Would You Like Salt with that Sociological Study?

I recently read an opinion article in the local newspaper entitled, “A Grain of Salt with Sociological Studies.” The author and weekly columnist, Dan McLaughlin, argues that we must take sociological studies with a particularly large chunk of salt because, unlike hard scientific experiments, they are at the mercy of the time, place and specific circumstance in which they are conducted. At first, I wanted to dismiss the article entirely. What does this guy know about sociological research? Is he seriously implying that hard scientific experiments shouldn’t be scrutinized for biases and lack of objectivity? Personally, I think he was (which is ludicrous, by the way). The hard sciences are often looked upon as objective and factual, scientists as truth-givers. However, ask any of the hard scientists out there and they will tell you that their data can also be manipulated, that there is always some bias in what is studied, how it is studied, and what is published for the world to read.

So, actually I think our fried, Dan McLaughlin makes an excellent point. Of course we should look at sociological studies with a critical eye. Isn’t that our job as scholars, to not take for granted the information that we are given, what might seem obvious? Isn’t it our job to question? So yes Dan, we should be checking definitions, and methodology and asking about grand inferences made from small studies and about conclusions based on huge data sets.

But in no way does our duty to question sociology make it any less important. Most of us are not scientists in labs, creating drugs to cure diseases, but I argue that we are concerned with saving lives. We are the ones who understand and explain how institutions interact to create a system where some people are far more likely to die earlier because they live in poverty, who are more likely to be imprisoned, who are more likely to commit suicide because of stigma associated with their identities, who are living lives of far poorer quality because of social factors, not any internal condition. We are the ones who can advocate for solutions to fixable social issues, issues that seriously hamper the ability to live long and fulfilling lives for so many people.

I do not claim to know all there is to know about sociology. I am still learning about the discipline that lit a fire under me nearly four years ago. I want to defend it. I want people to see the necessity of sociology. But I must realize its flaws. Like so many other disciplines, sociology is ever changing and growing, adapting to the very thing that it attempts to understand. If it never changed, I wouldn’t even be here writing this—no woman would.  Thus, I am thankful to have read Mr. McLaughlin’s editorial, if only to make me think a little harder about the need for effective critique and inquiry, and why sociology is truly important despite its inability to recreate historical occurrences or rid itself of human bias (something, by the way, that no science can do).

So next time you read a sociological study, any study really, take the time to ask some questions. How did the author collect her/his/their data?  What conclusions did she/he/they make and are they valid based on the data? Why was this study published over others? And even if you don’t read sociological studies, you can still be critical (not negatively critical, but questioning critical) of what you read in the newspaper or watch on TV or hear from your sociologist cousin. Sometimes tough questions start really great, enlightening conversations. 

http://www.post-journal.com/page/content.detail/id/657817/A-Grain-Of-Salt-With-Sociological-Studies.html

Semester Recap (not brief)

Wow, 3 posts in 2 days?! Yep. I figured I should try to do a brief (what is brief anyhow?) recap of the semester since I didn't do a very good job of posting once it got busy. And boy, did it get busy.... I remember getting that panicky feeling in mid October.  Any of you who have been involved in college life should know that feeling, the one you usually get around Thanksgiving when you realize there are only a few weeks left in the semester and you have WAY too much stuff to do. Yeah, that happened for me in October. But everything was okay, just like it always is.

So, what was all that stuff I was doing that I was stressing about? Here's a quick list:

• Theory Class, Blogging & Prepping for Oral Exam
• Stats Class
• Human Rights Class & Final Paper
• TAing (Discussion Groups, Grading, Finals Review)
• NSF Fellowship Application
• Youth Activities Project
• Sociology of Education Journal Review
• Department Workshops and others 

*But don't worry, I still had plenty of time to go swing dancing each week and spend many happy hours with cohort and department friends :)

Let me break some of this down for you. Essentially the first year is class-focused. All first years must take Theory in the first semester and Research Methods and Advanced Statistics in the second semester. Many also take Intermediate Stats in the first semester as I did. Additionally, everyone must take a professional development seminar which was a little bit like a Q&A therapy session.

Theory took up most of my time spent on class work. Basically everyday I was doing something theory related----the reading was long and often dense, and the day before class some of us posted blog memos and the rest of us had to comment. So we were literally doing theory all of the time. Realistically, I think theory needs to be intense if you're going to get anything out of it. I was so glad we had those memos once it came down to finals time. For our final we each selected a topic to explore theoretically and then had a 30-45 minute oral exam (more like a conversation) with a professor we also selected. It's funny because in a bunch of other countries, students are doing oral exams all throughout their schooling, but we often don't get to it until we need to defend our prelims or our dissertations and that's a pretty high stakes game. My exam went really well. I was first and I was so nervous, but it actually turned out to be really enjoyable because it was something I am passionate about. I chose to explore sexual assault using 2 case studies, campus rape in the U.S. and rape in the DRC in the midst of the ongoing conflict there. My arguments centered around the ways in which the physical act of sexual assault and the discourse surrounding it is a way of protecting masculinity, and the ways in which the act and the discourse are both forms of violence against the victim (both physical and symbolic). I of course don't have space here to explain it all, so if you have questions or would like to talk more about any of this stuff I would be more than happy to.

