A Scholarly Success
scrappybadger September 18th, 2007
I presented my very first professional paper at a conference in Richmond, Virginia this weekend. It was nerve wracking, and Piig spent much of Thursday and Friday morning riding a roller coaster of Badger emotions. They ranged from slightly to very panicked, and Badger ain’t no fun when she’s nervous! It took me several days to narrow my paper down to the 20 minutes allotted for presentations, and I hurriedly threw together a visual presentation to go with it. I was discussing 19th century advertisements, so it made sense to have pictures. I managed to get it all finished the night before, but we didn’t arrive in Richmond until well after midnight.
After I presented I got lots of questions which is always a very good thing. Most of them wanted to know more about some aspect of my research or to ask what I thought about a related topic. One, however, was the kind of thing I was dreading. I got a snarly comment from a woman well known at this particular conference. I defended my position while allowing for the fact that she made a good point (because she did). I think I handled it well. In fact, I was extremely proud of myself. It was the kind of academic shot in the arm I’ve been needing. I tend to put a lot of pressure on myself. I expect perfection and berate myself for not being able to do the impossible. Because of that I often doubt my ability to “hang” in academia. And it doesn’t matter how many times people tell me that I’m good enough, it usually doesn’t sink in. Experiencing it for myself makes it more real, though. It feels good.
I’ll post more about Richmond soon.
