This article is for those of you that desire the assistance of some experienced wisdom. Accordingly, I have to provide some disclaimers here. First, I am not finished yet with my doctoral work. I am finishing the halfway point of my dissertation work this month. So, I have brought in the voices of many of my doctor peers who have long ago gone through the process and have finished. Others, more recent grads, provide some insight into the latest and greatest. Another disclaimer: I dont know your school, its policies, or its way of doing doctoral business. Accordingly, take each point here and test it against what you know to be true at your school, in your program. Finally, keep in mind that I am speaking to those in the social sciences in this article. In the end, the choice to take up any of this wisdom is yours. This is what has worked for me.

The Five Things I Should Have Done Earlier in My Doctoral Program

1. Create a dissertation cave

That’s right! A cave. As you can imagine, a cave is a place where there is often only one way in or out, where one can get lost for hours with your pursuits often untracked, undisturbed by the people above ground. There is never a moment to soon to start creating your cave. Find a place that can be dedicated toward the completion of the largest piece of your doctoral work. This is a sacred space only dedicated to the practice of completing your dissertation journey. At this suggestion, many may say, “What a waste of space! Why should I take up a whole office or bedroom for something for which I am only going to be doing a couple times a week?” This hits exactly on one of the biggest reasons to create a dissertation cave: if you are not in it at least a few times a week (if not every day, like me and my cave), there is something deeply wrong. The book The Dissertation Journey by Roberts (2004) is an excellent guide for starting this process.

What should be in your cave?

All the delights that one needs to go into a cave: food, water, an iPod. I would like to also add to this list a comfortable chair. The best investment I have made for my cave is a $300 chair that was on CLEARANCE for $100 at my local office supply short.

2. Take stock of my store. Hold a fire sale. Make room for your doctoral work and dissertation.

Sitting with a great mentor of mine, he asked me what my greatest goal in life was “right now.” I told him it was to finish my dissertation. He replied, “Where on your list of priorities does it sit each day?” The question hit me like a truck. I was so busy with the business of life that dissertation was often last on my list. After a long process of taking inventory and purging my life (even if just temporarily) of distracations, I started to have plenty of time to work on that big paper. Here are my suggested steps:

a. Make a list of every task that takes up your time each week.

b. Separate this list into three new lists. (1) Must Do’s; (2) Should Do’s; (3) Don’t Have To’s.

c. For the Don’t Have To’s, decide if any are more deserving than your dissertation project. Can they be post-poned? Commit to getting rid of most of these items within the next few weeks or months, if not immediately.

d. For the Should Do’s, ask the same question as in item C above. For the items that you have decided to do, create a list of steps that will lead you to removing that item from the list (doing the task).

e. Accept that you have a list of “Must Do’s”. Schedule efficiently. Consider reading The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss to learn how to simplify your life.

f. Commit not adding anything to the “Don’t Have To” list. Commit to adding VERY little to the “Should Do’s”.

3. Read research. Develop an interest in an area of study and the methods often used therein.

This is a pretty straight forward one. Go online into Proquest and find three dissertations a week and READ THEM. I emphasize the last part of that step. By reading research, one becomes more in sync with the style of writing and logic found therein. I recommend reading mostly work from your university and department, but feel free to venture out if you wish.

In addition to TRULY reading dissertations done by others, I greatly thrived off buying research manuals and reading them. I learned much about the research process, the ways of conceptualizing research, and how to propose research by reading books that are well known in these areas. Here are the books I found most useful.

(a) Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Research (3rd Edition) by Creswell. Great for all around knowledge regarding different methods of research, qualitative and quantitative. Start here.

(b) Qualitative Research & Evaluation Methods (3rd Edition) by Patton. This is, perhaps, one of the most-read authors of his kind. If you think interviews, observation, and other brands of qualitative methods may be in your research future, consider buying this.

(c) Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches (3rd Edition) by Creswell. Regardless of what you are going to do, this book provides an UNBELIEVABLE step-by-step approach to conceptualizing research. VERY useful to me.

