downtime.

downtime at last!  the quarter is finally finished, and i'm back home for the holidays.  the goal is to rest up, visit with family and friends, and let my brain atrophy for a couple of weeks before jumping back into the ring for another quarter of work.

i was more or less horrid about blogging this quarter, so the goal for next quarter (i know, i know, but i REALLY mean it this time) is to really get into a habit of jotting things down.  i was going through a few entries from my oxford days, and it was really cool to read up on the research that i was doing back then, so i can only imagine how useful (and entertaining) this blog will be in a couple of years when i'm moving through the grad school process.

first, a retrospective.  this quarter was ten weeks of intensity, stress, angst, worry, and discombobulation, with a few brilliant points of success, happiness, excitement, and achievement.  it's my hope, really, that the yuckiness of adjusting and learning to fit in and find my niche is more or less over; i'm looking forward to returning in the new year with a renewed sense of self, of purpose and of direction.

this quarter, i think i was successful in a lot of areas.  i decided on a broad topic of my MA, which will be a continuation of my undergraduate research on the sociological understanding of the western white wedding.  denise bielby, my 1st year advisor, has agreed to serve as my MA committee chair, which is awesome: the first time i met with her, i sat in her office, gave her 10 minutes worth of ramblings on my thoughts on a MA topic, and within 30 seconds she managed to offer me a neat, tidy, and rational summation of exactly what i was trying to tell her.  that sort of direction is invaluable to me, and she's already been awesome and agreed to write 3 letters of rec for me.  in addition to denise, i asked simonetta, my theory prof, to also serve on my committee.  simonetta has a background in both theory and culture, and given my topic, i figured she'd be a good choice as well.  that leaves me with a 3rd spot open (unless i decide that i absolutely need a 4th committee member, which i will admit i have been pondering), but i'm not in a huge hurry to fill it.  i figure i can be much more leisurely about 'shopping around,' if you will, next quarter.

i also managed to write my first major fellowship proposal this quarter.  i've come to realize that i will spend not only the rest of my grad school career, but the rest of my life as an academic, hustling for money, so i suppose i'd better get use to the drill.  after much angst and stress (and a whole lot of over-analysis, i think), i managed to pull my application for the ford fellowship together and submit it on time.  as hard as it was, i'm really proud of the final product: it is the clearest, most succinct summation of my intended research that i've managed to create. really, the statement of intended research is like a summary of 3 years worth of pondering, thinking, and wondering, and it is utterly thrilling to imagine that next quarter i am going to get to tackle head-on a topic that i've spent so much of my academic career wanting to examine.

some academic successes were a bit more subtle.  theory threw me for a loop for the first few weeks, despite having read the "big 3" (marx, durkheim, weber) as an undergraduate.  once we got into the final week of durkheim, however, and moved into weber's work on bureaucracy and power (i know, i still can't stop talking about it. i think it's brilliant), stuff really started to come together, and although that final paper caused me a bit of anxiety (note understatement), i still feel like i can walk away with a basic understanding of what they all were about.  at the moment i am excited to pursue theory b and get into the intellectual and theoretical legacy that these scholars bequeathed, but i am sure i should be quite careful of what i wish.  

somehow, on top of the work and the soul-searching and such, i also managed to TA and look after 70 students.  there are some things i'd definitely like to do differently next time around -- tying the coursework into current events and pop culture is a must, along with instituting a way to facilitate better classroom discussion -- but, really, for my first quarter, i'd like to think that i did rather well.  it was really exciting, even in the midst of wading through my gigantic stack of midterms, to read through their essay questions and to see that a lot of them were more or less able to synthesize the information, and that a few of them could even go beyond the general level of analysis that i expected, and offer some beautifully written discussions of major social problems of the day.  stuff like that just makes me all emotional, and reminds me why i'm throwing myself into this grad school madness and trying to become a professor one of these days.

i've been really lucky this quarter to also find myself with a good group of people, both inside and outside of soc, and beyond the university, which is actually really nice.  i need to remind myself from time to time that there is more to life than MA requirements, thesis talk, term papers, and other such silliness.

all in all, a good quarter, and i'm already making plans for the winter.  coursewise, i'll be taking theory b, comparative-historical methods, and 2 independent reading courses, 1 with denise that will help me to start navigating the literature for the MA, and the other with fernando to make up for the 1st half of comp-hist that i missed this quarter.  this is going to be a heavy-reading and research quarter, but i am SO excited: i'm going to get to spend most of my time doing the stuff that i really love, which is research on a topic i've picked for myself.  by the end of the haul, i should have a decent concept of what the MA is going to look like, along with discrete steps of how i will arrive there.

