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The Last Few Days
Oct. 7th, 2015 12:26 amI haven't wanted to write anything to post on Facebook (which I would be cross-posting from here, 'cause this is my lair on the 'net) because it would bump the picture of Danae and me down from the top of my feed, and it made me rather happy up there. But the auto-posted bike commute records that Fitbit puts there for me have displaced it anyway, which I suppose is some kind of metaphor for something-or-other.
I feel like I ought to write up my New York City trip more thoroughly, except that there isn't that much to say. I basically spent two days of it sleeping with occasional forays out to DuaneReade (a Walgreens-owned drug store chain) and Subway. I saw nothing outside of a couple block radius of 102nd and Broadway until the last day of the trip. I was finally feeling better, and Danae and I dropped into that board game cafe I mentioned near Greenwich Village before I had to catch the train back to the Port Authority bus terminal.
It was sad, to be in such an amazing place and see so little of it. I swear, if I can save the money up, I'm going to spend a full two weeks at a hostel in Manhattan this summer, just engaging in semi-directed wandering. That sounds like heaven.
I spent a lot of the weekend stressed about school, and not being able to get anything done while sick. I had planned to be so productive over the time while Danae was at her conference; readings to read, writings to write; I was going to be entirely ready for all my classes this week by Sunday. Ha! Working on the way home on the bus was problematic too; the power outlets weren't working so I couldn't use my laptop. In the end I just tried to relax and accept things as they were. I'm trying to do that more with school in general. I'll give it my best without giving up everything else in my life to be successful at it, and I'll do as well as I do.
I'm reevaluating my motives for being in grad school and in doing research and investigation. A significant reason I decided to focus on more current issues instead of historical geography is that it's important to me to make cities better places in the present. I want to make people's lives better now. I think I could be endlessly happy "wallowing in the archives" (as one professor talking to my research design class described his methods), but I could easily dive into things that are far removed from current issues and never surface.
But I also need to think about what will make me happy. If I'm not enjoying the work I'm doing, I don't think I could get through two years of it. There has to be a passion to carry me through. I'd already been talking with Danae about this in NYC, so when, in our last meeting, my advisor floated the possibility of my thesis being more historical in scope than I'd been talking about, my ears perked up. It's clear that the public transportation system in Syracuse has failings from a social justice angle, he said, but what might be interesting is writing about how we got here. How did the system become what it is? Where did it come from, so to speak?
Thinking about that change of focus kind of revitalized my interest in working on a thesis. Historical work could mean combing through newspapers, either digitized or on microfilm. Spending hours "wallowing in the archives" (I *love* that phrase) as I was so happy doing at Parkside. And certainly it will intersect with the present day, too. To figure out where you're going, you have to know where you've been. So I think, as I continue putting together an annotated bibliography for that class, I'm going to focus on more historical sources. It feels like the right way to go for a number of reasons. And it simply makes me excited about the project again.
I took advantage today of a 'single free miss' policy one of my professors has for weekly class work. I could have gotten it done today before class, but instead I used the day to catch up on non-school necessities. My night and winter bike, Perseverance, had a flatted inner tube that I patched. (I'm *so* glad I have two bikes here.) I did laundry and hung it up to dry. I went grocery shopping. I cleaned up the apartment a little bit (it's still a disaster).
And with that, it's time for bed. I have a class tomorrow that I want time in the morning to get ready for. Two other students and I have rotating facilitation duties this week, so I have to have some idea of what I'm talking about.
Oh, and after class, I'm going out and being social! A few classmates from my cohort are getting together to practice Spanish over dinner tomorrow evening. We're all bringing some food and we're meeting at the Bread and Roses co-op, where one of them lives. I'm really excited about seeing the co-op too, since the one I know in Evanston was a fantastic, welcoming space and I'd like to see what this one is like.
Good night!
I feel like I ought to write up my New York City trip more thoroughly, except that there isn't that much to say. I basically spent two days of it sleeping with occasional forays out to DuaneReade (a Walgreens-owned drug store chain) and Subway. I saw nothing outside of a couple block radius of 102nd and Broadway until the last day of the trip. I was finally feeling better, and Danae and I dropped into that board game cafe I mentioned near Greenwich Village before I had to catch the train back to the Port Authority bus terminal.
It was sad, to be in such an amazing place and see so little of it. I swear, if I can save the money up, I'm going to spend a full two weeks at a hostel in Manhattan this summer, just engaging in semi-directed wandering. That sounds like heaven.
I spent a lot of the weekend stressed about school, and not being able to get anything done while sick. I had planned to be so productive over the time while Danae was at her conference; readings to read, writings to write; I was going to be entirely ready for all my classes this week by Sunday. Ha! Working on the way home on the bus was problematic too; the power outlets weren't working so I couldn't use my laptop. In the end I just tried to relax and accept things as they were. I'm trying to do that more with school in general. I'll give it my best without giving up everything else in my life to be successful at it, and I'll do as well as I do.
I'm reevaluating my motives for being in grad school and in doing research and investigation. A significant reason I decided to focus on more current issues instead of historical geography is that it's important to me to make cities better places in the present. I want to make people's lives better now. I think I could be endlessly happy "wallowing in the archives" (as one professor talking to my research design class described his methods), but I could easily dive into things that are far removed from current issues and never surface.
But I also need to think about what will make me happy. If I'm not enjoying the work I'm doing, I don't think I could get through two years of it. There has to be a passion to carry me through. I'd already been talking with Danae about this in NYC, so when, in our last meeting, my advisor floated the possibility of my thesis being more historical in scope than I'd been talking about, my ears perked up. It's clear that the public transportation system in Syracuse has failings from a social justice angle, he said, but what might be interesting is writing about how we got here. How did the system become what it is? Where did it come from, so to speak?
Thinking about that change of focus kind of revitalized my interest in working on a thesis. Historical work could mean combing through newspapers, either digitized or on microfilm. Spending hours "wallowing in the archives" (I *love* that phrase) as I was so happy doing at Parkside. And certainly it will intersect with the present day, too. To figure out where you're going, you have to know where you've been. So I think, as I continue putting together an annotated bibliography for that class, I'm going to focus on more historical sources. It feels like the right way to go for a number of reasons. And it simply makes me excited about the project again.
I took advantage today of a 'single free miss' policy one of my professors has for weekly class work. I could have gotten it done today before class, but instead I used the day to catch up on non-school necessities. My night and winter bike, Perseverance, had a flatted inner tube that I patched. (I'm *so* glad I have two bikes here.) I did laundry and hung it up to dry. I went grocery shopping. I cleaned up the apartment a little bit (it's still a disaster).
And with that, it's time for bed. I have a class tomorrow that I want time in the morning to get ready for. Two other students and I have rotating facilitation duties this week, so I have to have some idea of what I'm talking about.
Oh, and after class, I'm going out and being social! A few classmates from my cohort are getting together to practice Spanish over dinner tomorrow evening. We're all bringing some food and we're meeting at the Bread and Roses co-op, where one of them lives. I'm really excited about seeing the co-op too, since the one I know in Evanston was a fantastic, welcoming space and I'd like to see what this one is like.
Good night!
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