“Roll initiative“, my partner says delightfully to our adventuring party, in real life imbibing and snacking on foods that are unfortunately not soft pretzels, with a trio of corgis at our feet. Interrupting the small levels of chaos is my phone buzzing in my pocket. It’s a 312 area code, not recognizable to me, and it’s a Sunday. If it’s important, they’ll leave a message, I reason. We’re about to finish our three-shot arc of my partner’s first DM’d original campaign, confronting the biggest of bads on behalf of our highly secretive organization.
Looking at my phone, I see a notification pop up about a voicemail and wait for it to be transcribed, thinking “I guess it’s important”. My eyes widen as I process what I’m reading. Something about the Ph.D. in Disability Studies, nomination for a fellowship, emails, and a deadline to call back in less than an hour. Opening up my email, I read:
“Congratulations! I am pleased to inform you that the Department’s Academic Affairs Committee has favorably reviewed your application to the PhD program in Disability Studies for Fall 2022 admission. The Committee will recommend to the Graduate College that you be admitted on degree-seeking status. An official email will be sent in a few weeks. We will nominate you for the Access to Excellence Fellowship. […] I will need the documents by 5 pm (CST) this Sunday, February 5th. This will allow us time to finalize your nomination packet and submit before Monday’s noon deadline.”
Right now we are killing the biggest of bads, it’s already 3 pm on that Sunday, and I find out I got into the PhD program of my dreams, and I could be funded for it? Leaving the table during the height of combat was odd, to say the least, as I, try to read through the emails that arrived in my inbox after I left work on Friday at 5. Having a nearly out-of-body experience, I’m calling back to understand exactly what they still need for the fellowship application.
As the rest of our adventuring party resolves their actions, I try to process what I learned, commandeering my partner’s laptop to be sure I was reading things correctly, while getting questioning looks. I hear cheers as they finish killing the biggest of bads and saving the city (and the world) from sure destruction. The party looks at me, I’ve finally found the words to say “I found out I got into the PhD in Disability Studies and they’re nominating me for a fellowship.”
My adventuring party cheers again, just for me, because I got into the PhD program of my dreams.