i'm making a long list of stuff that i'd like to do in addition to study next quarter, though: partaking in stateside's a la carte sunday brunch that includes unlimited champagne for $8; finally getting myself into wine country to wander a few vineyards and taste some wine; getting some friends together to hit up zodo's and elsie's for chill nights out; and venturing out to LA and the surrounding areas to visit family and friends.  i'm also looking forward to an awesome series of workshops maryam and i are working on that will tackle some of the challenges of presenting at professional conferences.  it'll be student-led and run, which is super cool, and i'm sure we're going to be able to cover a lot of essential issues.

speaking of conferences, it looks like i'll be in san diego in april, presenting on 2 panels: one on religion and community, and the other on feminist media studies.  that means more traveling for me, and lots of immersion in "the field."

this break, though, i'm going to try and relax, though i will be avidly working on (1) an application for a funded summer research program at ucsb, (2) an application to TA for the writing program, (3) my letter of intent for the feminist studies doctoral emphasis program, and (4) some extra reading for the comp-hist course to make up for what i missed this past quarter.  of course, i'm going to also try to refine some of my thoughts and musings on the MA thesis as well... having fun, though, is the first priority, so i'm going to def try to balance all of that together.  whew!

well, i think that's all for now.  as i've also been scanning some old-school pics, i'll add a few of those, just for laughs...

playing catch-up.

it's been a while since i've gotten the chance the blog. i've had so much going on, and i've been so beat and tired, that it's been almost impossible to put my thoughts to paper. but suffice it to say that i'm settled in, that i'm comfortable with my surroundings, and that so far, the start of term is going well.

last week was like the week of non-stop orientations and workshops, which were almost too much; by wednesday i was skipping out on things and trying to relax instead, which was still rather difficult given all the errands i've had to run. ta training, though, was definitely something that was really needed and essential, and i'm so glad that it was available to us. it was basically 16 hours worth of sitting in the soc seminar room with three of the 'upperclassmen,' i suppose you'd call them, who led us through the major areas of being a ta: working with students, leading sections, working with a professor, grading papers, creating lesson plans, dealing with uncomfortable situations (rude students, students contesting grades, overly demanding professors...), and it was a really good way to become acclimated to the department, and also a really good introduction to what i'll be doing this quarter as a ta for soc 1.

i got some good social time in as well -- the end of ta training was celebrated with a student bbq on the beach (always fun, even if it was a little chilly), i went down to state street with a few of the girls in my cohort for a birthday party being thrown for victor rios, formerly of usf and now here at ucsb, a bunch of us got together for dinner at heather's last wednesday and got to get into some nice deep discussions, and then we all went to deborah's last friday for dinner to watch the debates. afterwards, a bunch of us went out to a place called 'tiburon tavern' on upper state where we did kareoke with a few of the upperclassmen. yes, kareoke. there were some pretty good singers there, too.

i laid low this past weekend. chan and i went exploring downtown state street, where i took advantage of old navy's sale on ballet flats and picked up some much needed flat shoes (with all the walking i do -- 15 minutes each way, which equates to almost 1 hour worth of walking on the days when i make 2 trips to campus) to supplement my wardrobe of almost all high heels. we also had lunch at an indian place (the taj cafe; pretty fair in terms of quality, but still fun), which was nice. i was supposed to hit up a dinner party later on that night, but i was beat and could feel myself starting to feel sick, so i totally bailed and stayed in.

sunday i spent finishing up my syllabus that i'm using with my 3 sections, which was interesting, to say the least. getting started is always, always the hardest part, but once i got my initial thoughts down on paper, it was a lot easier to get things to flow. of course, i totally forgot that if i wanted to get copies run off in time for my monday 8 am class, i would have needed to have made copies friday in the department, so i had to do the mad dash to kinkos to run off enough to cover my first section.

so far, i've taught 2 sections, and i'm just astounded at how different each of them are. i feel like i have a whole new understanding about what my professors have done for me. i can look back on some of the activities we've done in class and kind of see what they were really trying to get at, why they constructed classes in such a way, and it's actually really kind of cool. for today the students had to read the 1st chapter of c. wright mills's 'the sociological imagination,' which was really great, since i had planned to give them an excerpt for there any way. in both my sections there has been good conversation surrounding what the sociological imagination is and why it's needed; the thing i keep trying to drive home to them is that i want them to think. i want them to question, i want them to analyze, i want them to learn how to root their arguments in theory, and if they can get even a glimmer of all that by the end of term, i'll consider this whole class a success.

