(no subject)

There are a couple of things I'd like to explore a bit in writing that I don't have time for. But one of them I can summarize briefly because if I were to go into detail, it might be awkward.

I've been wondering in light of a few recent experiences and conversations, whether it's possible for a group of people (I know, this is a rather loose term, but that's ok) to interact regularly at more than a superficial level without behaving or expressing themselves in a way that could give legitimate offense to some other person or group of people. I really wonder whether it can happen. So much of what makes for bonding between people comes from creating frameworks within which the people involved show sameness and the people outside are somehow othered.

I'm not saying that doing offensive things should therefore be forgiven. But so much of what constitutes offense is contextual. So much relies on shared understandings and assumed meanings. If a particular expression is offensive in one context, is it necessarily offensive in all contexts? Is there *really* any kind of objective cause for offense? I would argue that there is, but that there are a lot of things that may only be subjectively offensive that are characterized as being objectively offensive, or uncategorically offensive.

And before I go, this is what I kind of wish I was doing instead of going to do various bits of grown-up responsible stuff.

As I settled into bed to sleep earlier this weekend, Danae gave me a bunny to snuggle. She's sweet like that.


Sleepytime - Pic-a-day 13 July 2013

Copyright 2013

(no subject)

It's kind of absurdly hot up here today. The window A/C unit is going to go back in for Danae's visit this weekend.

Speaking of said sexy-brained kitty, she pointed out some grad programs that I might have entirely missed, or at least taken longer to come upon, that look deeply intriguing to me. I'd read a paper a while back by a woman whose academic specialty was Marxist geography. I found the concept fascinating, but geography never came to mind in my program search. I thought of it as a rather quantitative, hard-science kind of field.

Than Danae showed me a couple of programs like this. https://www.maxwell.syr.edu/geo/Culture,_Justice_and_Urban_Space

"...feminist, cultural, and Marxist geographies...", "...geographies of memory in postindustrial cities..."

There's so much more to geography than where things are. Since I'll be at Parkside working on a GIS certificate anyway, I'm going to look for more social geography type courses that might give me a better background in this kind of approach. I really see a lot of overlap, at least in interests (I don't know enough about methodologies yet) between urban anthropology and these kinds of qualitative urban geographies. I'm writing a few professors at programs like this. I really hope I hear back; I'd like to talk to them about whether I'd be a good fit coming at this from a participant observation, anthropology kind of perspective.

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In other news, I biked home from Uptown this morning. I was going to get on the red line, then bike from Linden, but I was too late getting going and they don't let bikes on the CTA cars between 7 and 9. So I figured, "what the hell," and started peddling.

It was only 7 more miles added to the usual 40 mile Evanston - Kenosha trip, but that last seven miles was grueling, I was coming up on a wall in Winthrop Harbor. If it had been any further, I would have had to stop and rest. I think I got dehydrated too; the temperature and sun were really bad. Next time, I know better; more breaks and more drinks, even if I have to stop and buy them.