Read on Twitter
Dissertating in a pandemic is very difficult. All the things about being ABD that are great: (1) brainstorming with colleagues, (2) ability for change of scenery, (3) constantly bumping into your committee on campus, (4) informal chats with outside scholars, are gone for most. https://twitter.com/aya__marie/status/1334704943744344064
I read a tweet yesterday from someone who wrote drafts of their dissertation in a bar. Great. That’s impossible now. Most graduate housing is... not high quality or spacious enough to be really conducive for writing. I live in 770 dimly lit sq. ft. w/ another person + 2 pets.
This is not accounting for all the personal catastrophes that ABDs experienced this year. My dad had Covid-19, someone in my family died, my partner got misdiagnosed and put on meds with horrible side effects. I talk every day to ABDs on newly minted antidepressants.
It’s incredibly isolating work under normal conditions. Now, it’s like being a hermit, often without familial support. The motivation to finish is twinged with the guilt of having been impacted by this at all, when so many others have not. Be inclusive of grad students. Be kind.
And fellow ABDs: we should throw a massive celebration when we make our way through this mess (assuming Covid-19 danger ends, of course).
