Thanks for sharing, wonderful post. And may I say that I have no clue how someone who writes so knowledgeably on your subject in various places and publications got rejected from any PhD program.
It was honestly a shock. I had every reason to believe I was going to get accepted. Although usually acceptance is dependent on whether the proposed supervisor is ready to take another graduate student. I can't think of any other reason for being rejected.
Yeah, what the fuck?! Did they tell you to apply next year when more funds are available, or just to fuck off? Either way, that's hurts, buddy. I'm sorry to read this. The good news is that you can get a great education at a lot of institutions, even if the exact prof you want to work with isn't available. You'll dust yourself off once the bitterness wears off.