We Don Our Wizard Cloaks

On an extremely warm day in Tallahassee I put on my heavy, expensive, but very grand regalia and walked across the stage to receive my doctorate. There were about two-hundred graduates earning doctorates from FSU across areas of humanities, arts, sciences, and business. I was lucky to sit near my friends and fellow graduates from the biology department, as we could chat about our favorite faculty regalia and our favorite degree titles. The winners in each category were the Dean of the Graduate School who had a cardinal red robe with black block striping that looked like it took inspiration from the crusades and our favorite degree title was Doctor of Philosophy in Philosophy.

The theme of all the speeches was to never forget FSU and that FSU and its alumni will be with us wherever we settle down. Now while Tallahassee and FSU have never felt like home to me, I am grateful for the friends, colleagues, and faculty who have made this stop on my journey so enjoyable and memorable. I got to celebrate yesterday at the beach with some friends, which was a great way to mark the end of this chapter of my life.

So what's next? I don't know for once in my life. I have interviewed for multiple positions and I am waiting to hear back about a few opportunities, but I don't have anything lined up for the immediate future. My plan is to slowly pack up my apartment and then move back to New York until I find the right job. I have two interviews this upcoming week and other opportunities that I recently applied for, so I am hopeful that I will hear back soon. I am also spending time working with my Swedish colleagues on finishing our manuscript on some of the effects of microplastic pollution in meiofauna-dominated sediment systems; we meet this week to talk through some new directions for our writing and to rethink some of the narrative. 

Until I hear something concrete, I will continue to provide weekly updates but they will be shorter and maybe focused less on my own research. Once I hear about an opportunity and make a commitment, I will let you [the reader] know about where the future is taking me. See you next week.

---