And so the school year has begun.
It started on a day on which I have no classes or responsibilities (so far) whatsoever, so I spent the morning making Peter a cake for the Day Before His Birthday Day. It could've turned out better to say the least, but I brought it in, we both had a celebratory piece, and it was completely annihilated within three hours of exposure to EEPsters. The cake-carrier has been rinsed, the counter has been wiped, and in this kitchen at least, it was like the thing never existed. That's all the tacit approval I could ask for.
The big news as of today is that I have officially been offered a job at CSULA's Center for Effective Teaching and Learning! Now I wait for the Career Department bureaucracy to do what it does, and hopefully, sometime next week, I will be a paid employee of Cal State Los Angeles. It certainly feels good to have gone through the motions–an application, a resumé submission, a "non-cognitive skills" test, and two interviews–and emerge victorious. While I'm waiting for the paperwork to clear, I'm going through some Moodle tutorials and continuing to familiarize myself with HTML. It's really opening up a whole new world of tools I can use outside the job as well, which is always great.
To finish up with my wee update, I am approaching 40,000 words on my Six Weeks in Kenya Manuscript, which is very exciting indeed. At this rate, it looks like I am on track for my self-imposed first draft due date, so keep your eyes open!
Also (a little treat) my dabbling on Pinterest has revealed a super interesting Scandinavian design and photography blog that I can't get enough of. Take a look.
Thursday, September 26, 2013
Tuesday, September 17, 2013
Summer Ending, a.k.a. Go Time
Greetings from the dying throws of summer in southern California, which means heat beyond any reasonable weather patterns approaching autumn. Though I shouldn't complain, considering how cool it was today. Let's hope it stays this way!
The summer has been quiet and busy, which was perfect, considering the past year. It has given me time to regroup, figure out where I'm heading next, and take steps forward as opposed to sideways and in loop-de-loops as people my age are wont to do. All this has not been a cake walk, thus the busy-ness, and here's what is up as of today's post:
The summer has been quiet and busy, which was perfect, considering the past year. It has given me time to regroup, figure out where I'm heading next, and take steps forward as opposed to sideways and in loop-de-loops as people my age are wont to do. All this has not been a cake walk, thus the busy-ness, and here's what is up as of today's post:
- After deliberation on pursuing law instead of academia starting around this time last year (see this blog's first post), I have decided that, for the time-being anyhow, I will devote myself to the area of expertise that plucks my heartstrings so they sing instead of the area towards which I feel an obligation. My decision (though in no way ultimate, for life is long and full of interesting twists and turns) resulted in part from the one year anniversary of my trip to Kenya coming and going as I sat in an Atwater Village Starbucks–an event that filled me existential longing for a time past that I had never experienced before, the counsel of EEP Director Dr. Richard Maddox to whom I will always owe a great debt of gratitude, and a fairly simple meditation on what I love. While I love helping people, there are many ways I can do that while still pursuing my own passions for uncovering the mysteries of humanities past. So: Anthropology. Score.
- After an unsuccessful cluster of job applications (I got one group interview that I was so nervous about I showed up looking like a nun with a white dress shirt and a grey below-the-knee skirt) I landed a freelance writing job with friends of the family and producers of GO PUBLIC: A Day in the Life of an American School District. I wrote the content for their community discussion guide, which should be released soon as part of the educational and community DVD packages. I worked long and hard and received my first paycheck for working on a great project.
- I continue to work on my book about my time in Kenya, and hope to have a complete first draft by mid-to-late October. If all goes as planned, all of my supporters who pre-bought the book to finance my journey will have their own special copy by the time Christmas roles around. After that I plan on developing a draft and a package to deliver to publishers. Who knows what will happen after that?
- I started an Etsy business, and I'm in the process of developing it into a working shop!
- I have been invited for a follow-up interview for an on-campus job that I feel is a great fit, and I am teaching myself some elementary web design to prep myself for it, which got me excited about this blog again and is also really useful, because web sites!
