Beyond the Adventures of the 14 Day Thesis

The clock is really ticking and the final bell has well and truly begun to ring.
Tomorrow afternoon, for good or ill, I have to submit the expectation of a semester’s worth of work that I have forced out in under two weeks.

So here we are, the final 24 hours, where even the slightest distraction can mean the ultimate difference between resounding success or abysmal failure. There is no time for TV and no time for friends. Ignore the distractions is the other room. Gonzo Academia is a cruel and unrelenting mistress, but she has me by the balls, so now my heart and mind must follow.

I’m still down by about 2000 words, derailed in the second act where I should be analysing Thomson’s life and work. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is staring me in the face and I’ve got no time to contemplate the invention of Post-Modernity and it’s impact on the American West. No space in my mind for ideals such Hype realistic representations Authorship and the effect on colonial narratives. These terms and phrases may as well mean, “coo coo cachoo” from here on out. Besides we never really liked them anyway. There is no room for nonsense in Gonzo Academia.

Staring at that term I feel should flesh out it’s meaning a little bit here, for fear that it become misconstrued and misrepresented like the gobbledy-gook above. Gonzo Journalism was about finding the Truth through your own eyes and experiences. About gnawing straight to the bone in the hope of discovery. It meant that in order to write about something, you had to experience it first, then try to replicate the EXACT same feeling into journalistic text so the reader could experience it too. Gonzo Academia is not much different, maintaining the same mentality,

In Gonzo Academia there is no room for format. No space for formula. No writing to any guidelines. You basically have to consume whatever information you need as fast as you can before stuffing yourself into a pressure cooker and hoping some form of genius to percolate onto the page.

There is no safety net for this sort of Study. You either understand you topic or (academically) die trying. There is no room for wreckage out here in the fast lane, and Gonzo Academia is about as fast as it gets.

But why risk immanent failure with such a low chance of reward? Because some of us are Pressure Junkies and it’s the only way we can get our kicks. Any fool with a decent command over their native language can, given enough time and some level of motivation, construct and research an academic argument to passable satisfaction. But only the wild eyed and sweaty can mash keys through five days of teeth gritting terror and emerge at the otherside with a Gonzo manuscript in hand, victorious.

Wether or not I make it is still yet to be decided. But by 2pm tomorrow the answer shall be known. My supervisor expects me at 1:30 but I’ll make the bugger wait. My plan. At this point, is to hand in my piece, lay down in the grass and take off my pants with reckless abandon.

Anyone near the University of Queensland Great Court is welcome to join me, I’ll be the pants less one lying in the sun. A smile on my face because I’ve achieved what I’ve done.

-H-