The human rights class I took ended up being my favorite. It was on a Friday afternoon, but the discussions were great so it didn't really matter. This class was nice because there was really a variety of perspectives among the 6 of us in the class.  I was only 1 of 2 sociologists there. The other students were from public policy or history. Sometimes it's really nice to talk to non-sociologists.

I am not quite done with TAing; their final is tomorrow and then I will have to calculate grades. Luckily the professor made the final multiple choice so I won't have to actually grade the tests. I thought this semester went pretty well. It was definitely a new experience having to lead my own discussion sections and I hope I get another shot at it before I am done here. It does take up a lot of time though. I think Intro is hard to teach because you try to cover so many topics. Basically you get a week to talk about every topic and sometimes not even that. We only had one full day of lecture about gender---how do you even lecture about gender in one day?! I did that lecture, by the way ;) It was pretty fun and the students participated more than I thought they would. I think the real goal of Intro is getting students to think from a different perspective, to learn how to use their sociological imagination. That's a hard thing to do when you have students from so many different levels and backgrounds. I hardly remember anything from my introduction to sociology class, so that worries me a little bit... Although I do know one student decided to pick up a sociology minor after this course. I really appreciated having time to interact with the students in my discussion sections. Other TAs don't really get that if they are only graders. The few students that I really got to know outside of the classroom setting were really great and seem like they will go on to use sociology in a way that is meaningful.

The Sociology of Education Journal Review (sorry I'm going out of order) was something that took up much less of my time this semester, but I think was more beneficial than some of the other things. For those of you who may not be familiar, it is very important for academics to publish---grad students and faculty prior to tenure. When you want to publish something, you send a manuscript into a peer-reviewed journal like Sociology of Education. Your manuscript is then sent out to a few reviewers (preferably scholars in your field of research who can comment on your work) and then the editor decides to reject, accept or let you revise and resubmit it. Right now the Soc of Ed journal is at Minnesota (wherever the editor is). A bunch of grad students (sociology and education) get together as part of a "review board" to discuss submissions with conflicting reviews (maybe two revise and resubmits and one reject) and help the editor decide what to do with it. It's been really helpful for understanding how the publication process works and how to critically read papers. It's also been kind of encouraging to see the really poor work that some people submit because I know I can do so much better! Overall, it has just been a really casual and enjoyable atmosphere. I will be doing this next semester too.

Another exciting thing I've been doing is helping out with the Youth Activities Project here (that's not the final name, but we haven't come up with anything better). It's the first bigger project I've ever been a part of, consisting of about 4 faculty and 5 graduate students and the idea is big. The project is still in the beginning stages, and I have been playing a very small part so far, but we just received some grant funding so we will be seriously moving forward this summer! The very general gist is that we will be looking at youth participation in various activities in the Twin Cities area, including things like sports, music, various clubs, and much more. We are interested in parental decision making and questions of diversity and inequality related to participation.

I'm going to stop with the specific explaining there. Phew!

Overall, this semester has been great. Super overwhelming and crazy, but great. There is so much I still don't know and sometimes I feel very inadequate, but thinking back to the beginning of the semester and thinking about now, the "not knowing" is subsiding...if only minutely. It's kind of confusing because you get a lot of different messages from people about what your first year should be about. Some people tell you to just get through the first semester. Some people tell you you need to start doing research right away, others tell you the most important thing is to just read widely, to explore new topics the first year. I feel a little behind, or maybe behind isn't the word... It feels like I just came into loving sociology and I really haven't had enough time to learn about it and explore what I want to do and I feel like I have to decide soon where I want my research to go for the rest of my career. I'm also pretty young and I know how much I have changed in the past 4 years, so sometimes I wonder if I haven't had enough time to develop myself to just jump into all this. But I know that if I wasn't in graduate school I probably wouldn't get the exposure to sociology that I am getting. Everyday I have at least one awesome conversation that I wouldn't get to have if I was elsewhere. While I could get a different kind of good experience if I took time to work or do some kind of volunteering, there are so many awesome things going on at the university level that I would be missing.

