talk machines

I’m completely overwhelmed by the rhetorical skills of American PhD students — actually, by the rhetorical skills of everyone who’s not an Australian humanities postgrad, which seems to be the worst possible combination of institutionalised incapacities to explain anything. Add my own personal disjuncture between talking and writing, and I’m scared shitless of presenting at conferences. Writing’s hard enough as it is for me, but it’s a fucking cakewalk compared to speaking — whenever I open my mouth in front of more than two people, my capacity for thought suddenly ends. This is why I’m reading my paper tomorrow, instead of using notes as I’d planned. Which is why I’m now writing my paper, the night before. :)