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I graduated with my Ph.D a little over a year ago and I finally feel as if I am beginning to embrace academia again. My experience in my doctoral program was very stressful. Actually, the word stressful does not fully captures what I was feeling at the time. I felt... overwhelmed, worried, apprehensive, sick (at times), undeserving, anxious, and the list goes on. I am sure you can identify feeling like that at some point, but despite those challenges I was very blessed. I had a wonderful support system of other sisters that were going through the process right along with me. The best thing about my group of sisters was that there was always at least one of us who could motivate the others when feeling down or discouraged.
I have cried and laughed with these women. We also pushed each other to stay focused, shared information imperative to our degree completion, worked together, and supported each other. These women also helped me to navigate the politics and harmful personalities that can exist in the academy, or any environment, for that matter. Most importantly, when I was in a mental space that was unhealthy, they encouraged me to make a change. I refuse to imagine what might experience might have been like without them. It was painful enough with them.
However, this experience did push me to wonder about those who may be isolated in the walls of academia. So, Mel (one of my sisters) and I decided to create a space for us all to get together and support each other. We hope that this website will provide a space to connect, support, and inform each other as we all progress on our journeys. We also hope to share some information that can help us all achieve success while remaining mentally, physically, and emotionally happy.
I will finish my first post with a quote from Zora Neale Hurston that captures what I hope we can do with Academic Noire.
"It seems to me that trying to live without friends is like milking a bear to get cream for your morning coffee. It is a whole lot of trouble, and then not worth much after you get it."
Again, Welcome.
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