boast post · good things

Boast Post!

aimeemorrison

It’s that time again! I’ve had quite enough of this month’s news–women still not being reviewed, Jian Ghomeshi, Gamergate, predation in the guise of mentorship, catcalling, the election of another white conservative millionaire man as mayor, and on and on. I’m also in scholarship purgatory, very stupidly decided that I wanted to set the deadline for my current chapter on the same day as the Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarships are due, and am entirely unprepared for the onset of winter. That means we’re due for a boast post to cheer ourselves up, yes?

Remember how this works? You have to boast about yourself, without apologizing or cringing. Did you get some awesome teaching evals? Land a new job? Submit an article? Finish a dissertation chapter? Give an awesome conference presentation? Ace an informational interview? Get an unexpected but meaningful compliment? Tell the world! Or at least, that chunk of the world that reads this blog. Yes, it feels super weird and awkward, but it also feels great when you’re done.

I’ve got three things!
First, I got a lovely email not long ago from one of our Canada Research Chairs in mathematics, thanking me for my work on one of our Banting postdoc nominations and complimenting my development work to our Dean. For an English scholar, I’m pretty darn pleased that I can develop the heck out of a Banting-calibre math application. My eighth grade teacher would be so proud! 
Second, I launched our Graduate Professional Skills program in late September. With the invaluable help of my graduate assistant and other staff in our office I pulled together a half-dozen great workshops, a bunch of really excellent speakers, and a full day of training, eating, and talking about graduate professional development and its relationship to academic and post-PhD career success. Everything went off without a hitch, everyone had a good time, and the program I’ve been working on since 2012 now officially exists!

Third, I’ve finally gotten over my fear of pastry and learned how to make a really good apple pie. It’s easy (albeit a little time consuming), delicious, and so rewarding. Watching someone enjoy eating something I’ve made is one of my favourite forms of instant gratification.

And now it’s your turn! Remember, no self-deprecation, undercutting, or humblebragging. Just boast!

6 thoughts on “Boast Post!”

  1. Yeaaaaaaah, boast post!

    Congrats, Melissa, those are excellent reasons to be boasting!

    I've got three things:

    1) I have two invited publications currently in the works: a book chapter and a journal article, one of which will be under review very soon. I'm really excited to be taking both these works to publication!

    2) My students have been visiting my office to ask if I'm teaching any other courses, which is basically the best compliment an instructor can receive.

    3) Me and my partner just finished making my daughter the best halloween costume ever. She's going to be a bus driver, complete with bus. I am so excited to take her on the bus tomorrow to daycare, in her bus costume.

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  2. Melissa–wonderful boasts! Especially #2. And Jana, similarly awesome. Especially the bus costume.

    My three:

    1) The director of the writing program observed my Composition class yesterday, and gave me a thoroughly positive review. My students were sweet and really stepped up their participation game, because they knew I was a little bit nervous about it.

    2) I submitted a draft of my second chapter last Sunday!

    3) A big-name scholar from Harvard agreed to join my dissertation committee as an external reader!

    4) I am very excited about Halloween and my awesome friends and adorbs joint costume planned with David. That's not a boast which is why I did/didn't include it in the number system, except I guess I'm boasting that I have the best friends.

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