New to blogging
Upon (finally) hopping on the academic-personal website wagon, I've decided to maintain a personal blog. Here's a bit more about myself and some future goals I'm striving toward.
GRADUATE SCHOOL
Given that you've found my website, you likely know that I'm Chris, that I study media psychology at Northwestern, and that I like the "Nunito" font, which is a big improvement from when I wrote my entire University at Buffalo student website in "Comic Sans." I was such an amateur! That HTML-coded website was a complete mess (it's no longer accessible, so don't even try, Mom).
"What's the point of having a personal website?" Well, it allows me to curate the perfect image of myself as a highly productive, wise-beyond-years, burgeoning scholar and scientist, undoubtedly leading to deluge of career prospects that are all simply impossible to refuse. Will I curate such an image? Likely not! My long-term vision for this blog is that it documents the trials and tribulations of my doctoral student career at Northwestern, and grants me a creative outlet for even non-academic ambitions. It's less for the hiring committee and more for fellow graduate students on the same struggle bus, as we ride toward impossible academic job market demands, but hopefully not too far from who we are outside of our scholarship.
Graduate school can be demoralizing; we work long, hard hours on years-long projects that may or may not get published, and which regardless will face scrutiny at all sorts of levels (by advisors and peers, at conferences, in journal publication). Classes are invigorating while also draining. The urgency to produce is just as persistent as the barriers to producing. And heck, I think it's taken me longer to understand my scholarly identity than my sexual identity (I bet that even the research bio on my front page will change like the seasons - at least until tenure).
Yet, graduate school can also be bountiful, full of life, and prime for self-reflection and improvement. The adrenaline rush upon submitting assignments in a course, or papers to a conference or journal; the successful debugging computer codes; endless coffee chats with lab members; sharing academic passions with nonacademics, and nonacademic passions with academics... So far, my doctoral experience has been contoured by the good, the bad, and even the ugly, but even so, has been my favorite years yet. As my coffee got stronger, so did I!
I hope my blog becomes somehow useful to those who need it most. Please check back soon!
Chris Dobmeier