(d) Your Opinion Please! by Cox. If surveys may be in your future, this is a very useful book.

(e) The Practice of Social Research by Babbie. This book has it all, from how to follow up with survey mailings, how to conduct interviews, how to do research from A to Z.

4. Create writing goals. Write.

Regardless of where you are in your process, there is always something to do on your dissertation. Create goals based upon your readings of the above texts or your favorite research manual. Write EVERY DAY. Not sure what to do today? Too burnt out? Choose a dissertation that you think is a great model and create a template file for your dissertation. Write your “acknowledgements” and “dedication.” Create the quotes that will head each chapter. Start building your reference list. Don’t fall into the “I cant today” rut — take charge for at least one hour each day and get something done.

5. Build accountability.

The book The Dissertation Journey by Roberts (2004) has an excellent chapter about building dissertation groups. My recommendation, find three other people who are serious about finishing their dissertation soon. For best results, each member should be at a similar place as you (if not slightly in front or behind). Meet in person a couple times a month to work. This is your day out of your cave. Work together for about eight hours, getting a meal at the same time. Ask your dissertation chair, learning group leader, or faculty mentor to follow up with you regularly about dissertation progress.

Summary

You are in charge of your doctoral work. It’s up to you to finish it. Take the wisdom of others that have gone before you (or are slightly ahead of you) and make a commitment to take the steps needed to finish strong. If you have not already, buy some (if not all) the texts above in item 3 that will be useful to you. Engage in research.

Hope you found this useful. Till next time!

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The First Seven Days

By Guy E. White, with Dr. Larry L. Biddle & Richard Parkhouse

I am excited to announce a milestone for my family and I: my first book is published this week! That’s right! My first published book, The First Seven Days goes on sale this week on Amazon.com and all major book outlets. My family and I are proud of this shared achievement — one which we all can take credit for, supporting one another. Thank you to those specific persons who have supported me who I acknowledge at the start of the book. Additionally, thank you to all those of you who believed in me this year, who knew that I could reach this goal, and encouraged me at every step. Many blessings to you all.

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About the book

Two dudes and a stick got the Hebrews out of Egypt – because they had a great boss. However, many of our “leaders” fail the leadership sobriety test: their thinking cannot walk in a straight line, their left hand does not know what the right is doing, driving their organization straight to death, litigation, or, worse – persistent suckiness. Meanwhile, people who understand what the people their teams, groups or organizations need become like Moses parting the waters.

Why do some groups, teams, and organizations survive while others die? How do we improve the chances that a group will thrive? In The First Seven Days, accomplished educator Guy E. White with contributors Larry Biddle and Richard Parkhouse tackle these vexing questions. Inside, Guy reveals the anatomy of a successful organization’s foundation and explains a sure-fire, seven one-hour session method for building a kick-ass team.

In this indispensable, step-by-step guide, we discover that the survival of groups, from bible studies to multinational corporations, depends on the same critical foundations.

The First Seven Days is a book that will transform the way that you build your group, team, or organization from the ground up. It’s a fast-paced, step-by-step guide for any group, new or old, that wishes to create a strong foundation built upon shared values, common vision, and individual and corporate goals with accountability. Provocative and eye-opening, The First Seven Days shows us the principles of successful ideas at work – and how we can apply these rules to making our own organizations become all that they are meant to be.

This is no joke, this happened to a friend of mine last year. Imagine sitting with all your friends as they are making final preparations to walk across that stage — you cant do it for another year.

Choosing a dissertation chair is one of the most important decisions you will make as a doctoral student. As Roberts (2004) says in her book, The Dissertation Journey, the choosing of a chair is like choosing who will be one of your most closest business parters for a year or more. YES, a year or more. If you are in the second year of your doctoral program, and your optimistic goal is to finish within a year: you better already have a grand idea about who you will be working with on that paper called “dissertation”. But much more important: you should have the hutzpah to take the time necessary to pick the right person for you.

