This post I read on the Chronicle today made me think...Why are academicians so obsessed with trying to make their writing as confusing and complicated as possible? This is not so common in my own field as we're a bunch of engineers who don't know how to write eloquent prose anyway, but sometimes I try to read articles in other fields and get a headache...It's not that I don't understand what they're saying, it's just that they're so heavily and unnecessarily worded that it becomes absurd...It's almost like the author knows the only way he can save the article is by making it sound as "academic" as possible lest people realize he's BSing. Surely someone who uses big words like that knows what he's talking about?!? People who have something original to say need not use big words to get the message through, they will be heard just on the basis that they have something important to say. I believe the pressure to "publish" in academia is one of the many reasons why it is like this, you have to put something out there even if you yourself have no clue what you're talking about. Other reasons I can think of are "traditions" in certain fields (which the article neatly summarizes), and there being too many academicians out there as compared to years ago-only so many of those people can actually be doing something that would be considered an outstanding breakthrough in their field and thus need not embellish their writing with big words trying to make it look important.

When I was writing the introduction chapter for my dissertation, I used a lighter, not-so-technical style in order to put my research in context with everyday life and describe what the problem was. I wanted to stay away from the passive voice which is the standard when writing a technical/scientific paper. This was done, so and so were placed here, it was observed that, etc. were not what I wanted to go with, because dammit, I actively led this research and did not want to feel like an outsider when it was my past 6 years I was talking about...But no, I got the chapter feedback saying I needed to make it more technical, like "academic" writing, like it wasn't my research and I was reporting on somebody else's thoughts and findings. In the end, I compromised a bit, maybe took out the references to everybody liking colorful cake decorations or something, but I managed to keep the wording fairly simple, at least in the beginning. I don't know what difference that made, but that sure was the only part of my dissertation that I enjoyed writing...That part was the "voice" that came from me...

Macabre awakenings

Well...For the last few days I've been waking up with Danse Macabre playing in my head. I have no clue why, or what goes on in my brain while I sleep. It is hauntingly beautiful for sure, and funny, too, if you relate it to the poem by Henri Cazalis, but it's not Halloween, so what's up???

A few days of summer in spring

The past two days, the weather has been unusually warm here in Montreal. And when I say warm, I don't mean warm like switch from winter boots to regular boots and leave home the scarf and gloves kind of warm, it was wear your bikini and go out kind of warm. I guess the proper way of saying this is: it was (and still is) hot! Yesterday I had to take that French test which dragged on the whole day, and I was a bit bummed out that it was so great outside and I had to be in a gloomy testing center dealing with the butterflies in my stomach. But between the two parts of the test, M came over and we got to walk around a bit, buy tickets for the Iron Maiden concert in July, and eat crepes at Cafe Paris. All in all it turned out to be a good day (would be a great day sans the exam but oh well...). All the restaurants, cafes, and bars had already put the tables and chairs on the patio, so at night we went to Pub Saint-Ciboire where we could sit outside in short sleeves and drink. I guess that was a rare moment in the history of Montreal for the month of April.

And today we actually were able to sunbathe in the park, after which I got to drink a great Margarita, and then swim in the pool upstairs. Now I want to go out and eat ice cream and walk back towards the park where I can hear people playing the tam tams, but M is so beat he wants to stay in. Maybe we'll catch them tomorrow, it looks like the weather will still be nice then.

Somewhere between the end of my second exam and going to Pub Saint-Ciboire yesterday, M and I rearranged our living room furniture so that I can have my "work station" in a relatively "secluded" spot. That's where I am writing from right now, and I absolutely love this new arrangement.

Bad timing

Tomorrow, M is not working...Had I known this last week, I wouldn't have arranged to take the TEFaQ test tomorrow instead of April 17th. I thought the sooner the better, and when they called last week and said there would be an extra test on the 2nd and asked if I wanted to take it then, I said yes, why not. Ugh, now they e-mail me the schedule and tell me that I'm taking the listening portion (which lasts 40 minutes) at 10:30 in the morning, and the speaking portion at 2:30 in the afternoon. Grrrr, talk about a whole day wasted...I don't know why I'm so upset, I guess it's just that I was hoping it would be over quickly, regardless of M's schedule. Now it's going to drag on the whole day, and although technically there's no pass or fail, it still makes me nervous that it's a "test". And now I have no clue what to do between those two tests, maybe M will come out and have lunch with me.