HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Hope everyone has a fabulous Halloween! This is my favorite holiday of the year, even though I didn't get a costume together this year. It's still fun to watch other people being creative and fun.

We are on the way to a (tame) Halloween party, so briefly:

Last night we went to the Haunted Prison. This prison is a great gem in Philly. If you ever visit, don't miss it. It's a panopticon! (Well, almost). And it's just cool. It's fun to tour during the day, and their haunted version is awesome.

With both a parade in honor of the Philadelphia Phillies today and the holiday, the city has been in constant street-party mode all day. Drunken Philadelphians have been wandering the city, high-fiving strangers and shouting cheers. There has been more driving around and honking, and it seems like the entire city called in sick from work. Good times, my friends.

Go, Phillies!

I'm back in Philadelphia, arriving yesterday in time to see the Philadelphia Phillies win the World Series. While I find baseball about as interesting as waiting in a line at the DMV, there is something exciting about watching the losingest city (in sports) finally get a win. Alison and I went down to the local sports bar within a minute of the end of the game. After they won, the bar (and the city) erupted in excitement. The bars were full of celebratory drunk people, and within minutes the streets began to fill as these bars emptied. It was a little like Franklin Street after winning the championships but much, much bigger. Cars drove around the city for miles, honking. People leaned out of car windows and sun roofs. The most daring rode on the hoods of cars as passerbys cheered (including the police). We walked down to Broadway, the main thoroughfare of the city. It's a large, four lane street leading up to City Hall, and it was packed for several blocks. People were on top of lampposts, street vendor's kiosks, and the subway entrance. Others were throwing paper out of buildings about 15 floors up. We saw a tree being carried down the middle of the street--apparently uprooted and taken for kindling. A large American flag, taken from a nearby building, was also paraded through the crowd. People waved street signs that they had forcibly removed in celebration. Bonfires were started in the street, and a few cars overturned. Occasionally, we spied unprepared (and totally out of it) Philadelphians making their way through the crowd. At one point, a Beatnik-looking young woman wandered by us. She looked like she had left her slam poetry event and was completely confused by the sudden celebration. Ah, hipsters.

Anyway, it was a good time. We hung out for about 20 minutes, watching drunk men climb poles, and then we went home. And we fell asleep to the dulcet tones of car horns and whooping. Good times :)

Just sayin'

I think it is completely unfair when a certain prestigious journal asks you to review an article before ever accepting one of yours.

You scratch my back...

Slacker

That's me, being a slacker--I haven't done any campaigning for a couple of weeks, because I am far behind on an NIH postdoc proposal. And it would not be bad, necessarily, to skip volunteering for work if I had actually done much work. But being in Ohio sucks my will to live at the moment, so I have spent waaaay too much time surfing the web. Luckily, something in my brain finally came together this past weekend, and I have made some progress on the proposal. It's slow progress, but progress nonetheless.

Word of advice: Never attempt to collect qualitative data while applying for jobs. I don't know why I decided to do this. Really, what is so wrong with another year of grad school? The only plus side to this situation is I've lost some weight. But I think I'd prefer to have the weight back.

In other news...there is an interesting article on race from Frank Rich, one of my favorite NY Times writers. I have been thinking about this topic a lot recently. I try to hold off my excitement for what I believe will be a blowout election, in case anything goes horribly wrong. But it is hard not to get verklempt at the prospect of electing a black man as president. What an amazing thing that is. I know that racism will plod along as ever. In fact, much like Rich, I think the concern regarding white Americans is misguided. This is not because racism does not exist, but because racism is much more insidious and structural than the media choose to portray. White Americans can vote for a black man if it suits their interest--and many of those who do will continue to cross the street when they see a black male. And teachers will continue to overreact to black students' classroom behavior, creating a cycle of conflict with authority and the court system. And whites will continue to flee diversifying neighborhoods (while gentrifying others). Racism, in its most insidious form, is invisible. Worse, it's the logical extension of culturally constructed "rationalism." The system allows for the Barack Obamas, Colin Powells, and any other number of successful black americans--in fact, it depends on them, because images of success make racism that much more difficult to combat. It depends, too, on those few whites who espouse obviously racist rhetoric, as the fall-guys for racism. But for the most part, those "hicks" aren't the problem--they are the prop against which the rest of us (particularly the media) measure ourselves.