my own classes are getting started a bit slowly -- i had the mandatory 1st year seminar today, which is basically going to be about introducing us to the department and to grad student life at ucsb. we did go through all the requirements for the MA and the PhD, which was slightly terrifying, especially when i saw dates that read '2015' on the page. ummmm... yeah, that made me pause for a moment and wonder what the hell i'm doing in a program that might take me up to 6-7 years to finish, but i'm trying really hard not to think that far ahead, at least not now. the good thing is that my advisor is all for me continuing in the same vein of research as what i did for my undergrad thesis, so if i play my cards right, i might be able to write and defend my MA thesis in a little over 2 years... which is made all the easier by knowing that the thesis itself only has to be about 50 pages long, not 300, like the dissertation. sigh. but i'll think about that a little later. right now, i want to bask in the fact that i had 2 sections that i led myself that didn't fail miserably.

tonight is all about unwinding and taking a bit of a break from the stress of the past few days. once theory and my global gateway seminar meet wedesday, i'll have a lot more to do, so i'm just going to enjoy these last few days of freedom.

friends, old and new + more pictures

tomorrow begins the gauntlet of orientation, trainings, meetings and the like, and i've been feeling a bit under the weather, so i'm laying low today, staying in and napping, making tea and watching my sarah brightman dvds while mentally preparing for everything to come. it's so funny -- i've been so chill for the past few days that i think i've somewhat forgotten that the reason i'm here is not to enjoy the view or walk on the beach or run about like a silly little thing (although those things are definite perks). i'm here to study and to learn and all that good stuff. so i'm trying to get myself into the mode of papers and books and the like, and i am a bit excited. i haven't written a paper or studied, really, in almost 4 months, so it'll be good to get back into things.

over the past few days, i've had the chance to meet up with people and to see friends, both old and new, which is really nice. my old friend allison from high school moved to santa barbara last month; she's working at the local hospital as a nurse. monday night she and her boyfriend invited me over to their place for dinner, which was really, really nice. they've got the most amazing garden in the backyard, and treated me to their freshly-grown tomatoes, lettuce and lemon (excellent garnishes for the widmer they picked up from the store). we sat outside (this weather is absolutely amazing), had bbq'd hot dogs and potato salad and the freshly tossed salad, and got a chance to catch up on some of the things that have happened with us and our old classmates over the past few years. it's really nice to have a familiar face here, especially someone who i can talk about 'the good ol' days' with; having that sort of foundation has always been really important to me, so it's good that i'll have the opportunity to renew our friendship.

yesterday i met up with a couple members of my new cohort, which was exciting. from the people that i've met so far (steven, shae, heather and deborah), i feel like we're going to be a pretty interesting group of people, with a diverse mix of research interests. deborah and heather, it seems, were attracted to this program for all the same reasons as me: the promise of intellectual freedom, the ability to be creative in our research, the chance to fashion projects that matter, and the relative feeling that the department is highly competent and qualified in our areas of interest. the intellectual freedom, for me, is really a big thing, especially when it comes to being able to change my mind about my area of study and my specific project itself. more than ever, i feel like i'll have room to grow here, to really develop my 'sociological imagination,' my skills as a social scientist and my awareness as a human being, and to form some deep, lasting, important relationships.

i also managed to get another walk in yesterday. i promised myself that i'd only stay out for 45 minutes; alas, i discovered a new path that led along the beach, and i was gone for almost twice that time. i snapped some photos, though, as promised, so here they are...



a view of the marine biology building, which i'm convinced has the absolute best view of any building on campus.

there's an awful lot of avian life down by the lagoon. sometimes the birds with pointy beaks worry me, since i have an image of them going all hitchcockian on me and attacking, but they're really pretty. i'll never trust swans after what i saw them do in england, but this one is rather nice looking... at least until it huffed at me.

beach! the waves sound so beautiful and peaceful here. i stood there for a while and just listened, at least until i heard a thundering horde coming towards me and glanced up to see a dozen or so shirtless undergrads running down the stairs and then along the sand. all of that is going to take some getting used to...