My Tips For Finding the Right Dissertation Chair

Step One: Forget commitments you have made yourself about completing research. Promise we make to ourselves are often forms of procrastination in disguise. Instead, starting working on your research TODAY.

Step Two: Open that research text you know you should have bought a year ago. The best one that I know of for most doctoral students in the beginnings of their work is Creswell (2007). This book has numerous sections in the back of the book talking about the different forms of research. READ THEM! Yes, really, read – them.

Step Three: Choose a form of research that interests you. Ask yourself if you prefer (1) [qualitative] talking, interviewing, looking, being in the midst of it all, reading essay responses, or (2) [quantitative] counting surveys that are mailed or electronically submitted. The answer to that question will probably significantly chart the course of your readings and what kind of chair with which you want to work. Consider buying a book that specializes in the type of research toward which you are leaning: Qualitative | Quantitative

Step Four: Talk to people who have completed their dissertations at your school. Easiest way: walk up to people and start asking questions. Second easiest: look up people who have graduated from your program on Facebook and ask questions. Third: Go on Proquest and find dissertations published from your school within the last two years. Get the names — find the authors using Google or your favoriate social media tool, such as Twitter, Facebook, or (God help us) MySpace.

Step Five: Interview prospective chairs. Interview many.

What To Ask A Prospective Dissertation Chair

My good friend, Sister Linda, had an excellent finish to her doctoral program. Of the FIFTY PEOPLE in my program, she was one of SEVEN who finished on time. When first and second year doctoral students hear that staggering statistic, their mouths gape. YES, in many doctoral programs throughout the nation, only a small percentage of students finish on time, based on their estimations. As Linda explained to me, choosing a chair was “key” in her success in finishing on time. Accordingly, she clued me in to nine key questions to ask a chair when building that relationship. The key questions are:

1. What was your dissertation on?

2. What are your research interests?

3. Are you more comfortable with quantitative or qualitative work?

4. How many dissertations have you chaired? How many are you chairing right now? How many more students will you accept?

5. What does a great chair experience look like for you? What does the student do? What do you do?

6. How do you guide the student through the process? Do you have a set process, or is it all up to me?

7. Logistically, how do you like to meet? Phone? Email? How do I submit work to you? Paper shipments? Electronically?

8. Are you planning any sabbaticals or extended leaves in the coming year or so?

9. Could I speak to a few of your past students about their experience? How do I reach them?

10. When I am ready, how do I contact you to get this process started?

Closing Thoughts

Working with a dissertation chair has been one of the more rewarding experiences of my doctoral journey. Choosing the right chair is one of the most important decisions you will make in this effort. Overall, entering a relationship like this, which will last for a year or more, my hope is that you will take the time necessary to make this important decision. Looking at my tuition bill: I see this as a $60,000 or more decision — hope you treat it like such. Would love to hear your comments.

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2010

California Association of Directors of Activities (CADA) State Conference

◊ March 3-6 | Reno, NV | Sierra Grand Resort | Tickets Here

Speaking to Dir En Grey via an interpreter, they say that their purpose when touring is to “be able to focus on what they want to tell the people”, pointing to the notion that despite the language barrier, they seek to communicate with their audience abroad through feeling the “music in the body” and the “sounds in the atmosphere”. However, even more surprising is their admission that they “don’t care what the fans are feeling” – they are there to speak to the fans, nothing more.

Dir En Grey, formed in 1997, roots itself in Japan’s visual kei movement, baring similarities to bands of the Glam rock movement in the United States and Europe. The band has slowly moved away from this image over the course of releasing six albums and has gained notoriety on more than three continents. Dir En Grey’s music cannot be easily dismissed as a Japanese equivalent of Deftones, Korn and Flyleaf mixed with black lipstick and hairspray – their visuals dramatically infused with ghostly images of isolation, rage, and disturbed apathy. In the case of one of their music videos, the viewer acts like a intoxicated partygoer, leaving consciousness at the sight of Kyo, the band’s lead, to awaken to the sign of a disembodied, live head in a birdcage staring out with stunned eyes. It looks like an 8mm version of the Paris Hilton video seemingly directed by Marilyn Manson.

