Royal Weddings, Last day of class, and Formal Announcements.

Twenty years from now, I'm going to be able to tell the story of my last day of classes at Baylor and how that day was marked by Prince William and Kate Middleton's marriage. It'll be a good story. Since my only class was canceled, I was perfectly alright with staying up until 12:30 in the morning and then setting my alarm for 3:30. Let the party begin!!! That's when Kimberly, Valori, and Jennifer showed up. Amanda even woke up and we had coffee and cinnamon rolls and strawberries while we watched the BBCA (totally legit coverage guys, totally legit). We hung out until the kiss at 8:00 when the girls left and Amanda and I went back to bed. I slept 'til 12:00. Why? Because I can. I don't have to be anywhere or do anything until next Friday when I have my last finals.

Aside from Kate and Wills' exciting news I have a formal announcement of my own, well most of you will know already, but I'm going to tell you anyway....

I'm heading to the University of Alabama in August to study history. Yay! Also, I filled an application for an apartment last weekend and am signing the lease tomorrow. Double Yay!! More news on this and my thoughts later. For now, I'm going to head back to the royal wedding coverage. Cheers!

Scholarships, Fellowships, and Assistantships- oh my!

Amidst the haze of confusion that was applying to graduate school, gaining acceptances, and trying to figure out what to do with all of them, I determined that I really, really wanted to write a post about money. It's perhaps the most important factor in judging whether or not to accept an offer of admission, yet it was the one I had the most questions about. So here's what I learned, maybe it'll help you sometime in the future.

1. Never EVER accept admission without financial assistants. This is my first rule of life. It stands particularly true if you're going into the humanities (i.e. English, History, Philosophy, etc.) because the last thing you want is to a.) not finished your degree or b.) not be able to find a job in the field you're going to school for and be stuck with the loans. A department's offer of financial assistance is often related to their confidence in your abilities. You are a gifted and talented student: don't underestimate yourself, and don't let others do it for you.

2. Schools will always fund Ph.D.s before Masters programs, so you have to look extra hard for funded Masters, especially with the economy the way it is now.

3. You remember that children's song about God answering prayers? "He might say yes, He might say no, He might say wait?" It's the same things with graduate schools. I've heard all three through this process. I've gotten notices of rejection because certain programs couldn't fund me. I've gotten acceptances to schools who admit "while we can't fund you now, we might be able to in the future." And, most importantly, I've gotten schools that say, "please, come! We'll pay you to do it!

4. Financial assistance is usually talked about in packages. One of my offers that came through had three components. 1) tuition waiver- yes please take my tuition away, especially since it'll be out of state 2) stipend- think of this as annual income. It can range anywhere from a couple of thousand to 25K+. 3) health insurance. This is more helpful for older graduate students trying to support a family.

5. There is a variety of things you may have to do for this money. No, I'm not talking about that. One of my offers is a fellowship, i.e. I don't have to do anything for this money. It's kind of like a scholarship, only that's not what its called. Not sure why, but that's not the important part. The important part is that later when you're trying to compile a C.V. make sure you include the fellowships, it's a rather prestigious vote of the department's confidence in you. Other offers include teacher assistantships, which range from anything between grading papers to teaching classes. Also there are research assistantships, which I believe are more common in the sciences, therefore I have a small working knowledge on this.

Ok, so there you have it, a five point crash course on understanding graduate school funding. Of course, there is a lot more to it than what I've written here, but these are the basics. It's a really interesting topic if you really think about it, and if you happen to have more questions, I may be able to find you and answer.

The First of the Last ( also known as "aren't my friends beautiful?")

Live from the red carpet: it's the **th annual Sing Alliance formal!

Q: "Tell us Jennifer, what would you like to say about your dress this evening."

A: "Well, the first thing you should know is I got it for a steal. I love a good deal. This would be the dress I wear to go clubbing in if I ever went clubbing. At first, I was going to pair it with black patent pumps but at the last moment, I made a dramatic wardrobe change-- which meant I had to paint my toenails with breakneck speed. I kept the hair and jewelry simple to let the dress shine.... and I really want World Peace!"



Q: "And what about you, Valori. Tell us about your ensemble this evening."


A: " Um.... I spent more for it than I really wanted to. I left all my jewelry in Houston so creativity had to be used in the construction of the outfit. I found the earrings in my purse. Lindsay think they worked well with the dress. In fact she said I was very "artistic French." I was going for a classic look in all."

Q:" Lindsay, please elaborate on your look this evening."