And for all those worried about my mental health, I have been very social. I have been dancing every week, usually on Wednesdays,  usually with a group of engineers I met here who are ironically all from a college in South Dakota.  I also spend quite a bit of time with members of my cohort in social settings, especially happy hour but not limited to that. My roommate is really awesome. I love her! I feel like I have a lot of support here, both inside and outside of the department. Of course I still feel isolated sometimes, I miss home, I question everything, but that's normal, right? :p

I will be home December 18th- January 8th. I am sooooo excited to be home for Christmas! I can't wait to see everyone! That being said, I always get a little nervous because I know how stressful it is to try to plan things over the holidays and fit everyone in. Whether I follow it or not, my goal is to take a more passive stance this break and try not to stress myself out too much--let the people come to me :)

Well, that's all folks. Semester one of grad school done. That's one semester closer to Dr. Nobles!

A relatively warm walk at night

 Last night was relatively warm (mid to upper 40s) so some friends and I took a walk across the Stone Arch Bridge. It was really foggy.

 This picture is right by the ruins of the old milling industry. It was too dark to capture without using my flash, but I thought it looked cool with the lit up sign above them.

Sociology is Hard.

Sociology is hard. But not in the same way math is hard. Sociology is hard because it makes you question everything you've ever learned, everything you thought was someone's individual problem, every time you ever thought, "that's just the way things are." Sociology doesn't let you live in a happy bubble of equality and optimism because now you're able to see the systems that we (as a society) have created that keep the happy equality bubble from happening. Remember when you're parents kept telling you "life isn't fair" when you complained it wasn't fair that you had to go to bed at 8 o'clock or that you had to apologize for something you didn't think was wrong? Well, they were right. Life isn't fair because we don't all start in the same place; we don't all have the same resources. It's not fair because some groups are elevated above others for no reason other than they are part of that group.  Sociology is hard because in America we're taught that the individual is so important. We learn that we have choices, freedoms, that what we think/need/want matters and that we can succeed if only we put in the individual effort. But sociology says, wait a second. Take a step back. Look at the big picture. You can't just choose to succeed, you can't just choose to be "good," you're not as free as you think you are. You are born into all these interlocking systems and where you start plays a big role in what kind of life you are going to have. You don't have the control you think you did. And that can make a person feel very small and very helpless. And you're allowed to feel depressed about it. I sure do.

But sociology is also invigorating. Lisa Wade (a sociologist), in an AKD induction ceremony speech (see link to the video below), said it's almost like having a "super power." You're finally able to see things that were once invisible. You learn you can question what you thought couldn't be questioned. And this is truly empowering. It's empowering because when we understand that for instance, poverty is not a choice, or that crime is not an individual deficit, or that inequalities between races are disparities that we've constructed, it gives us new ways to think about solutions to our social problems. It means we can change the world if we know how it works and if we do it together. As a sociologist you live within the system, but you are also able to step back and see the system. And that's kind of an awesome feeling.

I am so thankful that I took that Social Inequality class with Dr. Easton my sophomore year of college. Truth be told, I barely remember anything from my Intro class. But I remember leaving Social Inequality feeling SO ANGRY. I felt betrayed by what I had been taught and told up to that point about the way the world works and I felt devastated by the ways in which we (yes, you me and everyone else in the world--past and present) create and reproduce these systems that make us believe some people are worth more than others, that tell us some people deserve less, that make us believe we are in control of our individual lives way more than we actually are. I had to go back and question everything I thought I knew. And I am still questioning those things, especially now that I have started a sociology PhD program. I spend a lot of time thinking about my own social position--white, middle class, able-bodied, female from a very white, small town--and how these things affect the privileges and inequalities I encounter in my life. I am far more aware of these factors as I go about my everyday life.

I spend a lot of time thinking about change and social justice. I think about how I can be a part of that change, how I can help people see what their missing. Again, this has the potential to be extremely depressing and also very empowering, sometimes both at the same time. What I always agree on is, that sociology is and should be in everything we do. We need sociology, not just to understand the world, but to change it. We need it to understand that Ferguson is not an isolated case, and that colorblindness is not particularly useful when institutional and structural racism still exists. We need it to understand that power relations and cultural messages about sex play into the fact that overwhelmingly known victims/survivors of sexual assault are women and perpetrators are men. We need it to realize that when 45 million people are in poverty in the U.S. and the poverty rate for Blacks and Hispanics is  more than double the rate for Whites, it is not a problem of individual choice but structural inequality. We need it to realize how differently we value work, family and carework in the U.S., the only developed country where paid maternity and paternity leave is not guaranteed, compared to our counterparts in the rest of the world. And the list goes on....

What I always come back to though, is how to make other people really see and whether I should try to make people see. Because once you see it, you see it everywhere and I really want others to be able to uncover their eyes and truly question how the world works.

But sociology is hard...

