Snow Day

Boy they weren't kidding about the heavy snow... it's not as bad as places further north and closer to the Great Lakes, but this is awesome!
I walked to class in snow that came in over my boots; buses seemed to be running and undergrads were trudging resolutely to campus like a long line of Emperor penguins.

When I got to class though, nobody was there... the professor dashed in about 10 minutes late with a stack of photocopies; we talked for a little while and then she decided to cancel class.

After getting home I decided to work on shoveling out the driveway so hopefully I can leave for Harrisonburg tomorrow...

After about 45 minutes (great workout but I wonder how my lower back is going to feel tomorrow?) the landlady's kids showed up with their dad to finish the job! I was delighted!

Rumor has it the university is going to close but it still doesn't say so on the website...

Valentine Sweater

This is the "Blackberry" from Knitty, size M (perhaps should have done L - but haven't blocked it yet. I just couldn't wait to wear it! Finished weaving in ends this morning!) I changed the cable pattern on the sleeves to a braid (12 st wide) and spaced the bobbles a little farther apart (every 6 instead of every 4 rows). I love it!

Snow Way!

(Sorry, couldn't resist the pun!) LOOK at this white stuff! Every inch on top of that little shed is fresh snowfall; at least 12". It's so cool...and yet, even though all the area schools are closed (and this is upstate NY people! They don't close for a light dusting like they do in SOME other states), Ithaca College is closed, the city has declared a state of emergency... and yet big behemoth Ivy League university thinks the show must go on. Good think I LIKE my classes...

Meanwhile, here's what I did last night during reading breaks:

Yep

Thar she snows!

Unrelated photo: another sock!

Snow Hokai?

(Hokai means "where is it" in Sesotho)
The severe weather warning issued this morning gave a time parameter starting at 3:00 this afternoon... at 2:45 I heard someone say, "it's supposed to start snowing in 15 minutes!" Well, it's still not snowing. The updated forecast puts it at about 8:00 p.m. I just need them to clear the roads by Thursday morning!

Peace, Joy, and all that good stuff

Tonight I taught Blanca to knit! We were at her house having a "study session" (read: complain about the readings, prof, and class while eating homemade pie - did I say pie? I meant carrot sticks) :-) and Claire had brought her sari silk bag that she's finishing, although I totally forgot my sock at home so I was bitter about that. I spent all semester last Fall promising Blanca I'd teach her to knit so finally we took advantage of the moment, grabbed the needles and went for it. She did great! She has a nice little swatch in stockinette stitch, probably knitting about 4.5 st. to the inch or so. We tried to talk Tim into learning too but he didn't believe Claire's claim that it would help him meet women.

Brrr!

Man, it's cold. I'm very thankful for the warm wool coat my mom made me in 1995! Also putting the handknit wool socks to good use. I'm still catching up with myself here at the beginning of the semester. I didn't think it possible but I'm enjoying my courses even more than I did last fall! Conversely, I also miss Terry more than I did last fall. I think of migrant farm workers who only see their families at Christmas time and count my blessings... I really do live a life of privilege.

One Down

Finished sock! You know what this means - I finished all my readings and other sundry assignments for the week! Tomorrow I'm supposed to drive to Harrisonburg, but we'll see how the weather goes...

You Know

You know you're experiencing an exciting class when the students all begin talking over each other, the professor starts shouting "for God's sake, what are you saying?" and the new kid bursts out (in response to another new kid's statement), "WHAT?!?!?! I can't BELIEVE I'm hearing this!"

It was pretty fun!

Consolation

For all the EEP fans out there who have been lurking sadly on this un-updated site for days, at long last a new post!

I am happy to report that I have recovered fully from the non-sinus infection (that elicited these most heartening words from the nurse at Gannett: "That nose thing is weird, I've never seen anything like it") and feel back to normal. The down side is that during the week I was sick I managed to do very, very little work. I think all I did was sleep, go to class, and drink hot tea. It worked, I got better, but I am definitely feeling like I have enough reading and writing to occupy pretty much every waking moment for the foreseeable future. But that's what I signed up for, right? And it turns out that everything I've had to read so far this semester has actually been really really interesting, like the book I just slammed through on teacher education in Bolivia!

