Good News

I have some exciting news to share academic-wise.

To preface, April was a pretty incredible month in general: it was my birthday month and the dh really outdid himself with the thoughtfulness of his gifts; and at the end of the month we had a really great, fun vacation road trip to visit a friend at the University of Wyoming and some family in Utah.

On top of that, however, and this is the news I want to share, I found out that I was awarded a dissertation fellowship by the AAUW for next school year. (!!!)

I was totally flabbergasted, especially after getting an outright rejection just a few days earlier from the other fellowship that I applied for. This earlier rejection had demoralized me so much that I was absolutely expecting another rejection from the AAUW. In fact, only the day before I was notified about the AAUW fellowship, I was telling a friend that I was seriously thinking of leaving academia after I finished my dissertation, and that I would need a HUGE sign before my feelings would swing back the other way. What a way to tempt fate, right? In part, I guess I was practicing what's called defensive pessimism, so that the impending rejection that I expected wouldn't faze me so much.

Well, fate did not call my bluff, and that huge sign came the next morning in the form of an e-mail notification (which first landed in my Junk box so I didn't even read it until mid-morning), and I was in shock. Of course, there was some drama there as well, since the e-mail didn't have my actual name in it, just a generic "Greetings!" And, being the insecure grad student that I am, I had to wait until the following week for the snail-mailed contract before I could really believe that the e-mail had been sent to the right e-mail address and that it wasn't the universe playing a cruel trick. Indeed, the universe dropped an amazing birthday gift on my lap instead.

Getting this fellowship is obviously a big deal to me since I can now afford to put my toddler in childcare at least part-time this fall and next spring while I write and FINISH the dissertation. But I am particularly happy about the award in a different way as well: I am proud to be chosen by an organization that prioritizes women's issues, and, having looked over some of the past winners' dissertation and postdoctoral project descriptions (at least of those in the humanities and social sciences), I see that the organization respects research on children as well. I also found out that my husband spent one very enjoyable summer as a child learning arts and crafts through a summer class organized by the AAUW chapter in his hometown. What a lovely connection! I am happy to be part of the organization's mission.

And now I'm really looking forward to drafting another chapter in the next couple of months.