A bit of rambling this morning.
First, can I just say, God bless I need a life! You know you're a graduate student when you wake up from a dream in which you were sitting in a seminar discussing the ins and outs of sexual identity politics. I believe I was embarrassed because I made a bit of an anti-queer gaffe, talking about gay and lesbian identities and sarcastically saying, "as if there were any other options?" I believe this is all coming from a review I've been writing for Culture, Health, and Sexuality, where I do a bit of bashing of "queer theory."
The other half of the dream? I was in France with friends, headed to Nice on a train that was as wide as a freighter. It was a giant complex, with various restaurants, bars, and shops. If only it were true! I've been a bit anti-tourism lately, feeling a bit confused about why people travel 1000s of miles and spend 1000s of dollars to have experiences relatively similar to their own at home -- and experiences that (in almost all cases) do not resemble those of the people who live there. I was chatting the other day with my British friend Nat about this very phenomenon, and we decided that it a murky issue ethically, but that knowing a local and having them as an entree into the culture could make for a more meaningful experience. In the dream, I was headed to Nice with my friend Maxime, who is from France and was going to show me around.
Sigh. Now to start my day. First, a meeting for my graduate student instructorship (GSI) orientation class. Some of you may be more familiar with the "teaching assistant (TA)" terminology, but grad students are unionized here at Michigan so we fought for a more PC term. From there I go to the Women's Studies Welcome luncheon, where I will present with my friend Mira the schedule for monthly happy hours that we spent last night carefully designing. Then on to a very ominous sounding meeting with the chairs of Sociology and Women's Studies, all the joint SOC/WOMST grads, the current graduate program director, and all the previous program directors. Eesh. I hope we leave with an official graduate program to refer to still.
