The thing is, the longer I spend here — 3.5 years of the PhD and counting — the longer I spend here the more I think that I would rather be the one creating the things than the one analyzing the things. *** Setting: undergraduate class My favourite professor says, “Trying too hard to find a hidden meaning in a poem is like plucking the wings off a butterfly.” The image never leaves me. Almost 7 years later I wonder about how many butterflies I have killed and what all the death was for. *** The thing is, the longer I spend here — 3.5 years of the PhD and…