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**If you have time, please watch this video. Lisa Wade discusses how difficult and awesome sociology is. It's about 10 min. 
http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2013/05/07/sociology-is-awesome-an-akd-induction-ceremony-speech/

Beautiful Fall Days

 And night.. This night the moon was a perfect crescent but as usual, the camera didn't capture it particularly well.

 Stroll by the river

 The sunset from my office

 Waiting for the light rail

 From the bridge connecting the east bank of campus to west bank

 Prospect Park walks

Dog Sitting and Corn Maze!

 Dog-sitting Roxie!

 All curled up while I work

 Pumpkin Patch at the Shakopee Corn Maze!

Pig Races!

Busy Weeks, Lovely Weather

It's been a couple weeks. Sometimes when I'm walking I think about things I could share on my blog and then I get time to actually write and I can't seem to remember what I did yesterday, let alone last week.

Actually, I do remember what I did yesterday. Ryan (one of the Ryan's in my cohort) hosted a beer tasting party! Over half of our cohort made it out which is a pretty darn good percentage of attendance. It was a really enjoyable night. Lots of good conversation, games and laughs, and I got to try some beer that I probably never would have otherwise. Now, I'm not a huge beer fan to begin with, but it was still fun to try them. I was very happy about one in particular beer, not because of the taste---it was from Southern Tier Brewing Company! Lakewood, New York!!!! Pumking! So I was pretty excited about that!

Last weekend I went to a Future Islands concert on Saturday. I wasn't super familiar with their music, but one of my cohort-members was. Their music is pretty good, but the BEST part is the lead singer! He's craaaaazy! Search Future Islands on youtube and watch him. He dances the whole time, but it's not fluid dancing, it's these wild, bold moves. Sometimes he kicks his leg up to his nose--way higher than I could ever get! I kept worrying that he was going to fall or get his feet tangled in the cords, but he never did. Sunday I went swimming!!!!!! Can you believe it--swimming in September?! I went to Lake Nakomis to this really tiny beach with a couple other grad students. It was awesome! I had almost forgotten how much I love swimming--such freedom! I'm glad I got to see one of the famous lakes too, since it will probably be a long time until it's warm again. Actually the last couple weeks have been great weather! It's pretty chilly out this morning. 40 something, but sunny. I'll have to go for a walk later.

School has been going pretty well. This week was the first really busy one and I don't think it's going to get any less busy from now on. I made a "have to do" list and a "need to do eventually" list this week and I didn't get to any of the "need to do eventually"s. That's a problem. But it's all about making adjustments and so far, everything will get done (I hope).

Even though I know this month is going to be really busy, I did decide to start lindy hop lessons. My first lesson was Wed last week and it went really well. It was a lot of review in the beginning, but I think we will do some new stuff next week. The instructors are funny (swing instructors usually are for some reason) and I got to meet like 20 new people! It works out nicely that it's on Wednesdays because I can go straight to Lee's right after.

Enough "relaxing." Time to get back to work....after I take my walk :)

Pictures!

Beautiful Night

 Birthday package from my parents

 Cinnamon rolls my roommate made me for my birthday

 Lovely walk by the river

 Lake Nakomis Sept 28th

Swimming in September!

Why I really do love birthdays

Sometimes I like to pretend birthdays are just another day. And they are, really. But then my birthday comes along and I remember why I love birthdays.

Now, I may have tooted my own horn a little. I may have brought cupcakes in for my cohort like elementary school, and I may have wore an impossible-to-ignore grin today that signaled there was something special about today. Whether those things factored in or not, I have been made to feel so loved today on my birthday.

I've been on a high since yesterday. I'm not sure if it's all birthday related or if some of it is because it's the end of the week or what, but I have just been SO HAPPY today and yesterday. Mostly I am happy because I know that so many people care about me and are willing to indulge me with a hug today even if they aren't the hugging type. I also feel very, very content with my choice to move to Minneapolis. I already feel like I have my own community of people who care (even a little bit) about me. I think that, for one, makes all the difference.

So let me tell you some of the great things about my birthday:

• Waking up to warm cinnamon rolls baked by my roommate this morning, with one tiger-striped candle. 
• A package from my Mom, Dad and Jared with cookies and love
• Sarah making me a sign to hang on the door at the office so everyone knows it is indeed my birthday (if they weren't around for the first ten times I said it) and coming all the way from the MPC
• Hugs! Boy do I love hugs! (Especially Matthew's because he doesn't seem like a hugger)
• Kate coming over all the way from East Bank to eat a cupcake (oh, and wish me happy birthday!)
• My phone "blowing up" all day with facebook notifications, texts, and snapchats, including a picture of my brother and my dog Lizzie
• Knowing there are packages and letters on their way
• Taco Friday and conversing with some of the 2nd and 3rd years over lunch.
• Wearing my new Minnesota crew neck 
• Just hanging out with some of my cohort in the office without really trying to be productive
• Knowing that I'm going to get to eat a big fat cheeseburger for dinner for the first time since I moved to Minnesota
• Specific to this year: I no longer have to endure everyone's shocked looks when I tell them I am only 21 in a PhD program :P

So there you have it, some great things about my birthday. Birthdays, I know, don't always turn out quite so well, nor does everyone have the opportunity to celebrate their birthdays. For me, however, it always reminds that I am loved. People need that.

