Research Writer Interview With Dickon
Eternal Student And Independent Writer
Tell us briefly about yourself.
Well, where do I begin? My name is Dickon, I am one of those eternal students. Early on, my father got me interested in so many things I am still not sure if it is a blessing or a curse. When I was 3 he put lots of stickers with different animals on our fridge. He would tell me what they were called in English. We would build custom electric circuits so I could learn physics, make firecrackers out of cottonwool soaked in iodine so that I learn some chemistry. He would constantly tell me which books I was too young to read so I would read them.
And now?
And now I am still torn between things I like. I have spent one year studying towards a university degree in English as a foreign language. They wanted to make a teacher out of me. Then I got a scholarship and went to a more respectable university abroad. I have received my BA in Management and Business Administration, a degree people get when they do not know what to do with their lives.
And you are one of them?
I am trying to fix that. The summer after my graduation I was actively seeking a job. I was one step away from landing a managerial position at the second biggest tobacco manufacturer in the world. That’s when I got the news that I have been accepted for a one year program at ECLA of Bard in Berlin. I went. It was all philosophy – the great books, primary sources, lots of Marx, Kant, Plato. I have decided to stay for another BA, this time in philosophy. That’s where I am spending my days now. Now I think I know what I want: get an MA, then a PhD, stay in the academia, study philosophy seriously. But not only philosophy. In two month I am leaving Berlin and going to Amsterdam for my exchange year. I will study physics, biology, logic and linguistics. This is the only way you get things done these days – know more, learn faster. It is also extremely pleasant.
You seem to be in for a life full of reading and writing.
Indeed. I read all the time, will probably get blind one day, like Borges. I also write constantly. At my current university we do not have exams. We write papers instead. I write around 10 papers a month, 2000 words each on average, and that’s just for school. Apart from that I work as a freelance writer, and that’s the double of the school amount of writing. I love it. It is like getting several degrees at the same time – I usually do not take orders if there is nothing there to learn. I used to work in a local newspaper in my hometown. A terribly low wage job, but it taught me how to be careful about what you say.
You have a strange fixation on learning...
Definitely. I am also holding a freelance copy writer position at the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. That’s where I learn the most, apart from my school of course.
So you would say you would feel pretty comfortable in the position of an independent research writer?
Absolutely. Even though the highest degree I hold is a BA, cumulatively, I have seven years of higher education and counting. I am equally proficient in writing on topics from economics, management and accounting to political philosophy, literary theory and comparative arts. During my 2 years of working as a freelance writer I’ve had a chance to work on papers for MA student and proofread several PhD dissertations to the clients’ great satisfaction. I am also a pretty bright kid.