papers, papers, presentations, and busyness
I had a long, but very enjoyable weekend. Friday night,
shimmerngspirit and
kirstenclio drove all the way from Chicago to see me. It was excellent. The girls requested a dinner at Bob Evan's and we ran some errands before retiring with a bottle of Bugarian reisling. We went to bed very late, but at least we went to bed.
Saturday breakfast was homemade scones and coffee and much homeworking, magazine reading, and paper prepping. How adult of us! Then we headed to the KSC, where I presented a paper on whakairo or Maori woodcarving. I think it was a success. I was one of the top ranked papers for the colloquium and I was pleased that Dr. F. thought so highly of me. Afterward, I had desk duties as a committee person, so I sat and chatted with Laurel while the ladies went off and listened to the keynote speaker. After leaving the colloquium, we stopped by and picked up wine for the evening at the wine bar in Kent and ran into my dance partner, who was attending the wine tasting. Jessica came back with us to my place and chatted with the girls while I washed up, cleaned my kitchen, and tried to shake off my long day.
We went to Crave in Akron for dinner and had martinis. It was excellent. Then we went home for wine, music, paper grading, gaming, and general chatter. A few of us barely slept (as in: didn't). In the morning, we had a liesurely breakfast before the girls took off. I went home, napped for three hours, then began a hectic day of preparing for Monday's awards banquet by shoppping for centerpieces, certificate holders, writing midterm questions for intro and grading papers.
I could write a whole post on these papers and I think the ladies would agree: Kent students need to take a refresher course on how to write professional letters. My guess is that they just did not consider it a serious assignment. Basically, they were asked to take part in a yearly letter writing campaign centered on the Yanomami controversey. All students get a book which details the whole issues and then they are asked to write a letter to a particular person regarding some part of the situation. This year was about blood sample repatriation and negotiation.
According to one student, "The Yanomami are a very cultural people" - and I guess that means that Westerners are not. Furthermore, anthropologists are wicked white Americans who cannot be trusted (a student's words exactly). I was deeply saddened and annoyed and eventually, after 110 papers, I was very very done.
Monday, I gave those same students a midterm and worked extra in the morning and afternoon. Then there was the banquet. My super cheap centerpieces were a hit and I now have some pretty flowers to make hairpieces for dance. I recieved awards for both the presentation Saturday and a staff excellence award - for keeping the exec committee sane and for not killing someone when it took months to get a paycheck. I finally got home in time to see Heros, and committed myself to doing nothing for the rest of the evening. The rest of the paper grading and extra credit grading could wait.
Today, I came in early, graded, but did not go to work. I also prepped. I did another presentation on the Maori today, this time just a general one, in my Pac Islands class. And Donna gave me poi!!! She had some from Hawaii, when she used to do hula. They are much lighter than western interpretations, but I am very happy. Donna is a sweetheart. She also mentioned she has a koru necklace she wants to give me, if she can find it. We talked for a long time after class about issues of "belonging somewhere else" and how some of us are just driven to do certain things. She was so excited about my presentation and made a sincere promise to stop by my office sometime for coffee. Nice!
Well, the week has finally slowed enough for me to realize I have a midterm due on Friday and a 5 hour stint at the car repair place planned for Thursday. I am pleased it's nothing major, just a ton of little things that are cheaper to do at once. I plan on finishing my midterm in that waiting room. Right now, though, I am going to quickly confer with Dr. F. and go to work for a bit. I have a ton of receipts to turn in and some major cleaning. Oh, and tomorrow are all-day meetings. Fun.
I feel productive, though. But not on my thesis. Argh. This weekend I swear!!
shimmerngspirit and
kirstenclio drove all the way from Chicago to see me. It was excellent. The girls requested a dinner at Bob Evan's and we ran some errands before retiring with a bottle of Bugarian reisling. We went to bed very late, but at least we went to bed.
Saturday breakfast was homemade scones and coffee and much homeworking, magazine reading, and paper prepping. How adult of us! Then we headed to the KSC, where I presented a paper on whakairo or Maori woodcarving. I think it was a success. I was one of the top ranked papers for the colloquium and I was pleased that Dr. F. thought so highly of me. Afterward, I had desk duties as a committee person, so I sat and chatted with Laurel while the ladies went off and listened to the keynote speaker. After leaving the colloquium, we stopped by and picked up wine for the evening at the wine bar in Kent and ran into my dance partner, who was attending the wine tasting. Jessica came back with us to my place and chatted with the girls while I washed up, cleaned my kitchen, and tried to shake off my long day.
We went to Crave in Akron for dinner and had martinis. It was excellent. Then we went home for wine, music, paper grading, gaming, and general chatter. A few of us barely slept (as in: didn't). In the morning, we had a liesurely breakfast before the girls took off. I went home, napped for three hours, then began a hectic day of preparing for Monday's awards banquet by shoppping for centerpieces, certificate holders, writing midterm questions for intro and grading papers.
I could write a whole post on these papers and I think the ladies would agree: Kent students need to take a refresher course on how to write professional letters. My guess is that they just did not consider it a serious assignment. Basically, they were asked to take part in a yearly letter writing campaign centered on the Yanomami controversey. All students get a book which details the whole issues and then they are asked to write a letter to a particular person regarding some part of the situation. This year was about blood sample repatriation and negotiation.
According to one student, "The Yanomami are a very cultural people" - and I guess that means that Westerners are not. Furthermore, anthropologists are wicked white Americans who cannot be trusted (a student's words exactly). I was deeply saddened and annoyed and eventually, after 110 papers, I was very very done.
Monday, I gave those same students a midterm and worked extra in the morning and afternoon. Then there was the banquet. My super cheap centerpieces were a hit and I now have some pretty flowers to make hairpieces for dance. I recieved awards for both the presentation Saturday and a staff excellence award - for keeping the exec committee sane and for not killing someone when it took months to get a paycheck. I finally got home in time to see Heros, and committed myself to doing nothing for the rest of the evening. The rest of the paper grading and extra credit grading could wait.
Today, I came in early, graded, but did not go to work. I also prepped. I did another presentation on the Maori today, this time just a general one, in my Pac Islands class. And Donna gave me poi!!! She had some from Hawaii, when she used to do hula. They are much lighter than western interpretations, but I am very happy. Donna is a sweetheart. She also mentioned she has a koru necklace she wants to give me, if she can find it. We talked for a long time after class about issues of "belonging somewhere else" and how some of us are just driven to do certain things. She was so excited about my presentation and made a sincere promise to stop by my office sometime for coffee. Nice!
Well, the week has finally slowed enough for me to realize I have a midterm due on Friday and a 5 hour stint at the car repair place planned for Thursday. I am pleased it's nothing major, just a ton of little things that are cheaper to do at once. I plan on finishing my midterm in that waiting room. Right now, though, I am going to quickly confer with Dr. F. and go to work for a bit. I have a ton of receipts to turn in and some major cleaning. Oh, and tomorrow are all-day meetings. Fun.
I feel productive, though. But not on my thesis. Argh. This weekend I swear!!