One of the greatest finds of my graduate school career, beyond a fascinating dissertation project and some quality friends, was academic Twitter. I used Twitter briefly in undergrad as a joke, and really believed that most grew out of it. Well, I was wrong. After feeling frustrated with a mix of isolation and not knowing really how academics work (I am first-gen grad student coming fresh out of undergrad and a generally confused 24-year old), a friend suggested to me to get twitter and start checking out some accounts. Wow, gamechanger right here. Twitter has grown to become a resource for advice on what to do about writer’s block to navigating some of the un-spoken intricacies of university life, to just learning more about different people’s struggles and day-t0-day life. Conversing with various grad students, professors, and those who decided to leave academia on a wide range of topics really has helped me work better both on my own personal research, and in my personal life as a whole. Also, first access to amazing memes, seeing people’s adorable animals, and some news makes for Twitter to be an amazing tool (most of the time).

 Fast forward a year and a half later, still love the platform, and still kicking with it. I wish I could say I have grown on it to be some social media celebrity, but that is definitely not the case. I, though, use it daily, love tweeting and commenting on my daily experiences. But as many know, 140 characters sometimes is not enough to fully express a thought or an idea. So, at some points, while I love using it, for a long-winded person like me, the platform is extremely limiting in a way. Some advice that I have recently taken from it is how valuable doing non-academic writing is for your personal academic writing. And so, this blog (I hate saying blog), was born. Actually, it was technically born while I was researching in Mexico City during the summer of 2018, but now starting this beauty back up. 

 Hi! Hello there! This is me, Maddie Olson, actually getting to a project that has been months in the making (shocker). 99% of the time I think I am funny, when I am in fact not, I am professional at knocking into things with my bowlegged legs, or inspiring the wrath of my advisor when I did not proofread enough. In all seriousness, I really would love to use this platform as a place to put longer-form content that Twitter inspires me to write. Particularly, I want to write about my personal graduate school experience and the untold things that I have learned only by going through it. Also, I guess selfishly, I just want to share my passion for research to a larger audience, both inside and outside the academy. While I know right now what I want to write my dissertation on, I want to document my research experience as I embark on my year-long escapade to the archives and how long this potential idea of what I am writing my dissertation on will last before it shifts to something new, fruitful, and beautiful. The teacher in me hopes that being more transparent about the good, bad, ugly, will help be a resource for others considering grad school, or stuck in the trenches of it, something I so desperately wished I had earlier on. 

 As school is far from my entire existence, I also want to share Austin highlights because I will die on the hill saying that Austin is one of the greatest cities to live in while going through this whole graduate school shebang. And, as I really love throwing my money at experiences instead of replacing a jacket with a hole in the sleeve, I would love to share my experiences and takes of events. Additionally, FOOD. While I cannot say I am a professional chef, I have been asked by multiple people to be their meal prep chef (I am QAWEEN of meal prep) so I guess that counts for something? So yes, cheap, easy, delicious recipes that you can forget in your crockpot and will still stay delicious, will make regular appearances.

 So welcome, and here’s to whatever future this will hold!

 -xoxo molson
(wish I could say xoxo Gossip girl)