Claud

An avid collector of your hopes and worries, a romantic at heart.

She thanks her fairies, for blessing her with people who know compassion down to an art.

For accepting her for who she is, who never fails to turn up,

in times of need as well as happiness, or just there for a loving hug.

As I wrap up my undergraduate thesis, a few things came to mind during this process. First of all is that I realised I truly do believe the shit I've written. After revising for the 20th time, I think it's easy to convince oneself by sheer repetition. Secondly, I feel that this is my best work yet, and my undergraduate years culminates to this - the apex of my writing. I've matured a lot as a writer, and thinker. Which brings me to my third point. That is, I feel that no idea is too sacred that it cannot be ripped to shreds, torn to pieces, demolished to its essence and dissolved to nothingness. During the process of editing, I have removed and transformed many of the ideas I used to have. Writing is a ruthless process, we need to know when to let go and what to give up.

11, 830 words later, I think I've killed a lot of theorists and empirical data in the process.

11, 830 words later, despite covering all the bases in the arguments, I still feel that I can debunk it - the problems of being an autocritic.

11, 830 words later, I still feel that a 12, 000 word limit is not enough, and I can keep working on this project and idea forever because I feel so much for it.

There are many things that could have gone better, but given the circumstances of that time, it went the best it could. After printing and writing, I have going to 'disown' the ideas and detach away from it. It's really like making art. The artist/writer has full control over the creative/intellectual process during the formation of the work/study. However, upon completion, the work is out of the creator's hands. How they interpret, critique, take it apart is really up to the receivers' discretion. I guess taking it a little less personally also provides a critical eye.

My work, within the realm of social-cultural geography is actually quite radical. I already expect people to have strong responses. Lift the curtains, raise the platforms, and let the battle of ideas begin.