the ocean, as seen from the bluff that rises above the lagoon.

a view of the lagoon and part of campus.

pelican!!!! (right? i've been despairing over my avian knowledge. an orinthologist i'm not. but there's a whole flock of these that gather along the lagoon, and go flying around over the ocean. a very pretty sight.)

i'm pretending that this is a stork, at least until someone tells me otherwise. they're really quite funny/impressive looking when they try to fly -- their wingspan is huge, although they have really skinny stick legs that hang funny as they fly about. a little nerve-wracking, though, when they take off right next to you and then divebomb into the water.

so, that's about all for now. tomorrow's TA training is student-led, starts with breakfast at 8:30 and then finishes up at 5; there's a second day on Monday, from 9-5, and a bbq at the end of the day on goleta beach, which should be enjoyable. i'm looking forward to meeting the remaining members of my cohort and catching up with some of the grad students that i met when i was here in march, though i'm hoping that it won't all be complete information overload. anyway, it's heading towards 5. i might take a short stroll before starting dinner. thanks for all the emails, everyone. i'll update again soon!

a view on the world...

and so here i am, my first official blog post about my time as a grad student at UCSB. i've only been living here for 2 full days, but i feel pretty well-settled and (so far) well-adjusted. of course, it could be, as my new classmate heather mentioned, that i'm still in the 'honeymoon phase,' so we'll see how things go once training and orientation begin.

i drove down on saturday, which was an adventure, since the longest drive i've ever made is from san francisco to palo alto. my sister rode with me and my parents came as well in the van, which is good because there was no way i could've fit all my stuff into the back of truck. i spent the first couple of hours on the drive constantly checking my rearview mirror to make sure the garbage bags filled with stuff shoved into the back weren't flying off, but once i was pretty sure that they were well-entrenched, i could relax a bit. (i should've take a picture of all the plastic bags. there were at least 8 in the back of the truck, and then a few more stuffed into the van along with all my luggage and everyone else's bags)

we pulled into santa barbara around 5:45 or so, and after doing a preliminary move of bags and such, i helped the parents' check in to their hotel. they stayed at pacifica suites, which i would really recommend to anyone coming down to visit. the grounds were beautiful, and while i didn't get a picture, the website is here: http://www.pacificasuites.com/. they gave an extra discount for AAA and for being affiliated with UCSB, which was super useful, so if anyone's interested, give me a ring and i'll see what i can do.

as it was mom's big birthday, i made reservations at a cute restaurant downtown, opal's, that has an awesome drink and dessert menu (the dinner entrees were also divine and to die for). it was super nice -- dad had the paella, which looked amazing, jaymie had tomato linguini, mom had the crabcakes and i had the world's most amazing warm seafood salad, with all these steaming chunks of salmon, scallops and other yummy things, topped with a creamy garlic sauce (i'm making myself hungry just thinking about it, yum!). for dessert, mom and jaymie went all out and had the 'like water for chocolate' special, which is basically raspberry ice cream inside a dark chocolate shell, while i really couldn't resist the dark chocolate jack daniel's creme brulee. mom's plate was decorated with chocolate sauce, and she even got her own candle to blow out:

on sunday, the family left and my roommate and i did some more settling in. luckily, chan had her own apartment in LA before she moved here, so she's got a lot of stuff to furnish the apartment with. as a result, i think our space looks pretty lived in, though of course there are things that we're still looking to do. we ran a few errands sunday night to check out bed bath and beyond, michael's craft store, rite aid, trader joe's, all the usual suspects. she's heading up to sf this coming weekend (she's originally from san jose and has family in san francisco), so she's going to make an emergency trip to ikea and target (two stores that i am sadly missing) to pick up a few extras.

i've taken a few pictures of the place, but it is in flux. here they are:

the living room, which i honestly think looks better in person than in pictures. the sheets are on the windows because we haven't yet received our drapes, which are supposed to be coming on thursday.

luckily, we've also got crazy high ceilings in the living room, one of the awesome perks about being on the top floor. the ceilings have wee windows in them that let in even more light.

the kitchen is small, compact but cute, and we've got a huge fridge. i've already cooked a couple of meals here, and i love the way that it feels.

our wee breakfast nook/office area, where we'll set up a shared bookshelf and a printer. chan also bought a basil plant and a potted rosemary/thyme/oregano plant, which will be the beginnings of our 'urban garden.'

