The Friendly Hermit

Or at least a new connotation. I've probably heard this connotation before, but it never really sunk in before. We were discussing Pascoe's "Dude, You're A Fag" article in class today¹, when one of the students noted that the term "Vag" is on the rise and is used similarly (though not identically - it is more associated with stereotypically effeminate behaviors like concern with appearance or emotionality, and less with behaviors that are considered non-masculine, like incompetence or stupidity). Apparently there is also an associated hand gesture, where index fingers and thumbs are placed together to form a triangle/V.

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¹ For those not familiar with Pascoe's work, which is also in book form, she argues "Fag" is predominantly used in adolescent culture as a temporary label to reinforce hegemonic masculine behavior among heterosexual males.

We saw 300 on DVD last night. I'm not sure what to make of it. As novelized history, and I hesitate to use the term, it is clearly more fiction than history. It was too preachy to just be an action flick. On the surface some of the ideology seems nice enough, but ends up pretty disturbing:( Spoileresque stuff here )

It's "vendor day" in the university mall area. Total haul:
* Free copy of the free weekly newspaper (at least I didn't have to walk elsewhere to get it)
* a cardboard hand fan
* a magnet - I think it's one of those "picture frame" magnets but I just needed a magnet
* $1 gift card from Wendy's
* $5 off an entree at El Charro
* Ikea gift bag (it's a lot bigger than it initially looked - so big I'm not actually sure what it would be useful for) with a coupon - I also entered a drawing for a gift certificate
* An info booklet on the Honda Fit
* A sampler CD from my favorite music radio station

Just throwing this out there...

Does anybody have copies of full episodes of either of these shows? I need to review some episodes for a paper I'm writing this semester.

recent rantings about sociology versus "hard" sciences

I sometimes share this quote with my classes:

An Indian-born economist once explained his personal theory of reincarnation to his graduate economics class, “If you are a good economist, a virtuous economist, you are reborn as a physicist. But if you are an evil, wicked economist, you are reborn as a sociologist.” A sociologist might say that this quote shows what is wrong with economists: they want a subject that is fundamentally about human beings to have the mathematical certainty of the hard sciences … But good economists know that the speaker was talking about something else entirely: the sheer difficulty of the subject. Economics is harder than physics; luckily it is not quite as hard as sociology. -Paul Krugman, Peddling Prosperity

*A Puzzle: if women are supposed to be more open and...flexible in their sexuality, why do we consistently find that more men report attractions for other men, more men report sexual activity with other men in their lifetimes (and since 18), and more men identify as gay or bisexual (at least within the United States? This is a common finding across a number of studies which are supposedly representative samples.

*Pretty much everything on campus is closed other than the bookstore. I think if classes are being held on campus, there should be at least some limited food and printing options available on campus. Even my dept building is closed, and apparently the heat is only running for part of the day or something because it has gotten noticeably colder both this afternoon and yesterday afternoon. This is particularly bogus.

*I need to write up my exam for tomorrow. And work on my Williams Institute application.

*We had a nice storm move in last night, and have gotten a good soaking rain all day today, which was no doubt sorely needed. However, it's cold, at least for Tucson, and will only be getting colder as the front moves through.

Someone in the building today pulled the fire alarm while I was giving an early exam. I guess someone in one of the exams today didn't want to take theirs. :)

Somebody's post reminded me I need to register for spring. Here's the schedule I'm going with for now:
WS 554 Contemporary Feminist Theories Mon 5:30-8pm
WS 584 Feminist Research Methodologies Thurs 3:30-6pm
SOC 920 Dissertation

I may drop 554 and take my fourth certificate class later, but I'd kinda like to get it out of the way. But my major goal is to work on a dissertation proposal in the early spring so if class gets in the way it's gone.

What is with Women's Studies classes all being in the evening? I guess they are trying to accomodate non-traditional students that have to work.

Got up earlier today and went to breakfast at Eggspectations (or something like that) near the hotel, recommended in Monika's guidebook. HUGE breakfast. DELICIOUS. I went to a workshop about going on the job market as an LGBTQ sociologist. Interesting, may talk about it more later. Came back to the hotel afterwards for a nap. Then back to the conference at 2:30 to go to the presentation of research I've been working on with Erin. Four presenters and a discussant. The whole session was consistently good and interesting. Afterwards talking with Erin some and then went off to look at the book section but it was again closed. Their hours suck. Trying again tomorrow at 12:30. Paid my membership for Sociologists for Women in Society. Then we went to Chinatown, which mostly seems to be Chinastreet. Lots of restaurants and little shops down a corridor and then off several side streets. Nice and fun! We had dimsum for a very reasonable price, wasn't too shabby! Then we caught the shuttle and headed back to the hotel. We're resting now, may go out and do something later.

Evangelical megachurch pastor pays a high price for rejecting conservative politics. The church is in St. Paul apparently, so i12bmore might be particularly interested.

We have water in our rivers and (despite unnaturally high humidity) we are quite possibly one of the coolest areas of the country. Our high today might break the ninties. Beware for the apocalypse is surely nigh!

I was somewhat cranky about my students yesterday, for no particular reason but rather a combination of factors. However, after talking with some other people in the dept and the students themselves about the fact that some of them are taking up to 5 classes over the summer...no wonder they don't show up for class and have no motivation to do any work. I think we should switch over to a tri-mester or quarterly system. Especially since our regular semesters are currently insanely long and three sessions in the summer is also insane.

We had a "sin party" last night with the theme of Wrath. We watched the new Focus on the Family video answering 10 questions asked about same-sex marriage. There are intelligent, integrity-filled people who oppose same-sex marriage, at least in terms of religion (as in, all religions should not be forced to conduct same-sex marriages, etc). But this was not an example of that. The mistake made, perhaps, was that the purpose of the video was to engage the debate without using scriptural or religious arguments. But all that they had to replace it with, apparently, were arguments of gender essentialism and emotional pleas to "think of the children." I am not using hyperbole here. And I could actually accept those arguments as part of public discourse, except that the spokesperson deliberately misrepresented research and statements by professional and advocacy groups. But perhaps the most ridiculous thing was what basically amounted to a character assassination of, of all people, Rosie O'Donnell. It's surprisingly hard to maintain a wrathful composure when you are so filled with incredulity at what you are witnessing.