So, you see, that's why my knitting bag is pictured above with two unfinished projects languishing disconsolately on the needles. Until I have a chance to get back to them, I will console myself with this picture of Christmas socks, all in a row:

Cast Offs

Behold the "leftover" socks - bits and pieces of yarn left over from previous projects. For the most part, except toe and one heel, I alternated strands from two different balls just to get a different effect. It was fun! They look pretty goofy but it was a fast knit and entertaining to see how the patterns developed.

Ice, Ice, Beebe

So here I am, back in Ithaca! It was nice to go to classes today and re-remember why I love being here. Coming back to cold winter, a sinus infection, and missing Terry kind of put a damper on my "Big Red Spirit" - but back to back sociolinguistics classes put a skip back in my step!

I'll be driving back to Harrisonburg 2 weeks from now, it turns out, for a Peru preparation meeting with the students. Meanwhile, it's time to kick back, cast on, and start reading.

Here I am!

Boy it's been a long vacation from the blog! But I'm back in a highly networked context again with a few pics from the trip(s). After 10 days in Peru with the family (pictures possibly forthcoming) I spent 2 days in Dallas, TX with college roomies Christy and Jane. One of the highlights of that trip was the Dallas World Aquarium, which is more like an indoor rainforest complete with penguins, flamingos, a jaguar, and manatees! It was truly breathtaking and awesome.

In knitting news, I'm making myself a pair of socks from bits of yarn left over from 5 different sock projects... should be interesting! I also have been felting swatches for a pair of slippers - this yarn was one of my fave Christmas presents (from Terry - good job, T!). Temperatures have finally dipped enough that I'm also looking at the Knitty pattern for convertible mittens/fingerless gloves (extra spicy - mmm!)

Two weeks til classes start again - can't wait!!!

P.S. One little Solana story - you'll have to indulge me - evidently she's been talking into a fold-up hairbrush as though it's a cell phone, and this is what she says: "Hi Uncle Terry, whatcha doing? Taking a nap? OK, bye bye!" Too cute!

Have yarn, will travel

Yep, I'm back in the 'Burg, intermittently knitting and typing. Two papers down, one to go.

Whatever did we do without the Internet?!? In the past week, the Internet has facilitated my life in the following ways:

• Got me a ride home. Instead of paying $65 for a one-way bus fare to DC, I used the Cornell Ride Board. Got me there for $10, in 6 hours instead of 10.
• Got me a phone card. Thus I was able to call the travel agent in Peru for $.03/minute instead of $3.00/minute to confirm my travel arrangements for next week.
• Got my papers in on time. I can submit work done in VA to NY with the click of the mouse.

Obviously, this is just the tip of the iceberg; but it just makes you go hm.

Phew!

Cancel that ambulance, things are back to normal:

(The observant reader will notice that, yes, I am still in my pajamas... a good day is when I don't actually get dressed until afternoon!)

Papers are coming along nicely, and I have a ride home on Monday! This is what I'm writing a couple of my papers about:

And here's a peek inside:

It's a first-hand account of the farmworker movements in California led by Cesar Chavez, through the eyes of three children who were there. Awesome.

Is it even possible?

Somebody take my temperature! I'm actually...tired of knitting...

Too funny to pass up!

Especially the items about sleep:

http://thesurrealist.co.uk/trivia.pl?subject=Elizabeth&gender=f

Nothing like some sweet surrealism to start your day off right... (check the time stamp on this entry and you'll know what I'm talking about with reference to the sleep thing) :-)

Startitis

Two more class sessions and three papers to go before the end of the semester, and look what happens:
At least I've finished all my reading (and there was some really good stuff at the end! At least I liked it!), and at least I've finished something:
Don't tell me it's not adorable - Go Big Red!

Confidence

I was on a rare and magical confidence binge tonight! Sometimes I feel a tiny bit bipolar (although if I was diagnosably so I think my therapist might have told me... she's good about things like that). I was walking into the mail room just as my prof was walking out. He pointed at the mailboxes to indicate that he'd returned our papers, and I said "Ah, the moment of truth!" (maybe just a little nervously).

He said, "Oh, yours was excellent, as always," in that sort of "oh please," tone of voice.

So I picked up the paper and read through the comments just feeling more and more pleased with myself with each page... and while there were plenty of "you could expand this point further" comments, overall, man, I rocked. I rocked this freaking paper. I wouldn't hear criticism tonight if it bit me on the butt.

Call me tomorrow though - and it could be a whole 'nother story.

Hmm...

Is it my imagination, or do I really look like a 14-year-old boy in this picture???