i vacuumed the place today with the use of the roomba my parents let me bring along, since no one at home was using it, and i really couldn't resist putting a wee video of it up here. it occassionally gets stuck under the sofa and makes sad little noises, but it's so much fun to watch it putter around the place like some mini r2d2.

my bedroom, which still needs work but is coming together. i face the mountains, the practice soccer field and the soccer stadium, and the view is really lovely.

in the afternoons, there have been children's soccer lessons outside. today they were joined by a group of boys playing ultimate frisbee, which was lots of fun to watch. :)

anyway, tomorrow there will be photos of the beach, and more stories about the people i'm meeting. i'm pretty much just bumming around, relaxing and trying to catch up on my rest before the madness descends upon me on friday, though i think i'm looking forward to being occupied again. i really don't know what to do with all this free time.


that's all for now!!!

new contact info.

and so here i am, in santa barbara at last, all settled into my new apartment. it's been quite the adventure getting down here, and i know there's much more in store. i thought that restarting my old blog might be the best way to make sure that everyone is kept up-to-date on everything that's going on in my life, and a way to make it easier to share pictures and news and that type of thing.

for starter's, i'm going to post my new contact info. i emailed this out to everyone, but just in case, i'll leave it here as well.

email: my yahoo and usf accounts will remain the same, but i have a new ucsb account that i'll be using. the address is jsinlao@umail.ucsb.edu

snail mail: i actually have 2 postal addresses, one for regular USPS mail, and a second for UPS and other packages. they are as follows...

usps:
6520 el colegio rd, #2319
santa barbara, ca 93106

ups:
6520 el colegio rd, #2319
goleta, ca 93117

anyway, i look forward to hearing from everyone! i'll update soon about how the first few days are going...

yay! another update!

so, then, in order to attempt to give some sense of what's been going on in my life over the few weeks, i'll have to write another couple of entries, but it's all good. sigh. where to being? let's start with classes...

as i've mentioned previously, march 9th marked the end of the university's hilary term, as well as the end of my tutorials, meaning that the 9th was my last day for narrative and austen, which i'm definitely going to miss like crazy. i feel like i've grown so much through the eight weeks with both of these course, particularly in regards to my ability to work independently and to structure my own arguments and thoughts. i mean, all i got was a one sheet syllabus on the very first day of class with the paper topics for each austen novel and was pretty much told to go off and write somewhere between 2000 and 3000 words of decent argument and analysis, and... that was it. my austen course also gave me the ability to hone my literary analysis skills, something i haven't gotten the chance to do for a couple of years, not since i traded in my humanities courses for the social sciences (not that i'm complaining...).

but to approach the works of austen, who i've loved forever, ever since i watched that awesome bbc version of 'pride and prejudice,' was both a blessing and a challenge. how does one properly analyse and work with an author, so to speak, that one is so familiar with? i started out this course sceptical of secondary sources and what it could tell me, but after the amazing insights i've learned with the help of scholars like claudia johnson (who writes the most awesome book on all 6 of austen's works, along with her juvenelia, that places her in the socio-political-economic context of her time) and peter conrad, i don't think i'll be sceptical ever again. what became amazing, i think, was to see my progression of ideas over the course of my 8 week studies of austen's work. whereas i started off looking only at the surface and doing a minimal of analysis, i think by week 3, with pride and prejudice, i finally was able to use my own ideas, reject the ideas i disagreed with in the secondary lit, and embrace and expand the ones i did agree with. this course was also particularly salient for the application of my much-loved 'sociological imagination' (thanks, c. wright mills!!!!), because austen's works are truly social criticism through the vehicle of satire and comedy. at the heart of it, austen was not writing happy little love stories or nice, fluffy romances; she was both experimenting with the literary style (just compare Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, and Persuasion; it's amazing to note the differences and the nuances of style, etc) as well as offering her sharp criticism of a society ultimately unfair and unjust towards women. this is a view that definitely resounds in a society that has experienced great shifts in how women are treated and in the rights and options that women now exercise. i think i summed this idea up pretty well in my final paper:

