A Summer Night's Ope

October 11, 2020 In true Mandy fashion, I started writing this introductory blog post in May 2019 and forgot about it for two whole months. Now, waiting in the dentist's office (it's July 31st, 2019) twelve minutes past my appointment time, I randomly thought about it again. And OH HELLO it is January 19, 2020 and I realized I never actually posted this when it was completely written and ready to go. And, WHAT DO YOU KNOW, it's now actually October 11, 2020 during what can only be known as Plague Year.  OPE.  Welcome to A Summer Night's Ope, in which I share drabbles of my life as a quirky, ambitious, daydreaming PhD student in composition and rhetoric. Well, candidate now, as my exams and prospectus are done and I am moving into dissertation work.  Below was my original first post that I still feel obligated to share for archiving purposes and to remember what it feels like to be a first-year PhD student. Afterward is a coda. INTRODUCTION It's 8:52am on Friday, May