THESISCRAZY 3: Voyage to the Quiet Room

Three days left until theses are due! With the weekend almost halfway gone, thesis writers were sounding a lot more spacey today. Most of the seniors we talked with had already seen the first and second installments of THESISCRAZY, so Sheek and I didn’t feel quite as weird about sneaking around Olin with a camera and notepad.

Today we stumbled upon another pair of carrel neighbors, got offered more candy, learned that chick flicks can be analyzed using postmodernist theory, and spoke with a few seniors who had abandoned their carrels in favor of the often creepily quiet Smith Reading Room. (Sheek and I would like to offer an apology to the diligent Smith workers we disturbed with whispered interviews.)

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Check out the profiles after the jump.

[singlepic id=93 w=240 h=180 float=right]Miles Tokunow ’10
Smith Reading Room

Working title: Adopting Histories, Theories, and Other Stories

Work left to do: “I have to finish my introduction. Typos. Finish my conclusion. Make a DVD. And finish my bibliography. It’ll get done. It’ll get done. I’m gonna be proud of it no matter how it turns out. I’ve written lots and lots of pages. It’s just wrapping up and packaging. I’m packaging right now.”

After 4 PM on Tuesday: “I’m gonna be stretching to go to class, unfortunately. After class… I’m not sure if I can tell you what I’m going to do. I want to start a bonfire. For my books.”

[singlepic id=100 w=240 h=180 float=right]Lindsay Walsh ’10 and Franni Paley ’10
Carrel neighbors, 2nd floor Olin

Franni’s working title: The Like Totally Awesome Teenpics of Amy Heckerling
Favorite book in her bibliography: “Postmodern Chick Flicks. It’s my most cited source.”
How she’s feeling: “I’m in shock that it’s as long as it is. It’s 180 pages, which I was not expecting. At least my adviser’s not telling me that I suck anymore.”
Plans for after Tuesday: (Prolonged silence) … (Fit of laughter)

Lindsay’s working title: Brazil is Samba: Rhythm, Percussion, and Samba in the Formation of Brazilian National Identity (1902 – 1958)
How she’s feeling: “Sleepy. I feel sleepy. But, you know, I’ve got my snack food.”
What she still has to do: “Primarily just edits. At this point I know I’m not going to include all the intellectual edits that I would like to, but I’ll try. I have all the formal formatting done already, like the bibliography, because that’s how I procrastinate.”
Advice for future thesis writers: “Advice? Do I have … no.”
After Tuesday: “I have two bottles of champagne chilling in my fridge already. I went one step up from André. I figure this ocassion merits the $10 champagne instead of the $8 champagne.”

[singlepic id=87 w=240 h=180 float=right]Arielle Golden ’10
3rd floor Olin

Working title: Convivencia and Conversos: Problematizing Identity

On her carrel: “It’s always really hot in here. It’s a dilemma–do I open the door and keep my pants on or close the door and take off my pants? When you guys knocked, I was afraid some stranger was going to see me in my underwear.”

Advice for future thesis writers: “Keep a lot of candy around. Want any candy?”

After Tuesday: “I don’t know what’s gonna happen. I might start crying. It’ll be weird. I guess I’ll do something that’ll make me forget what my topic even was. I guess it’ll be sad not to have my little carrel home anymore.”

[singlepic id=91 w=240 h=180 float=right]Nick Marshall ’10
Shares a carrel with Hansel Tan ’10 on the 4th floor of Olin, but today he was working in the Smith Reading Room.

Working title: Arming God: Demons, Myth, and Text in Spiritual Warfare Christianity

On his location change: “Yeah, I heard you were in my Cansel and you found harrel. I mean–I heard you were in my carrel and you found Hansel. I’ve moved all my stuff to the quiet room. It’s still pretty cluttered.”

On the ramen noodles in his carrel: “I had a water pot and a bowl, so I was eating a lot of meals in there. But the library stole my bowl and my fork.”

Plans for Tuesday: “My beard has to go. I’m gonna give myself a really big mustache. I’m gonna get drunk and shave. That’s my plan. I was gonna shave it on the steps of Olin but I realized I don’t have extension cords.”

[singlepic id=96 w=240 h=180 float=right]Clare Trissel ’10
Smith Reading Room

Working title: Fluid Figurations: Images of the Divine in the Writings of Gertrude of Helfta, Catherine of Sienna, and Teresa of Avia

How she’s feeling: “Really relaxed. Like really serene.”

Work left to do: “My conclusion, so about ten pages, but I feel pretty good about it. I have the weekend. I have some Red Bull.”

After 4 PM on Tuesday: “I’m gonna walk around in the sun, go to the steps cause I always wanted to be one of those people on the steps. Smoke a joint, then do my other work.”

On her carrel: “I don’t use it. It weirds me out. It got really crummy, there were snacks everywhere. Plus I’m loyal to Smith.”

More to come tomorrow! Next time: the new Albritton carrels, a sea urchin skeleton, and what happens when you lose the carrel lottery and have to work in your house.

If you or another senior you know are flipping out this weekend over thesis work, email us at asiddique@wes and mchall@wes with THESISCRAZY in the subject line, your name, thesis title (or subject, if you haven’t named it yet), where your carrel is, and when you’ll probably be there between now and Monday. Props if your thesis habitat is especially well-appointed/cavernous/disheveled/otherwise representative of your current state, let us take a photo of you and your space in all your cracked-out glory.

[Photos by Ashik Siddique ’10]