Pass

After weeks (literally WEEKS) of waiting, I finally received word about my comprehensive exams. I have dreamed about this blog post. Really, I have playing in my head how I will celebrate via blog post about my success. And now that I finally know, it is super exciting. So now, I can get back to work. Yes. PASS!

Back to business. Thursday was a big day. Along with getting my comps results, I also had my guidance committee meeting. While there were several inches of snow on the ground, we were still able to hold the meeting, albeit some of the committee were video conferencing (here's my plug for zoom. If you haven't used it yet, and need to video conference, it's awesome). I left that meeting with two distinct feelings. The first feeling was one of total awe. There are some crazy smart people in the HALE department. And they were all focused on me and my success. It was just, so... so so cool for lack of a better word. All of them were asking me questions, giving me advice, and making recommendations for how to proceed through my doctoral program. I scribbled notes and have things to consider for next year. The second feeling was my imposter syndrome monster, or the "I'm not smart enough blob" or just Blob for short. Blob came into the meeting near the end, and although the meeting was very good, Blob sat on my shoulders afterwards and said, "Dude, Emiko, you're smart but not THAT smart." As I mentioned, these people are smart. And having them all bat back and forth with one another on my behalf was amazing and intimidating. I sat with Blob for a while, then told Blob, "Hey, DUDE, I totally passed comps, so just give me a little break for now." Blob left, and I finished my coffee and went downstairs to look at how the snow was melting.

Winter Storm Warning

Good thing I filled the feeder this morning

There are a lot of news items I miss because I'm a full time student. For example, a couple of weeks ago I had no idea that Chipotle was having some issues with its food, and at random, I decided that I'd go get a burrito bowl because I haven't had one in over a year. And because I still subscribe to the idea that Chipotle might be healthy or something, I decided on the burrito bowl and not the Thai food place right next door. Plus, seriously, Thai food in Lansing leaves much to be wanting. When I walked back into my office with my bag someone said, "Ah, yeah, Chipotle, my wife can't eat that stuff anymore." And so I looked at him perplexed. Why can't she eat it? Oh, right, news flash, Chipotle equals salmonella. My burrito bowl went straight into the garbage.

This week, I was not aware that we were going to get 5-9 inches of snow. I happened to be sitting in a meeting and someone casually said, "The visiting faculty from South Carolina will be here when all the snow comes." I bolted upright. What? Wednesday afternoon through Thursday? But I have my first guidance committee meeting Thursday morning! Alas. The snow started falling about 11am and it hasn't stopped. I will be making it to campus tomorrow. Because as far as I'm concerned this is no #snowpocolypse it's just a #michiganwinter. 

Writing With Vulnerability

Each Monday evening during my organization class, we workshop the next blogpost to the class blog. I was the first student to post on the blog, so I can sit back and relax now, however I do enjoy workshopping ideas with the rest of my classmates and discussing their ideas. Tonight our conversation included the topic of needing to know your "position" in order to make a public post. I struggled with this a little too, the concept of posting something publicly that I haven't done a lot of research on. A classmate of mine shared her quandary of writing about a difficult topic both hard to write about and sensitive in nature, and what, if any, implications are there for writing something that we don't have data for? Since being in the HALE program, it has already been ingrained in me to CITE EVERYTHING. Not that I didn't do that before, but I have an aversion now to sweeping statements or random out of context facts. My knee jumps up and I think, "need to know the source, please" which could mean I simply don't have an opinion anymore about anything, or I'm much more sensitive and aware of what I say out loud.

I appreciated this conversation. It hit on some of my own insecurities about being publicly vulnerable. It also meant that when my classmates and I make public posts, we are opening ourselves up for public discourse, and this kind of discourse is indeed what we are here to do. To debate ideas, to talk about ideologies, to argue and push back. In addition to this public discourse, I also appreciate the forum for trying out ideas and practicing putting these ideas into words, regardless of how difficult or sensitive the topic. Be sure to continue to check the 991B blog post. The next post will be coming out later this week.

The Rural Juror

My shout out to 30 Rock

I've been on jury duty this week. Basically what this means is that I have to call in each evening after 5pm and see if I am needed. When I first got my summons, I was completely confused. An entire week of jury duty?!? What kind of dark magic conjures this?!?? I am guessing being on-call for a week is indicative of the rural environment in which I live. This is what you call small-town jury duty folks! What I am used to is getting a jury summons, looking at the day, going to the courthouse on that day ONE day, arriving around 8am and sitting in a room all day and hoping my number never gets called. While sitting for 8 hours once in Portland, I read Jon Krakauer's "Into Thin Air" book cover to cover. Not to brag, but I think I did a good job at selecting a book for that day, considering this was waaay before smart phones.

I called on Monday evening (Monday was a holiday, President's Day, so the courthouse was closed - at least I lucked out by limiting my week to four days) and alas, jurors were needed on Tuesday. So I drove the 25 minutes to small town called Mason, and arrived with about 60 other people. And then the games began. Like cattle, we were herded into the large courtroom, sat there as the secretary named 13 jurors. Not me, thank goodness. Then the judge, the prosecuting attorney, and the defense attorney all proceeded to ask questions of each juror. It was riveting. No, actually, it wasn't. It was quite boring. But I did learn a lot about society. After each round of questions from each attorney and the judge, jurors were dismissed. Then we got to start all over again, filling in for those who were dismissed because 1) he was a doctor and had to perform surgery the next day 2) she didn't know what reasonable doubt was and needed 100% proof 3) she just didn't really know anything about anything and just made decisions based on what her religion told her 4) she also didn't know what reasonable doubt was and confided she would be convinced by 99.9% proof 5) he felt that everyone is pretty much a liar. Again, fascinating. At least it was only one day, since the rest of the week no jurors were needed. Phew!

