On Deck This Week…
Yesterday I turned in my final packet for my first year of grad school. It’s hard to believe I’m already half way done with the program. When most people ask how much time I have left, it’s with the air of “I’m sure you’re ready to be done with this!” Which is probably how a lot of people might feel going back to school at my age. Let’s get this over with so I can move on to my new career/pay grade/etc. But what I feel is more like: I only get to do this for one more year? I’ve enjoyed it all so much that if given the option (and unlimited finances) I might never quit going to school.
Most of the essays I’ve worked on this year are not on the blog because I’ve been sending them out to various places, hoping to find a good home for them (that’s code for: get the dang things published). In order to do that, you usually can’t post them on your blog, as that is considered “previously published.” But to commemorate the end of my first year I thought I’d post one of the essays here.
During my first residency1 I learned about “hermit crab” essays, which are essays that use the form of something else (a list, a recipe, a doctor’s note, etc) to tell the story. My advisor encouraged me to try taking something I had already written and rework the content in a completely new way, using a different form. So I decided to take The Double Bind of Women’s Breasts, which I posted here on the blog and turn the content into a tongue-in-cheek etiquette guide for women.
This particular content has now taken three different forms (the 3-parter that’s here on the blog, a personal essay for HuffPost, and now the etiquette guide) and this one is by far my favorite. If you’ve already read one of the other forms, this will have some repeat content but hopefully this new form will bring it to life in new ways. So I’ll post Part 1 later this afternoon and the rest over the course of the week. Stay tuned!