Part III: Madison
A few days before I was set to attend University of Wisconsin-Madison’s visit day, a current student sent the admitted students an e-mail with the heading “A note on the protests.” Madison, as any American vaguely cognizant of the world around them knows, has been the first site of serious resistance to neo-liberal U.S.-style austerity,… Continue reading Part III: Madison
Porn, for Sociologists
So here’s an unexpected draw of grad school in Ann Arbor: Detroit. According to census figures released last week, motor city has lost 25% of its inhabitants in the last decade, dropping to its lowest population count since 1910. The decline is really pretty startling: Detroit has fallen from the country’s 4th to 18th largest… Continue reading Porn, for Sociologists
Rejections
Okay, let’s get overly dramatic for a moment. It occurs to me that a truly infintesimal proportion of interactions in admissions end positively. First we, the potential students, send off applications. Most of the schools I’ve talked to receive several hundred applications, and send off around a dozen acceptances. Sometime in February, Professors sit down… Continue reading Rejections
There are times when deciding where to go to grad school feels very weighty. A certain part of me is convinced that—despite being faced by a choice of four prestigious schools with great faculty and generous funding packages—I could really fuck this up. After all, if I don’t go to the right school, I won’t… Continue reading
Part II: Michigan
Shortly before I left on my cross-country grad-school adventure, I presented a paper at my very first academic conference. Sheffield, where the conference was located, is best known as the location of The Full Monty and as an all-around paragon of a bombed-out post-industrial city, but also has a well-respected university with a strong development… Continue reading Part II: Michigan
Part I: Berkeley
There are few places where I will walk around without listening to my iPod. As an undergraduate, even a trip down the hall to the bathroom seemed like a waste of time without earbuds. Even at Oxford, surrounded by spectacular gothic architecture and ever-entertaining undergraduates in fancy dress, my head is still usually engrossed in… Continue reading Part I: Berkeley
This is why I am stressed…
Both sitting in my inbox at the moment: Dear Alexander Barnard, Congratulations! It is our privilege to notify you that you are being offered admission to the Ph.D. Program in Sociology at the University of Michigan. Your offer of admission comes with a five year funding package, the details of which will follow… Continue reading This is why I am stressed…
Crisis in Neverland
From the college: “Last night damage was done to the front quad, and as Garden Master I am writing to you to explain what happened and why it is so important. The College’s Garden Committee will have to take up the matter of the disciplinary consequences of this with the Dean, but this note is… Continue reading Crisis in Neverland
The Anti-Politics Machine
One year ago, a magnitude 7.0 earthquake in Haiti killed hundreds of thousands of people. A month later, a much larger quake in Chile killed only a fraction of that number. As far as I can tell, what made the difference between the two was not geography or geology. Instead, it was Haiti’s particularly harsh… Continue reading The Anti-Politics Machine
Alex V. Barnard - Sociology 