Home Stretch

You know you're near the end of the semester when you start strategizing how early you can go home for the holidays...

That Sinking Feeling...

...in the pit of my stomach has nothing to do with Thanksgiving overeating (though there was lots of that going on!). I just submitted my third and last (for the semester) fellowship application, the one I feel like I have the best shot at actually getting...it's done, turned in, and all I have to do now is send in transcripts and wait.

Finished Objects

An evening visit from Claire bearing delicious pumpkin bread - correction: delicious homemade pumpkin bread, plus a long-ish phone confab with the hubby, and look what happens: Finished objects! Lovely blocking wires for the alpaca shawl, which I am very much looking forward to wearing (the shawl, not the wires), FINALLY (now that I know how to do a stretchy bind-off, my quality of life has taken a dramatic turn for the better), plus the toe-up socks (matching yet not matching, how clever, yes?) and the inimitable Pea Pod sweater with matching hat. I had fun blocking that one too, although the cotton fiber felt a little washcloth-y when wet. I am very glad I decided to fix the mistake in the lace as it turns out to be one of the technically best things I've turned out so far. I feel really proud of my workwomanship :-). I also love the massive button selection there is at the local yarn store (LYS, to those in the knitting know) and at Joanne Fabrics. Ugh - chain - but lots of buttons. Button choice makes me happy. Ah, consumerism.

I've been thinking about what a luxury hand-knitting is. Used to be a necessity - before machines were invented that could do the knitting for you, hands and needles was all there was. Made me humbly appreciate my stash and resolve to enjoy the knitting process thoroughly, and knit with love for people I love.

Not Rats

I woke up this morning and there was snow on the ground! (And yes, it was still technically morning!)

I happily pulled out my new boots that I ordered online - it was my incentive for finishing the NSF application. You have to cheer yourself on somehow. They are warm, comfortable, good treads, and I think they look cool (though maybe not with the black sweatpants stuffed in).

But the really big story today is what happened to the ceiling (pictured below). Wednesday night I heard an ominous scuttling in the drop ceiling over the kitchen. "It has to be squirrels - it has to be squirrels" I kept telling myself. I had rats in my house in Bolivia back in the day and they were NOT FUN. They got into my yarn, they dragged a whole DRESS off the hanger and half of it into their hole. When I pulled it out it was gnawed on and unwearable. The one night that a cat actually came around it ended up dead. I don't know how, but I blame the rats. And this was long after I had stopped putting down poison because the neighbor's dog would get it before the rats did... Anyway, that was in Bolivia and I was not eager for a repeat.

Well, the squirrel myth died when I SAW the unmistakable shape of a rodent crawl sniffing out onto the translucent panel under the fluorescent lights. So I banged on all the ceiling tiles to make it go away and hoped it would just get the picture and GO AWAY.

Inspecting the apartment carefully I found no rat droppings and no chew marks so I knew it hadn't come down in but I figured it was only a matter of time. I called Terry. "Put poison down," he said. Yeah, like that worked so well in Bolivia. I figured I'd have to tell the landlady but I put it off until Friday morning when again the critter(s?) was/were running around above my head.

I was not prepared for her reaction, which was not fear and loathing, but utter joy. "IT'S NESSA!" she cried. Evidently their pet gerbil had escaped Wednesday night and the two daughters had been searching for her and crying for two nights and a day.

Well, the fun didn't stop there. Janet came down and we lifted up a ceiling tile, and sure enough, it was a gerbil. Not a rat (phew). All her toys and favorite foods were brought down to coax her to us but to no avail. She'd get close enough to grab a nut or slice of apple and then POW. Gone. When the girls got home from school they had no luck either. When Terry showed up at about 6:00 we were still at it. Then somebody said, "Why don't we take out a whole row of tiles so she can't run into the back corner again?" Well shucks, why don't we just take out ALL the tiles except the one she's standing on and then we can grab her easily? By golly, it worked! It only took five people and a whole day! Oh yes, and TERRY was the one who actually grabbed her; he did his little happy dance :-). It was short work to put back the tiles and vacuum the carpet. The end.

Making Yarn Obey Me

A good lace pattern can be truly magical... as long as you stay in control of those tricksy yarn overs! I was going to live with the mistake in the second repeat of the pattern, but then I saw a picture of this same sweater on another knitting blog (error-free) and knew I had to correct it. The pattern is one of the free ones from Interweave Knits, and it really knits up fast - as long as you don't make or miss those doggone yarn overs. I think I'm going to keep this one, in a fit of irrational optimism. The yarn is a cotton-silk blend but more cotton and less silk than the yarn I used for Anita's tank top.

