If you get the reference, Dear Reader, you have my respect.

So, full transparency, I was completely lost on what I was going to do for my thesis.

I had a few vague ideas but when I was sitting in that first class my view kind of shifted on what I wanted to do. Initially I was thinking of doing something that I found more challenging; the plan was to write an existential horror fiction. But I couldn’t figure out how that could tie into what I want to do professionally or what that kind of research would look like.

So I scrapped that idea.

I looked back at the thesis proposal I wrote, it was how algospeak impacts our perception of information. While I do have more of a foundation for where I could take this research, I’m not sure if that is really something I want to spend a crazy amount of time on. I also couldnt see how that ties into my job or career goals.

So I scrapped that idea.

Then their was the piece I was working on during the writers retreat. It was a horror cookbook. It was a pretty narrative heavy story but each story centered on a recipe. It kind of was supposed to be reminiscent of those food blogs that tells a whole story before it gets to the actual recipe. I was quickly running out of recipes that I felt comfortable remaking (ingredients are pricey) and I wanted it to work as a cookbook too, so the recipes would actually have to be on point.

So I scrapped that idea.

I have a bunch of writing ideas/prompts that I put down on a note for ideas over the years so I opened it and went through what I had written down.

A murder mystery that take place on a lovecraftian train (Murder on the Oriental Express meets Infinity Train)

Nah.

A YA Urban Fantasy about 2 black kids (The daughter of a witch and the don of a demon hunter) being framed by a white witch and her cop husband.

Nah.

I very quickly ran through my list of prompts.

It was time to consult a real one.

So I turned on my voice memos and started ranting.

After 15 minutes, I realized… I wasn’t actually recording anything.

I started again, with a lot of the fluff out of the way.

I talked about my goals, realistically considering how far I was actually willing to take them. The plan is to shoot for an ELA department district supervisor as a 9-5, and teach college courses at nights. As far as my education goes, I currently see at least 1 MFA, 1-2 Phd(s), and for gits and shiggles, I might just knock out a psych major (I only need 5 undergrad classes for it), but that’s just me being extra.

With that being said, I wanted to do something with relevance to both my teaching career and a field that is prominent and evolving. It didn’t take long to conclude AI would be a good topic to center in on. I deal with it in my PD’s as it intergrates more and more into our jobs. Since it is still evolving rapidly, I can see a lot of space in the research I could conduct. And of course, as a writer, I have very ~~violent~~ strong feelings about AI.

With the topic being chosen, I just had to figure out how I was going to approach the subject. I still wanted to do research but I really wanted to do something creative. I just find it easier and more enjoyable to write. So I played with a couple ideas but I finally settled on an anthology fiction piece that draws on real events and research (kind of like Black Mirror meets Handmaids Tail).

Dr. Sisler and Dr. Z have both given me some reading reccomendations so I will be making my way through those soon!

Since you made it all this way, the least I can do is give you some kind of treat.

The following is the rough dedication (cause all the best stories have dedications):

How does one contest with their own finality?

How does one hear the rolling wheels of change over the cries of the countless left in their wake. Their blood, sweat, and tears acting as lubricant for the impending “well oiled machine” that harbinges their demise.

How does one find the sun and stars when the sky is blocked by the looming shadow of the grave?

To those who will create a universe in the dark sand

Until next time, Dear Reader.

Student Blogs

Hold the Applause

September 21, 2026 nasvidapoet

Hello again! Please don’t clap. At this point, I think we all know who I am, so I will spare everyone another introduction. I’m Nas, I’m working on a thesis about care, labor, intimacy, and all the complicated things that happen when those ideas collide, and somehow I am getting dangerously close to actually finishing this thing.

Right now, I am almost finished with Part I of my thesis, which focuses on close readings and care studies. I have been working through my primary texts while thinking about care as labor, emotional investment, time, sacrifice, and something that can be both deeply intimate and deeply exhausting. I started it during our “rat summer,” and I’m still gong. My goal is to have Part I completed before the end of September. For once, that deadline actually feels realistic, which I am choosing not to question too much.

