Please pay for an editor.

One aspect of my job is that I read thesis-type papers and determine whether the students are allowed to pass or not. In other words, if their advisors don't do it, I have to get things back on track and/or prevent them from graduating. It's not fun.

Usually, these papers are very good overall. I'm a complete bitch when it comes to grammar, punctuation, spelling, and efficient word choice. However, I realize this and am not going to expect miracles on those things. I expect them to be able to clean things up once the issues are pointed out, and I'm picky about these things with all the papers. However, if you are a graduate student and cannot put together complete sentences, tell me what "this" means or who "they" are, and provide no analysis of information at all, you might be screwed. And if that paper comes to me, you might make an enemy in a somewhat powerful position.

So, I thought I'd put some tips together so that students may successfully prepare their drafts for review and prevent me from having an aneurysm over poorly organized and written papers.

1. When you have a list of guidelines, follow them. If it says 1" margins, use 1" margins. If it says to use a specific font and size, for the love of all that is holy, use that font and size. Throughout the paper. If it says "uniformally double-space," do it before something terrible happens to your first-born child.
2. If you are required to use a specific documentation style, for which you should already own the book because it is required for the program, do not make up your own citation formats. Really. Don't do it.
3. When you turn in a draft for review by your Academic Director, proofread. If you can't proofread, have someone else do it for you. Do not embarrass yourself by showing that you have no idea how punctuation works or that spelling makes a difference.
4. Have someone else read your paper before submission. If they can't figure out what you're talking about, it's highly likely that no one else will either. This is not a good thing. You will not confuse the authorities into giving you an A.
5. Remember the thesis statement that is the focal point of the paper? Yeah. Make sure your paper is about your thesis statement and doesn't take a little walk to Grandmother's house through the woods with only breadcrumbs to mark the trail back. (Okay, I'm mixing fairy tales, but you know what I mean, right?)
6. Be able to summarize your paper in a short paragraph. That's right. Fifty pages down to a few sentences. If you don't know what you're talking about, no one else will.

That's all for now. Thank you.

Gratitude

I'm not going to lie. I've a rough few days/weeks. Mostly because I tend to spend a lot of time in my head, and my head is a pretty imaginative place to be. My head likes to exaggerate things a lot. And then the exaggerated version seems real. And overwhelming.

However.

I went to scrimmage tonight. And I left feeling happy again. And so I thought I'd share a list of things that somewhere between 7pm (well, maybe 4pm really) and now have reminded me of why it is an amazing thing to be alive.

1. Double-digit jams. I don't care if they only come on power jams, they still make you feel like a rock star when you're jamming.

2. Further solidifying my reputation as a tenacious bounce-back-upper after at least 50 knock downs in two hours.

3. Seamus O'Shenanigans looking out for my penalties. Always good to be on the good side of the refs :)

4. Joe and Gabe taking time to give me pointers on stability because they hate seeing me get knocked down so hard and so often.

5. A solid reminder of how amazing the people in this league are.

6. Sports Racer. I can't say anything else because I'll burst into tears.

7. A beautiful full moon keeping me company on my half hour drive home.

8. Dave Grohl. Still love him. Still love his music.

9. Singing along to the iPod: a.) amazing to have an iPod, 2.) shuffle is brilliant, and D.) just wanting to sing along again is a blessing.

10. Caring about people. Does it matter if they care for you back? I don't know. But I think that the ability to care about others is special, and I'm glad that I do.

11. My Seamus. He's a little brat, but man, he is cute.

12. Fiona skating again. All is right with the world.

A few things

I do not understand people and their regard and/or disregard for speed limits. I think about this a lot as I zip up to Brighton and back. See, most people completely ignore speed limits of 55 mph. (Except for those who insist on driving 45 or 50 on the highway, and we're not going to talk about them because I'll become incensed and feel like I have to do something about it.) People really have no problem going 65 or 70 or faster in a 55 speed limit. Yet, when the speed limit changes to 65 mph, people continue on at the same speed. Or slow down. It baffles me.

Likewise, if a speed limit changes from 65 to 55 to 45, they have no problem continuing on at 65 or 70. It is a puzzlement.

I hurt my wrist tonight. I'm not sure how I did it because it was probably halfway through the practice, and I decided to ignore it as best I could until the scrimmage was over. I think I probably just jammed it on a fall. However, I am hoping that the ibuprofen, ice, wine combination will soon heal it.

I'm applying to attend at summer institute at Bryn Mawr that would require 3.5 weeks of 6 days/week of class and such. I haven't applied for anything in a long time. This could be fun. Or hellacious. One of the two.

My dog hates me these days. Loves and hates me. Because I'm gone a lot again. So, he either wants to be in my lap or barking at me when I'm home. It's pretty awesome. Especially since he's just slightly too long to hang out comfortably in my lap. Poor little guy.

I've never been very religious. Or spiritual, really. But lately, I find myself feeling spiritual at the strangest times. It's not a kneel-down-and-recite-your-prayers type thing. It's full on channeling of energy for a purpose, whether that's just appreciating the light as it plays out across the sky or genuinely begging the universe for help. But I can't seem to feel it whenever I want. Just at odd times, like walking down University to get to my car after work.

Valentine's Day is coming up. It is a strange day. Even stranger being right smack dab in the middle of a holiday weekend. For once, I actually have a group of single friends to hang out with. Woo hoo! I guess I'll have to break the tradition of white russians and sappy movies alone.