Friday, June 7, 2013
Back in Los Angeles
Greetings from the City of Angels!
I hath returned and hit the ground running. I've been back for about two weeks now, and in that time I have submitted seven applications to some basic jobs and two further internship applications. I'm also rebooting my crocheted goods enterprise (Simple Things) on Etsy very soon, building up stock as we speak. Meanwhile, I'm about to start volunteering at the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law to get a taste of what public service law is like in practice and hopefully be useful.
And of course, I am working on the book. I've gotten a lot of work done during my Starbucks dates with my dad, during which much caffeine is consumed and many words are typed out. I'm waiting on more criticism on what I've written so far, but I think I'm at a point where the structure is really playing itself out well.
Peter is returning from jolly old England in 13 days, so after that I have the feeling I'll want to be a lot less busy. :)
More news to come soon, including a part-time job (fingers-crossed), new crochet designs, and the adventures of a Head Mentor.
Here's to summer!
I hath returned and hit the ground running. I've been back for about two weeks now, and in that time I have submitted seven applications to some basic jobs and two further internship applications. I'm also rebooting my crocheted goods enterprise (Simple Things) on Etsy very soon, building up stock as we speak. Meanwhile, I'm about to start volunteering at the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law to get a taste of what public service law is like in practice and hopefully be useful.
And of course, I am working on the book. I've gotten a lot of work done during my Starbucks dates with my dad, during which much caffeine is consumed and many words are typed out. I'm waiting on more criticism on what I've written so far, but I think I'm at a point where the structure is really playing itself out well.
Peter is returning from jolly old England in 13 days, so after that I have the feeling I'll want to be a lot less busy. :)
More news to come soon, including a part-time job (fingers-crossed), new crochet designs, and the adventures of a Head Mentor.
Here's to summer!
Friday, May 10, 2013
Revision Week
I greet you from the final throws of Revision Week(s)!
The essays have been submitted, and I await one more grade with bated breath. I apologize for my dropping the ball on reporting more of the RAI conference that took place three weeks ago on the St Andrews campus, but the one post took a great amount of kapow to make up for it. The remainder of the conference was less rage-inducing informative but a great experience nonetheless. There's nothing like a great selection of veteran anthropologists telling their best field stories and giving advice. This bit was actually my favorite portion of the entire event; the lecturer originally intended to fill the evening slot of the first day–Arjun Appadurai–had taken ill at the last minute. In order to fill the slot, the organizers asked that some St Andrews lecturers, PhD students, and some visiting lecturers from other universities share their stories for the two hour block. During that time, I learned much about the confusions, confrontations, and contradictions that an anthropologist can encounter in the field. I laughed hard and thought hard; there really is nothing better than that, is there?
In addition to that time slot, Peter and I attended the second day's undergrad call for papers, which was at times very interesting and at times very dull. Some very interesting and original topics were explored, alongside tired and strained presentations that really failed to say anything. I was elated to hear my friend Francesca's presentation on her senior thesis, which explored the ways women asserted their autonomy on a small island off of Italy through entrepreneurship and art. We also sat for a heart-wrenching ethnographic film and a lecture from the acclaimed social anthropologist Marilyn Strathern, who did groundbreaking research among women in Papua New Guinea. After the lecture was over, I spotted my Anthropology of Consciousness lecturer from last semester, Professor Christina Toren, and I made a point to (somewhat awkwardly) tell her how much her class impacted the way I think about anthropology and really the way I think in general. After I got past the awkward self-introduction, things went a lot more smoothly. I'll probably never see her again, but she is definitely someone I greatly admire as a person, a teacher, and an anthropologist.