On to other subjects! Since I have been primarily interviewing and procrastinating, there is not much to say about my life recently. I have been running more, which is keeping me happy and sane. I have completed 12 interviews at the second school--18 to go! I am hoping to finish at least five today and tomorrow, and then I fly to Philadelphia tomorrow night. I'll be back here for a week to wrap things up in mid-November. The interviews at the second school have gone well. These students are, by and large, much better off than those at the first school. Most of them still want to stay in the area (WHY?), but they have higher aspirations for college and careers. One of them shook my hand after her interview, which I found really cute. Another asked if she could choose to not take the incentive money, until I explained that it was from the university, and not from me.

Lastly, I am trying to decide on a really simple Halloween costume this year, because I have neither the money nor the energy to be creative. Last year Alison and I went as UNC undergrads (we were in Philly). This year, Alison is going as a vampire. What should I do, people?

Tar Heels

Here is a great article on North Carolina and the election, from The Nation.

Early mornings, successful schools, and other news

I am sitting this morning at a Starbucks, after arriving at the high school to collect and distribute a few consent forms. Unfortunately, I was not able to get an interview in for 1st period, so I am "working" for the next hour or so while I wait for 2nd period to start. The problem with successful schools is that students don't want to miss class, and their teachers often don't let them out anyway. It's very frustrating. At least at the last school, teachers were happy to have one less student. Of course, absenteeism, lost consent forms, and an unwillingness to be recorded were issues in that school.

On top of this, my current schedule has me getting up at 5am so I can arrive at the high school at a little before 7am. And I cannot force myself to go to sleep before 11pm, hence the starbucks run.

In good news, Alison and I are getting tickets to Madonna's Philadelphia concert. Whooo! Last time, as some of you may remember, we paid for nosebleed tickets and were transferred to the front row (courtesy of Alison's friend/former student). This time we are getting free tickets and will likely sit at the sound booth. Since we can't afford even the nosebleed tickets this time around, that's pretty sweet.

In bad news, the only job I really care about at the moment (shh) has scheduled phone interviews, and I am not on the list. The upside of this is that I care a lot less about the job market now. But I am also super disappointed, even though I knew this was probably going to happen.

There's a table of teenagers near me. Skipping? No class 1st period? Hmmmm.

Powell's Endorsement

If you haven't seen it, you should: video. The first seven minutes are the best--very powerful, and well stated.

PSA

As B.O. tells us (heh), don't get overconfident: link.

How many days from the election are we?

Yesterday, my parents decided to have a yard sale. And 12 hours later, we have half the contents of their garage arranged haphazardly around the driveway. There is a stunning, perhaps even admirable, lack of planning involved in this endeavor. Everything for sale has been literally dumped from the garage to a shelf, complete with cobwebs and bug carcasses. For most of the day, no one has actually been outside to greet the (very few) people who wander by. We just run out when we seem someone. They wander for five minutes, realize it's all junk, and leave. We have made a little money, but by and large, this is a minimal-effort endeavor which will be followed up by an unceremonious trip to Salvation Army.

Living here for a couple months has made me realize why I am absolutely terrible at household errands and chores--I come by it honestly. This is one of the many reasons I should never own a house (another comes from my fear of running over my own child with my car--probaby irrational, but I figure I can avoid this paranoia by never actually having a driveway). It is all I can do to keep up with an apartment. Actually, I think my wonderful wife might disagree with my ability to keep even an apartment intact. I'll work on that.

In other news, I have added Lis's lovely blog to my sidebar, in part because I saw her latest post in which she said the financial crisis has made her more fiscally responsible. Me too! I have been very frugal while in Ohio, and am slowly paying off my credit card debt. Nothing like a little fear to motivate responsibility.

Oh, and to Kim's "Cry" option...good point! I think that goes between #2 and #3 options for me. Of course, a post-doc is also an option, but since I was already planning on that, it doesn't really seem like a "back-up."

