autobiography in six words

Pastor's-kid Flute Sarah Sociology Edie Coffee

(What's yours?)

how a bottle of scotch can jumpstart my dissertation

Random Thing #42: in High School and college I was into theater. I'm even a member of Alpha Psi Omega, the national honorary theater society*. After school I didn't pursued theater. I don't have a single acting (or techie) class to my credit. I sort of closed the door on the whole thing after college, not intentionally but more by happenstance. The result: I haven't been on stage in a good twelve years.

Back on Stage. Correction, I haven't been on stage in 72 hours! My alma mater invited me back for a production of Enchanted April, a play about four women who escape their predictable British men for an Italian retreat. We rehearsed and performed the show in six days, from the Sunday script read-through to Opening Night on Friday. I can't speak to the quality of the production, but the play ran smooth, was reportedly entertaining, and most of all, We did it! I'm super impressed with this accomplishment and sort of want to do more.

"I've been translated!" is a popular line from the play. My wife in the show discovers a new world through her retreat, reforming her life's outlook and purpose. In a quirky parallel, I did the same.

This is where the dissertation part comes in. Remember that I'm a sociology student? With my full time non-profit position, caring for my daughter, and supporting Sarah through the end of law school and bar exam, I haven't spent much time inside of my studies since Thanksgiving. If you count the three months I took off last summer when Edie was born, I've lost nearly a year of study. This is discouraging. My friends are passing me up with their ABD status and dissertation research beginnings. I feel like I'm almost there, I don't feel bad about where I'm at, but all the same I am ready for a boost.

This week I feel rejuvenated. I'm tired, but that's something different than how I feel. For the last few months I've needed a fresh start of some kind. Some transition, or gate to pass through. A trip to Jamaica (not that I would do this) was not what I needed. Surprisingly, a sleepless week of project-focused rehearsal closing in full production was.

I accomplished my goal! I performed in a play as a hopefully convincing character. Maybe it took revisiting a college student schedule to figure out that I can also pass my pre-dissertation field exams. Maybe it took stepping away from my past routine and looking forward to a new one to be able to think about school again. As my director friend suggested, maybe it took using my right brain for once as opposed to crutching on my left. No matter what, the sense of accomplishment from this experience is invaluable.

This is where the scotch part comes in. My last show - 12 years ago in college - I played head school master dealing with issues of AIDS and sexuality at my school. The Old Boy was a deep play, and not without controversy in Central Kansas in 1995. But more than that the show was transformative for our theater prof.

Glenlivet, if I'm not mistaken. My prof had just finished his dissertation, defended and passed, and hadn't let down from the stress that went with that process. As the story goes, The Old Boy was a time for him to finally let go of one cumbersome life chapter and move on. In appreciation and honor, the cast got him a bottle of fine scotch whiskey. We all signed the box.

Last week I saw the empty box with signatures for the first time in over a decade. I had forgotten about it, and when I mentioned The Old Boy as my last show before now, our prof produced the box and retold the story. I was touched by his sentiment. After all this time, the box with our signatures sets above his desk at home as a reminder.

Jumpstart. Not only did I accomplish something great last week, but I reunited with a part of me that had been covered up. Much like my prof's bottle of Glenlivet which signified dissertation-related new beginnings, so my experience last week refreshes me and moves me forward. Symbolic yes, and also cathartic.

Denouement. Where before I was constantly consumed with stuff that I felt constrained my progress toward a Ph.D., now I feel that a majority of that stuff is not nearly as crucial as I imagined. I'm ready to practice patience in my writing, and not feel overwhelmed when I set aside the time. In short, I feel a preparedness for getting back to work.

And also I might start drinking Scotch.

*Seek a life useful!

I sort of want to dig my flute out of the closet just to try this

I can't remember if I mentioned randomly about me that I played classical flute pretty consistently for nearly 20 years of my life. For the first half of those years I aspired to be James Galway (how's that for a childhood hero!) and for the second half I hoped to somehow morph into Ian Anderson. But for the last, say, 5 years I've hardly touched the thing. I actually wipe off dust from the case whenever I get it out.

Part of my problem is that I'm stuck for new material. Part of the brilliance of the guy in this video is that he makes it look easy. Regardless, it gives me something to try out. If you never hear from me again on this topic it means I couldn't do it.

Cool stuff though, huh? Thanks to Kristi for the link!

and finally, randomly

Sarah's and my first date: We protested the Bush inauguration in Washington in January 2001. Sarah and I knew each other for maybe 7 months by then, and our official dating relationship began maybe months later, but looking back, it's absolutely the day we fell in love.

I had my tags to this meme all scheduled out, but now I'm sick of 8 Random Things and just decided to kill it. There. Game over.

the magnum opus meme of 2007

This is becoming a bit of a blogbligation, but actually I drafted these last week and am just leaking them out slowly.

