THESISCRAZY 4: There’s Light at the End of the Tunnel

They’re so close. SO CLOSE. Theses are due in less than 24 hours.

On Sunday Sheek and I once again took time out of our thesis-free schedules to run around and interview some seniors powering through the final two days of thesis agony and/or formatting minutia.

We checked out the swanky new carrels in Albritton, potentially exposed ourselves to radiation in a cluttered sedimentology lab, and found an impromptu bed set up in a carrel.

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Profiles after the jump!

[singlepic id=145 w=120 h=240 float=right]Satrio A. Wicaksono ’10 and Steve Schwarz ’10
Cluttered sedimentology lab, 4th floor Exley

Satrio’s working title: Multi-Peroxide Ostracode Analyses of Paleosalinity in Two Bays, Vieques, Puerto Rico (E&ES)
What he has left to do: “I might need to do major revisions, but I’m sure I can get it done in time. I don’t have too much to do. One of my readers is in Bangkok, so I have to email it to him, put it in a PDF first.”
Plans for Tuesday: “I have a major dance rehearsal. After, I’ll sleep. A lot.”
Advice for future thesis writers: “Start thinking about it in junior or even sophomore year. I had my topic in sophomore year.”
On his workspace: “It makes me feel sciencey. I like it because it gives me inspiration. Also, whenever I need sources, I can just pull out the book I need. There’s radiation danger in this room, technically, because of the old machines in here that no one uses anymore.” (Sheek’s response: “Looks like something out of Lost.“)

[singlepic id=146 w=120 h=240 float=right]Steve’s working title: Antarctic Glacial and Geologic History (E&ES)
How he’s feeling: “The light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter every hour.”
On whether he’s being productive: (Silence, then Satrio and Steve both explode in fits of laughter)
Plans for Tuesday: “It depends on when I turn it in–I’m aiming for late Monday, but it might be Tuesday. Then I’ll probably go to the Olin steps like everyone else.”
When asked about a box of tiny vials: “This box is basically my thesis.”

[singlepic id=151 w=120 h=240 float=right]Alex Gold ’10
Home Avenue

Working title: Tipping in Two-Sided Software Markets (Math-Econ)

On how he feels: “I feel great. I’ve actually been getting outside lately.”

On his workspace: “It’s looked like this pretty much since spring break. It has gotten worse because the old drafts are over there and the newer ones are spreading towards here. I had a carrel, but I just abandoned it. All my housemates are writing theses, so the house has been disgusting and we haven’t been eating. Actually my housemate’s dad cooks a lot, and he just sent us a bunch of food in the mail, so we’ve been eating that. He sent it after she told him she had jelly beans for breakfast one day.”

Plans for Tuesday: “Drink a lot of champagne. A lot. Of champagne. Although I was dismayed to learn that I have two problem sets due by the end of next week. So those will get done somehow.”

[singlepic id=155 w=120 h=240 float=right]Alex Provo ’10
Fountain Avenue

Working title: Notions of Method: Text and Photograph in Methods of Connoisseurship (Art History)

How she feels: “I’m good. I’m doing footnotes and I hate them more than anything in the planet.”

On her workspace: “I actually have a carrel but I’m here because I can’t work before 11 at night, and being in Olin doesn’t help. It’s hard to go back and forth because I need all these books. For winter break I brought them all home. After break I loaded them all into my huge suitcase to bring them back to my carrel, but it was so heavy, I couldn’t lift it. So I had to fill my housemate’s two small suitcases and take two trips.”

On her books: “I’ve started calling these books by their names. Like, ‘Where’s Carol?’ …She’s right here, actually. She’s very helpful.”

Plans for Tuesday: “Right after I turn it in I think I will have a beverage on the steps. And I’m gonna do crafts. I have a whole closet of craft supplies downstairs.”

[singlepic id=160 w=240 h=120 float=right]Indee Mitchell ’10
4th floor Olin

Working title: “I don’t have one yet. It’s about non-normative expression of gender and sexuality in Black females. I have no idea what my title is, and that kind of scares me, but whatevs.” (Dance)

On the final days: “At this point, I feel kinda crazy. I feel like I’m not gonna sleep for the next two days. I’m just really burned out. I’m just ready to be over.”

On her carrel: “I love how big it is, I can’t lie. I love my carrel. I’ve spent plenty of hours napping under this desk.

After Tuesday: “I’m going to drink. A lot. I’m going to be fun again. Going to do some good senior bonding–I’ve totally been missing that. But mostly I am going to drink. A lot.”

[singlepic id=169 w=120 h=240 float=right]Dan Bloom ’10
4th floor Olin

Working title: “I’m not quite sure if I’m going to keep it, but right now it’s Yankee Doodle Keep it Up, Yankee Doodle Dandy, Mind the Music and the Step and With the Girls be Handy: Dance in Early American Culture. I’m deciding whether or not to be ballsy with the funny title or not.” (History)

Work to be done: “I moved 90% of my introduction to my conclusion and 90% of my conclusion to my introduction. I have to do the bibliography and citations.”