Drama in Real Life!

Remember those old Reader's Digest stories? Last night I was whining to Terry about walking home from the library in the cold and for some reason he was unsympathetic to my drama. I don't get it. :-) Here are the finished hats on their way to Heidi!


Once again, I am struck by the way you can FINISH a knitted object but an academic paper never really feels done. I turned in my second big paper of the semester last night and I keep thinking about all the flaws... it just still feels like a work in progress. I'm planning to rework the same paper for another class where we're using some of the same theorists, so at least there's a chance for redemption there.

Sleep has been problematic this week and I'm not sure why; I've been really good about exercise and cutting out caffeine. I've made another lifestyle change - instead of watching TV on the Internet during the last hour before I go to bed (c'mon, it's my little reward for working hard!) I turn the computer OFF an hour before bedtime and just read. It worked last night, sort of - I feel asleep around 10:30 (instead of 2 or 3 a.m.), but I was awake from 2-4. My alarm was set for 10:15 - so I did get about 10 hours and felt pretty good this morning. It amuses me how I've slid right back into my night owl ways!

Thanksgiving break is looking really good up ahead...

Attentiveness

I was talking with one of my 1st-year peeps about "vibes" we'd gotten from a professor earlier that day, as we each individually ran into him in the hall. We thought he seemed cool, not happy to see us, something like that, and we each interpreted it the same way - that we hadn't done well on the paper we'd handed in the week before. It turns out he hadn't read the papers yet, so he was probably just feeling guilty about that... but it got us thinking about how as students we're constantly monitoring professors' body language, over-interpreting off-hand comments, analyzing their evaluations of us, and how it seems like they can get away with being completely oblivious to our thoughts and feelings.

But! Only four months separated my professor status from student status (less, if you count the time after the Spring semester ended when I was dealing with an Incomplete student - plus, every time I go back to the Burg students treat me like a prof) and I can clearly recall the feeling of being in front of the "blinking owls" (as Terry calls them). I remember how much I noticed the emotions playing across people's faces, the boredom, confusion, interest, laughter... and how attuned I was to that nonverbal feedback.

It's the Hegelian master-slave dialectic, really - profs wouldn't be profs without students (um, well, maybe at a research institute!). My therapist says academics have very fragile egos, I think for the MOST part it's true (not me!); validation from students can mean a whole lot. So can rejection. From the student perspective they seem so powerful - but one against 10-80, that's pretty scary odds from up front!

Knitting Update

The last version you saw of the daisy hat is no more. Having thrown away all my yarn labels (Bad! Bad!) I fecklessly decided to try to felt the hat in hopes of making it smaller. A trial run with the Christmas sock went well - well, it went oddly, but felting did occur. The yarn used for the toe failed completely to felt at all; how odd, I thought. So I threw the daisy hat in the washer with two pairs of jeans and a little detergent. 10 minutes later, I found a mess. Half had unravelled completely; no signs of felting at all.

Yeah, it went in the trash.

Superwash wool will not felt. A good hint that your yarn might be superwash? It expands in cold water.

So... behold Kamryn's hat, version 2.0:
Peachy, eh? :-)

Hybridities That Gesture Towards Moments of Post-Colonial Erasure

I have a new game - see how much post-structuralist Anthro-jargon I can fit in one sentence!

GO BIG RED!!!

Ok, so now I know what all the fuss is about! Last night I was part of the loudest crowd "on the planet" (according to the Ithaca Journal article) cheering Cornell's literally last-minute defeat of Harvard. Oh yeah, we're talking hockey (see picture). Terry and I sat facing the undergrad section which reminded me of sea anemones every time they waved their arms to a) point accusing fingers at the Harvard goalie and yell "sieve! sieve! sieve! sieve!", b) bow in "we are not worthy" fashion to the Cornell goalie after a particularly good save and c) wave "bye" to any Harvard player going into the penalty box, along with a cry of "oooooohhhhh... see ya! You goon!"