So here I am. Peter left, and I went to visit him in Oxford this past week for the last time. The next time we see each other will be in 6 weeks back in Los Angeles. For myself, I return on May 24th. It's only two weeks away, but it feels like it should be an eternity like the rest of my time here has been. A very short eternity, though, I will admit. As for what I'm doing when I return to sunny California, I'm still waiting on responses from internships I have applied for. I am planning to apply for more in the public service and public radio sector, but I do feel anxious that somehow all of these opportunities will leave me high and dry. I would really like to be able to earn money over the summer, and the pressure to get that figured out is a tad crippling, even though the worst case scenario is that I end up working a minimum wage, entrance-level job and volunteering at KPCC instead of working there or somewhere like it. Speaking of volunteering, I am also planning on sending an application to the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law in Los Angeles. So really, things aren't as hanging-by-the-thread as they feel.
For now, I must return to reading an article about colonialism in West Africa. More on this and other things to come soon.
Have a brilliant day!
The essays have been submitted, and I await one more grade with bated breath. I apologize for my dropping the ball on reporting more of the RAI conference that took place three weeks ago on the St Andrews campus, but the one post took a great amount of kapow to make up for it. The remainder of the conference was less rage-inducing informative but a great experience nonetheless. There's nothing like a great selection of veteran anthropologists telling their best field stories and giving advice. This bit was actually my favorite portion of the entire event; the lecturer originally intended to fill the evening slot of the first day–Arjun Appadurai–had taken ill at the last minute. In order to fill the slot, the organizers asked that some St Andrews lecturers, PhD students, and some visiting lecturers from other universities share their stories for the two hour block. During that time, I learned much about the confusions, confrontations, and contradictions that an anthropologist can encounter in the field. I laughed hard and thought hard; there really is nothing better than that, is there?
In addition to that time slot, Peter and I attended the second day's undergrad call for papers, which was at times very interesting and at times very dull. Some very interesting and original topics were explored, alongside tired and strained presentations that really failed to say anything. I was elated to hear my friend Francesca's presentation on her senior thesis, which explored the ways women asserted their autonomy on a small island off of Italy through entrepreneurship and art. We also sat for a heart-wrenching ethnographic film and a lecture from the acclaimed social anthropologist Marilyn Strathern, who did groundbreaking research among women in Papua New Guinea. After the lecture was over, I spotted my Anthropology of Consciousness lecturer from last semester, Professor Christina Toren, and I made a point to (somewhat awkwardly) tell her how much her class impacted the way I think about anthropology and really the way I think in general. After I got past the awkward self-introduction, things went a lot more smoothly. I'll probably never see her again, but she is definitely someone I greatly admire as a person, a teacher, and an anthropologist.
So here I am. Peter left, and I went to visit him in Oxford this past week for the last time. The next time we see each other will be in 6 weeks back in Los Angeles. For myself, I return on May 24th. It's only two weeks away, but it feels like it should be an eternity like the rest of my time here has been. A very short eternity, though, I will admit. As for what I'm doing when I return to sunny California, I'm still waiting on responses from internships I have applied for. I am planning to apply for more in the public service and public radio sector, but I do feel anxious that somehow all of these opportunities will leave me high and dry. I would really like to be able to earn money over the summer, and the pressure to get that figured out is a tad crippling, even though the worst case scenario is that I end up working a minimum wage, entrance-level job and volunteering at KPCC instead of working there or somewhere like it. Speaking of volunteering, I am also planning on sending an application to the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law in Los Angeles. So really, things aren't as hanging-by-the-thread as they feel.
For now, I must return to reading an article about colonialism in West Africa. More on this and other things to come soon.
Have a brilliant day!
Saturday, April 13, 2013
Close Encounters Part 1: Kony 2012
Hello world,
Yesterday and today, I wasn't as hard at work on my Los Angeles essay as I probably should have been. Instead, I attended a pretty great anthropology convention, thrown by St Andrews' own undergraduates called Close Encounters: Bringing Anthropology Home. The whole shindig was sponsored by the Royal Anthropological Institute (RAI) but completely organized and orchestrated by a group of Social Anthropology undergrads, and I must say, they did quite a brilliant job.