Speaking of which, back to writing my post-doc application...

Updates

All the news that's fit to print...

Research: I finished my 30th interview today, so I am halfway through! I'm not really sure whether to be happy or sad about that. It's an accomplishment, but I cannot believe I have to start all over again at a new school. The good news is that the new school is much newer, cleaner, and more spacious. I will no longer have an office across the street, but I will have a nearby starbucks!

Politics: I did not watch last night's debate (I get too tense), but apparently some guy named Joe made news. Too bad Joe the plumber is a bit of a fraud... Also, this morning I was at the starbucks near the new school where I am doing interviews, and I overheard two guys talking about the election. They got on the topic of health care, and the first guy seemed bothered by Obama's plans to nationalize health care (he was in a wheel chair--voting against his own self-interest, apparently). The second one said he was a social conservative and believed in "supply-side economics", but then launched into a very accurate description of Obama's plan, and how it would be better than McCain's. Almost made me like him. Then he ripped into Palin's decision to run while dealing with a pregnant teenager and baby. I was not as into that. There are many, many things to critique Palin for that have nothing to do with her work-family choices.

The "Great" Midwest: Get me out. Get me out. Yup, that sums it up.

Jobs: So much for academic jobs being buffered from the economy. A public university that shall not be named just dropped 24 of 28 job openings this year in an effort to scale back, and departments are being told to plan for either a 5% or 7% budget cut. In honor of that, here are my backup jobs, in order of least desparate to most:

1. Government/non-profit research
2. University administration (probably admissions)
3. Teacher (math, preferrably, history if I had to)
4. Bartender
5. Coffee house employee
6. Selling hot dogs on the street

What's your backup?

I Heart Donna Brazile

I already liked Donna Brazile. She quickly became my favorite political pundit/consultant this year (sorry, James Carville). But now...I love her:

Watch here

(Courtesy of Alison).

16 Days...

Yesterday I bought tickets to go back to Philly from Oct. 28 to Nov. 9. I'm leaving my car in Ohio for now, since I will need to come back to finish the interviews and then drive back to Philly. I can't wait to be home, though. I can't wait to be in my own apartment, see Alison and my cat, and actually go out to eat at a restaurant. The only good thing I can say for Ohio is that I've lost weight, because there aren't many good places to eat. It's either fast food, or make your own food.

Yesterday I canvassed for Obama for another three and a half hours, with an utterly useless man named Ben. Ben was nice enough, but he clearly felt nervous about approaching people on his own (and yet he was nearly 50!). So he insisted in going together to every house. Which meant I knocked on doors and talked to people while he played the part of my shadow. He also kept walking across people's lawns until I suggested that we not do that, would comment loudly on people's homes as we approached their door, and had a bad habit of spitting out of the side of his mouth as we walked. This was not helped by the fact that we were given a list of "persuade" voters, who were often republican, so we were yelled at and told "where to go" a couple of times. Still, we did talk to several undecided and "leaning Obama" voters, and conversations with these people made up for the grouchy ones. One woman, who was undecided, told me that her daughter and son-in-law were both in the military. She said she had gone to "too many military funerals to count" and she wanted us out of Iraq. She had even met with Bush about this at a meeting for military mothers.

In other news, I am wrapping up my interviews at the first school. I have completed 25, and hope to finish the other 5 or so before Wednesday. On Wednesday afternoon, I should receive the surveys from the second school, and will start a new round of interviews. My most interesting interview last week was with an extremely religious student who said she was "too close" to God, because she would walk through the halls talking to God out loud. She was a very smart, well-adjusted adolescent. But her interview went on for longer than most because of her long discussions about the role of religion in her life. I would have been happier about this if I had received permission to record her interview. Instead, I spent hours trying to make sense of my notes in order to cobble together a "transcript" of the interview.

Other than that, I am still obsessively reading political blogs and watching my job prospects slip away while I procrastinate from working on papers and post-doc applications. Good times.

Gay Marriage Legal in Connecticut!!!

'Nuff said.

