dear professors of the english language,

word on the street is that some of you read our blogs.  "our" meaning the grad students.  so here's what i have to say:

you have no idea what it does to a tired, theory-beaten, behind-schedule, enthusiastically curious but not so confident graduate student when you tell her with bright eyes and a sincere smile that you think her ideas will work well,

when you brush off her concerns about starting too late or being behind with a brush of your hand and an, "oh well," and then move on to more interesting topics like her ideas,

when you say that of all the grad students you'd like to work with, she'd be it,

when you say that her plans for the future sound marvelous and promising

(even though they don't necessarily entail a phd immediately),

when you say you also once had a love of photography. 

i left your office with a bounce in my step and a new energy for this whole thesis/life thing.