April 20th, 2007

Defensive tips

1) Do get batteries for your camera the night before, not on the way to, unless you enjoy darting sweaty and breathless into a room where people are waiting for you
2) Do not wear eyeliner for the first time in a year–it will not go well
3) Don’t assume you can extemporize wittily. If you want to be witty, write it down.
4) Don’t fear the chair, for she will never say anything but she *will* laugh at all your jokes
5) Do write down all the critiques you receive, as fear tends to impede memory
6) Do use the time where they send you out of the room while the committee discusses whether you deserve a degree or not to go to the bathroom
7) Don’t feel that just because professional-type academic clothes don’t show that much skin, you can’t wear body glitter. You can work that stuff right through your nylons.
8) Do take pictures (see #5) like a gawky tourist, including one of the streetcar en route (not the one you take, as it turns out, because the photographed streetcar will blow right past you)
9) Do have something exciting for lunch afterwards–you deserve it
10) Don’t worry–it’ll be fine!!!

Fine a job in a paper
RR