h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

The entry on 'Hello World' I wrote in April 2008 (A32016692) reappeared on the FP today. I'd forgotten that Brian Kernighan, who's credited with the invention of 'Hello World,' played such a large part in my entry--I took his computer-science-for-humanities-kids class last fall at university, and it was very fun. The class was a little easy for me, since I already had some CS background, but he's a truly talented and devoted teacher, not just a smart guy, which is a rarity in professors.

The journalism internship I'm doing in Washington, DC this summer has caused me to become quite certain that I don't want to be a Washington journalist. And so I've been distracting myself by planning my academic career in myopic detail, shaping a sense of "what I do" as far as the study of history is concerned. I've been thinking about the programs I can apply to and courses I can take at school that will help me do this, and I've also started to plan my independent work. At my university, every student has to write two junior papers (about 30 pages each) and a senior thesis (about 80-100 pages), consisting of original work in one's respective field of study. It's years before I have to have topics for these (particularly the thesis), but it's fun to do some reading and some planning and some thinking--and I've also figured out that if I do a thesis involving Europe to some extent in addition to America, I'll have a much better chance of getting funding to travel to Europe so that I can do research, which sounds like an awesome deal to me.

I often feel very insignificant in the fast-paced and very insular Washington progressive journalism/blogging world, and jealous of the other people my age who are making better inroads into this world than I am. It's good to have this "what I do" in the back of my head to remind myself that I have something I'm good at and am passionate about, and that some people care about things that aren't very fine points of American policy or politics.

You're a great writer, echo. Whatever else you end up doing, write about it.

TRiG.

emr, you're extremely talented. I'm certain you'll be successful in whichever field you enter. And I agree that getting grants to do research in Europe would be fabulous. What a deal.

Wow, those are some serious projects!

In the UK for an undergraduate arts degree you have to do a dissertation which is usually 10,000 words. This is in addition to the odd essay (most of mine were 2000 words; several have become hootoo entries in altered form).

Sounds like we have an easier time of it!

BEst of luck with your plans for the future.

! And Trig's right. Do keep writing!

I'm writing my bachelor thesis next month.

Some of my former classmates are already working on their PhDs...

You had to get up close to realize you don't want to be a Washington journalist? I don't think there's any job I'd like to have less! That sounds like a really valuable experience though.

I know this is going to sound like I'm just trying to squeeze more entries out of you, Emily, but writing for h2g2 is great practice for academic writing. Especially historical entries. Sure, there are differences. Academic writing demands sourcing, analysis and primary documents more than h2g2 does. But the research and descriptive aspects are similar in both. Not that you really need practice, but it can do nothing but good

well, that senior thesis is certainly good thing for doing a PhD...only quadruple the number of pages.

Thanks all.

Yes, the thesis is going to be great prep for grad school, and I figure my senior (final) year is going to be the referendum on whether grad school is right for me. If I don't wind up enjoying the thesis process as much as I think I will, I should probably consider other postgraduate options.

Good luck to everyone else who's undergrad-writing! Elentari, I gather that British university work in general involves turning in far fewer assignments/projects than American university work--we take usually between 3 and 5 courses each term, and usually have to write at least a couple major papers (~2,000 words) for each course. And then there's the independent work, though that's specific to Princeton--at other universities, it's optional; I think Princeton may be the only university in America that requires a thesis. I don't know whether that means the quality of yours is better, but hey.

Jordan, I'm obsessively interested in politics, and find Congress endlessly entertaining (the House in particular). I love to learn about them and write about them, and I believe in the value of journalism to our democracy. However, I didn't realize just *quite* how much is dependent on whom you know and whose name you can drop. This has been really frustrating to me, because it's not just a test of your writing or thinking--it's a test of your social skills. I certainly don't have any.

I would like to write some more h2g2 entries about things I'm studying. One of the things I'm working on is how to combine what I'm learning in writing classes and from my jobs/internships about the practice of good fiction and non-fiction writing, and what I'm learning from my history work about doing history. So much academic work is completely impenetrable to the lay reader--I want to write things that are interesting to read! Obviously, h2g2 is going to help with this. A lot. I just wish I had more time! Unfortunately, writing for money often has to take precedence over the writing I'd really prefer to be doing.

Oh look at those last few sentences. I sort of sound like a grown-up now. Sort of.

I should say that I wouldn't want to be a political journalist the way it currently seems to be in Washington. Your vantage point would be better than mine, but I would feel like I was a part of a system of deception... used by politicians. The reporter that defies that pattern is rare.
I think so anyway. Again, you're the one in the District

The thing about learning American history is that you can read about a time when those roles were reversed, and powerful journalists told the politicians what to say. "Endlessly entertaining" as you say.

Exciting week at work.

First, I was barred from the Young America's Foundation conservative student conference, which I was planning to cover for my job: http://www.campusprogress.org/fieldreport/4425/young-americas-foundation-live-conservative-or-die-in-canada

Then, YAF's spokesperson, who did the barring, was very nasty at me: http://yaf.org/blog/?p=1062

So I replied to him (in the update at the bottom of the first link).

Then one of those important political bloggers linked to one of my cultural criticism blog posts (http://worthlessdrivel.net/2009/08/03/hair-and-hippies-and-gender-panic-or-todays-nibble-of-rambling-cultural-criticism/) that I assume no one reads because people in DC tend to think politics is more important/relevant than culture: http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/08/endgame-56.php

Good times. I'm really interested to see if Mattera will respond to my response, or what.

He seems like an incredibly mature and engaging young man. I bet his parents are very proud.

"LOLZ - shes well teh librul so shes got to be ugly!"

The comments on that YAF page are some of the most unintentionally hilarious things I've ever read.

What sort of paranoia leads an event organiser to ban someone with a conflicting viewpoint as opposed to inviting them in and seizing an opportunity to put forward the benefits of their agenda in a convincing and adult manner?

Welcome to America, Psycorp. We're totally batshit crazy here.