Good read #2

I just read this and thought I would pass it on. McCain & Palin's strategy has become more racially charged recently, but the people discussing this have largely not acknowledged that this is a different form of racism than we have seen directed toward Black leaders in the past. This article does a good job of describing the differences.

Election, campaigning, and Obama

I went campaigning for Obama on Wednesday night, for about 3 hours. The night before, I canvassed for an hour with my stepmother, but she had done most of the talking. This time I was paired with a dour but amiable guy named Ryan. He was a mostly stay-at-home dad who worked part-time at Trader Joe's. He had gone to Northeastern, and worked as a campaigner for all those "Do you have a minute for..." places during college. We split up the houses on our list, so we could get as many done as possible.

We canvassed a primarily White, working class neighborhood neighborhood in Ohio (a good depiction of these voters was written here in the New Yorker). Our instructions were to first ask if they knew who they were voting for. If they were leaning toward a candidate or undecided, we next asked what the most important issue to them was, and talked to them about that topic. If they said they were definite Obama supporters, we asked how likely they were to vote, and gave them information about early voting. And to McCain supporters, we said "Okay, thanks. Have a good night." Everything was recorded on an information sheet, so the campaign could keep track of voter leanings, issues, and voting-likelihood.

The names and addresses we were given included registered independents and democrats, so there were only a few McCain supporters. Several people were still undecided. The main issue for everyone we talked to was the economy. Some of the undecided voters were wavering between the two candidates. Others knew they would not vote for McCain, but did not know whether they would vote for Obama. I usually talked to them about jobs and taxes. Several people were very passionate about their worries with the economy and their anger at McCain and Bush. Overall, it was a really good experience, and I was surprised by the effectiveness of going door to door. I wasn't sure people would listen, but they did. And a couple of Obama supporters were unclear on voting procedures which would have left them without a vote if someone had not talked to them. I hope to do more canvassing next week. And I would encourage you all to do some, if you have time! In North Carolina, the senate vote is particularly important--Kay Hagan is running very, very close to Dole, so every vote counts.

After canvassing, I received a "VIP" pass to the Obama event, which meant I had access to the field directly around the stage where he spoke. I went with an employee of my stepmom, and we were very close to the stage. At one point before the speech, an elderly woman near us blacked out from the heat. Many of us gave her food, water, and shade before the paramedics arrived. Otherwise, the wait was largely uneventful. In the lead-up to Obama, several people spoke, including Ted Strickland, the governer of Ohio. Obama's speech was good, if difficult to hear (I think we were actually a little too close). Afterwards, I managed to get near the front and shake his hand, which was very cool. I have pictures for you all, but posting them may need to wait until I am in Philly.

Updates all around!

Research: I have 23 and a half interviews done now (today was a shorter day so I only finished half of the last interview). Unfortunately, I have interviewed several students this week who did not want to be recorded, so I have hours of transcribing ahead of me. I really hate transcribing an interview from notes. Invariably, I am not able to write quickly enough to get everything, and I'm always worried that I will get something wrong.

Good news--I finally have permission from the other school. Yay! They want me to distribute the survey next week, so I will have time to finish all or most of the first 30 interviews. Unfortunately, this is taking longer than I wanted it to, so I plan to go to Philadelphia Oct. 28 through Nov. 9, and then return to Ohio for a week to finish interviewing in November. I am going to Philly to visit Alison and my cat, go to the haunted prison, go to Jess's Halloween party (no, I'm not talking about myself in the third person), vote, and celebrate the election. I realize that this may not be the most responsible choice. But I really cannot stand the idea of missing Halloween and the election in Philly.

Jobs: I think Kim is right about this--academia may well be shielded from the crisis. I'm just worried. And it doesn't help that I spend an inordinate amount of time reading political blogs and listening to NPR. I finally decided to email my advisor yesterday about whether I should apply for more jobs, but she advised me not to do that. So, I'm putting my faith in the system. Kind of.

