From Lindsay

Hello all,

I’ve enjoyed reading about everyone else’s “after WWU” experiences and thought I’d throw in my two cents. I’m about to begin my third year in the PhD program at the University of New Hampshire. I take my last required course this fall (but will probably end up taking another in the spring) and take my qualifying exams in March, which means it’s almost dissertation time. It finally feels like there is an end insight! As much as I love being a grad student, I’m ready to move onto the next phase.

Overall, I’ve been pretty happy with the program here. I’m working with some great professors and the grad student community is collaborative and supportive. The only real problem I’ve encountered is that the department in general is pretty anti-theory, which means that theory is not incorporated into any of the courses outside of a theory course that is offered once per year. While theory isn’t necessarily something I ever intended to specialize in, it has played a part in most of the work of done over the last couple of years, particular gender and cultural studies. I have found that there are a number of professors here who specialize in different areas of theory, but I need to seek them out and work independently on projects with them, which can be a bit frustrating. Otherwise, though, I’ve found a program that is very much like Western. It’s relatively small with professors with a wide array of interests who are really engaged with the grad student community. It’s been great.

I’ve been teaching comp here for the last couple of years and finally get to start teaching an intro to lit course this fall, a women’s studies course next fall, and American lit courses at some point. This should be the last I see of comp at UNH and I can’t say I’m sorry to see it go.

Pat and I are still living in Portsmouth NH, a hotspot for tourists wanting to “experience” New England charm. There are things we like about this part of the country, but we are counting the days until we can get back to the Northwest, or at least the western part of the country. The winters are long (the university closed on 3 different days in April because of snow and ice) and unbearably cold, not to mention that outside of Boston (1 hour south of us), there are no cities here. It’s largely a collection of small towns and we start to get a little stir crazy.

We were able to buy a home last summer, which has helped to make Portsmouth feel a bit more like home. Housing in New England is not cheap, so we got into a fixer upper without realizing what exactly that meant. Structurally, the place is pretty sound, but an older couple had been living in it for 40 years before we bought it and the interior needed a lot of work. There wasn’t a wall that didn’t have wallpaper, much of it fuzzy and moldy, except for the room with wood paneling. The carpets were molding in places and the yard completely overrun. Needless to say, it’s kept us busy. The wallpaper is all down and the carpet ripped out, but every project we take on takes about 5 times longer than expected and costs three times as much.

We’re currently in the process of remodeling the only bathroom in the house, taking it down to the studs and replacing everything. We’re hoping that all of this work pays off when we sell in a few years.

The house did allow us to get our puppy Payton, a lab and border collie (among other things) mix, who is just about the best thing ever. We got her at 12 weeks from the pound and she’s now just over a year old.

I’m glad to hear everyone is doing so well. Thanks for sharing and keep in touch.

Lindsay