Fueled by a desire to become a teacher, Loren Mayshark entered Hunter College in 2008, with the intention of gaining a master's degree in two years. Six years and tens of thousands of dollars later, he abandoned his studies without attaining the deg...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
When I returned to Professor Rosencrass's office, the student in front of me was just finishing with him. I felt better, but still in disarray. When the student exited, Professor Rosencrass saw me waiting and called me into his office. When our eyes met, he asked me how I was doing. I forced a smile and told him, "Great." He returned the forced pleasantries and both of us seemed relieved after he asked me to take a seat. He launched into the discussion about my thesis, inquiring if I had found primary reader. I explained what Professor Rodriguez had offered me in the chance meeting we had had on Wednesday. After I spoke, he sat back in his chair and folded his hands together as he pondered the situation. My stomach was churning as I sat across from him. I was nervous and my equilibrium was off. I hoped that I wouldn't vomit on his desk. I thought in that moment, as I sat listening to him drone on, how marvelous I felt compared to how I had felt a few moments before, when I had that nasty run-in with the garbage can.
He leaned toward me and said, "This is what I am willing to do: I will act as the de jure primary reader and he will act as the de facto. You can submit the thesis to me, chapter by chapter, and I will look at aspects such as scholarship, writing proficiency, grammar, etc. He will make sure that the information is correct. He will oversee the actual content of the thesis . . ." As he droned on, I thought: Rosencrass is giving me an opportunity. I could conceivably finish the degree! I discussed some of the particulars of how I would proceed and thanked him profusely for the opportunity. As I left his office I felt elated, as if I had stolen a victory from the clutches of an almost certain defeat. I had defied all odds and I was back in the hunt.
My original thesis would have to wait until I had completed my degree. Now I would pursue research on a new topic, suitable for Professors Rosencrass and Rodriguez. I spent the next couple of months furiously reading up on the subject of US drug policy in Latin America. I purchased dozens of books related to the topic. I tailored my work schedule to prepare for a move to New York, maximizing the amount of time I spent working on my thesis. I arranged everything in my life so that I could stay in New York. I was planning on subletting a place for a couple of months so that I could reap the maximum benefit from the time and so that I could work closely with my professors, perhaps speeding up the process. I started to believe that I could complete it in time to gain valuable experience and perhaps some much-needed monetary compensation by working as an adjunct professor the following fall, as I had promising leads on a couple of positions at local colleges.
On Friday October 19, 2012, I arrived with my father and cousin in the greater NYC area. We stayed in a budget hotel in New Jersey, taking daily trips into the city to visit with friends and family. We had a blast. Then on Sunday Superstorm Sandy hit. I managed to get into the final train leaving the station for Connecticut, where I decided I would wait out the storm at my good friend Rue's house.
After a memorably tense ride I arrived at my friend's house as the storm was starting to set in. We lost power for thirty-six hours, and trees were down, but compared to the tragic stories in the news about the many victims of the powerful storm, we escaped relatively unscathed. I was in no position to return to New York in the wake of Sandy, so my friend selflessly offered to let me stay with him indefinitely. I set up my laptop and furiously went to work on my thesis.
In a few weeks I produced a full proposal, including an outline and preliminary bibliography, which I submitted to both professors. Then I went to work on a sample chapter at the behest of Professor Rosencrass. The sample chapter was to be the first chapter of the thesis after the introduction. Each professor had his own philosophy on how I should proceed. Professor Rodriguez suggested that after submitting the sample chapter I should continue to write the thesis straight through to the end so I could have a better sense of where I was going with the project. This approach made sense to me. However, Professor Rosencrass said that the proper way to proceed would be chapter by chapter, not moving forward until he deemed each chapter in top shape. Since he was the primary reader and my future at Hunter rested in his hands, his approach would prevail.