"As Austen demonstrates for the single woman living in the isolated English countryside, an advantageous marriage is rare and difficult to form, for the number of eligible bachelors is clearly disproportionate to the number of unattached women. Marriage in Austen’s works, then, becomes little more than an economic transaction, an institution entered upon to expand and enrich the family fortune, to align one’s family with the prestige and honour of another, and, in the end, to obtain protection from the almost certain fate of penury and destitution which awaited the spinster. Her heroines, with the exception of Emma, can all be said to be embroiled in conflicts that are literally an issue of life or death, for without the assurance of husbands, they
become wards of brothers, cousins, and other male relatives, dependent upon the charity and largesse in order to survive. In this way we are presented with such characters as the ever-prattling spinster Miss Bates, “poor…[and] sunk from the comforts she was born to” (Austen 1815:339); Mrs Smith, the “poor, infirm, helpless widow” (Austen 1817:108); Charlotte Lucas, who, at twenty-seven, finds herself a burden upon her parents and her family and sacrifices love and ideals for marriage to a man whom she can hardly esteem; and countless other women who Austen reveals to be lonely, bored, loveless, harassed, suffering from poverty and a want of control over their lives and their destinies. When considered in this light, Austen’s light-hearted
comedies cross the threshold into serious literature, filled with complex and important themes; many critics, however, have ignored this completely, thus limiting the power and scope of her novels to that of mere entertainment."

but as my tutor, val dodd asked, how much has actually changed? there's one really important passage from persuasuion in which the heroine, anne elliot, says, " 'We [women] certainly do not forget you [men] as easily as you forget us. it is, perhpas, our fate rather than our merit. we cannot help ourselves. we live at home, quiet, confined, and our feelings prey upon us'" (austen 165). when i read that quote to my roommate, she made a face and exclaimed, 'that's HORRIBLE. it's just like when you sit around and wait for a man to call.' with that idea in mind, when my tutor posed that question, i couldn't offer a resounding, 'yes, life is so much better for women!' strangely, there are a lot of ideas in austen's works, observations about the interactions between men and women, which are still the same today. sigh. so very, very interesting. i think the idea of applying a sociological lens to literature, as well as using literature in illustrate societal norms and values and such, is definitely going on the list of things "to research" for my future endeavors. yay!

now then, narrative. sigh. i really am going to miss that class, even though i pulled the world's worst all-nighters every single week and rolled in to class every friday morning at 10 looking completely wiped out and terrible. but, as i mentioned last time, i pulled together 2 chapter + synopsis to send to my tutor's publishing agent; it was finished on the 9th, but nigel suggested some minor tweaks, so i finally managed to finish them and mail it off this afternoon, so it should reach her by tomorrow. i'm super proud of my work, however, and super proud of what i've decided to do with my writing. initially when i was thinking about writing romance, i had a huge row with my inner sociologist and feminist, which more or less sat and poked holes in every single aspect of the romance genre: promoting sexist ideals in every way possible (why must every novel feature a handsome, brawny, "experienced" hero and a feisty virgin? why? what does this say about double standards for sexuality in our culture?); emphasising heterosexist norms of relationships; emphasising couple-dom and romantic love in such a way that all other relationships are eclipsed.... there are a lot more horrible problems i could think of, but you get the idea. the main question that remained, then, was kind of an ethical dilemma: if i write romantic fiction, am i contributing to a social structure that i work to criticise in my scholarly work? is there a conflict of interest here? does this make me hypocritical? i've struggled with that over the past two months, trying to find a style that i can write that allows me to stay within the bounds of the romance genre but also allows me to stay true to my beliefs and my ideals, but i think i've at last landed upon a compromise, if you will. i think i've been influenced by austen and her ability to write social satire and comedy and romance while still heavily criticising society, but my lovely idea has stemmed from my frustration with the general lack of people and characters of colour in mainstream literature. i think my cover letter to nigel's agent, carolyn whitaker, says best what i would like to do with my works of fiction.

"Ultimately, my goal is to publish books which feature strong, beautiful, intelligent and fiery heroines from multi-racial backgrounds. In my experience reading not only romance novels but popular fiction in general, I have found a deplorable lack of characters of colour, an absence that needs to be rectified. Indeed, it is this absence of diversity within literary genres, and my own desire to read stories about characters who shared my experiences, that propelled me to begin writing at the age of seven. My own family history has roots in Africa, Spain, the Philippines and the Americas, and I know that I am not alone in my multiracial heritage; indeed, this is a
trend that is growing, and I feel that the fiction market needs to reflect this societal shift. In addition, my training as a sociology student at the University of San Francisco has also provided me with a unique view of the world, one which seeks to look beneath and beyond social structures and institutions and to think outside of the box. My chosen field of study has
made me aware of the diversity of the world, a diversity that still is not reflected in mainstream literature. It is this sort of complexity that I wish to bring to my writing. My hope is to create a new literary genre, one that asserts the beauty, value and worth of women of colour as heroines without relegating them solely to the “culturally focused” section of the bookstore, one that paints a picture of the world that is far more realistic and inclusive than the one that currently exists."