So, thank you.

And then it was fall...

All of a sudden, I knew it was Fall.

You never know when you have the last good day of Summer. You know it's coming quickly, but until that first day of Fall weather hits, you just have to try to enjoy the warm days as much as you can. Fall came to Minneapolis this week. It went from mid-70s to 50s just like that. Today at the department picnic I had a sweater and a jacket on and was still cold! It's funny, when it's 50 in March it's a heat wave; today....I was freezing. As much as I do enjoy fall, it's depressing to think that I won't be able to walk outside in a t-shirt again for 8 or 9 months. Cue my perpetual state of being cold.

Okay, okay. There are some  really great things about Fall. For instance, I am SO excited about apple cider. SO EXCITED. And apple crisp and apple sauce and apples. And even though you can make pumpkin flavored things any time of the year--pumpkin pie, pumpkin cookies, pumpkin cakes, and of course just pumpkins (which you cannot get anytime of the year). Leaves change and that's always really pretty until you realize that part's over too. Other good things about Fall? Football? Well, yeah I guess. Oh---new tv shows! The last season of Grey's starts in a couple weeks! And if we're considering it Fall from now on, My Birthday! MY BIRTHDAY IS THIS FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 19TH in case you were wondering :)

Onto other subjects... My second week of classes went well. I actually did 3 fun things this week. I have been telling people that I am only allowed one fun thing a week. For the past three weeks that has been dance on Wednesdays, so if I wanted to try dance another night I would have to skip the Wednesday gig. However, this week I went to trivia with Meghan and her friends on Tuesday, dance on Wednesday, and went to see The Fault in our Stars at a discount movie theater on Thursday---3 fun things! And I still managed to get my work done. Who said grad students can't have fun?! This week I probably shouldn't do that so I can do more than the minimum though :) Plus, I have to plan the prep stuff for our discussion sections for next week, so I have a couple more things.

Btw, my first discussion sections went pretty well. The first week was mostly just introductions. It was interesting to learn why everyone was taking the class (Intro Soc is a prerequisite for a lot of programs---sports management, nursing, need it for new MCAT section) and what they were most interested in learning about. The Monday section wasn't very talkative when we started discussion but I'm hoping it was just the first week trying to figure out how everyone fits in and what is expected of them. My Wednesday section was actually a little more talkative which I thought was strange because it is at 8am whereas my Monday section is at 10. TAing is a lot of work, especially planning for the discussion sections which I know I spend too much time on.

I also spend ALOT of time reading for theory. Marx and I have gotten pretty buddy buddy in the past two weeks ;) Tomorrow I'll spend a few hours at the theory reading group and then have to come home and watch a two hour lecture on Marx's Capital. Fun fun.  It's really never ending though. I read over the weekend for Tuesday's theory class, then have to respond to (or write) blog posts on Monday, then look over my notes Tues before class. Meanwhile, I will hopefully have started reading for Thursday before Tuesday's class so I can respond to (or write) blog posts on Wed and have a lively discussion on Thursday.

Things to look forward to for next week:

• I'm attending a dance performance as a requirement for my human rights class on Friday (MY BIRTHDAY). I'm interested to see how human rights themes are expressed through dance, so you can anticipate a discussion about that next week.
• Birthday Activities (whatever they may be) 
• My first payday

The trials of butternut squash and my first week of class

For those of you who have never cut or peeled a butternut squash....it's harder than it looks.

I sit here waiting for my newest kitchen creation to simmer away--butternut squash soup. My flatmate in Norway, Jera, used to make some kind of soup with sweet potatoes, carrots, squash, apples...a whole bunch of stuff! I've really wanted to try to make something similar so tonight is one of my experiments.

I was happy to see my hugging blog (or posting it on facebook perhaps) prompted 30+ page views on Friday. Today I wanted to do a quick recap and give my impressions of my first week of classes.

Well, by Friday I was exhauuusted. I'm hoping it was just the first week (mind you only a 4 day week) and that it will get easier (though I probably will always be tired).  Theory will probably be the first class to really kick my butt. My theory professor is actually quite fabulous and invited us to her apartment for a reading group today and it was very helpful. It's just dense material and takes a very, very long time to read. I should be used to that reading all that philosophy mumbo jumbo, right? Well..let's just say I need to make some improvements on the comprehension side of things. Anyway, right now we're making our way through Marx, who I am fond of actually, so it's going okay. We will see how well I am doing in stats tomorrow when we have our lab session and actually use the software. I don't think the class should be too difficult because I understand the concepts for the most part and it's really about getting the computer to do what you want it to. Tuesdays, which are my busy days), I have what we call prosem squeezed in between stats and theory. It's basically a mix between a how-to for professional sociologists and a Q&A therapy session. We also have to attend department workshops where we get to listen to someone else's research.

My last real class is a cross-disciplinary human rights class. It's on Friday afternoon right during my nap time, but I think it will be my favorite and most productive class. Because it's cross disciplinary we have a few people from the public policy school and one in the history department. There's only 6 or 7 of us, so it turns into insightful discussion where everyone can participate. Finally, I am participating in a journal editing seminar for credit, though it won't require as much time as an average class. The editor of the journal, Sociology of Education, is at the U and he gets a group of us together once a week to discuss his decision on a manuscript that's been submitted to the journal. I'm looking forward to learning more about what goes into submitting a manuscript for publication, what reviewers look for, etc.. By the way, there's also something called "The Society Pages" that is run at the University. It's a website that's aimed getting sociology to the public. There are a number of blogs on different topics, as well as something cool called "There's research on that!" where the writer discusses a topic that has been in the news recently and brings attention to studies that have been done on the subject. (For example, a section on the events in Ferguson includes links to research on policing black boys and the militarization of police. Check it out! http://thesocietypages.org/

Tomorrow I get to lead my first discussion section for the Intro to Sociology class I am TAing for. I'm pretty excited for it, but I know I'm going to be really nervous tomorrow morning. This week we're mainly just doing introductions and having a small discussion. I hope I'm not being overly optimistic about participation. I think back to my Elmira classes and sometimes for the professors it was like pulling teeth! I have two sections, one Monday and one Wednesday (at 8am!!!) so I'll get a chance to reevaluate after Monday's session.

Let me give you a quick picture of what it's like in the department and how things are situated. The first years all share an office on the 10th floor. The office is a pretty good size but there are 11 of us in there. Mind you, not everyone is there at the same time. On busy days maybe 6 or 7 would be in there together. It's not too difficult to focus if everyone is working, but often small conversations crop up and then it becomes near impossible. Usually people are in and out depending on what they have going on in the day. Sarah is hardly ever there because she has a research assistantship in the Population Center in a different building. Sociology takes up floors 9-11 and has some stuff on other floors. On 7, for example, there's the Teaching Resource Center. I take it there aren't usually many people in there so I've gone and read in there when I needed to focus. It also has a couch which is nice. Supposedly there's another study room on the 6th floor. The main office is on the 9th floor which is where my department mailbox is and the copy room. The lunch room is on the 10th floor right across from our office (both good and bad). We have a lot of our classes on the 11th floor in 1114. That's where all of the receptions tend to be held. It's gets a little old after a while, but there are only small, seminar sized classrooms in the social science tower. By the way, we do have a great view from that classroom on the 11th floor!

The U has a good system of tunnels and walkways which I am still figuring out. If I haven't said it before, one thing I've learned is to not go inside buildings unless you know where you're going or you're not in a hurry because you can get really turned around. The tunnel system is nice though and has signs so it's pretty easy to use. There is a tunnel from my building to the library and to the buildings that I TA in so really I never have to go outside if I don't want to. Hopefully I'll have it all figured out before I need to! To put it in perspective how small Elmira was and how big UMN is, at Elmira I could walk from one end of campus to the other in maybe 6 minutes. At the U it takes almost that long to walk across the bridge in between campuses.

Wow, this is getting long and my eyes are getting tired. One more thing. Last night I went to my first Major League Baseball game. Yes, I got to see a Twins game! It was a lot of fun and a perfect night for it. I ate some fried cheese curds (seems to be in replacement of mozzerella sticks here) and was happy. It was a pretty close game until right up to the last inning. The Twins didn't win but I did get to see a few home runs!

I hear a polar vortex is coming our way! Wish me luck!

P.S. For those of you who are curious, my roommate and I still get along splendidly :)

Never Underestimate the Value of Physical Contact

You should never underestimate the value of physical contact.

I remember a week or so into my stay in Norway I went to the doctor for something minor. At one point, the doctor lightly touched my arm.  She set off more than a feeling, almost an emotion that welled up inside. How could I have felt so deeply from the slightest human touch? I realized that I had barely had any physical contact in that week or so that I had been there. Whereas at home or school I would somewhat regularly sit closely to someone so that a leg or shoulder was touching, hug hello or goodbye, hold hands, etc. In Norway I had had very little, perhaps none of that. Thus, my "family" in Norway decided to start hugging whenever we greeted each other and definitely when we said goodbye for the night.

While I am certainly not an expert on the subject, there is research that supports a connection between well-being and physical touch. I certainly felt happier when we started hugging in Norway. Was that because I grew closer emotionally and intellectually as I spent more time with "the family?" Probably. Who knows how much influence the hugging actually had on my happiness. I do know that I really enjoy hugging and every time I have gone without touching another human for a time, I notice.

I've been lucky since I moved to Minneapolis that I've gotten to do a lot of hugging. About half my cohort seems to actively willing to hug, so that's a great sign since I'll be spending a lot of time with them. Another great way I've been satisfying my need for touch is through dance! That's what prompted this post actually; I was thinking about what a great time I had dancing last night and how great couple dancing is for a lot of reasons! One being the physical contact obviously---you have to have some sort of contact if you're going to be partners! Dance is also good exercise. I'm moving almost constantly for a good two hours. It also requires communication in more ways than one. You of course have to communicate with your body language---the leader has to indicate what move we're doing next, you have to tell the leader whether you understand and whether you're comfortable with it; often you end up communicating a lot with your eyes, whether you are trying to avoid eye contact, smiling, etc; you might also have a casual conversation while dancing.

Sorry for the quick dance-is-awesome tangent (you should probably all do it). The touch conversation also made me think of a time at the beginning of the school year last year when I implemented a three-hug-a-day quota for myself. It didn't last particularly long, but I kept my reminder written onmy whiteboard all year, so sometimes it did motivate me to squeeze (haha) an extra hug in.

Am I rambling yet? I'll be done soon, promise.

One last point of interest. As an aspiring professional sociologist, my discussion of physical contact made me wonder how other people experience physical contact, especially people in different social groups. Gender came to mind immediately, as it is often less acceptable for males to show physical closeness, especially with other males. I remember a conversation I had once discussing that perhaps male aggression and roughhousing is actually an acceptable manner in which males experience physical closeness.  Physical closeness (hugging, sitting so that you are touching someone) often indicates intimacy, as well. Thus in the heteronormative world that we live in in which we assume heterosexuality, a male and female sitting close enough to touch often leads us to believe they are in some kind of romantic or sexual relationship. Finally, I was also reminded of a cultural study about hugging, which found that people of Latin American countries, on average, hug many times a day (I don't remember the exact number but it was at least 20), Americans hug once and British people hug zero times (on average). So physical contact (in this case hugging) is also something that is culturally defined.

My point here is not necessarily to get anyone to add "3 hugs a day" or anything like that, but I do hope that my rant will encourage some of you to think more about how often you encounter human touch in a day, or a week, or a month. Like I said, I never knew how important it was in my life, until it was missing.

Perhaps my real motive in writing this was actually to get you all to hug me more ;)

And So it Begins...

First, some housekeeping items:

1. I think I will try write in time to my schedule to blog at least one time per week, probably only one time per week. You eager beavers, this is directed towards you--don't bother checking every day ;)
2. Please share my blog with other family/friends who may not have Facebook or who may have missed my post. I realized I do not have many email addresses, so I'm counting on you to spread it around! 

Okay... 

This week was my first real week of obligations: Orientation Week. I had full days Monday-Wednesday and a little over a half day Thursday, so it was a full week and a little bit of a shock to the Allison who was used to sleeping in until 9 and doing things in small doses. Surprise! Back to real life. I ended the week with a trip to the fair with my cousin (in-law) Kate and a party with my fellow cohort members! 

Overall, orientation was an enjoyable experience. I wouldn't call it fun, but I did very much enjoy spending time with my cohort members and the faculty/staff in the sociology department. Monday was an all day department orientation and it ended with a reception. That part was fun. How could it not be--they provided free beer! The parts that weren't so much fun were the out-of-department orientations. Tuesday morning we had a grad school orientation--way too many people and way too much general knowledge that I already had heard at the department orientation. My favorite part there was the tables from various organizations set up in the hallway. I got a lot of free pens by talking to people ;) Thursday we had some teaching enrichment workshops outside of the department and I did get some good tips, but it was just too much sitting and listening and I was starving by the time it was done. Wednesday we had all day TA (teaching assistant) training in the department and that was really long and tiring too, but it was a lot more interactive and informative.

I think we have a good group of people in our cohort. There are 11 of us. About half are from Minnesota and the other half from various other places, including one from Tanzania! It's split pretty evenly between people who are coming in with Master's and those who only have Bachelor's degrees. Last night 7 of us got together for a party and conversation went on for a good three hours with no real breaks. It will be interesting to see how we interact with each other and as a group. We share an office and take basically the same classes the first year, so it will be like we are a little family :)

At the department reception, my theory professor gave me some information about places to swing dance, so on Wednesday night I went to Lee's Bar to check it out. It was such a fun (and interesting) experience! When I first got there, there was one other guy there and the bartender, so I ended up talking to the guy (who was about ready to retire to put age in perspective). It turns out it was his first time and he had just moved to the city for work (Jim). I also met Luke who is from Nebraska, fresh out of college and has taught country swing (which I learned uses a lot more space than the swing we did that night). Anyway, we formed a little group, and checked in on each other throughout the night. From 8-9 there was a mini lesson. We learned basically what I already knew, but with a triple step. By the time our lesson was over, the bar was full of people waiting for the band to start playing. I would say there were probably 20 couples there. The dance floor was certainly full! I was feeling a little rusty and worried about embarrassing myself, but overall I think I did very well. Of course it's easier for the follower. If you have a good leader, you can dance with anyone! I also met some people who are into salsa and told me of some places that I could go to dance if I was interested. I kindly reminded them, I was a grad student and could really only plan on one thing a week ;) I do see salsa in my future...Anyway, GREAT NIGHT! I had forgotten how happy swing makes me. I think I will plan to be at Lee's every Wed! 

So, what now?

Tomorrow I am going tubing with some of the older grad students and my cohort. Not the kind of tubing where you are behind a boat, just floating down the river. I reeeeeally hope the weather is nice. Monday is Labor Day and for once I have no class! Yay! Super excited about that, though I will probably do work anyway, but I won't have anywhere to go. Tuesday classes start. I've included a list of the classes I'll be taking below:

Social Theory
Sociology as a Profession (1 credit for helping us through the first year)
Human Rights (Cross-Disciplinary Perspective)
Intermediate Stats (ugh)
Sociology of Education Journal Editing (maybe)
TA for Intro to Sociology (leading 2 discussion groups)

And with that I will leave you. I'll try to put some pictures up later.

 Kate and I at the fair

 Butter sculptures of the dairy princess finalists (called princess kay in Minnesota)

 Snow cone at the fair!

A beautiful night in Minneapolis. Walking home from the light rail.

Fair Day #1

As you can see from the title, today was faaaaaaair daaaaaaaay! So, what am I doing right now? You guessed it--sprawled out on the couch, watching netflix. I had to really get the gumption up to write this blog post :-p Anyway, the Minnesota State Fair is pretty cool as far as fairs go. It's really big--lots of food, lots of rides, stuff to buy, some animal barns. We covered basically everything with an emphasis on food. My first purchase was a cup of poutine!! For those of you who do not know about this Canadian delicacy, it consists of french fries, with cheese curds on top, covered with hot gravy. Mmmmmmm :) I had looked at the food vendor list online last night and was disappointed to find out there was not an array of stands with wine slushies as there seems to be at the New York Stat Fair. Happily, I did find one place even though it was pretty expensive. I also had some pizza, a sip of mini donut beer, so many Sweet Martha's cookies and all you can drink milk for a dollar! There was so much more food--lots of things "on a stick," smoothies, ice cream, turkey legs, bbq pork, and on and on.  There were A LOT of people there too (picture to follow). But food wasn't the only good thing. We also saw some nice cows, horses, pigs, sheep, and lots and lots of baby pigs! So cute! There were also quite a few human babies that were nice to look at too ;)

Yesterday I met with one of my subject librarians. Kim is the subject librarian for women and gender studies. We talked about some resources to use at the library. Really, I just wanted to meet her so halfway through the semester or next year when I need her I won't just be emailing her out of the blue.  I didn't even know librarians could help with all of that stuff. She showed me some really cool research stuff. Afterward, I took the time to explore the library--the Wilson Library. There are like 12 libraries across the 3 campuses. Wilson is on the west bank right near my building. There are four levels. There's actually a map library in the basement. The woman working in there probably was really confused when I walked in there aimlessly but she didn't say anything.

I also did some baking yesterday since it didn't feel like 90 degrees in our apartment for once. I made zucchini bread from the zucchinis I got at the farmer's market Wednesday! It's sooooo good! Meghan and Austin (her boyfriend) loved it too! I even shredded and froze some for later.

 As we walked into the fair. A lot of people. (and fried pickles to the right!)

 Exploring the government publication section of the library

 Some houses in my neighborhood

 Train tracks that run next to I-94

 This train car never moves

 There's a deer in this picture up by the cars. My roommate said she's never seen a deer in Minneapolis before. Feels like home...

 This is the outside of my apartment building. 

This is the view of one of the streets that my building is on (and my finger)