A:" Well, I was going for 50s/60s vintage, complete with the slightly bufont hair- which took a bumpit, 20 hairpins, and half a can of hairspray to complete. I found this wonderful little number on a clearance rack at Dillard's, according to the label I am wearing,"Made in Vietnam." My shoes (unavailable in the picture) are ones I picked up in Austria, adding a slightly European flair to the look. After an hour, I'm proud to announce that my feet were in fact completely numb, and I managed to dance the night away without much difficulty."


Can you tell we had fun with this post? Really though, last night was the Sing Alliance formal, and it was so much fun! Chocolate Fountains, fresh fruit, pastries, cupcakes, cookies.... and dancing. What more could a girls ask for? The Macarena... and we had that too. It was good to see all of my friends -most of which are seniors like me- and to hear about their plans. Last night was just the beginning of the end, however. Last Sing engagement. This coming week I have three banquets: Two Honors College, One Phi Beta Kappa, and a History dinner. It's busy, but exciting. And I have plenty of dresses to carry me through.

Thesis Days

I look terrible today. Really it was just one of those mornings: it was raining when I woke up to go to the gym. It's a little cold outside. And its a thesis day. Therefore I had little incentive to take a blow drying to my hair and try to make it do something. Same goes for the clothes. I'm currently sporting a pair of Baylor sweatpants and a fleece. I'll likely wear it to band this afternoon. If you were to see me on a regular basis you would know I'm not the pajamas to class kind of girl.
Oh well.
Today's a Thesis Day.
Since the beginning of the semester I've been using the four hours between History and band to work diligently on my thesis. That's nothing special, but as of two weeks ago Wednesday I was done, done, DONE! As far actually writing at least. Now it all has to be edited. Chapters need to be woven together and holy cow if you could see my rough draft- they're unorganized messes of information just waiting for me to put them in an order that actually makes sense and conveys a meaning. Good news though, I've nearly finished drafts of the Intro and Chapter 1 (pending the ok from the Big Editors: Mom and Dad) and am starting Chapter 2 as we speak. If all goes as planned I'll have a polished draft to my adviser by this weekend, which means a week to prepare the draft with her for the rest of the committee before my defense. Haha, three more weeks and if all goes well I'll be done by Easter.
Easter needs to get here soon.
But not too soon.
I could easily be loosing mind in the midst of everything that has to get done. Should prove for some interesting posts in the future.

Oh, and in case your interested. My thesis abstract (read: summary):

“All the Attributes that Distinguish such a Life:” Family and Society in the Antebellum South

The Family unit is perhaps the single most important structure in Southern culture, particularly within the paternalistic world of the nineteenth century planter class. Not only did the concept of family provide the groundwork for a popular argument in favor of slavery, but also supported the cultural foundation of public honor as well as enforced the genderization of southern youth. This thesis examines the relationships southern men and women shared within their family first as children, then as young adults seeking to start families of their own, highlighting how men and women identified themselves within their families and, by default, larger society differently. Finally, it looks at how the American Civil War threatened to shake the traditional views of southerners and drive the family into a more modern institution.

Rules to Lives By:

Some of you may know that I went graduate school shopping this past week. Allow me to start by saying that no, I'm not prepared to issue an official announcement as to the state in which I will be living come August. BUT I did learn some important things when it comes to shopping for graduate school.

Here's what you need to worry about:

1. advisor- It's the person who will help you make or break your career. A professor, who's interests are linked in someway with your own, under which you write your thesis/dissertation. Here's the kicker. Because you work under said professor, you'll always be "Lindsay Smith, Dr. X's student." (at least until you have a reputation of your own) Therefore, Dr. X needs to be someone great in your field. But it needs to be someone you can work with. A task that can be tricky when one's ego growth expands exponentially to the growth of reputation. Luckily, I think I've found a great advisor who is doing great research, and maybe one of the nicest guys I've met in this process.

2. Grad Student community- Graduate school can be intense and competitive. You want a place where you can fit in. It's like a "we're all in this together" scenario. You wouldn't think that would be hard to come by, but apparently it is very difficult to find. There are programs all over the country where students never talk, hide materials from one another, and generally contribute more to the stressful that is graduate school. =) I met some terrific people, and, based on my fly on the wall observations, they all seemed genuinely concerned for one another.

3. Funding! - perhaps I've listed these in the wrong order. Or maybe not. I think you have to find the right combination of great environment, academic success, and funding. It's like spokes of a wheel, one can't be missing, or substantially disproportionate to the other sides. Balance is key. I can't talk much about funding now, but I'll keep you filled in on what I know when I know it.