On the copy of Peter Pan in his carrel: “When I graduated from high school, one of my teachers gave it to me to remind me to always stay young at heart. I keep it in here to remind myself to stay young.”

On the carrel: “I hate carrels. I don’t usually work in here. I prefer the third floor, that back row.”

[singlepic id=163 w=120 h=240 float=right]Simon Reinhardt ’10
4th floor Olin

Working title: “I’m writing about Jorge Luís Borges and Roberto Bolano. They both write fiction that’s about literature.” (COL)

Left to do: “I’m just mostly editing now. It’s really just cosmetic edits.”

How he feels: “It’s pretty exhausting right now. I definitely feel like I just want to be done with it. I think I’ll feel good about it once I have some perspective on it, once I’ve taken some space.”

On carrel snacks: “These Wheat Thins are pretty important.”

Plans for Tuesday: “Relax. Drink on the Olin steps. Probably not that much because senior cocks is on Wednesday and I have a paper due Friday.”

[singlepic id=173 w=120 h=240 float=right]Jenny Lo ’10 and Stephanie Gomory ’10
Thesis buddies in the PAC Lab

Stephanie’s working title: Found in Translation: Revision, Revisitation, and Rewriting in the French Emigré Works of Vladmir Nabokov and Milan Kundera (French)
How she feels: “Actually really anxious. I don’t know why. I’m pretty much done. I have to edit it, do the bibliography, scan a few photos.”
On her workspace: “Actually, it’s not bad. Even before my laptop broke I worked here. Sometimes they lock it on you. They let us stay here the other night because they felt bad for us.”
Plans for Tuesday: “Jump up and down a lot.”

[singlepic id=174 w=240 h=120 float=right]Jenny’s working title: Achieving the Unexpected: Social Change in Iran Since 1963
On research: “I tried two times to go to the country I’m writing about. I tried during the summer, three days before the election, but it fell through. I tried again to go in December. I left Wesleyan a week before finals. I went back to Hong Kong to apply for the visa, but a few days before my flight to Iran the visa got postponed. So I flew without a prior approved visa. I got to Dubai, then I found out I couldn’t get in the country without a prior departure visa. So I flew from Hong Kong to Dubai to Hong Kong again. That’s basically the intro to my thesis. I ended up Skyping with people for research instead.”
Advice for future thesis writers: “Start early. I started in January. January 22 I had 6 pages. I’d been trying to just plan for my trip before that and didn’t have time to write it.”
Plans for Tuesday: “We’ll drink. Are we streaking? We might be doing silly things that start with an S and end with G and involves T-R-E-A-K-I-N.”

[singlepic id=178 w=120 h=240 float=right]Leah Lucid ’10
Quantitative Analysis Center, Albritton

Working title: Discrimination Experiences of Latina/os: Mental Health Outcomes, Emotional Responses, and Coping Mechanisms (Psychology)

On her carrel: “I didn’t get an Olin carrel, so I heard that you could get one in the QAC if you were doing quantitative analysis. I got really lucky. I like the 24 hour access. The one fucked up thing about this carrel is the placement of the light sensors. They’ll just turn off randomly.”

Plans for Tuesday: “Driiiiink. I’m really looking forward to the Olin steps. Looking forward to popping champagne at 4. My housemates are all doing theses and we plan on waking up to mimosas on Wednesday.”

[singlepic id=183 w=240 h=120 float=right]Peter Hull ’10
Quantitative Analysis Center, Albritton

Working title: Economic Shocks and Civil Conflict: Evidence from the Open-Economy Trilemma (Math-Econ)

On his progress: “It’s actually going pretty well. I’m doing last-minute editing. I guess you never really know when you’re done, you just have to stop at some point.”

On his carrel: “I have a landline in here. The sociology department intended to use this space for phone surveys, but it turned out they didn’t need the space. Having the computer here is great. I know people doing quantitative analysis in Olin and they bring their whole desktops to their carrel.”

Plans for Tuesday: “Tuesday will be the beginning of one of the silliest weeks I’ve ever had at college. Champagne is in the fridge, Tuesday night, senior cocks, Wesfest. I got some nice cigars–not the crappy Neon cigars.”

[singlepic id=186 w=240 h=120 float=right]Andy Zhou ’10
Sweet upstairs office, Freeman East Asian Studies Center

Working title: If I Were Born Under a Different Star: Life and Times of Mansfield Freeman (East Asian studies)

Progress: “I guess I’m OK. A couple of my friends are helping with revising. I’m basically in the revising stage. I need to tweak my footnotes.”

On his workspace: “I design posters for East Asian Studies, so they kind of gave me this room. Also I was the coordinator of the outreach program on Fridays, and this was my office. They decided I could stay here for my thesis. Also they have Freeman’s papers here and they didn’t want them to leave the building.”

Plans for Tuesday: “I’m leaving. Not forever, but I’m gonna take a few days and just go somewhere. Probably Boston. My girlfriend’s there.”

Good luck, writers! You’re so close!