I didn't attend every event, but I got to what I could with Peter as my sidekick. There was the "Opening Remarks" presented by the conference coordinator and the director of the RAI, immediately followed by a rather enlightening lecture entitled Kony 2012: Reopening Old Wounds. It was presented by Dr. Aloysius Malagala of Gulu University in Uganda and a PhD student at Keele University, Betty Okot. Ms. Okot had conducted field work in the Acholi area of northern Uganda–the area and ethnic group most affected by the violence of the rebellion. The paper criticized the Kony 2012 campaign for:
- Releasing the viral Kony 2012 video five years after Kony's disappearance.
- Ignoring the complexities of the conflict, including the history of Uganda's ethnic tensions, the displacement of the Acholi people by the Ugandan government, the origin of the rebellion, and the fact that Kony was a leader of one of many military splinter groups that formed during the rebellion.
- Ignoring the land and cattle shortage issues the Acholi people are enduring as the aftermath of actions by both "sides" of the rebellion, if they could really be called sides.
- Using the plight of the Acholi people, none of whom were involved in the production process or content decisions, to raise upwards of $30,000,000, very little of which ended up reaching them.
This presentation was incredibly enlightening when it came to the history behind the conflict (neglected in the video) and what the people of Gulu thought of the video. In short, there were riots. In long form, a white "researcher" came into their community, asked them questions, recorded them, and ended up making a video they thought to be exploitative and opportunistic. Coming back to the title of the lecture, the video reopened old wounds of friends and family lost, home lost, and the neglect their community faced from the international community when their homes were actively under siege. Not only did the video do this–it also profited tremendously. And Invisible Children thought so much of the community that they did not involve them in the process.
Speaking of profit, I did some independent investigation after Ms. Okot mentioned that 60% of the money raised from the campaign went towards administration. I popped onto the Kony 2012 website and found that they made it quite difficult to access a breakdown of Invisible Children's spending. Plenty of breakdowns are given of costs for the Kony 2012 campaign, including a video production breakdown as well as an independent campaign breakdown. A repeated mantra throughout the report is that 81.48% of spending goes to "Programs."Finally, a breakdown of revenue spending arrives on page 76 of 86 of the financial report. Here we find that "Programs" includes the categories Media and Mobilization. These kinds of spending do not reach Uganda. They publish the website, they fund student conventions, and they fund what the report simply calls "Kony 2012," which cost more than $3 million–the clear plurality of all spending. Media and Mobilization make up the majority of "Programs" spending. Here's the link to the financial report, and if you're interested, I encourage you to check it out.
I suppose I'll conclude with a small appeal to anyone who may read this to be critical in their donation choices. Invisible Children does really great things when they do, but Reopening Old Wounds really brought their level of integrity to light. As one of Ms. Okot's informants asked (I paraphrase), If they are willing to use our pain to get money, what will they do when this money dries up? I doubt the people of Invisible Children will go raiding the countryside, but it is a compelling question. If an organization's goal is to help people, I think that it should probably drop some of the budget for fancy campaign videos and devote more to said people. It's the principal of the matter. Essentially, the Kony 2012 campaign spent over half of its revenue in making middle-class-and-up individuals feel a little better about themselves.
Another short point before I tumble into bed: Vengeance is nice sometimes. But the people most devastated by Kony's violence and the government response to Kony's violence (which lasted 20 years without intervention, incidentally) are, as we speak, trying to rebuild their lives. The pain of an entire generation will not disappear if/when a single psychopath is apprehended. The Kony 2012 campaign achieved its goal of making the man famous, but it let his victims be defined by nothing but his brutality. In the eyes of the Acholi who spoke with Ms. Okot, the campaign did little but to reaffirm their status as victims of atrocity. Why did the campaign look backwards more than forwards?