Dir En Grey says that the biggest difference between their American and Japanese audience is that their American audience is more apt to respond though jumping, dancing, and moving their bodies. This phenomenon hints that an American audience is ready and willing to accept bands such as Dir En Grey from foreign shores: despite the ambiguity of their message – without any idea what is being sung or celebrated.

Dir En Grey is a hellfire puzzle-box waiting to be unlocked by the susceptible fan – a road best not taken by the light at heart or the mentally stable. For example, Kyo, the band’s vocalist is noted for the presence of heavy burns upon his skin and engaging in self-mutilation on stage. While the authenticity of these acts is disputed, this performance suggests an underlying theme throughout there being. They are much more complex than this. Giving them credit, their use of makeup and occasional effeminate self-presentation lends to their visual kei base, while appealing to performance enthusiasts though their dramatic stage presence lends to a fuller understanding of the band as a prophetic dynamo. While imagery such as that espoused by Dir En Grey has been seemingly on a decline in recent years, Korn seems to believe that this workhorse his far from dead. Arguably, Korn understands something huge is coming.

Somewhere between a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle action figure box, Nintendo’s Maniac Mansion and Garbage Pail Kids one will find the style of artist Joe Simko. Splashed or oozed, as it were, onto everything related to the Vans Warped Tour 2006, Simko’s art is a blender-splattered mix of slime, tentacles, and disembodied eyes, heads, hands and nearly any other body part you can imagine. Over the past three years, his art has become iconic in neo-punk, rock, and Indy scenes on both coasts – symbolic of the furthering infusion of pop art, music, and culture.

Simko defies traditional conventions as his artistic style draws upon influences solely found within the past three decades of pop culture, mashing these facets into a chunky jelly of cereal box art, kitsch, slasher comics and a graphic wonderland of acid-induced musings. Where else could you see a punked out cheerleader command a swarm of killer, flying eyeballs while holding a pompom and a fiddle? Simko’s art is on the edge of the meshing of worldwide pop culture that will dominate the direction of media for decades forward.

Success has come at a price, however, as he has not had a office job in years – by choice. He considers the alternatives to arranging work by word of mouth and email, but understand that working for a large studio means loss of freedom and time. He is not suffering, taking on a job in May’s Magama Festival:

“Coming up is the punk rock hardcore festival in Japan with New York and Japanese bands. I am a in a better position than warped tour… now I am the art director. I came up with the theme of giant monsters. In Japan, they will have cell phone covers with the art on it… t-shirts, posters, everything.”

With complete freedom, Simko will enjoy running the festival in regards to art direction. While his gig with Vans Warped Tour 2006 offered him the ability to have his name and art presented nationwide, Magma will offer him to build a name for himself as a true professional, at a level that will lead t o further jobs down the line. For those of us watching our TVs, reading our Skinnie’s, and listening to our music, these new opportunities for artists such as Simko, being involved on a very visible, tangible level at concerts, conferences, and festivals will translate to events of a strikingly higher quality – a quality of events that has been on the rise in recent years.

Considering the growing venues by which artists such as Simko can transmit their talent, there is little doubt that this growing trend of pop culture infusion in media will be the wave of the future – frankly, it is the status quo today. Get involved. Post your talent online. You might be the next big discovery.
Published in April, 2007, Skinnie Entertainment Magazine

When 40-year-olds with makeup on CNN and FoxNews discuss Second Life as being the next revolution in communication, networking, and virtual reality, one has to ask, “Haven’t ANY of these people seen Lawnmower Man?” For the majority of us who know the difference between a back button and a start button, there is no surprise that the success of Second Life, a massively multiplayer online role-playing experience, is not the result of revolutionary design, programming, or innovation, it has simply been marketed better than any other similar product out there – oh, and the users are getting smarter.

