you can take the girl out of WM, but it takes more than that to silence the TWAMP

Today I tore myself from the library long enough to check out the Graduate English Association (GEA) at their first meeting of the year. It was a great opportunity to learn more about the MA/PhD program, meet students in various stages with various bits of advice, and get a first look at what social/academic events are upcoming this semester.

I really enjoyed having an opportunity to hobknob with my colleagues in a (nonthreatening) Q&A environment, with a social calendar to boot. They host Happy Hours, among other grad student and inter-campus events, and sponsor awesome nerdy things like book swaps and after-hours faculty seminars. (Remember how magically the national MLA conference is in Philadelphia this year? The GEA is negotiating Temple involvement!) As neat and helpful as it is, the group is somewhat disjointed: they don't have funding and are student reps, so evidently it becomes difficult to find committee chairs and volunteers to sponsor and set up events. At the meeting, for example, my mentor Caitlin reluctantly agreed to chair the interim Social committee position while they search for a long-term person.

I bet you can guess what came next. Say "Hi" to the newest member of the (Events) committee!

[Ed. Note: This might be grounds for an intervention.]