And I think that's enough of my ramblings. Have a lovely day :)

The End of Racism?

Yesterday, I read something that disturbed me. It was a comment that celebrating overcoming racism was racism, that being half-black makes race less valid, and that the new President's race shouldn't be brought up because it's not important. The comment troubled me for a number of reasons. One is my education and training in intercultural communication. One is my personal experience with race. And one is a misconception, perhaps, about the difference between a milestone and the end of a paradigm.

That's right, folks, for once, I'm going to be academic.

I think it's important that there's dialogue about race and what it is. Race is not ethnicity. Race is not always clearly defined. Race is something that we usually categorize based on appearance. And as such, racism, which one might define as making judgments and creating a hierarchy based on race, is something that may not ever go away. In a society that has been defined by racist barriers, it is very important to acknowledge that one of those barriers has been broken.

To most people, I am white. I look white. I have everything that comes with white privilege, including the guilt that makes people want to ignore race. But, guess what? I'm half yellow, if we're going with colors. When I go to family reunions, I see a different race and my place in that world. The only reason my grandparents were not interned in the 1940s is that they lived in Colorado, not California. So, because I look white, does race not matter? Or if people know, does that change their perspective of me?

Colorblindness is not anti-racism. Ignoring someone's race does not make it go away; it may make it more visible, like the elephant in the corner. If you're white in this country, you are born with priveleges that a black, red, yellow, brown, blue, or green person will never have. And I know for me, in first studying that concept, I went throuh an intense time of self-examination and guilt. That guilt is the reason why people want to ignore race and say it doesn't matter. But it does. Acknowledging race acknowledges that people of color do not have the same advantages as white people. Acknowledging race allows us to start to break down those barriers.

The election and inauguration of a black President - who although raised by a white mother, is still black in the eyes of the world - does not mean that racism has ended. And the celebration of that event does not mean that we're celebrating racism. Rather, this event is a milestone. This is an event that shows that people have recognized his race and that it was not the deciding factor in his success. It shows that the paradigm is shifting from a hierarchy based on race to one based first on competency and ability, but it doesn't mean that we've overcome or ended racism. It's important to celebrate this milestone. It's important to acknowledge that we can accept diversity in our society. And yes, his race and acknowledging it do matter as we move forward in this administrationm, since that is the first thing that people see.

It's important to look to ourselves to assess what we see, what we judge, and how we respond in our daily lives. I'll bet everyone has prejudices. In ignoring those, we don't move forward. In acknowledging them and working with that knowledge, we can begin to change how those prejudices affect our behavior. I see that in this milestone event. As a nation, we've looked at ourselves, we've acknowledged our prejudices, and we've been able to embrace a competent, black leader and celebrate it. It's a pretty big deal.

Bathroom Adventures

No! Not THAT kind of adventure. Sickos.

Today, I walked into the bathroom at work, and the light was off. Personally, I think it's silly to flip the fluorescent lights on and off all day, but some people insist on turning them off. Anyway, I flipped the light on and walked into the stall on the right. I shut the door behind me. And all of a sudden I heard a voice behind me.

"Thank you, person who came in and turned the light on. I've been sitting here in the dark. Not everyone's in and out in 12 seconds."

I did actually recognize the voice - as that of someone who turns the lights off. And I didn't quite jump out of my skin. But I did notice that she did not turn the light off when she left the bathroom.

My Dog

When I was in grad school, Naomi and I would go walk or run (once in a blue moon) around Wash Park. And generally, I would comment on all the dogs and do fabulous impressions of them and talk about how I wanted a dog.

And about a month after I graduated, I wound up with a darling, tiny puppy. I didn't mean to acquire him. I was looking around online to find out prices of puppies to see if I could afford one and how long it would take before I could actually get one. And then there was this little picture. This really cute little picture. And I emailed the breeder to ask if he was still available and how much he was. She got back to me and said he was. And he was actually pretty cheap because there's some flaw in his breeding and he, in turn, could not breed for shows. But whatever. He was adorable.

After a night of calls to the landlord and some debate, I called her back and said I'd take him. At which point she said she'd had three other offers since I had talked to her and expressed interest. Naomi and I drove up to Fort Collins to make the exchange with the Cheyenne breeder. They drove away with a check. We drove away with a tiny little wire hair dachshund.

Seamus has been awesome. He is just the right dog for me. He's scruffy and cute. He's a noisy pain at times and stubborn, but he also loves everyone and is pretty good at snuggling. He wasn't too much of a chewy dog. And he makes me smile, even on the bad days.

Tonight, he's been in play mode. I finally found the ball that he throws around that's been missing. It's really amazing how far and/or high he can throw things sometimes. So it's been quite entertaining for me as well. I thought it was important that I share this. Maybe, if you're lucky, you can hang out with him sometime too.

My Boys

Recently, through the magic that is Facebook, I have gotten in touch with all of these boys who I knew in college. All of these frat boys. All of the boys that I grew up with years and years ago.

It's amazing. They're all over the country. Many of them have children. Many of them have beautiful little girls who are going to give them more trouble than they know what to do with.

But the best thing is that they haven't changed. Not really. They're still those boys who spent countless hours bowling fruit down the street and going on midnight outings to HDI and having impromptu shower parties. I always tagged along, of course (except the shower parties, that was Bridget's job). It's good to know that spirit never dies.

I'm glad to have my boys back :)