In other words, lots of great solidarity rituals :-). There was the throwing of fish onto the ice when the Harvard team came in, there was the shaking of newspapers at the Harvard team (evidently to show how boring they are), there was the chant of "you're not a goalie, you're a sieve! You're not a sieve, you're a vacuum! You're not a vacuum, you're a black hole! You're not a black hole, you just suck!" And during the national anthem when they get to the line "...and the rocket's red glare," everyone shouts RED as loud as possible. (It was quite possibly the most enthusiastic rendition of the anthem I've ever heard.) I got quite caught up in the excitement and only knit during intermissions! It was really fun. My favorite part was in the last 3 minutes when my section stood up and the students started yelling "townies up, townies up!" Oh and yes, Cornell won 3-2.

Upswing

It's been a roller coaster couple of weeks... but definitely on an upswing now, hope to stabilize here soon. Silly grant proposal...

A finished sock is an index of time spent socializing! It was great to spend some time in the 'Burg and reconnect with friends; also, I didn't plan this, but was able to be one of the 7,000 critical votes in Virginia that swung the election to the left! I was really happy that the weekend I wanted to go home for coincided with midterm election day, and that my class that day was cancelled so I could stay in VA long enough to vote. Someone told a classmate that the Anthro department is the second most liberal on Cornell's campus - but we don't know what #1 is. Interesting!

This cabled rib sock is toe-up with a short-row heel; the biggest problem I have with this technique is that my cast-off row is really really tight, even though I deliberately knit it loosely. Why doesn't it have as much give as a long-tail cast-on? I have no idea, and I'm not sure how to fix it except by using really big needles, or some kind of crochet with chain stitches inserted between each cast-off stitch. Hmmm.... hmmm....

Well, I had about 6 hours of fitful sleep on the bus this morning, between the hours of 2 and 10 (I was reading psychoanalytical anthropology in the Port Authority bus station at 5 a.m. this morning - when's the last time you did that?) :-) so I may just turn in for the night - but wanted to update all 4 of my faithful readers with the latest in the life of this graduate student. Honestly, I love my life. Getting to read and talk about interesting stuff all the time... awesome.

bleary-eyed

but not teary-eyed! Thanks to Terry's fantastic last-minute coaching as well as a few other people's feedback I got the grant application off - Yay! Back in NY...

Back to Square One

I should have known I was destined to be an academic that night in 9th grade, when I realized that I had a major Honors History assignment due the next day, and I had completely forgotten about it. Instead of begging the teacher for an extension, or blowing it off, or cribbing notes from a friend, I stayed up until 2 a.m. reading the original source material and painstakingly writing a short essay response. Intellectual work is always something I have been motivated to do, and to try to excell at. That's probably why I'm sitting here crying over this ridiculous research proposal, agonizing over trivial word choices, combing the internet databases for just one more citation.

Sometimes it's hard to keep these things in perspective.

Finished

...and suddenly, I'm done - don't know how that happened. Of course when you're writing something, there really is no such thing as "finished," there's just "that's it, I'm stopping now." Period. The End. There is no end to editing, no real terminus to re-writing, but there is a point where you just have to stop. I sent my research proposal to my prof and to Terry, who if they have feedback will I'm sure send me right back to square one, but I have some time on Saturday to mess around with it. Come Monday though, it's hit "submit" on the fellowship website and then there's no turning back.

At least with knitting there is a very clear point when you are DONE. I think that's why I started knitting in the first place - it's the same with community development; you're never done, because at the end of the day, people are still poor. With knitting, you can hold up a FINISHED OBJECT and feel pretty darn good about yourself.

The other thing I do is read my CV and sigh over what a fabulous person all these bullet points encapsulate. Oh right - that's ME! Ha ha! *blush*

Suzzette's Christmas socks are DONE.

Incentives

The fact is, I just don't want to read this book. But I have 3 hours before class and will want to be able to contribute something. I ate too much chocolate yesterday and felt sick to my stomach, so even that is not going to work as incentive today.

At least here is something pretty to look at:

Social-Emotional

Yesterday I kept thinking "I'm having a crisis of the will." Working on the NSF fellowship application was sapping all my energy and joie de vivre - there are three quite demanding essays and all I could think was "who am I kidding? I'll never get this; this application is so pathetic..." Kind of poisoned the general mood... browsing the Interweave Knits web site was just so much more fun than trying to prove to the scary invisible people on the other side of the web site how brilliant and worthy of funding I am.

