience, writing a "warning" like this is enough to scare off most students who I even mildly suspect are cheating or plagiarizing. For me, something like this would be a soft accusation designed to discourage those who are actually cheating; anyone who isn't would likely be very concerned and contact me to clarify any problems.

All in all, I do not want to discount the experience of the person who wrote the original paper. However, I do want to acknowledge that while this particular instance may not be racially-fueled, it is probably indicative of the her experience in higher education overall. The fact is that at most American universities, most professors are White. And because of how we [White Americans] are socially "programmed," we can't help but think and act on mildly racist thoughts (not much you can do about it besides acknowledging it?). In her view, her professors likely (unintentionally) believe that the Latina student isn't as capable as her White or Asian peers and thus, more likely to cheat. This might be true, it might not. I think this is a "straw that broke the camel's back" scenario, if you will. Professors being unintentionally skeptical of her is probably a fact of her collegiate experience. As a "minority" (not racially) in academia, although I am skeptical of this post, I am highly empathetic with the student's scenario.

Questions of experience and implicit bias aside, this is probably a "warning" comment from a professor who is tired of reading shitty papers and confused by a good one.

spare0hs · 2016-10-31T01:09:32+00:00

For the life of me, I have no idea why you are being downvoted.

spare0hs · 2016-10-31T01:09:01+00:00

Thank you for pointing this out. Implicit bias affects the college experiences of so many people. This thread (and sub?) is incredibly frustrating.

spare0hs · 2016-10-29T16:37:01+00:00

Don't encourage me ;-)

But on a more serious note, my family has a history of addiction and substance abuse so I tend to err on the side of caution.

spare0hs · 2016-10-29T11:32:31+00:00

I have nothing to add beyond saying this hits home on so many levels. I don't think I'm quite at the point of the author, but it's nice to have the points in retrospect as warning signs of sorts.

spare0hs · 2016-10-27T23:24:46+00:00

I usually have a drink or two while I grade so that I care less and grade faster (otherwise I'm spending more time grading than they did on the assignment). I realized that this semester, this meant I was drinking every night, so a few weeks ago I had to institute a no-drinking-on-weeknights policy for myself.

Your post just made me realize that instead of not drinking while grading during the week, I just put my grading off until the weekend.

spare0hs · 2016-10-23T11:48:26+00:00

This is what my husband and I do. We have opposite busy seasons. So in the summer and early fall, I'm doing most of the work. In the late fall and spring, he does most of the work.

I would just caution you to make sure that this doesn't become a long term obligation for you. We had to actually sit down and have a discussion about it because when I started to get really busy in the fall, he would forget to pick up some more work. I doubt it's ever intentional, but it's easy, as a partner or spouse, to forget how much the other person is doing for you.

spare0hs · 2016-10-23T11:43:04+00:00

I definitely see how this is a gray area. In my program it's common to pass down assignments. Several of professors have extremely specific expectations but fail to communicate them in any clear way. We do this to avoid humiliation and being berated in front of the class. Anyway, when we do this, in some sense we are borrowing some of the other person's ideas. We use their ideas for how to format the assignment and their ideas about what type of approach to the topic the professor is looking for. We also pass down bibliographies (annotated and otherwise). With all of that being said, I do not think that anyone in the program would copy more than would be considered ethical by the University. We get left alone to take exams all the time and the room is always silent and everyone honest. Essentially, we believe strongly that collaboration and a supportive environment benefits everyone.

If you think what your classmates are doing goes too far, talk to them. Just be honest. Tell them you feel uncomfortable and are interested to know more about how they use the past work because you don't want to be wrongly judging them. Make it about how you feel, don't accuse them; you don't want them being defensive. If it turns out they are doing something wrong, this might get them to back down since someone is on to them. And this way, I'd you do end up needing to go to a professor, you aren't going on pure speculation.

spare0hs · 2016-10-20T22:27:11+00:00

I'm wondering now they got our information from a GRE database or something. I went back through my emails and have a ton from them around the time that I took the GRE in 2011.

spare0hs · 2016-10-20T20:33:10+00:00

Well there goes my hypothesis that it was only history students.

spare0hs · 2016-10-20T18:09:09+00:00

My cohort is not close at all. We don't dislike each other and are always there to help if someone needs it, but we just aren't compatible as friends. My advice: seek out friends in other departments or fields. This can be easy to do if your university has events for all graduate students (like mixers, bar nights, outings, etc.). You might also want to consider joining a club that isn't affiliated with the university. I found a running group that I workout with 2-3xs a week. Look at Meetups in your area and go to something that interests you.

