so i finally got around to...

watching the movie crash. all of america has seen it except for me. honestly, i was avoiding it, because america was so enamored with a movie that had race and racism as a major plot point. as a race scholar, this was and is concerning.

to my surprise, it didn't make me as angry as i expected it would. it played up some stereotpes and in the end, every character is kind of an a-hole and kind of an okay person at the same time. i suppose that is what people liked about the flick. and they way the various stories intertwined was interesting enough that i want to watch it again just to see what i missed.

predictably though, the movie focused almost entirely on individual level racism and did not really address more institutional or systemic issues. there was a bit of discussion about it from a few of the people of color in the movie, but in the end, the moral seemed to be that fixing the problem one jerky individual at a time will do the trick. even reviewers on IMDB make this conclusion. there wasn't much discussion about the history of racism in our country or how that history has privileged whites above others.

i'm left wondering a bit what all the hype was about.

congratualations

Kathrin,

All of your manuscript corrections are done and forms received. You are cleared by the Thesis Office. Congratulations and our best to you.

Thesis Office


:)

Woo hoo!

submitted again...

today i submitted my dissertation to the thesis office hopefully for the last time. i finished the corrections they asked me to do and now in 3-6 days i'll find out if i'm really done. then all i have to do is pay my bill to the university and i'll be able to get my diploma in december. (so if you wanted to give me a gift for graduation [no obligation of course] i would gladly accept cash to put towards that bill. *grin*)

unbelievably it's also the middle of november. that means that thanksgiving is next week. i'm excited about it, though it seems impossible that it's already next week. this semester has flown by! before i know it, i'll be giving finals! better get back to work on the grading then. :)

pooped

after a great weekend, i'm sitting here on my couch feeling very tired. mike was here in iowa since thursday night and we packed a lot of fun into a short amount of time. he got to meet a bunch of my friends, we ate a lot of good food, i showed him more of the sites in dubuque, we had some adult beverages (including cave-ins at the mining company) and spent some time in the car going back and forth from milwaukee. all-in-all it was a fantastic weekend (though i realize my description of it is not all that enthralling...need sleep.) gotta say that having him here makes life so much more fun. here's hoping some job options come together, so we can be together again soon. cross your fingers for us.

it's already november

this semester has flown by and even though there aren't that many weeks of classes left before the end of the semester, there is still SO much to do. i'm perpetually trying to catch up on grading and haven't even started planning classes for next semester yet. luckily, i don't have to worry about too much dissertation stuff. i got my corrections and have a few weeks to get those finished. none of it is too scary though i have a feeling formatting figures is going to piss me right off. anyway, i'm a little stressed...not overly so, but enough that i've been kind of tired and cranky this week. i also started working a second job this week. back in retail for 10 hours a week. i didn't expect to need to do that, but it's become a necessity and i figured it would be a good way to meet more people and get out of my apartment, while earning some extra cash.

it's been a weird week in terms of my job satisfaction as a faculty member. maybe it's the stress of grading and stuff, or the lack of enthusiasm from my intro class lately, or my paycheck, or the feeling of "been there, done that" i have at times on campus. maybe it's that i miss mike. i don't know. i guess i thought i'd be happier in this role than i am finding myself. maybe once i get a semester under my belt i'll feel more settled in. but this week has been very blah and makes me wonder if this is my calling. i love teaching and look forward to advising sometime soon. but the tedium that i have to deal with at times in terms of planning courses and strategic plans for the college or figuring out a course rotation is frustrating at times. all part of the gig i know, but geez. i'm guessing my attitude about it all would be better if i got more sleep. so i'm going to work on that now and stop complaining...because there are PLENTY of good things about my job too and things i like a lot. patience is what i need i think. if you have any to spare, send some my way. :)