A.B.D.
What you bring will be your greatest challenge.
“A.B.D.” is academic shorthand for “All But Dissertation.” It is a liminal state, after having completed coursework and the dissertation proposal, but not having submitted an “acceptable” doctoral dissertation. There is a transition in the process from being without data to having completed data collection (in the sciences), and it being time to write.
A doctoral dissertation involves both highly individualistic labor, and deep collaboration with one’s advisors, outside reader(s), and personal supporter(s). Woe be unto the candidate who has not grasped the politics of their discipline, for they risk having to navigate between an ideological Scylla and Charybdis, to achieve their goal. And as I mentioned in other writings about the task, the doctoral dissertation serves no other purpose than to mint new thinkers in the discipline.
No one ever writes a second dissertation in a field where they have already completed one. It would serve no purpose. The dissertation marks the movement out of the liminal, to the terminal.
I had my own code for ABD: “Another Beautiful Day.” I tried mentally flipping the foreboding pressure so as to negate it; it barely worked, but it was better than nothing.
The weather forecast for Marshfield, Massachusetts and vicinity calls for temperatures in the mid-60’s, with full sunshine. Yesterday was the first day since late October that the heat did not come on; and I had the windows open. Today is ABD, and I am going to treat it as such.
Here is a list of my “proposals” in the works.
“One On Guns” was just titled this morning; that is why it is at the top. It will concern the murder of Alex Pretti and the responses by Trump Administration officials to it; in particular, the fact he was disarmed by state agents and murdered, and the ensuing threats made against citizens’ right to bear arms.
“A Brief Labor History of MLB” may end up becoming a book. While I have written about Curt Flood and Free Agency, the upcoming lockout (Dec. 1, 2026) that everyone knows is coming has caused me to revisit the subject, especially as one of the sticking points will be dividing league revenues coming from legal gambling on MLB performances.
As the individual gambler may be seen as having a “gambling problem,” but casino shareholders who put up their money against the individual gamblers are though to be immune (the “problem” is not caused by gambling, as they are constantly gambling), MLB players are held culpable for betting on any games while league owners are taking bets on every game, through multi-state gambling apps they collect commissions from.
“Name That School” is about local politics and culture in Scituate, Mass., as the School Committee sets out to name the new elementary school. Conflicts about identity, branding, authority, and national politics have been stirred up. My suggestion is they name the school after John Harvard so every kid—no matter their future career—can say they graduated from Harvard.
“With NORML Efforts” is the material from my first (2023) application for the position of Executive Director for the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.
“Only Room for Two” concerns the Democratic Party and the 2028 Presidential election. The party never repaired the dysfunction that became obvious in 2016. After leadership collaborated to give Old Joe Biden the nod in 2020, they still did not trust voters in 2024, so they protected Biden by not running real primaries. Those who still post memes about how horribly sexist and racist voters were to not pick Kamala Harris neglect to account for the DNC itself discouraging her and others from running for the office, until they had no other choice. We are going to see a Neoliberal bloodbath among the Democrats, while the voters will again cotton more to Democratic-Socialist policy proposals.
“Restaurants” is a piece on food, social class, and commerce. It’s been dangling for the longest. I am not sure it will be developed any further in its current state.
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