Thing #5 on 15-May-1994 (McPherson, KS)
Took my first passport photos
This month I prepared for my Junior year abroad, soon to travel to Athens Greece for nine months. For some reason I took passport photos twice, and as luck would have it they both circulate the Internets. Here's my general ID photo, for library cards and such. Here's the actual passport, also photo #48 out 365 photos this year.

Note the long hair! One thing about me is that I go from long to short hair every couple of years. I've been with short hair since 2002, sort of a long stretch. Maybe it's time to change?

Thing #6 on 02-Feb-1999 (Elgin, IL)
Purchased my first Plymouth Colt
That's right, my first of two Plymouth Colts I have owned in my life, both red. I loved the first, a vehicle to get me from Elgin to DeKalb as I worked toward my MA at Northern Illinois. I got the second out of nostalgia. Let me just say that there is a big difference between a used 1992 Colt in 1999, and a used 1991 Colt in 2003*. I can't begin to imagine what I was thinking.

Thing #7 on 08-Aug-2002 (Washington, D.C. & Bethlehem PA)
Moved to Bethlehem with Sarah
Sarah and I moved to Washington D.C. - and met - on the same weekend, Fourth of July 2000. Fast forward two years and one month, and we're both quitting our jobs and moving to Sarah's hometown north of Philly. Well D.C. is a bit expensive and just-out-of-college kids our age usually only last a couple of years in D.C. anyway. We married a year later in Bethlehem, also the year of the bad bad purchase of my second Plymouth Colt (see Thing #6).

*Use your sociological imagination for that one.

three more random things from that meme

Remember that I'm presenting eight random things about me, in chronological order using a random date generator to choose the time period of the Things. Turns out, "random" in this sense is about the most systematic thing you can do. Here they are:

Thing #2 on 04-Mar-1983 (Hershey PA)
Family Vacation to the Grand Canyon and points West
This trip was the first and last time my Dad attempted to grow a beard. My sister, age 7, said she couldn't kiss him anymore and then he shaved it off. Also on this trip I remember eating (part of) a five pound Hershey bar that we took to my parent's friend's house in Colorado. Or was it ten pounds?

Thing #3 on 09-Aug-1987 (Long Beach Road, Oswego, IL)
I sculpted a clay owl bank.
Actually I made this owl bank in sixth grade art class, but Jr. High's all a blur anyway. Sarah found this thing in my Mom's basement a few years back and I tried to pitch it. Instead, we use it to store our extra keys. Here's the more functional view.

Thing #4 on 02-Aug-1990 (Durango Road, Oswego IL)
Played Jack in Into the Woods, Fall Show, Junior Year of High School
This fall I played the part of Jack, as in and the Beanstalk, for the Stephen Sondheim Musical Into the Woods. In the late 1980s, this show was popular on Broadway much like Wicked** is now. I loved this roll, though singing a high G was way too much for this High School sophomore baritone.

Things #5 through #8 coming soon... Same Bat-URL!

**Come on, do I really need to link Wicked?

Reader Request Mondays! that random meme thing

Memes always have rules so I'll start there:

1. Let others know who tagged you.
2. Players start with 8 random facts about themselves.
3. Those who are tagged should post these rules and their 8 random facts.
4. Players should tag 8 other people and notify them they have been tagged.

Waiting a week makes me the last person on the sociological block* to answer this, but I'm interpreting a meme as requested content and thought I'd wait for my Monday feature to come around.

I appreciate that Dan took to task the terminology of random things here. I've blogged before concern that my URL "random social thoughts" should actually be titled "convenient social thoughts." To recap, a random thought means that every concievable thought has an equal chance of being shared on blog. That of course is impossible, since I don't remember the vast majority of my thoughts.

For the purposes of this meme, Dan found a way to randomize things about himself. He ran a random date generator for every date (in fact, every time) from his birthday until now and then spoke about what happened on or around those dates. This isn't truly random, since it preempively organizes "things" by date. It's pretty damn close though so I've done it too.

In looking at the dates, I notice that I happen to have lived a different house for seven of the eight dates! Two of the generated dates were six days apart (15 May and 21 May), so I'm only doing one of them, and the replacement eighth thing is just something I want to share. Please note that these things are in and around the date, probably not actually on it.

LATE NIGHT DECISION: Golly this is taking a long time! Not only is this post way too long, but I think that each of the eight things should be injested one at a time. So I'm stealing Dan's idea of the random date generator, and also Jeremy's method of posting one thing at a time. Here's the first thing and place, in chronological order. More to come!

Thing #1 on 20-Apr-1977 (Cressona PA)
Muppet Show birthday cake.
My birthday is in november not april, but somewhere around 1977 (that's 4 years old) I recall walking into the kitchen on my birthday, to accidentally see a cake adorned with a cutout of the entire Muppet Show stage, including cutouts of characters. That was a fun cake.

*purportedly new term, meaning the tight interlinking between sociologist bloggers. Wait, "interlinking" might be a new term too...