the latest meme

The latest meme reads something like this:

1. Go into your archive.

2. Find your 23rd post (or closest to).

3. Find the fifth sentence (or closest to).

4. Post the text of the sentence in your blog along with these instructions.

My results:

"I've really enjoyed the study periods that we've had as a group and it saddens me that the kind of collaborative work that we are doing in preparing for this test is rare in the profession of my choice."

I wrote this two days before the preliminary comprehensive exam - which seems like an eternity ago - and which didn't go well for me. Perhaps I enjoyed the study sessions too much? But it got me thinking and talking about collaboration, the isolation of academia, and then into a strange tangent about co-workers and a rant about dogmatic people, about the only people who I've ever had problems getting along with.

But since writing that sentence, I've become very involved in a Grad student colloquium at school, which, while it isn't collaboration, is at least an opportunity to share the work that we're doing with our colleagues. Looking back, I've realized that's one of the things that will be a drawback for me in academia - that sense of cooperation that comes from being part of a well-run work team. I will miss that feeling. (I won't miss the equally strong but much less pleasant feeling of being part of a team that doesn't work however!)