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Category: Research

To Bloom New Possibilities: Atlus’s Hypocritical Portrayals of LGBTQ+ Narratives in Catherine: Full Body

While there was hope that Catherine: Full Body could fix the narrative issues from the original, it does the exact opposite. Catherine (either version), in essence, is a game where you play as a character who is -phobic and misogynistic, surrounding himself with others who mostly think like him. Vincent is sleazy, but we are encouraged to support his quest since he is the “hero” of the game. However, Vincent rarely learns that his behavior is abhorrent—the only time he has repercussions for his actions are in the “bad” endings of the game, and even then, there is no indication that Vincent would change anything about his behaviors.

Read the full article here.

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Dissertation Defense

I livestreamed my dissertation defense on April 27, 2018. If you would like to watch, the video can be found below.

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The Fear of Chapter Submission

I’ve gone through this before during my MA, but every time I get to the point of submitting a chapter to my advisor, I feel a massive amount of anxiety. I start to feel physically ill, I get headaches, and I constantly fear that everything that I wrote is going to go directly into the digital garbage can.

As I’ve mentioned before, I do suffer from imposter syndrome, which I feel is more common than many would think. I am always afraid that whatever I write will not be acceptable to people I consider infinitely smarter than me, and that I will be promptly laughed out of town.

Thanks, Zuko.
Thanks, Zuko.

Although it is not always as bad as it seems, my brain automatically goes straight to the worst possible scenario due to my anxiety. My initial thoughts are just what I could have done differently, who I could have had proofread it, if I was comfortable enough letting anybody proofread it, and the lingering thought of CAN I ACTUALLY DO THIS?!

The struggle is eternally real for me as a doctoral candidate, and all I really need/want is a lot of affirmation that, yes, little one. You do deserve to be here, and you’re not a huge idiot. You got here on your own merit, and even if the chapters aren’t perfect (They aren’t. They never will be), they’re still good.

Only THEN will I relax. Maybe…?

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The Taunting of a Blinking Cursor: Depression and the PhD

Every day when I wake up, one of the first things I do by habit is wake up my computer. As I do this, I’m inevitably greeted by my in-progress dissertation. Since I advanced to candidacy in Spring 2016, I’ve been attempting to make headway on chapters so I can finally be finished with my doctorate. I started this program in the fall of 2013, and people have been asking me since I began when I would be finished. (If you want a quick track on pissing off a graduate student, ask them when they’re going to finish their degree. It never fails.) The doctorate and dissertation in themselves are quite a daunting hurdle to overcome. For me, when I see that word document every single day, I’m reminded of my own personal demons and the overwhelming sense of anxiety and hopelessness that comes with seeing the blinking cursor and the page counts that never seem to go up, no matter how much effort I promise to and do put in that week.

What most people don’t know is that I was diagnosed in early 2014 with major depressive disorder, along with generalized anxiety disorder. While this has been something I have dealt with for many years before the diagnosis, the pressure and competition in a doctoral program became extremely intense and overwhelming to the point where I decided I needed outside help. I attended personalized therapy sessions and take way more medications that I ever thought somebody under the age sixty would take.

Despite all of my efforts, I still struggle every single day with these issues, and I rarely want to actually leave my apartment, much less work  on something that may well be considered one of the most important things I will have to create during my entire graduate career. I have not presented at a conference since 2014, since the last time I did, I nearly had a mental breakdown from the stress of having to speak to strangers about my ideas, while also accepting their criticism. While some may misconstrue this as laziness, to me, this is my reality. This is an everyday struggle, and as someone who seeks to be a people pleaser, I feel like I let others around me down since I do have these issues. As someone who suffers from imposter syndrome, I always worry that the more people are exposed to my work, the more they will think that I am a fraud for getting this far, despite the fact that I have worked hard for all of this.

The thing about academia is that you don’t hear of many colleagues speaking on issues that they have, especially if they’re related to anything like a mental illness. What people don’t talk much about is how isolating being in a doctoral program actually can be, and when you’re depressed and/or have anxiety, it makes it even more isolating. In general, people mistake depression and anxiety with, “well, yes. I too I get sad and stressed out. That’s normal!” Which, yes. That is normal. It’s difficult to understand what a depressed or anxious person goes through without actually experiencing it for yourself. (I would not wish it upon anyone.) During my presentation for my prospectus and my comprehensive exams, I felt an intensive amount of daily anxiety, and I sometimes questioned why I chose to put myself through this.

My answer is this—I have an intense passion for history. While I don’t necessarily have that same passion for writing, the dissertation is a hurdle that one must get over in order to have a doctorate in history, even if you aren’t at all interested in research academia as a career. So, every day that I wake up and stare that cursor down, all I can hope is that my fight will be worth it in the end.

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Updates

It’s been quite a while since I’ve blogged–partially because I have had little to say besides that I’m working on prospectus and comps–but since I’ve updated the website a little, I think it is better to give a little update. One of the biggest topics that I will begin blogging about is my progress with the dissertation, including commentary on games, methodology, and updates on the process.

Meanwhile, you guys can view my recent acquisitions!
Meanwhile, you guys can view my recent acquisitions!

 

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