Presenting a paper or poster at a conference: 6 points

 

When I was talking to my professor/mentor about applying for graduate school, she invited me to join a roundtable she was putting together of other Spelman English/LMW students for the National Women’s Studies Association’s 2026 annual conference in November. While this conference has not yet happened, I have been putting in the work to prepare for it. To align with the conference’s theme of wild women, I am building on a previous paper I had written about Fritz Lang’s Metropolis (1927) and Janelle Monáe’s Dirty Computer (2018) in which I discussed how Christian iconography’s messaging of female sexuality is transformed when reauthored by a Black queer artist. My original paper was too long and lacked a citation or two, so I have had to do the work in cutting down the writing, finding other sources/scholarship, and incorporating them. I find it difficult to cut down and add back onto my writing, especially if I already thought part of it was shaky, so this has been a challenging process, but it is one I am grateful for. As I go into a Master’s program in August, this kind of revisionary experience will be beneficial for my further research and eventual thesis. I am beyond excited to present at this conference with my other Spelman sisters, and look forward to seeing how it all pans out.

By Samantha Hines