Every so often, when I've spent too much time with my own thoughts and research, I think of making more of an effort to take in the vast panopoly of lectures, seminars, colloquia, etc that the U offers.
Invariably, such experiences disappoint: shoddy research methodology; lack of thinking about audience expectations; vague, canned facile responses to big questions; a smorgasbord of theory, uncritically offered; no consideration whatsoever of the "So what?" question.
The last of these is the biggest flaw, I think. I am using The Craft of Researchby Booth, Colomb and Williams, to guide me in making sure that MY research foregrounds the so-what question. Otherwise, it's just a big bunch of data in search of a reason for being.
Stupid computer just ate my previous entry.
Nevermind, I reconstruct...
I got a LOT of CHEESE today!! Those of you who know me in real life are liable to be invited to a cocktail party centering around Cheese. Leyden - caraway-ific! Emethaler - smoooooooooth. Parmigiano-reggiano - honey, where's the pasta??
B got a book on Rosalind Franklin (the Dark Lady of DNA) and a trip to the North Shore. Think Duluth, people!
It should be fun...I promise a full report. I hear they have a great lake - not just a good lake! - and some other stuff like a zoo and a university and a bridge and cliffs and views and stuff.
Some geography-related books I'd like to read, that UMN either doesn't have yet, or that would have to be recalled:
Beyond the metropolis: urban geography as if small cities mattered. B. Ofori-Amoah. 2007
I there's a lot to say about small cities, and I think the processes that operate there are very different than in large cities. Scale really matters.
Nature and national identity after communism: globalizing the ethnoscape. K.Z.S. Schwartz. 2006.
Globaloney: unraveling the myths of globalization. M. Veseth. 2006.
Always good to have an alternate perspective from the anti-neoliberal, handwringing left.
It's damn cold here, barely got above zero for the high today.
At 7:01 am, a weird noise began, sort of like an alarm, but steady, no beeping. B thought it was some kind of alarm clock downstairs. I wondered if it was a muted smoke detector. After 10 minutes and no relief, I got up to peer through the ice-encrusted windows, to see what the deal was.
Clearly, the noise was out in the street, but there were no flashing lights and no obvious activity at the old people's place across the street. B was more adventurous than I, and stepped out onto the porch. He came back to report that the noise was the horn of my car. (Which wouldn't start yesterday due to the cold.)
I threw on a good amount of clothing, and went down to see about it. I touched the steering wheel prepatory to ripping apart the whole assembly, and lo, the horn stopped. Problem (temporarily) solved.
It will be interesting to see if the car starts if it ever gets warmer, or if the battery is permanently toast. And will the horn work or not?