Interesting morsels

Most of the time I write here in a very personal way about my attitudes, emotions, reactions, etc to various events and happenings in my life as a grad student.
But I've run across some interesting tidbits and morsels on the web, from other blogs, sites, etc and wanted to put them here (rather than a blog I've kept off and on for much that purpose. why the change?? who the hell knows?!!)



Link to article from President of Princeton, in Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. She's talked elsewhere (WSJ ?)about women and tenure. Need to find that article...
Found the link on this blog about women in science.

Too damn bad that this blog doesn't look active anymore. Probably some great links to work that is badly needed on issues of digital access for disadvantaged persons. Wonder who else will take up this mantle?

Hmmmm. Well known blog...may be worth following the "Free Range Librarian". (and apparently I'm too darn lazy at the moment to add it to my blog roll, so it goes in post instead)

Eureka!

i may have stumbled my way (well, just a bit) to my dissertation topic!
Well....I'll be damned!

I know the general area I wanted to research and had narrowed the topic some, but it still didn't seem like a "research question", or I couldn't figure out where that question was in the topic. Still having trouble with that aspect of scholarly work.
Anyway...I was trying not to keep chasing distractions in terms of assigned work, projects, papers, etc and to focus on what I want to do, not what someone else wants, or what they need a warm body for. I'm already doing this Summer Project and want to get something 'researchy' out of it, or at least have it move me forward toward my own damn dissertation work.

And voila...now maybe it has! I'm still not completely sure if the questions I have are "research questions", but they seem worth exploring, and a way to tie into the more broad area of interest I've had the past 6 months or so (and to the Big Picture Topic I had when I started the PhD) and make the Summer Project worthwhile (well, outside its own interests...).

This came from a brainstorming talk I had with Advocate today...a sort of transition meeting to her more offical capacity as "Advisor" now. We brainstormed how this interest could potentially be researched, what kind of qualitative research to do, what to ground it in, what I will still need, and the types of contacts I need to start cultivating to get me an "in" with practitioners and subjects I would want to work with. [A bit of a major issue since this is not something I have direct experience in exactly, nor a field I came from originally. Hell, this whole PhD and MS field is new to me and not what I started my professional life in...course that's part of the whole point!! anyway...it's not like I just have some former colleagues to call up to ask if I can come study 'em...]

I feel pretty excited and pretty good. Now have to figure out how to make it happen-- both from a general, sorta philosophical point, and a nitty-gritty technical kind of thing--like, literally, what steps do I take next! Yikes.

I know this is vague as s**t but I'm still trying not to identify myself or my narrow field, or school, too much out here on the blogosphere. Treading lightly...
So this probably only makes sense in my own little head, and I hope it can remind me of my thought process and emotional state later, since I sure doubt it will much good other than that. But that's ok. I never set out to do this primarily for an audience. [and I seriously doubt I have one, thanks to my sporadic, cryptic posts and lack of links]

Hope I got all the notes down from our fast and furious bull session.
Wish me luck with taking the bull by the horns and running with it!!!
[enough metaphors mixed there, ya think?!!]

what a relief...

Gee, thanks to the wonders of Blogthings, I have confirmation (of a sort) of my career choice and graduate pursuit.
Whew. Was gettin' worried there....

You Should Get a PhD in Liberal Arts (like political science, literature, or philosophy)

You're a great thinker and a true philosopher. You'd make a talented professor or writer.

What Advanced Degree Should You Get?

I'm baaaaaaack

Another legit break from blogging as the term ended, I was away with DH and family on vacation, without computers or the Web ("Horrors!!"), and dammit, it was supposed to be vacation afterall.
Not that I wouldn't have loved to vent and blog my way through the vacation, but since they don't know I do this, and I'd like to preserve some privacy, anonymity, and oh yeah, my SANITY, I was NOT going to chance it. Again, not like I could anyway, without Net service; and I just didn't feel like writing it long-hand and then transcribing and uploading later. Besides, it wasn't Academic related, so I feel like it really doesn't belong here. Although this was supposed to be a place to vent in general, so maybe the intersection of my personal and so-called-professional lives earns air time here. hmmmm.....

So vacation time was short, not so restful (and rest was so dearly needed and wanted), but quite interesting...and alas, over. Done. Finito. (Wellllll....I did get to hop away for the holiday weekend with DH and play golf-- pretty course in central PA near MD. But really....it's over...back to work...no more play time...)
Classes started up again, and so thusly, the stress. But really trying not to stress so much over class this term, and I think it may be possible to have a semblance of a life along with my scholar-grind. Eeep. I hope I didn't speak too soon!

Said good-bye to my Advisor last week, as the last packing of offices was done, books gone from shelves, pictures taken down, and generally the space was left looking forlorn, denuded, generic. It really hit home that Dear Advisor won't be around whenever I'm on-campus, can't pop in to chat, and that I'm sort of on my own a bit here. Yes, Advocate will take over the advising duties, and may actually help kick my ass in gear more. Yes, I love Advocate too and look forward to working together.
But still....

However, as much of a downer as that is, I take the parting words to heart..."get it done. finish"
Not that Advisor was truly worried I think that I would quit, or wind up ABD. But more that the track record of my dept. at Metro U isn't so hot at turning out PhDs in my field, or my specialty. So much disfunction it isn't even funny. So more worried that the resources aren't there behind me to get me done, finished, out-- and in some kind of reasonable time frame.
But I WILL "get it done". No matter how much I whine, complain, bitch, moan, whatever-- I refuse to lose sight of what I feel I'm meant to do, meant to be, and what I have to do to get there. (i.e. if I want to teach in my field apparently I MUST have the magic letters, so therefore I will get the PhD) And I will not let my buddies drop out, quit, end up ABD, or anything else short of 'finished' and graduated either. Mambo and Astro are keys to my sanity, and hopefully me to them, and so we have to push each other, pull each other, and do whatever it takes to 'get it done".
And so the next step begins...