My independent study with Dr. Giunta is also giving me the space to be intentional about what comes next. Once Part I is finished, I want October to be dedicated primarily to my autoethnographic piece. This is the part I am both excited about and slightly terrified to write because it asks me to move from analyzing other people’s stories of care into examining my own. I know it will require a different kind of vulnerability than the analytical section, but I also think it may ultimately become one of the most meaningful parts of the project.

Then comes November and Part III. My goal is to spend that month developing the final portion of the thesis so that by the last few weeks of the semester, I am no longer trying to produce entirely new sections. Ideally, those final weeks will be reserved for revision, restructuring, making connections across the three parts, and probably staring at sentences I have read 47 times wondering if they are still written in English.

For now, though, I feel good about where I am. There is still a lot to write, rethink, cut, add, and inevitably overthink, but the thesis is beginning to feel less like this giant abstract project I have been talking about forever and more like an actual body of work that is taking shape. September is for finishing Part I. October belongs to autoethnography. November belongs to Part III. And then, hopefully, I revise my way across the finish line.

Student Blogs

It’s Sunday Afternoon

September 21, 2026 Adamari Peralta

And I’m sitting in bed feeling a bit anxious about what this semester may look like (I’m greeting this feeling as just part of the process!)

We’re now walking into week four of the Fall semester (which, by the way, has already felt like such a whirlwind). At this moment, it feels as though for the first time, I’ve gotten myself to sit down and (finally) start threading together all the things I’ve pondered this past week.

But first, a little context as to where I’m at:

Last Monday, I entered class feeling a little uneasy. A big portion of that uneasiness was related to the fact that upon revisiting my research proposal, I noticed I couldn’t find a trace of myself in the research question I spent eons uncovering last semester:

How do audiences on TikTok reward performative intellectualism?

As much as this topic mesmerized me in the Spring, and as omnipresent as it feels in our everyday interactions with social media, there’s just somethinggggg about it that doesn’t fit. It’s like a disconnect (I’ll continue to revisit it with different lenses and update you again if anything’s changed).

Anywayyyyy… as difficult as it is to accept… I must be open to starting again.

On Tuesday, I woke up and got ready a bit earlier than usual with plans of a mindful walk prior to a day full of distractions. I remembered Ava telling me that during her time in the M.A. program she walked laps around the fountain by the STEM building. So, I decided to follow in her footsteps.

I walked with my earbuds in, trying my best to focus on what my body and mind were feeling. After a couple laps, I sat down. It was windy. I only had another 30 or so minutes before I had to head to work, so I wrote a poem. Part of it read:

“…I’ll find the same grace of the leaves who allow themselves to be hurled endlessly for the sake of finally settling into the dirt.”

Not necessarily my cleanest work, but it definitely spoke the words of my heart’s desires. I understood what it meant. I should allow myself to be swept in different directions. Try this, try that. And, only that way, will I settle into my purpose.

As the days passed, I continued this practice a couple more times. It was hard. Hard to get myself to think strictly about my thesis. My mind would literally think of any way out of thinking of the matter. There was one night my sister joined. We spent a majority of that walk playing guess the number I’m thinking of (I won).

But in a way going on walks with the base intention of being mindful and, most importantly, acting without judgement, placed somewhere else emotionally. It put me somewhere more level-headed. So much so, I felt less anxious even approaching writing this blog (one where I have to explain/express to my classmates where I’m at).

Thoughts are brewing. Connections are being made. They aren’t at their final point (yet). And yes… I’m nervous and have doubts about my abilities. Still, I’ll get there.

I’ll end with a quote from a piece of media I always come back to:

“…Write about your own experience. By that experience someone else may be a bit richer some day. Read widely of others experiences in thought and action- stretch to others even though it hurts to and strains and would be more comfortable to snuggle back in the comforting cotton-wool of blissful ignorance! Hurl yourself at goals above your head and bear the lacerations that come when you slip and make a fool of yourself. Try always, as long as you have breath in your body, to take the hard way, the Spartan way- and work, work, work to build yourself into a rich, continually evolving entity!”

– Sylvia Plath, Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath

Here are some of the prompts I gave myself:

What are some things you read this year? What connects them?
What are three pieces of media you compulsively come back to? What do they share?
What do you care about?

Adamari 9/21/2026