Ten years ago, Dragon’s Eye Productions, Inc., released Furcadia, a massively multiplayer online social game that, for free, allowed players to create a personalized character to represent their virtual selves, called an Avatar, and interact with other players online. Eventually, players were able to obtain land, create their own home and invite others to talk and play. This was in 1996, when most people in the United States still did not have a computer in their home. Well, times have changed. Computers are everywhere – and it almost seems antiquated to say that.

Frankly, there are dozens of similar pieces of software out there on the market, but what makes Second Life stand out from all the others is the buzz created by a single word – marketing. Consider this: the Internet, in large, exists as a vast library. Any time you type a word into a search box in Google or MySpace, billions of pages are suddenly at your finger tips. Out of the infinite possibilities of pages you could click on, one thing is certain; you will see an ad somewhere along the way. Companies such as Google do not make a product to sell on store shelves – people invest in Google just because they are betting that the company will sell more adspace to other companies than anyone else. Well folks, here comes Second Life. Instead of interacting with the web in a click and scroll scavenger hunt, Second Life allows you to explore a virtual world, socially interact with others, go to college, attend business meetings, and even engage in online commerce (yes, you can actually buy things in Second Life). Eventually, there are going to be a lot of billboards littering the landscape. Companies are more than willing to pay.

Companies such as Illusion Factory are already taking part in this online revolution, but not in the way that you are thinking. Chief executive officer, Brian Weiner is shepherding his digital flock into something truly unique, being one of the few (if not the only) company to be focusing on philanthropic purposes (that’s “charity” for you illiterate nubes) in the virtual universe. Brian explains one his first projects in Second Life, a virtual learning center: “We built 20 pods that people climb into and fly out to the middle of the room so you are in a nice circle and there is a streaming whiteboard. My thought process was that I would get a professor of cardiology from Harvard and he would do a very specialized demonstration of some form of a heart surgery of one of the valves. He would lecture to people from all different continents with students sitting on the floor. We would bring in a huge three-dimensional heart and then we do a Fantastic Voyage moment and go into the valve and watch it work. I think the opportunity to teach things in the virtual space allows teaching methodologies that have never been available.” Illusion Factory, a company which is based upon the guiding principle of doing the impossible, will surely be a power play in the emerging virtual world – the real Internet. Watch for other such companies to spring into existence soon, pushing the mark even higher for innovation.

Second Life offers users a number of features that are not new to this genre of software, but will seem special to those who before which have never interacted online with others in this fashion. Registration is simple and easy, choosing a username, which consists of a first name of your creation and a last name chosen from a drop-down list of pre-established family names within the Second Life universe. The whole process takes less than a few minutes. The client (software package) is then downloaded and is about 35 megabytes for Windows users (God help you) and 65 megs for Mac enthusiasts. After a quick, mindless installation, you can log in and be walking around the world of Second Life. New users must complete a number of introductory tasks designed to teach them how to interact within the virtual world – yes, walking lessons, dressing lessons, etc. For the seasoned pro, this part really bites. Within twenty minutes of first browsing onto secondlife.com, you can be online, chatting with friends, building your own house or business, and avoiding Harvey, the 36-year-old pervert who lives with his mother.

Even the most experienced gamer may have difficulty when first being introduced to Second Life. Initially, when you first register, you must choose an avatar from only a handful of body types. You can’t even change the hair color when first setting up your account. One may find themselves deciding if they want to look like the guy from Queer As Folk or that guy who was stalking you last time you went to the club. When first being introduced to the gaming environment, it is very difficult to understand where you are spatially in relation to everything else. Ironically, Orientation Island, where you first are placed in the game, can be a very disorientating experience, especially if you have a suffering internet connection. Over a very short amount of time, most users will be able to interact with the universe of Second Life with very little difficulty.

What does make Second Life revolutionary is its employment of uBrowser, a piece of Second Life’s software engine that is used to display web pages on any surface of any 3D object. What this means is that any user can create a building that shows a web page of their design in the Second Life universe. This translates to huge opportunities for businesses that are seeking an virtually new market of adspace. Anyone who can place their money on that bet may reap unimaginable profits. Get this – the Linden Dollar is now a currency that is actually traded against the U.S. Dollar. That is something that no other software can boast.

