One of the ways I get traffic here is by building an archive of strangely topical narrow interest content. For instance, a google image search for travis will probably show you this image of Jessica Travis who I went to theater school with:

And so it goes. This is cool because from time to time people who I've lost touch with will decide to google someone they know (not even me, dear ego) and come across my site. The other week Randal Cohn, who was assistant director of the Ad/Diction project (nee: the QuickFix) dropped me a line because he was googling people from the cast of his ETW Independent Project, a cast that included the illustrious Julia Henning, and he ended up here.

It's fun to catch up; Randal's pulling down a Masters in International Relations and going PhD in 06 -- turns out we had similar reactions to how the world has changed in the past four years, promting a detour from purely artistic pursuits -- so I asked him what the Acadmic trip has been about, since I've considered going that way myself. Here's his response, which I thought was awesome:

things you should keep in mind:

1. your fancy BFA from NYU don't mean shit. you have a BFA. unless you got a dual degree, that means you didn't do any serious scholarship according to most people whose opinions matter in the application process to any rigorous academic program. that's why i am at SFSU -- not the best school on the planet -- getting this master's degree: so i can write a thesis, prove i'm capable, and then, in combination with my fancy BFA from NYU, make a credible application.
2. academics, on the whole, are kookier than artists and musicians.
3. the girls are hotter at the theater program.
4. the people who are -- by profession -- less full of shit than normal people who just talk out of their asses all the time are a) full of shit, and b) talking out of their asses all the time
5. better like reading.
6. it's about as likely you'll get a tenure-track appointment at a good university as it is you'll become a movie star.
7. the social sciences are particularly suspect epistemologically.
8. smart girls.
9. i remember when i used to take dance classes.
10. we'd love to have you.