These are some thoughts provoked by the first, YES, the first presentation of Close Encounters. Watch for more commentary on the presentations and also on my Los Angeles essay. More historical context that will turn your world on its head.
Oh, what anthropology can do...
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
The Radio Show
Today, my friends, I have a radio show.
Earlier this semester I decided to put my name in for one of the fifteen open slots, just in case anything came of it. I decided after I signed up to orchestrate a talk show that runs along the same lines as This American Life (an NPR show that is very dear to my heart), meaning I would have a theme or topic every week and go from there. There needn't be a category for the whole show, just as long as the topic was interesting, and preferably something people didn't know all that much about, or if it was, I would bring in people to chat on it.
Usually, the topic has been related to something in the news, although my favorite show was completely out-of-the-blue–an hour on three "Forgotten Inventors." Nikola Tesla, Leon Theremin, and Heddy Lamar. I brought my friend, Bridget, in to speak about Leon Theremin (she's a cellist, he was a cellist, voila), and it all turned out very well for a second radio show ever, if I do say so myself. My second favorite show was about HIV in response to the child in Georgia who may have been cured of HIV she contracted from her mother in-utero. It was just me that time, but I'd nabbed an interview with a lecturer at St Andrews who specializes in HIV anti-retroviral research, which was quite informative.
Today, I am going to talk about the situation in North Korea and the history and context that these threats are emerging from. When preparing for every show, I learn something I wouldn't have known otherwise, and this is definitely the case with this one. What a tricky country, North Korea is.
If you'd like to listen to my show, or any STAR (St Andrews Radio) show at all, here's the link. Soon, I'll be posting my recent shows to the same website in podcast form, I just need to edit out the music and plug in some open forum tunes instead.
Have a pleasant and productive day!
Earlier this semester I decided to put my name in for one of the fifteen open slots, just in case anything came of it. I decided after I signed up to orchestrate a talk show that runs along the same lines as This American Life (an NPR show that is very dear to my heart), meaning I would have a theme or topic every week and go from there. There needn't be a category for the whole show, just as long as the topic was interesting, and preferably something people didn't know all that much about, or if it was, I would bring in people to chat on it.
Usually, the topic has been related to something in the news, although my favorite show was completely out-of-the-blue–an hour on three "Forgotten Inventors." Nikola Tesla, Leon Theremin, and Heddy Lamar. I brought my friend, Bridget, in to speak about Leon Theremin (she's a cellist, he was a cellist, voila), and it all turned out very well for a second radio show ever, if I do say so myself. My second favorite show was about HIV in response to the child in Georgia who may have been cured of HIV she contracted from her mother in-utero. It was just me that time, but I'd nabbed an interview with a lecturer at St Andrews who specializes in HIV anti-retroviral research, which was quite informative.
Today, I am going to talk about the situation in North Korea and the history and context that these threats are emerging from. When preparing for every show, I learn something I wouldn't have known otherwise, and this is definitely the case with this one. What a tricky country, North Korea is.
If you'd like to listen to my show, or any STAR (St Andrews Radio) show at all, here's the link. Soon, I'll be posting my recent shows to the same website in podcast form, I just need to edit out the music and plug in some open forum tunes instead.
Have a pleasant and productive day!
Tuesday, April 9, 2013
I'm Back...
So this internship-finding website told me to start a blog. I told the screen I already had one. And the screen said nothing. And then I thought to myself, I could do with a wee entry right about now. Exciting things have happened, are happening, and will happen in the months surrounding now (and now, for that matter).
To begin with a boom, I got back from my spring break (Easter break, to all my non-yank friends), which was pretty much my Walkabout. This ceremonial coming-of-age journey, conveniently timed one week after my 18th birthday, consisted of travels to Stockholm, Berlin, Prague, a brief jaunt in Amsterdam, and, of course, Paris. It was... well... It was a pretty fantastic-unbelievable-beautiful experience. I was accompanied by Peter, my dear partner in crime, who I now hail as one who can get me to food before my transformation into an awesome and terrible beast of myth. He also just happens to be one of the best travel buddies.
