EGSA Digest 09.06.13

EGSA,

Pace yourself.

Announcements

New First-year Representative, 2013-2014

• The first elections of the year are over. We’d like to thank all those who expressed a willingness to serve. We’re pleased to have Sara Kelm join the EGSA Council to represent the incoming students.
• From this point on, if you have a complaint, please impersonate a first-year student and talk to Sara.

General EGSA Meeting, Fri., 13 Sep., 2:30pm, CS 101

• As you learned when your heart sank earlier this week, the first EGSA meeting has been tragically postponed. Nothing I type can fully erase the disappointment you are experiencing, but I hope to at least ease it by assuring you that 1) nothing short of more dessert will prevent us from meeting next week and 2) the department tea is actually a suitable substitute for the EGSA meeting because in both settings you can simply nod your head without actually paying attention and fulfill all that is expected of you.
• See you there next week. Plenty of time to get to the 19CRS (see below).

Dues

• Apparently I can be hard to read sometimes. This is not one of those times: we do actually need you to give $10 (cash) to Christina Boyles as soon as possible. You can think of it as a privilege, you can think of it as an honor, or you can do what I do and try not to think about it at all as I break open my kids’ piggy banks.
• The right to vote in EGSA elections, the opportunity to try to decrypt an EGSA T-shirt, the participation in EGSA-hosted professional development activities, the guiltless consumption of ice cream and other refreshments at EGSA socials, and the ability to hold your head high in CS make the payment of your EGSA dues worth it. Your children and their bankers will understand.

Meal Card Pick-up

• Teachers of record, remember to pick up your meal card in Morrison starting on Wed., 11 Sep. Then put on your glory days high school shirt and go eat lunch with freshmen. Or, if you’re a woman, you can apparently still get away this year with that time-tested alternative of running shorts and an oversized T-shirt.

Last Day for Graduate Students to File for December 2013 Commencement: Today!

• Hmm. Must be a typo. I’m pretty sure “graduate student” and “commencement” are incompatible terms.

ENGLISH DEPARTMENT TEA!@#!, Today, 2pm, CS 4^th

• Unlike the previous announcement, this, presumably, is not a typo. Undoubtedly, the grawlix employed in the event name is simply an innocent expression of enthusiasm.
• So get your @ . . . never mind. Just go.

Medieval and Renaissance Research Seminar (MRRS), Today, 3:30pm, Jones Library 2^nd Floor 

• This is still an event. In fact, it just might be the event. It’s just under Announcements because it’s happening today and the arbitrary divisions of the Digest happen to be meaningless, unlike this, from Adam Marshall:
• “Our very own Dr. Hope Johnston will be delivering a presentation entitled ‘Your Own Personal Chaucer: Early Printed Books Customized by Their Owners.’ E-mail Rachel DeSmith, Adam Marshall, or Sarah Rude with any questions.”
• Our very own Dr. Hope Johnston. My own personal Chaucer. But how do I get my own Warren Buffett?

EGSA Website Updates

• If you haven’t yet, check out Kalani’s great updates to the EGSA webpage and see Vice-President Womack’s solid work with the calendar.
• Then follow their example and update your own stuff, since, you know, it takes less time to update than it does to think of a good reason not to. Also, feel free to take advantage of the spreadsheet to get to know others in the program. If you re-sort columns to find someone, try to put things back where you found them.
• The EGSA Council did instruct me to encourage you to keep the spreadsheet professional, which was primarily a thinly veiled request for me to change my area of interest. I did. Now you update yours.
• Last year we threatened to change your area of interest to Twilight Studies if you didn’t update it yourself. With our new standard of professionalism, that option is no longer available to us. The new default is Jane Austen.

Upcoming Events

Lecture, Gallery Talk, & Reception, Thurs., 12 Sep., 4:30-7:00pm, HSFAC 149

• Robert Reed will offer a lecture and gallery talk about his paintings titled “Galactic Journal.” A reception with refreshments is to follow.
• I love these ones: take a friend and then double up on refreshments and pretend you’re sharing.

19^th Century Research Seminar (19CRS), Fri., 13 Sep., 3:30-4:30pm, ABL Lecture Room

• Dr. Stubenrauch, “‘Leaves of Edification’: Evangelical Sentimentalism and Picturesque Tourism in the Early Nineteenth Century”
• Sounds British. Americans were never sentimental. Or picturesque. Or edifying, for that matter. Instead, we have Leaves of Grass.

Autumn in Texas: a Party, Fri., 13 Sep., 7:00pm, Watsons’

• Don’t let James’s vague dress standards, high expectations for your culinary contribution, or reference to you as one of his “dearlings” deter you. He means well, and he and Meghan know how to throw a party.

Seminar for Excellence in Teaching (SET), Tues., 17 Sep., 2:30-3:30pm, MMSCI 250

• Sarah Walden (BIC, but maritally connected to English), “Leading a Discussion-oriented Class”
• Dr. Walden is fantastic. For those of you who don’t mind listening to your students—or at least pretending—this one will be excellent.
• Correction: In last week’s Digest, I mistakenly included a link that took you to the graduate student spreadsheet instead of the SET schedule for this semester. As all of you who know Ginger can well imagine, she was livid. To make it up to her, I promised to include in this week’s Digest both the correct link and a limerick. She promised to let me live.

 SET Schedule

    You haven’t had one fail you yet.

    But when you’re casting about

    ‘Cause your film clips ran out,

    You’ll wish you had gone to this SET.

New Section of the Digest Featuring Really Long Emails from People I Don’t Know

If You Happen to Be Homeless Like I Am or Have Fewer Than Four Children Like I Don’t, This May Be a Good Deal

 

Hello,

My name is Tiffany Jones, and I am a second-year graduate student in the Math Department’s PhD Program. My husband and I are currently living in the Quadrangle Apartments on 5^th Street, a graduate housing community. We are currently trying to find someone to “take-over” our lease ASAP so that we can move to a larger place. (We are planning on moving out within a few weeks. However, if need be, we can quickly move in a few days.)

If you know of any graduate, law-school, or seminary students that are looking for affordable housing, please either have them contact the Quadrangle Apartments or myself. The manager Elizabeth if fully aware that my husband and I are trying to move out ASAP, so feel free to contact her to verify my information.

The apartment is a 2 bed / 1.5 bath with 970 sq. ft., costing $610 per month for a 12-month lease. (Also, pets under 35 lbs are allowed for a deposit / fee.) In order to lease this apartment, at least one of the tenants MUST be a Baylor graduate, law-school, or seminary student, which is why I am asking for your help. I truly appreciate anything you can do to get the word out there to whomever may be interested and/or in need.

Thank you so much,

Tiffany Jones

PS: If this email finds you in error, I apologize. I am just trying to make sure all the graduate departments are made aware. Thank you for your understanding, and please pass it along.

My Contact Info:

Tiffany_Jones1@baylor.edu

(337)794-6438

Quadrangle Apartments Manager:

Elizabeth Bryant

EBryant@brotherswaco.com

Quadrangle@brotherswaco.com

(254)752-3810

Other Info. (such as floor plans):

http://www.brothersmanagement.com/waco-apartments/the-quadrangle/

 

The Purpose of This Subheading Is to Announce the End of the Preceding Email Message

Until next meal,

Jeremy Leatham

EGSA Secretary