Tonight my "posse" came over for snacks, hot tea, and our newly revived pre-Proseminar discussion of the week's readings. I was so happy they came! If not for this event, I would have gone over 24 hours without talking face to face with another human being (between my Tuesday morning and Wednesday night classes... I just work better at home than in the library).

The really cool thing is that we're reading the same Gramsci text in both of the aforementioned classes, so I should be able to recycle the paper I'm writing right now for the other class :-) More than anything else, it was this paper that pulled me out of the "what's the meaning of it all" funk, because I'm writing about Bolivia and I have to actually tear myself away from this to work on stuff for other classes. It's so interesting and fun, and a topic I feel like I know more about than the prof does... this is key...

Anyway, while waiting for the posse to show up, I was thinking about a BBBS study that showed that kids whose mentors do social-emotional activities with them actually improve in their schoolwork more than kids whose mentors only tutor them. Fascinating, no? Anyway, I figure the same goes for grad students; we need the social and emotional support just as much as the intellectual and academic. It will actually make us better students and better academics if we have a supportive community for each other. So it doesn't bother me that at our "study sessions" we spend more time socializing than talking about the readings; it still enhances our academic production. And helps us feel more human.

Not that Michael

Feeling blue today for some reason; not sure if it's the weather (although it's a beautiful fall day), Terry returning to VA this afternoon (though it usually doesn't affect me this way) or the existentialist nature of this week's readings (Minima Ethnographica by Michael Jackson - this one, not this one!).

Regardless, here are a couple shots of the tank top I sent Anita for her birthday yesterday (happy birthday P!)

Oops!

I've heard it said that wool can do funny things when it hits water; I never really believed it... until I decided to block this hat while waiting for Heidi to call me back with her mailing address. I'd read in the Yarlot's blog and books that this can happen, which is why you're always supposed to wash and dry your gauge swatch before starting a project. I was all like "whatever" - but I may be a reformed character now... This is what I call a do-over.

B.I.B.

Every now and then Terry looks at me and says, "uh-oh, she's got a BIB going on..."

BIB = Bee in Bonnet, and it's what happens when I become seized with determination, particularly to finish something.

Tonight I had a BIB going on: Kamryn's hat, commissioned by her mom, my cousin Heidi. I got the check for it a couple days ago and realized with shock how close to the end of the month it is - I had promised it by "around Halloween time" and it suddenly occured to me that that's Tuesday. So after dinner I sat down with yarn and needles and some nice music and TV shows on the internet and six hours later I think it's time to sleep!

The story thus far:

Yeah, um, see you in the morning!

Fun time wasters

In the category of random entertainment, I've been having a lot of fun with YouTube. Are you feeling white and nerdy? Feeling physically fit? Knitting obsessively? Or do you just like to be prepared?

Just a little glimpse into how I'm very easily entertained... could explain why I married a Jantzi! :-)

Yesterday was 100% caffeine-free and I slept better than I have in weeks.

Blustery Day

There's a Peanuts cartoon somewhere of Lucy saying "I love the feel of wind and rain in my hair..." just before it starts to pour. Hmm... wonder why I thought of that today? :-)

Days like today are perfect for curling up indoors with your book or your knitting... above you see the constant competition... what I could be reading vs. what I just finished knitting - it's for felting. I used the ends and bits left over from the fruit and veg hats, and have to say I'm very pleased with it! It may be misshapen and lumpy, but it's an experiment, and anyway the stocking stuffers it is intended for should make it lumpy anyway, right? :-) It was actually really fun to do colorwork and to design it as I went along.

Quote for the day (to prove that yes, I am reading!) -
"Many people have to be persuaded that studying too is a job, and a very tiring one, with its own particular apprenticeship--involving muscles and nerves as well as intellect. It is a process of adaptation, a habit acquired with effort, tedium and even suffering." - Antonio Gramsci, Prison Notebooks (essay on Education).

(thinking of you, Carol and Andy!)

Meet Twitchy

Meet Twitchy on caffeine!

I stopped drinking coffee 2 years ago; switched to green tea. However, caffeine has been finding its insidious way back into my system... I will, on occasion, drink black tea, but this semester I've succumbed to the chocolate-covered coffee bean. Short-term benefits? Excellent - alert and awake for reading and class. Long-term costs? Dead tired but can't sleep, wake up early when planning to sleep in...

That frantic little squirrel there? It lives in my head...

Finished Objects

Finished Object#1: scarf, knit from 2 strands of yarn: a bulky-weight blue-gray wool, with a novelty yarn - not sure what it's called. It's like a string with little feathery things stuck on.