Berlin was the favorite destination by far. It was a proper city. The place had trains, grit, bagels, and people of all shapes, sizes, and shades. Diversity was probably the most refreshing aspect of the trip as a whole (St Andrews isn't the most populated or colorful town), but my other city cravings really came out in Berlin. It was smart, and it had soul. I'm writing in complete intangibles, but city people will get me, I think.
Since my glorious return to this town by the sea, I've been mobbed by a host of tasks. I'm currently working on two essays, one for each of my courses; maintaining the radio show I started on STAR (St Andrews Radio); polishing my resume and applying for internships in Los Angeles; and reestablishing the writing habit on my book about my time in Kenya. I also feel the need to reboot the blog for personal reasons (my addiction to self-imposed responsibility, it's really unhealthy).
So there it be, the recent news. As for the coming week, I'll be mainly focusing on my essay for Anthropology of Migration. Dr. Fumanti, my awesome professor, let us choose our own essay topics, with no constraints except that it somehow relate to concepts discussed in class. This is a mixed blessing, but I chose to run along with it and write my essay on Los Angeles. And now that I've dug through material, the specific topic will have to do with environmental racism, urban development, and how these impacted on the formation of "Chicano identity." (Quotations allow for the stretch that any group can have a collective identity. HAH.)
This topic has led me through loads of literature on Los Angeles, and despite it all being about white racists and how the construction of Dodger Stadium displaced dozens of Mexican-American families with almost no compensation, it's really making me miss my city. More will be coming about the awful, amazing, wonderland that is Los Angeles, CA.
Until then, ta ta. :)
To begin with a boom, I got back from my spring break (Easter break, to all my non-yank friends), which was pretty much my Walkabout. This ceremonial coming-of-age journey, conveniently timed one week after my 18th birthday, consisted of travels to Stockholm, Berlin, Prague, a brief jaunt in Amsterdam, and, of course, Paris. It was... well... It was a pretty fantastic-unbelievable-beautiful experience. I was accompanied by Peter, my dear partner in crime, who I now hail as one who can get me to food before my transformation into an awesome and terrible beast of myth. He also just happens to be one of the best travel buddies.
Berlin was the favorite destination by far. It was a proper city. The place had trains, grit, bagels, and people of all shapes, sizes, and shades. Diversity was probably the most refreshing aspect of the trip as a whole (St Andrews isn't the most populated or colorful town), but my other city cravings really came out in Berlin. It was smart, and it had soul. I'm writing in complete intangibles, but city people will get me, I think.
Since my glorious return to this town by the sea, I've been mobbed by a host of tasks. I'm currently working on two essays, one for each of my courses; maintaining the radio show I started on STAR (St Andrews Radio); polishing my resume and applying for internships in Los Angeles; and reestablishing the writing habit on my book about my time in Kenya. I also feel the need to reboot the blog for personal reasons (my addiction to self-imposed responsibility, it's really unhealthy).
So there it be, the recent news. As for the coming week, I'll be mainly focusing on my essay for Anthropology of Migration. Dr. Fumanti, my awesome professor, let us choose our own essay topics, with no constraints except that it somehow relate to concepts discussed in class. This is a mixed blessing, but I chose to run along with it and write my essay on Los Angeles. And now that I've dug through material, the specific topic will have to do with environmental racism, urban development, and how these impacted on the formation of "Chicano identity." (Quotations allow for the stretch that any group can have a collective identity. HAH.)
This topic has led me through loads of literature on Los Angeles, and despite it all being about white racists and how the construction of Dodger Stadium displaced dozens of Mexican-American families with almost no compensation, it's really making me miss my city. More will be coming about the awful, amazing, wonderland that is Los Angeles, CA.
Until then, ta ta. :)
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