When Do You Finish Your PhD?

April 04, 2016 by Cazey Williams in Cazey's Column, Humor, Life In Your 20's, life lessons

Dear everyone,

I know what you're about to ask. We saw each other last week, or we saw each other last year. You're going to ask how am I, or tell me happy Easter or say, "Give me a hug!" and then you're going to ask, "When do you graduate?"

You don't mean undergrad. You want to know when I'm going to finish my PhD. And maybe you'll even say it that way.

You'll ask this question before you even ask what I'm studying. You all know I'm in a PhD program via the family telephone tree, Facebook, and/or the Christmas newsletters from grandma. And maybe you know what I'm studying, but you're most interested in when will I be done.

My Parents: The Most Feared Critic

March 09, 2016 by Cazey Williams in Cazey's Column, Humor, Life In Your 20's

Hi, Mom. I know you’re reading this.

Last week my mom told me she finally figured out how to use her Smartphone and read this blog. It’s not like she hasn’t had this Smartphone for two years. She’s also been trying to get the hang of Facebook for three years, but “do my friends have to be able to see my profile? Why can’t I just see theirs and they can’t see mine?”

Because that’s selfish, Mom.

Anyway, I have to decide if my mom reading ATOB is going to affect my writing. (Don’t worry; it isn’t. My mom is just going to have realize I’m a 24-year-old adult.) At the very least, I’m going to have to answer a lot more texts.

Brunch Review: KANOA Latin Cuisine

KANOA Latin Cuisine

February 21, 2016 by Cazey Williams in Richmond Brunch Review, Cazey's Column

Sara and I have the high honor of living with Liz (the title of a future requested blog post by Liz herself), our third roommate. Liz happens to have been born in Venezuela and knows Spanish, which is only important because she’s supposed to start helping me with pronunciation on Duolingo, a free Rosetta Stone-esque app that teaches you foreign languages.

Recently Liz’s parents visited and took all three of us to KANOA. Sorry, I don’t mean to yell at you, but upon investigating KANOA’s site, they happen to put caps lock on every time they write the restaurant’s name. KANOA calls itself a Latin cuisine restaurant, but it’s actually Venezuelan cuisine. Liz and her family would know.

I Haven't Lived Abroad, But I Will

June 01, 2015 by Cazey Williams in Cazey's Column, Life In Your 20's

When you're getting your PhD, people constantly ask, "So, what do you want to do with that?" They usually mean where would I like to work. I struggle to answer, because before I even got into grad school, I decided I would live abroad after grad school, which is not the typical next step after you've spent four-plus years slaving over a data set.

(When I say "live abroad," I generally specify that I will apply to the Peace Corps or some nonprofit in the public health sector. I don't plan to Apparate into Portugal and find work as a taxi driver; I do want to use my degree.)

Moms on Facebook

January 05, 2015 by Cazey Williams in Cazey's Column, Life In Your 20's, life lessons, Social Media, Tweets and Mascara

I am friends with several of my friends' parents on Facebook. For the most part they are good for a like on a status or a happy birthday on my timeline, but occasionally things get more complicated.

The mom who walks backwards. For the launch of ATOB, Sara and I made a Facebook event where I invited pretty much everyone (okay, I didn’t invite the people who I secretly write about). One of our guests was my friend’s mom. She first apologized she wouldn't be able to make the event; she would in Thailand. I tried to clear up the confusion that it wasn't an event that required physical presence. This is how she responded: