2D Theory

I have been given the most difficult assignment of my life thus far. I am to analyze the last three books we've read in my soc/antho seminar by creating an annotated map. The books have been A Small Place by Jamaica Kincaid, Cosmopolitanism by Kwame Anthony Appiah, and Remotely Global by Charles Piot. All relate to colonialism somehow, but all are very different books. Kincaid's book is about the small island of Antigua, how the British slavers and now tourists have fucked it up and should stay home. Appiah's book is a philosophy book that uses stories about Ghana/England to show there are universal values. Piot's book is an ethnography of the Kabre in Togo, particularly their relational social structures and gift-giving practices.

How exactly am I supposed to map this? I am not particularly artistic nor creative. I think I'm just going to put little pictures of the countries, and lines to show what is moving between the countries (people, ideas, identity, money), and annotate to tell exactly what that means (ex: Antiguan identity was shaped by England to be oppressed and enslaved, whereas Antigua helped shape England's identity as a colonizer and master, roles which are still continued in todays tourism models). Not the most beautiful or profound, but it beats writing a paper. :)

Trudging

Well, back in the swing of things. Meeting, meeting, class, meeting, work, meeting, class, work, work, cram homework in before I can't think anymore. I enjoy it, but I just wish I had extended periods of downtime. I look forward to the weekends because I'll actually have enough time to get my homework done, and maybe pick up an extra shift of work.

At least since I quit my third job, I actually have time for homework on the weekends! I wonder if this is something that I do to myself, or if I'll actually have time to do things like make a fancy dinner on the weekday, or just hang out at a friends house on the weekends after I graduate. I'll probably over-commit myself, but will I have time to not have to work? I like being busy, but I also like watching TV and playing video games, too. Hopefully, college is just a place where there are so many opportunities to do things that I can't stop, and it'll calm down when I'm not on every mailing list or see every opportunity on a poster by the post office.

In other news, here's a picture of me from Thailand that the photographer on the trip took. She's wonderful! Alyssa Lund Photography!

It's the Final Countdown!

So, final semester has started. I'm really excited. I'm taking 3 senior seminars and a history of political theory class. My polisci seminar is a seminar on immigration and citizenship, and we'll be interviewing the immigrant population in a nearby city. My soc/anthro seminar isn't focusing on something in particular, but is synthesizes a lot of the themes from the soc/anthro major. My third class is a history of modern political thought, which covers a lot of writers like Machiavelli and Locke. My other class is a Women's Studies seminar. We get to choose the topics, and have to choose readings and discuss them as a class. Should be fun.

I'm also really excited to graduate. No jobs found yet, but I'm done writing papers and reading obnoxiously long books and dense academic short papers.