I'd like to thank...

As of today, I am done with class indefinitely. 

Ah!! 

While there will be many, many more end-of-grad school posts, today I wanted to share the acknowledgments for my thesis: "Its Own Sense of Verisimilitude": The Lizzie Bennet Diaries As a Transhistorical Adaptation of the Semipublic. 

* * * * *

I would like to thank the professors and faculty at Oregon State for their guidance and support.  I am also grateful to the MA Symposium, the PAMLA and PCA/ACA Conferences where I got to try out many of these ideas.  Thank you to my committee: Bradley Boovy, Jillian St. Jacques, Jon Lewis, and especially to Megan Ward, who so often offered me the vocabulary for what I was trying to articulate.

To the creators whose work inspired this process, I cannot fully express my gratitude. To everyone at Pemberley Digital, who pursued this passion project with excellence and care, and to show runner Bernie Su for your vision, commentary, and responses to my Twitter inquiries.  Most importantly, to Jane Austen whose quietly subversive and effervescently witty work has shaped my life in a myriad of ways.

To all the artists and creators that became a part of my graduate school experience, thank you for making art.  Your work has sustained, invigorated, and fueled me.

To the friends who have supported my work whether in person or hypermediated forms. To my friends and colleagues at Oregon State, and specifically Hannah, Rita, Ethan, Hayley, the Emily’s, Melissa, and more.  To the graduate students from other fields who encouraged me and served as editors: Stephanie Downing and Jordan Cox—I could not have made it through grad school without you.  Thank you to Lois who introduced me to Lizzie Bennet, my kindred spirit Kristina, and dear friend Julia.  My thanks to Hannah Green for her endless enthusiasm about my work.  

I would like to thank my family for all their support.  Mom and dad, thanks for having me read aloud to you at night as a child.  To both of my “squads”…  Jeremiah and Melissa, your humor, encouragement, and love have meant the world to me.  And to my closest friends—Rebekah Gilley and Cami Morrill—thank you for the times you have literally held my hand through this process: you are my stars. 

My sincere gratitude to each of you!

*Celebrating six months on the job :)

fourteen.

So incredibly grateful for this guy:

[Josiah and I on graduation day 2012]

My brother Josiah is one of my absolute bestest friends!

Fourteen years ago today, he was handed a death sentence, a diagnoses of terminal lymphoma.

But God is so incredibly good and He interposed and gave Josiah life.

Fourteen years later, we are celebrating his graduation from college and now he's preparing to pack up his car and move off for grad school (which would be sad if it wasn't so exciting)

He is off to have some pretty amazing adventures and I'm so proud of him! But... I will miss him like the dickens!

Whether he's being silly, quoting disney movies, or cracking Boadicea jokes, Josiah can make me laugh like no one else.

[New Years 2012]

And it will be strange without him around.

[October 2011 - Husky homecoming with Dad's letterman blanket]

[September 2011 - Last, first day of school together]

[Jeremiah's MC graduation]

[Summer 2010 - a Summer visit to campus just before he started there]

Josiah, you've become such a deep person. No, not just in the sense that you can confuse mom with big sounding words in your (published =) articles. I mean that you are truly thoughtful, spirit-sensitive, knowledgeable, and compassionate. You have literally amazed me over the last several years by branching out to new types of people, working so incredibly hard, attaining things that seemed impossible. I'm so proud of you. And I'm so grateful for you!

Just wanted to take this day to appreciate who you are and the simple fact that you are here.

So grateful that God had plans for you on this earth that would take longer than 11 years to achieve. I'm so excited to see where those plans take you next.

Love you tons,

Samara

Having spent too many holidays with loved ones struggling for health, I have been so grateful this year that my friends and family are all alive (miracle--seriously!) and healthy. Over the last few weeks, there have been mutliple times where I've had "a moment"--a realization just how blessed I am. Every time I've teared up over this realization, I've said a quick prayer of gratefulness and for continued protection.

In the last few days, I've seen just a glimpse of the power of those prayers.

Just one specific example: my dear friend, Mrs. Kim White

I love this lady so much!

Over the past year, I have had the privilege of getting to know her

[and her hilarious man, Andrew],

 watch them fall in love the right way,

and get married.

Between wedding showers, staying with her British in-laws, surprise birthday parties, co-leading a small group in our youth ministry, sharing dreams and lots of laughter--I have just fallen in love with who Kim is.

But most of all, I have enjoyed hearing the Lord's heart through Kim. She has such an incredible relationship with the Lord and I love the way she represents him.

Yesterday Kim fell and hit her head.

She sustained a concussion, but I am grateful that it is not worse.

Kim, I am praying for your speedy recovery.

I am so grateful for your friendship and I love you tons!!