So there you have it, the three rules of selecting a graduate school. Of course there are more, but these were my big three when it came down to a visit. And I have to say, my visit passed all areas with flying colors.

One more for the road...

There were so many things I could write about when I talk about All University Sing. I think I've pretty much considered them all. The original plan was to post a video of our act so you can see why I've been practicing nine to fourteen hours a week for the past two months. (Someone in our group did the math, we practice two hours for every one minute of performance... if that isn't commitment I don't know what is). Unfortunately, a video may not be forthcoming this year.

I thought about writing a review of all the acts, but that might make my post as long as the actual four hour performance itself. I'm sure you'll all stop reading before you even get to the end. And... well, I suppose while I might be "mean" enough to criticize acts in person, I'm not so sure about posting them up on the internet.

Instead, I thought I might give you the next best thing to a video (as many pictures as I could find) and just tell you about what Sing has meant to me these past three years. I promise, I'll try to spare the cheese and keep everything low fat.



Four years ago I moved to Baylor. I had had no connection to Baylor, never made a premier visit, and didn't attend line camp. Oh how little I knew! That year at homecoming I didn't drag my parents to see Pigskin... or after Dark for that Matter, and I certainly had no idea what my roommate was doing when she went at sat in line for four hours to become a member of Sing Alliance. All I knew is that she was gone that semester... a lot and when she came back it was usually with some random object: a pair of lyrical shoes, some feathers, a dress with wood glued on it, and, finally a spear. Seeing as how she spent so much time with this group, I wanted to know what this Sing thing was for myself. One of the girls on my hallway was rushing a sorority and scored me a ticket for club night. Sing Alliance was the first act I ever saw. But it wasn't until the homecoming, my sophomore year after I drug my parents to Pigskin ("Holy Cow, you've got to see this!" I told them) that I walked away saying, "I've got to do that!" That November I sat in line for five hours in order to get a spot. I was the eighth person on the list.



I don't think I would be incorrect to say that the decision was completely out of character for me, at least that's how I've always thought of it. I decided to join Sing Alliance at a time when I was non committal about everything, which I chose to be because I was too committed in high school, I think. Sing Alliance practices full
time Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday nights. Two hours every night except for Thursday when we practiced for three. Big Commitment. Also, I went to bed every night at 10:00 like a little old lady (and I'm perfectly fine with that. I like sleep). Sing Practices at the earliest 8-10 and the latest 10-12. Some nights I didn't get home or relaxed until closer to 1 am. Hello Naps. I had to seriously adjust the way I did things.

I've never regretted it. Well, ok. Sometimes. Sing Season is strenuous. It gets long and tiring, especially toward the end when your just cleaning and cleaning, and remembering about all of the test and thesis chapters due tomorrow. There are moments you sort of hate your life. "Holy Cow, why did I decide to do this again?" But that goes away. You see, Sing kept me from being too serious. It let me get up and jump around... act like I was seven again, and sing Disney songs with people who know every single word. It was my opportunity to leave my mark on a Baylor tradition so to speak. And when Homecoming comes around I'll look forward to seeing all the Pigskin acts, and take my kids to see them. I'll tell them my stories ( and show them my costumes). Because Sing has been a large, and very memorable, part of my Baylor career, and when it ends tonight, it's smooth sailing to graduation.

Let's go, Sing Alliance.

Sing Pick of the Week: Chi O's Gold Rush

I have to apologize that my Sing post is delayed. I have a good excuse, though. I promise. In fact I have 29 good excuses that happened to keep me up all night long on Friday. Last semester I was a GA leader for my church here, and though I couldn't continue to go this semester due to a class conflict, I went to the lock in. I got to talk about all sorts of things like how the best place to take a nap is daddy's lap, and what it would be like to be a cat princess, and how Goofy and Mickey probably live on the planet Pluto [ok, that last one is mine and the 3rd grader I was talking too looked at me like I was crazy, anyway] The point is, sleep deprivation aside, my 4th graders are simply more important than you. Sorry, the truth hurts.

But I'm here now!!!!!!

This weeks act is from 2009. Interesting story is that this was actually the back- up theme for this group. The way it works when two groups submit the same theme is that one group gets the theme and the other gets all the music. Most of the time, however the group that gets the music forfeits because its hard to fashion a new theme around the same music. That's what happened this year. Sing Alliance and Chi O both submitted coffee themes. Sing got the Theme, Chi O the music, but who wants to sing the Folger's song if you can't have a coffee theme. Gold Rush is the theme they used instead. In my opinion its one of the best second themes I've seen. So here you have it,

Chi O's Gold Rush: