Highlights from my Dissertation Proposal Conference

J: I’m allergic to the term affect; it gives me hives.
J: Well, if I were an analyst [R clears throat]
T: You would make a horrible analyst J.

J: Yes, let’s talk about fetishism. So, say I like your feet. (enthusiastically)Do I want your feet? (lunges towards my feet)
T: (Gentlemanly) May I see your feet, please?
J: No, really, considering a worth his salt fetishist.

K: I am interested in Woolf's self-obsession.
S: Obsession is negative term often applied to women.
K: I mean an interest in exploring problems of subjectivity. And also a staging, or visualization of the self.
S: Well, yes, now that I think about it, you’re right. Woolf does have a very scientific way of looking at the mind; she really holds it up (proceeds to mime holding up a mind for close to 6 seconds).

T: The passage on "purposeless purposivity" is my favorite paragraph of Kant's.