Valentine Tiling

Look at that sweet corner mitre job!

And that's the Valentine for us this year.

This year was the first year in three years that Kevin and I were able to spend Valentine's Day together. And how we spent it together really was romantic. We tiled. We tiled for hours. And we made great progress on the bathroom. I am so ready for this project to be over. I sometimes imagine what it would have been like if we had been able to spend this much time on the bathroom when we first ripped out the walls. But it's best not to imagine that. So we have almost all of our field tile up, and have even started putting up the border of marble tile. I have to admit, it looks pretty classy! I could say the classy look is because I watch a lot of HGTV, but I also think we have a keen eye for design (and a keen eye for resale knowing this will not be a house we stay in for more than 5 years). But, dang! The tiling job looks good if I say so myself.

991B

For one of my courses, we as a class have a class blog. One of the purposes of this is for us students to begin to articulate ideas, and begin to write for a larger paper. As usual, I signed up to write one of the first posts, because I'm a front loader. It's also because I didn't want to have to compare myself to anyone else. All in all, it was a great exercise for me to start putting into words the ideas I have, and find a way to discuss them and also see if there is some research that can be done. Below is the beginning of my post, and a link to the rest of the post on the course blog, 991B (991B = the course number. We are very creative and titled the blog the number of the course).

Recently, the radio program This American Life broadcast a show, coupled with this longer online article from ProPublica, about the loan default rate of a community near St. Louis, Missouri. The program described the “problem at hand” for the community in St. Louis: a large and disproportionate number of African American households are defaulting on loan payments and experiencing wage garnishing. The larger issue that has led to this and will continue is what the writers of the show describe as “generations of discrimination leaving Black families with grossly fewer resources to draw on when they come under financial pressure.” What led to this situation was not what I at first initially suspected, discrimination by loan companies. It goes much deeper.

Read more! https://991b.wordpress.com/

Paczki Day!

Roma Bakery. Where the Paczki magic happens.

Forget about Fat Tuesday. It's Paczki Day! I seem to have missed Paczki Day last year, unaware that the Midwest celebrates such a day. That paczkis are so similar to donuts I'm not entirely sure how I missed this, but I did. Not this year! The Midwest is abuzz with paczkis, a delicious pastry that is made using grain alcohol. And they are so delicious! Filled with fruit, cream, chocolate, all so good. There are a few pockets around the US, mostly in the Midwest, and around Philadelphia and New Jersey that are accustomed to these wonderful pastries, due to the large Polish populations. Despite Lansing being somewhat of a cultural food wasteland, I do love the paczkis, and there is a particular bakery that does it just right. It's these little things that make the Midwest a lovely place to live.

It's Really Happening

Don't mind the blue tub!

After five months, we have finally turned a major corner in our bathroom remodel project. I am almost embarrassed to admit that it's been that long, yet I know it will be all worth it and I can actually see how wonderful it is going to be (not just imagine it in my head). Last weekend we put down the floor tile, and grouted it, along with the tile base cove trim around the walls. This weekend we are tiling the walls. After much deliberation we figured out the best way to tackle it. Trust me, it took a lot of brain power to sort this puzzle out. Because of how the tub sits and the oldness of our house (aka, things aren't always level) we started about 16 inches up from the floor to level it off the tub.

We are using subway tiles as the field tile, and found sheets of marble that we can cut into strips to create a border around the main subway tiles. It will be along one wall behind the sink and toilet, and then in the tub and shower surround. As we tile, it does look a little weird only because we have green waterproofing on the walls, and still a blue tub. Once we are all finished with the tiling work we'll have a professional come in and refinish and reseal our tub to a lovely.... white. I really love our tub, the shape is slightly curved around the outside, and it's somewhat retro. It also has these awesome waves on the inside and I know I have mentioned the horror of throwing out a tub for no good reason. So, all the tiling will go up, and we'll start on the finishing with sink and toilet, and schedule a refinisher for the tub. Major work will have to happen by mudding the walls and smoothing them out to prime for paint, but once all that is done it's gonna be awesome! I can't wait to have two working bathrooms again. So close.

An Attempt at Describing My Interests - Part 2

I may have mentioned before, that if I weren't studying higher education, I would have gone for my degree in sociology. My interest in sociology is more evident these days as I'm focusing some of my writing for a class on social status and social stratification. Admittedly, this influences how I try to understand my own interests and may eventually change them. Nevertheless, I'll attempt to articulate what my interests are presently.

I have two interlocking interests. The first is focused on the individual. I am interested in understanding how individuals negotiate between environments. Put another way, I am interested in studying how individuals interact with their surroundings when there are competing priorities. (I think this makes sense?!?) The second interest is focused on understanding how higher education plays a role in social status.

Remember this is just a draft! In fact, this is my first draft. Maybe it is a mistake to put my first draft into the internet, but I thought I'd go for it anyway; however sloppy and incoherent. Sometimes by writing things down it makes them real, so this is my attempt to make real my interests instead of dancing around them all the time.

Once again, Thank you PhD comics.