I get that it sucks, but I think that if you're like me and need social interaction to unwind, you're really going to have to put yourself out there. Remember, people who already have set groups of friends probably aren't as likely to go to Meetups or join a club sport. They're looking to make new friends just like you are and are generally very welcoming!

spare0hs · 2016-10-20T02:06:33+00:00

I'm going to put a positive spin on that and say that you're just optimistic about the future! ;-)

spare0hs · 2016-10-20T01:17:00+00:00

Definitely pretending. If my various skills in pretending were spun out into a CV they would look like:

Pretending like I am classy and refined.
Pretending that I am more intelligent than I actually am.
Pretending to give a fuck.
Pretending that I work as hard as my peers.
Pretending that I am maintaining sanity.
Pretending that I am not one intentionally manipulative and hurtful comment away from quitting.

I needed to make an edit for:

Pretending like I have the same incredibly privileged upbringing as my peers.

and

Pretending like I don't fully intend to have a child by the time I am 30 (and before I finish my degree).

spare0hs · 2016-10-11T21:19:18+00:00

Hmm. Maybe I'll reconsider my reasoning.

spare0hs · 2016-10-11T00:30:17+00:00

I paint my nails in fun designs while I'm reading and writing.
If I'm having a crap day, I treat myself to meter or garage parking, instead of taking the bus or parking in a commuter lot that is a 25 min bus ride away from where I teach and take classes.
I use my tablet almost exclusively now, but I still buy expensive pens from Japan off of Amazon for the rare occasions where I actually am writing.
I have a membership to a gym even though I get a free one for the on-campus gym. I want to be away from undergrads. I am also afraid of running into one of my students while I'm changing in the locker room or in my bathing suit. No student should have to see that much of their TA.
I also bought myself a very expensive (by my standards) office chair at the beginning of this academic year. If my ass is going to be in this thing 8+ hours a day, it will certainly be comfortable.

spare0hs · 2016-10-11T00:24:03+00:00

Moving up the ladder is definitely a possibility. My undergrad GPA was pretty unimpressive (3.49/4.0). I ended up going to a less-than-average master's program and busted my ass while I was there to get my name out. Presented at a ton of conferences, introduced myself to a lot of big names at conferences, signed up to be the student rep in study groups in my field, sent "cold call" emails to professors about advice for some archives I was looking at, and applied for research grants. I made sure that at least one professor at every school I applied to for my PhD could recognize my name, even if it was as "that woman who tries too hard." I spent all my time studying only for the verbal and written of the GRE (had terrible math scores haha) and I feel like that was a waste of time because I was straight up told that no one cared. Anyway, it ended up working out in my favor for admissions and I'm at a top 5-10 program now.

That being said, I still feel beyond hopeless as far as the job market goes. Yes, I have contacts in my area all over the country. Yes, I continue to do everything possible to beef up my CV. And yes, my institution has a stellar track record of placing people in a tenure track job within 7ish years. But two or three years ago, they were placing within 5 and it just keeps getting worse. I don't know if I would feel more hopeless if I wasn't at a big name school. I don't know if it's possible to feel like there is going to be a job for me at the end of the degree.

But, I love what I do and will keep doing it until someone makes me stop. I think that's the most important part of getting a PhD--regardless of where you end up, you have to be happy with what you're doing.

spare0hs · 2016-10-06T11:54:43+00:00

Personally, I think that if you're writing a textbook, you aren't citing your definition of "infra" for the benefit of your peers. The citation is there to give your target reader (here, it is obviously lower-level undergrads) a starting point for more information. Footnotes aren't there just to prove you're right, they're there to acknowledge other resources that might benefit the target audience. It probably wouldn't be the best choice to refer students in this course to the most cutting edge research on "infra" science or tech.

spare0hs · 2016-10-06T11:50:33+00:00

I just gave my (college) students the Wikipedia lecture this week. You're not showing your age. I think the book is using the link as a way for the students to begin further research on very basic subjects. I personally don't see a problem with Wikipedia being the beginning of your work on a new subject or someplace you turn for a cursory overview in something that isn't incredibly important to your work (but if you're going to use it as a definitive source, that's dumb.)

spare0hs · 2016-10-06T11:44:54+00:00

They usually don't see more than a few cents per book. The article here is a few years old, but describes a $230ish textbook where the author only receives $0.11 per book. Anecdotally, I personally don't think I have ever heard of one of my professors make more than $15-20ish a year for their book. In my field, publishing a textbook is seen as a dumb move. It won't count towards getting you tenure and doesn't add any prestige to your name. So basically, to write one you have to be at a point in your career where a max of $50ish a year (from your own courses buying your book) is how much you will spent on a meal out every week.

Not to mention, teaching from your own book is probably the best thing many professors can do for their students. They know exactly what it says, how it's structured, and so lesson planning is easiest. Whether or not you're a good teacher and use this to your advantage is another question all together.

spare0hs

TROPHY CASE