Finished Object #2: 3-page reading response for the "Marxist" class

Finished Object #3: list of questions based on reading for Anthropology and Globalization

Finished Object #4: list of things to read this weekend...

I don't know if a list can properly be called an object; I guess I'll find out tomorrow - our colloquium presenter is going to speak on the Objects of Anthropology. Or maybe it's the Anthropology of Objects? It is a conundrum - a scarf occupies three-dimensional space; there is no question about its status as object. But what about a paper? An assemblage of ideas? What about a reading assignment? I can derive a tremendous sense of accomplishment from plowing through several hundred pages of social theory, but where is the finished object? In my head? Academics are constantly pressured to produce, but how do we weigh the products? Knitting is highly satisfying in this context, because there is no ambiguity. It's a scarf. It warms my neck. The purpose is clear, the value is evident. Are lists a form of reification whereby sets of abstractions (notions of future actions or deeds) become thing-ified?

Anyway, not really new ideas, but fun to toss into the blogosphere on the Thursday night with no reading due until Tuesday... and Terry driving up tomorrow! Time to kick back with my needles and yarn, watch Survivor on the internet, and deliberately neglect to set the alarm clock when I finally fall into bed.

Happy Thursday!

Phew...

... I'm here! Greyhound, always an adventure.

11:30 p.m. - Terry drops me off at the station in DC.
12:15 a.m. - people start lining up for the bus to NYC.
12:30 a.m. - the last 16 people in line (I was 8th of those) are left stranded as a full bus takes off without us...
12:35, 12:45, 12:55, 1:05 - I call Terry with panicked updates.
1:10 a.m. - they scrounge up a second bus and driver!!!
1:15 a.m. - we're on the road! I read Freud, try to sleep.
4:50 a.m. - the bus I am supposed to be on makes its scheduled arrival in NYC.
5:00 a.m. - the bus I am actually on arrives! (Dang, that driver flew!)
5:40 a.m. - I make my connection to Ithaca and sleep all the way until...
10:20 a.m. - I start walking from the Ithaca station to the Commons.
10:45 a.m. - I catch the shuttle bus to campus
10:55 - I walk into the library and grab a computer to send feedback to people who sent me their papers for comments.
12:35 - I finish.

Now all I have to do is go home, shower, eat, put the finishing touches on my own paper, read the 400 pages I still have left to go, and go to class at 4:30. :-) I'm really looking forward to my mattress tonight...!

"Day"

I'm calling it a day, folks. Paper is done; we'll see what my posse has to say about it. Several of us first-years agreed to share our papers with each other and offer constructive criticism. I am done in. Good night!

Yeah, right

In the next six days, I will:

• Drive 7 hours and ride the bus for 10
• Read 600 pages of social theory (yes, evidently Freud wrote social theory)
• Reconnect with friends, family, and church
• Write a 3-page critical analysis of Marcuse's Marxist interpretation of Freud
• Write a 10-page paper on Rousseau's epistemology
• Sleep, eat, and exercise

Check in with me Wednesday night and I'll let you know how it went :-)

There and Back Again

I know, I know, I should be sleeping - just finished the reading for tomorrow's class; time for bed. Had to get a word in edgewise here in Blogland :-)

What a weekend adventure - 10 hours on Greyhound on Friday; met Terry in DC, ate at Union Station then drove to the Burg. Saturday slept in, then went to the International Festival for most of the afternoon - took Suzzette and her friend Brenda. It was great running into just about everyone we know! Sunday met with our Sunday School group as well as our Small Group from church. Monday was crazy reading and errands day - I spent about 8 hours reading Durkheim in preparation for Wednesday's class. Tuesday was last-minute socializing and then on the road for the 7-hour drive back to Ithaca.

Friday I reverse the trip.

It was both strange and wonderful being back in Harrisonburg, and then back here as well. I love my life, although I am beginning to feel "a bit thin, like butter spread over too much bread" - psychically thin, that is!

Just now I feel flush with a sense of accomplishment - tonight I delivered my presentation in class, with positive feedback from peers and prof, and tomorrow I will mail my first fellowship application - I don't know of anyone else in my cohort who managed to apply for this one; it was actually a big boon to be able to go home and collect two of the references this past weekend!

Now I can start thinking about my first big paper, due a week from tonight!