again, the idea of that sociological imagination pervades everything that i do. i'm starting to think that i was made for sociological analysis and the social sciences. my current tale, then, though currently untitled, reflects this idea. my main character, simone elliot, is beautiful and multi-racial, and trying to fight against the limitations imposed upon her by the society structure because of the colour of her skin. i'm still working with it, tweaking at it, trying to find the right balance of social commentary with plot and romance, but i think i can pull it off. this is an interesting endeavor, an exciting one, and one that i am confident that i can pull off. but, well, we'll see what the publishing agent says.

philosophy, then, was my final class to get out of the way. don't want to dwell upon the pain of writing that paper, only that it was finished and completed and that i got an A-. this is the one paper, i think, where the "minus" is okay. sigh. and that, then, brings us up-to-date with my first three courses. i am now in the midst of the integral course; there will be more on that follow.

all in all, expect a blog devoted to my day in london, a bit on museums, photos, and some of the more interesting lectures given for integral, along with the fun field trips, and even a bit on my plans for back home. whew. that's a lot.

a horriby overdue update....

so, tomorrow is the start of the integral course, and it's been forever since i've updated, partly because i was way too stressed with the end of term to do any writing, and partly because, after term was at last over, i was way too wiped out to do anything more than veg out... and, of course, run amok around oxford, which is always fun. but i can't get ahead of myself. end-of-term was difficult, if only because there was so much to do: final edits for my wee tale, my last austen paper comparing her works with charlotte bronte's jane eyre, and my seminar paper -- 3000-4000 words on aquinas. gah. but everything, as always, turned out. i've got a story that i love and can be proud of, one that i'm about to send off to nigel's agent... and i aced my final austen paper. i'm super proud of that one, too. i looked at the similarities between austen and bronte, looked at their presentation of society and women's place in it, and my prof really went for it. with tutorials down, there was only the seminar paper to go, but to celebrate the end of tutorials, laura, val and i went out for indian food at this place called jamaal's down in jericho, which had really awesome curry. the next five days of my life (sat-wed) were spent in the library as i combed through secondary criticism of aquinas and his view of love of god, love and self, and the common good -- an appropriate topic, seeing as i work for the centre for the common good. the paper was finished in time for class on wednesday, and once that was over, laura and i took off for the eagle and child for a long-awaited final celebration.

laura and me at the eagle and child

after dinner, the plan was to meet my philosophy classmate, bo, at a place called 'angels,' where one of his tutors works as a bartender on wednesday nights. bo, however, turned up at the eagle and child just as laura and i were about to head off to find him, and so after he had his dinner, the three of us walked to the bar together. angels is probably one of the greatest places i've been to in oxford, with these awesome red leather booths, red lighting, and fantastic 70s music (barry white, marvin gaye, etc.). bo's tutor, J.D., is equally as awesome -- a philosophy doctoral student who also happens to know almost everything about vintage drinks. i had myself a 'french 75,' which is a mixture of champagne, gin and a few other things, and was apparently quite popular in paris around the end of world war i, along with the 'el morocco,' which involved ruby port, cointreau, cognac, lime juice and pineapple juice -- definitely amazing. laura and bo's drinks were equally as fantastic, and after chilling out for a couple of hours, we headed next door to the famed G&Ds ice cream shop to get ice cream, and then headed back home. definitely a great way to celebrate the end of those dreaded philosophy seminars.

(l to r) bo, me and laura. observe the sexy red light.

(l to r) bo, me and laura. bo has "commodore #2," i have "el morocco," and laura has "la fraise d'amour"

thus ended wednesday, with frivolity and frothy drinks. thursday morning was definitely a lazy one, as val had gotten back that morning around 4 a.m. from granada, and the two of us sat about and traded stories for a while before i at last got dressed and went on a walk around oxford with laura. we found tolkein's house, and would've made our way to find tolkein's grave, but it was too far, so we settled for having sandwiches in university parks instead. then, later on, we all went down to broad street, where there was this amazing street exhibition called "luminox," which pretty much involved setting lots of pots on fire. really awesome. photos are coming, as is another update....