I am making huge strides right now in relation to my second exam readings (I am almost entirely finished with my reading for two of the fields). Yet, I am also increasingly frustrated by something, which I assume is part of the idea of having a comprehensive exam in the first place: I am getting so many ideas for my dissertation. I am currently writing a huge amount of notes on ideas that I'm having in relation to the dissertation plan that I am going to write as soon as I possible can, once I pass this exam. But the note taking on dissertation ideas is taking so much time from my reading that I'm getting nervous about finishing reading for that third field.

Anyway. I think my dissertation will take a little broader approach to ideas that I have had before, and be directed towards male striptease more generally. Currently, I am thinking about including:

  • A history of male striptease in vaudeville and burlesque: from strongmen to female impersonators and sissy comics;

  • Recentering the "gentrification"/"Disneyfication" of Times Square on the stories of male striptease dancers;

  • Trading on class status outside of money capital v. increasing surveillance in cities with declining/destroyed economies and politics;

  • The Rise and Fall of the Chippendales;

  • Boylesque as the glamorous “other”—as part of new burlesque, a global movement, and tourist industry.

I am so excited. And I don't want to read another word right now. But that's exactly what I am going to do.