The most common question that I received from my peers about this paper was “How did you think of that?” In the beginning, the connection between Battlestar Galactica and the American Road was, for me, improbable at best and wishful thinking at worst. Despite my doubts, I decided to follow my gut feeling that there was something there to uncover. And although what I set out to prove and what I ended up proving are so wildly different that I cannot ascribe “evolution” as the means by which this occurred, my gut feeling was right.
Beyond my initial worries, the process of crafting this paper was fraught with frustration, dead-ends, and panic, and was certainly a lesson in dedication. A major problem that I faced during this process was that of scope. I had a huge task in front of me. Just the first few things that I had to tackle where introducing my audience to the mythos and plot of Battlestar Galactica and the scholarship surrounding it, introducing the American Road genre, and explaining how these two ideas had anything to do with each other. Unsurprisingly, this feedback from my peers on many of my drafts expressed confusion. It took many revisions before I found a balance between these huge concepts, and that was just the beginning of my paper!
While dedication and hard work aided me on this process, what really drove me to success was passion. I love Battlestar Galactica, and this paper represents my desire to share that love with other people. It is my sincerest hope that the reader senses that as they read and takes a little bit of it away with them. The writing of “Battlestar Galactica: A Vehicle of the American Road” has been a journey, and I am thankful to have taken it.
CAROLINE JONES is a rising junior majoring in Computer Engineering at Boston University. She currently resides in Los Angeles, where she was born and raised, and hopes to pursue writing as a hobby. She would like to thank Professor Kordonowy for her invaluable guidance and insight. She would also like to thank her friends and peers for their earnest feedback and support. This paper is dedicated to the author’s mother, Arlene Glucksman, for always believing in her.