abaisanacademic

[abaisanacademic]

June 25, 2025

These conversations that I have sometimes feel like repeats of stuff I already know. But then a little glimmer will come through that makes a connection or puts something into perspective in a way I hadn’t considered before.

[abaisanacademic]

June 18, 2025

I’m already underpaid. They can’t keep doing this to me (and why don’t I get PR packages!) Anyway, happy birthday Alex and Ariel. Congrats on stealing all my damn money.

[abaisanacademic]

June 15, 2025

13 years ago, I knew this thing would change my life. But if you told me that change would look like writing a whole book— I would have thought you were joking. It’s been an honor to talk to Alex, Jason, Ariel, and (soon) Rob. But it’s also been a privilege beyond words to connect with so many fans.

[abaisanacademic]

June 14, 2025

To be fair, he’s the one who started talking about truth at a Book of Bill signing.

[abaisanacademic]

June 13, 2025

Something a lot of people don’t know about me is that I attended CalARTs in the fall of 2018 in the Creative Writing MFA— and I hated it.

Throughout my research process, I’ve obviously heard a lot about CalARTs and the team’s experiences at the school. I can’t help but feel regret and jealousy about the whole thing. I originally wanted to work in children’s television, using my background in education to create meaningful narratives. But the staff weren’t interested in helping me, and given how expensive CalARTs is I decided to leave.

Sometimes I wish I stayed and had the experience so many other people seemed to have. But I guess, if I hadn’t left, I wouldn’t have gone into academia and I surely wouldn’t be writing this book.

[abaisanacademic]

June 9, 2025

You guessed right. I’m thrilled to speak to Ariel, as a major theme coming out of these interviews is perspective. We often think of fandom as having fans and producers, but I’m curious about how those lines can blur. Jason and I spoke a lot about the in-between place he was in as someone trying to figure out the mystery while lending his voice to it. Ariel I think is in an even more unique position and I’m so curious to hear about the show’s impact on her!

I did, however, email both Ian and Brad. Let’s hope they get back to me 🤞

[abaisanacademic]

the symbiotic relationship between tumblr and AO3 should be studied in a lab

[abaisanacademic]

June 5, 2025

I have to cite my sources. Seems like English class isn’t such a waste of time now, huh?*

*I am an English teacher

[abaisanacademic]

June 2, 2025

So what goes into writing an academic book on Gravity Falls?

[abaisanacademic]

May 26, 2025

Took a pilgrimage to the Double R diner from Twin Peaks. Hearing both Alex and Jason speak about the show and how it impacted them was a wonderful experience as someone who is also a fan. There was a little memorial scrapbook to David Lynch where I left this short note. The television greats really do rest on his shoulders. (And yes, I’m also a huge fan of Psych. Hopefully that’s the next book I get to write.)

[abaisanacademic]

May 25, 2025

Hello from Seattle! I’m on vacation right now but I made sure to get some writing done on the plane and say hello to my friend at a bookshop in Pike Place.

[abaisanacademic]

May 6, 2025

Jason said he was proud of me. I didn’t expect it, but I really needed to hear it.

I promise, this book is going to be so cool.

[abaisanacademic]

May 5th, 2025

Talking to Alex Hirsch about academic stuff has been my dream since even before I became a true scholar. Immediately after I broke down crying: sure I got to talk to my idol and learn from him. But if I could go back and tell 20 year old Abby what would happen— I think she would be so proud. Fandom is so dumb but so beautiful and I’m forever grateful for all it has given me.

As for what I learned, you’ll just have to read the book to find out.

[abaisanacademic]

May 2, 2025

The hardest part is picking what I will write about. There’s so much to the history of Gravity Falls and I can dedicate only about 25k words to it. Hopefully the guy I’m talking to on Monday can give me some insider feedback…

[abaisanacademic]

April 29, 2025

I take my research very seriously. But for real, my friends at Mystery Shack LookBack have already been invaluable and combing through their chats with cast and crew are helpful. (Though I’m also realizing I never listened to my own episodes… maybe I’m due to hear my own voice again.)

[abaisanacademic]

Hey all and welcome to my blog!

Obviously, I’m hard at work getting this book off the ground. But this is something I want to share. At my core, I’m a teacher and any opportunity I can use to educate and get people thinking critically is one I will take. I’m excited to highlight some the value of television and popular culture; and hopefully inspire future creatives or academics.

I also hope this blog holds me accountable and gets me to stop messing around. So without further ado…

April 26, 2025

This is the research phase. Yup. I have to treat this like any other work and do research with citations and the whole banana. But I’m trying to go the extra mile. I really want the cast and crew involved.

My thesis for this book is that Gravity Falls is unique because of how the Gravity Falls team and the fans worked together. You can’t fully enjoy the show if you aren’t also considering things like Cipher Hunt or the McGucket Hoax. And it would be wrong of me to not include the perspective of what it was like behind the screen.

People get very nervous about the words ‘academic’ and ‘interview’ being used together. Not only that, but they are REALLY hard to contact. But these questions help guide my writing or discover new perspectives I hadn’t considered.

So, if you are so obliged— heckle those pseudo celebs! Help me reach out to them! When all else fails, internet clout is often the solution to fandom-y problems.