Politics: Tomorrow I am playing hooky from my research and going to an Obama rally. My stepmom and I canvassed for the campaign in a neighborhood yesterday, and will do more this evening. It went pretty well--it was a White, lower middle class neighborhood and we talked to three Obama supportors, 1 McCain supporter, 1 person who wouldn't say (probably McCain), and 1 anti-Bush guy who didn't want to vote (talk about waste of space...). And of course, there were lots of people who weren't there or didn't answer their doors. One woman wore a "McSame" t-shirt, and another woman asked us for an Obama sign for her yard. So, all in all, a good time.

Health Care plans: Obama vs. McCain

Good read:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/06/opinion/06krugman.html?em

Fear

This year was supposed to be the year in which I applied for my ideal jobs, but didn't worry if they didn't come through. However, with the economy in a slump, I wonder whether I just need to take a job--any job--and hunker down until the recession (depression?) is over. Seriously, there may not be jobs available next year. This is frightening. I wonder whether I will end up being a secondary school teacher if things get really bad. Which wouldn't be terrible, except that I could have been doing that five years ago. I emailed my advisors to ask whether I need to apply to more jobs this year. I am also applying for a post-doc in Stockholm, since leaving the country is becoming an increasingly attractive option.

Other updates...

Research: 19 interviews down, 41 to go. I have started to have some insights into the larger story of the research, although obviously I have more to go. I think there will be a gender socialization angle to this chapter. The girls I interview seem to be drawn to the health field because they want to "help" people. And this appears tied to their feelings of competence for caring. Yet while nearly everyone cites wanting to help people as a reason for pursuing these careers, no one can explain why helping people is important to them.

Politics: I went running yesterday for 5 miles (quite an accomplishment in my current fitness regime), and I tried to count all the political lawn signs I passed. On the main street, there were only a few--two for McCain and one for Obama. Looking down the streets into neighborhoods, I saw that about half of the houses had signs in front. Although McCain outnumbered Obama, it was pretty divided--in some places, nearly every-other house had an Obama sign and every-other house had a McCain sign. Wonder what those neighbors think of each other.

The Midwest: I have started to restrict my running to the neighborhood near my parent's house, rather than going on the path near the river. The path is a clean, well-paved road devoted to running and biking, and it extends for miles around the area. And yet, no one uses it. And after I passed a man waking up from a drunken nap under an overpass, I decided the neighborhoods were safer. Boo.

Diagramming sentences

This article brought me back to middle school:

http://www.slate.com/id/2201158/

I always loved diagramming sentences. They were challenging enough to make the work interesting, but also very straightforward. Much like algebra, my other favorite middle school subject.

My interviews are now up to 13, and I have two more scheduled today. I had four scheduled, but one girl didn't want to miss the homecoming court vote--yes, seriously--and the other couldn't get out of work early. But having 15 done by the end of the day isn't terrible. I would like to get more done so that I can go back to Philadelphia, but I realize that I am not as good of an interviewer by the third or fourth interview of the day.

So what is a bad interview? Interviewing used to be my worst methodological skill (in comparison to statistics & ethnographic fieldwork). But I have gotten better. Interviewing requires the willingness to ask questions that you think are irrelevant, to ask the same question over and over in different ways, and to ask questions that appear to be uncomfortable for the respondent. When I began interviewing a couple years ago for another project, I was not very good at coming up with probing questions in the midst of the interview or asking questions that I thought had already been answered. I've improved, mainly because I have found that 1) Interview subjects don't notice when you ask the same question for the third time, particularly when they are spaced out and not asked in the same way; 2) They are likely to give you a different answer to the same question; and 3) When in doubt, probe with "Why?", or "What do you mean by X?" My worst interviews are ones in which I am tired and just want to complete the interview, and thus fail to follow up on a topic. I try to remind myself that I will be angry later when I read the transcript and find nothing useful. Sometimes this works, sometimes not so much.

On another topic, remember that tonight is the VP debate! I am psyched. I love watching Palin nose-dive, and I am eagerly anticipating another wild ride. Also, Biden is adorable. I kind of love watching him make gaffes as well.

P.S. Apparently Palin decided to visit our neighborhood in Philly last week--she watched the presidential debate from the Irish bar that is three doors down from our apartment, and then had lunch at our favorite deli. What gives? Get out of Philly, Palin!