So, users who are looking to do research for that next essay probably will not find much use for Second Life – yet! However, if you want to be part of the next chapter of a true virtual reality, sign up today. Second Life will not be the last piece of software of its kind, but finally people are buzzing about this technology. The future is ours for the designing.

Published in April, 2007, Skinnie Entertainment Magazine.

Speaking to Busdriver, there is a sense of self-deprecating abstraction that lends to his seemingly surreal visage: The contact number his publicist provides is the artists actual cell phone number. Farquhar, surprised by the call, provides an introductory, “Oh, yeah… hello… um… yeah!” It seems second nature to for an experienced interviewer to check to make sure the right number has been dialed. Asked about what he is currently working on, he says, “Nothing. I am working on another Busdriver record, I guess, nothing terribly exciting – just keeping it going. Usually after I do a record I record a couple songs just to get off whatever extra creative ideas that I have lying around. This time around I am just trying to stockpile songs. Beyond just doing more Busdriver crap, I don’t have any plans.” He does not seem thrilled.

His records, however, speak for his talent as an innovative artist who addresses not only BD’s own personal broodings about life, society, and spirituality, but muses in a style reflective of the unmistakable Goodlife roots that are grounded in nothing less than underground themes. Undeniably, as a relatively obscure underground artist, Busdriver retains the ability to speak about that which he wants. “[In hip hop] the political rap just sort of died off. At least the whole, didactic, Public Enemy derived rap – there is only a handful of people that can do it. Like a Mortal Technique, Sage Francis, people who do it. I want to do it – I tackle controversial issues. I don’t necessarily want to take that approach with vaguely different slants. I think the approach is more important than the actual content. The approach I take may be more valuable. I don’t know! For hip hop there was always a difference in the LA sound. We had little real kind of violent kind of ganster stuff. On the flip side of the coin, we had the free kind of free willing underground style of hip hop with groups like the Fellowship and the Farside.” BD expresses his desire to produce content that is didactic and alive.

His new album is no exception. “[The new album] Is called Road Kill Overcoat. I wanted it to be a song oriented rap album kind of … *trailing off* I doesn’t know what to say about this album. It shoots for the stars at certain points. It’s filling a grander scope.” One cant help but feel a bit made fun of, as his answers provide no substance whatever. Suddenly, however, the artist comes to life, saying, “One of the most predominant themes is me making fun of liberals or the left – basically calling them out on being ultimately gun-shy. Because of the war and the anti-war sentiment going around and the substantial unreliable vision of about the current administration. You know, the Dems are taking over the house and senate – hopefully they can put some things into motion. I just did that because of how I feel. It was a fun scene. The little words and terms are fun to toy with. I really like to tackle issues with words and terms. I am not trying to beat anyone down – I am, in a sense, beating down people with ideas, but I don’t want to beat anyone down. I want it to be enjoyable – not necessarily fun. What is the point of making music anyway? Do I have an agenda? Do I want people to pull away with some sort of idea?” His listeners naturally do and through his musical narrative his listeners may find themselves challenged by his ideology. However, as with any underground music, it invites response from the audience. In the vacuum of iTunes, something may be lost in the translation. Good thing he is going on tour.

In the next months, BD will tour with art punk, noise band Deerhoof from January to February nationwide. “They are an edgy sound. I went to go hear them play. When I was backstage, the lead singer was signaling someone offstage and I thought she was talking so someone else. She was talking to me and I freaked out – she wanted me to sit in, so I freaked out and I sat in. After that they said, ‘Yeah, we should gig with us.’. We will do some shows in end of January and the middle of February. After that I am touring with god-knows-what.” Asked about other projects that may be in the works he says, “I wish I did! I have been trying to create side projects but I cant find any that make any sense that would actually happen. My band and I are hoping one day we can get into a movie or something like that.”
Published in January, 2007, Skinnie Magazine.