cult of affliction

Over beers last night I articulated a theory I've been working on for some time, to wit: You know you have been initiated into graduate school, or at least into the informal departmental sub-categorization to which I sort of subscribe--what you might call my cult of affliction--when you find yourself awash with two feelings: 1) bottomless performance anxiety; 2) jealousy. In order to make it, you need to get in touch with those two feelings but not be dominated by them. If you can do that, you'll be ok.