I wish I could get drunk...

[Writer]

I had 500+ pages of reading my first week. This week is the usual 350 or so (thank goodness!)

One of my professors hates me because I question Marx.

I am dealing with serious self-esteem issues and I don't see myself as being successful in this program.

But I can't drink because I need the energy to deal with all of the above.

~Writer~

[Hissyspit]

1. Marx was right about a lot of things...

and wrong about a lot of things.

[Writer]

2. Yup. Exactly.

[Hissyspit]

4. You can argue specifics, but you can't really argue about his importance in the development

of philosophy. Many of his ideas were a quantum leap.

[Writer]

7. His work was brilliant.

But what do we make of Marx in a 21st Century context?

[Runcible Spoon]

8. you read Bourdieu, Gramsci, Foucault, Giddens, etc. to nicely update Marxism

It's a common mistake with younger students to bash the old skoolers because they are, well, outdated. I used to do it because I felt like disagreeing with such loftily held philosophies was somehow badass on my part. Over the years, I just learned that the evolution and development of theoretical frameworks can be just as continuous as fragmented. Paying homage to the oldies is a big part of academia.

But in short, Practice Theory is grounded in the tradition of Marxism while taking some of the more evolutionist/materialist elements out and factoring in more sophisticated elements of social interactionalism. Great stuff.

[SPKrazy]

3. Groucho?

put the not succeeding images in a box, see yourself succeeding whether you believe it or not.

Karl Marx, you question him? And he hates you for it?

Sounds like sort of an idiot to me, what we don't encourage freethinking anymore? Unless and of course only, if it is the freethinking that agrees with the world of academia :shrug:

I see you as succeeding and I know that you are a brilliant person, I've read your writing. I know you hear and see the voices of your past, but those are bullshit. I even think you know that.

Fact is Writer, I will ask Skittles to kick your ass if you don't straighten up :D

(Just kidding, grad school will fry your ego but remember, it is a lot of fucking head games, trying to socialize you into academia and get you to think the way that they think, really. I even know that a lot of programs INSIST that a person spend at least one year in residence and some demand all of it that way. Why? To socialize or brainwash you into the mindset of an academician)

The key for you, hang on to yourself, remember they are going to fuck with you to some extent, and do what you do best. That my friend is write. You are a critical thinker, and while critical thinking is supposedly the goal of liberal arts and science courses etc., when you get to grad school the goal is to create a critical thinker who thinks like the academicians do.

Okay enough

:hug: :hug: :hug:

hey my dad moved to Longmont now lol, take care

[TK421]

5. Nominated as the best advice you could give here.....knowing your background

take it from SPK....he knows what he is talking about!

[Writer]

6. Yeah... it's all a part of the pedagogical process.

It's been rather tough. I've been sticking my neck out (being outspoken) and have been getting burned quite a bit.

How did you know about the "fucking with you" part?

[SPKrazy]

9. Well I have

been in grad school, while not in a PhD program, I was in a program that at the time was considered a "terminal degree" and still is to some degree as the only advantage to having a PhD in my field is that it is a ticket to academia and research vs. clinical work.

But being fucked with seems to be par for the course.