The 2nd Year

We began classes last week, and I am officially a 2nd year grad student now. I turned in my keys for the 1st year office in exchange for the keys to 655, an office that will be mine until I finish school. I share my new office with 3 fifth year grad students, some mentors who have become my friends. I will miss being in the 1st year "bullpen," but I am already at home in my new office.

Last night we had our first department event of the year. I am the social coordinator, and I planned a luau themed party. It was a team effort: Heidi and I bought the food; she, Katie, and I set up; Ryan was in charge of the grill. We had so much food that we are had encore barbeque the next night. The turnout was great, and everyone had a lot of fun. Below is a photo of the attendees from my cohort:

(Ryan, Katie, John, Karl, Heidi, me, Greg, and Bryan)

We are no longer the rookies anymore, and it feels a bit strange. There are 14 students in the new cohort, and it is incumbent upon us to help them feel comfortable and navigate the first year.

Last Week of Summer

All right, it's been a bit since I've posted a new entry. A lot has happened this past week, so here goes:

I have moved...again. This is the 4th move in a little over a year (Minneapolis to Rochester; Rochester to 8719; 8719 to 8619; and 8619 to my current apartment). I moved from New Palo Verde to Old Palo Verde, which means that my rent went down nearly $100 a month. I'm not going to air my dirty laundry on this blog, so I will spare you the details of why I moved. The O-side fam came up to help me with the first move, so I had my friends help me with the 2nd. I am already looking for new friends in case I need to move a 3rd time. ..joking. Friends say that I have a 7th month itch since I haven't been able to stay in one apartment for longer than 7 months.

I am finishing up my RA responsibilities with KB. It looks like I should be wrapping things up by next week, which is good since classes begin on Thursday. Under KB's guidance, I will be starting work on a qualifying paper. This paper will explore the current abortion debate as it develops along the lines of privacy, family, and the welfare state. I also met with CU, the first reader of another qualifying paper this week. This paper will look at opinion formation and the processes that impact abortion attitudes. Theoretically, I could write these papers simultaneously. However, this probably will not be feasible since I will also be taking classes, TAing, and working on a coauthored paper. Instead, the development of these qualifiers will most likely be staggered.

Our summer is wrapping up, and we begin classes next Thursday. I am taking Statistics and Political Participation. TA assignments were announced today, and I got my first choice: US Supreme Court with the department chair, MP. I love teaching about the US government, and the Supreme Court is my favorite branch. This will also be a great opportunity to cultivate a relationship with MP.

After spending a year in California, I find that I am finally getting used to the weather. During this time last year, it was still really warm to me; I wore flip flops and skirts year round. I have noticed that it is getting cooler during the day and chillier at night. Of course, it may be due to the thunderstorm that we are expecting tomorrow. You know the song about how it never rains in Southern California? Well, that's the truth. When I was in Minnesota last July, I saw more rain in a day than I had seen in almost a year.

After a year long hiatus, I am knitting and crocheting again. Since I don't want to be a one dimensional grad student, I am trying to cultivate non academic hobbies. Here are my current projects:

I am knitting a colorful scarf and crocheting an off white baby afghan. Tonight, my friend Lorien and I went to the Stitch n' Bitch in Long Beach. This is a group of women of all ages and backgrounds that meet on a weekly basis to knit (or crochet) and socialize. It felt great to get away from Irvine, meet new people, and take a much needed vacation from academia. Being in grad school is like being in a bubble because we are surrounded by other grad students and professors. This can get really monotonous and overwhelming. It is easy to forget that there is this big world full of "normal" people, and sometimes I start to feel like I am defined by what I study. It was really nice to be in the company of non academics because it means that conversations can never be about school, classes, professors, research, etc.

The PoMos

Members of our cohort like to refer to ourselves as the PoMos (short for Post Modernists). It's not necessarily the case that we consider ourselves to be Post Modernists. Rather, the nickname has come about from our required Fall Quarter class called Foundations of Modern Political Science. In the last week of class, Bryan was giving his presentation of that week's readings. It was the last week of the quarter and we were tired and stressed out. We were zoning in and out of Bryan's presentation, not really paying attention to what he was saying. Then he decided to abbreviate Post Modernist, calling them PoMos. Naturally, this got our attention. We exchanged a few raised eyebrows and chuckles. Since then, we have called ourselves the PoMos.

Last weekend we finally got around to making cohort t-shirts. We are such huge nerds, and our shirts are references to political science terms and political scientists. The front of my shirt says 'social whip' and the back has a photo of the current Majority Whip, James Clyburn (D-SC).

I am the Social Coordinator for the department this upcoming year, so I will be responsible for organizing social events for the grad students. My friends say that my title should be "Social Whip" instead because whenever I organize get togethers for my friends, I verbally "whip" them and get them to come hang out. This is kind of like in the House of Representatives, where the Majority and Minority Whips are responsible for getting members to vote with the party and to actually show up for a vote. (Hey, I told you that we were geeks!)

(Katie, me, Heidi)

Katie's shirt pays homage to political scientist Robert Putnam and Heidi's shirt pays homage to the I (heart) NY shirts.

APSA Recap

I had no expectations prior to going to APSA in Chicago. As a student entering her second year, I did not intend to focus on networking and meeting other grad students and professors. I am not at a point where networking would be truly beneficial. I met a few grad students and had a brief conversation with a professor, so I was pleased with the "networking" that I did. Most grad students do not start going to conferences until their second or third year, so I am already ahead of the game. My goal was to simply sit back and learn, acting as a sponge and absorbing everything.

I came back to a heat wave in California. It has finally cooled off and we have some relief! I also experienced my first earthquake last Sunday. Since I did not even realize that it happened, I guess I didn't really experience it. I am back in the office working on my data collection for KB, and I'm reading relevant literature so that I can nail down a research question to expand my abortion and citizenship paper. And finally, I'm getting organized so that I can expand my abortion attitudes paper. It will be a busy few weeks before classes start!

APSA: Day 3

On my last day in Chicago, I decided to sightsee. Like my second day, I had intentions of waking up to attend an 8 am panel but it just didn't happen. So I checked out, checked my luggage, and headed out to explore the city.

I walked down to Millenium Park, this park with sculptures and an amphitheater. It also has "The Bean," this big mirror. It's really cool because it reflects and contorts the tall buildings.

Next stop: the Art Institute of Chicago. This museum reminded me a lot of the Minneapolis Institute of Art. It had such an extensive collection, but I stuck mostly to the modern, contemporary, and impressionist rooms.

I had a lot of time before my flight, so I headed to the Navy Pier. Of course, I snapped pictures along the way. The Navy Pier is very touristy. It has several restaurants, a ferris wheel, and it is the site of many boat tours. It also has a nice view of the skyline.
I paused long enough for a snack- a Chicago style hot dog:

At the end of my jam packed day, I stopped at Giordano's for some Chicago style pizza.

APSA: Day 2

I woke up at 7 am, intending to go to an 8 am panel. Instead, I went back to sleep. I went to a panel at 10 am titled Interests, Identities and the Struggle for Equality in 20th Century US Politics. One presenter discussed social movements, another discussed the incorporation of sport in Title IX, one discussed small business, and another discussed the concentration of low voter turnout in the South. The presenter whose work was the most interesting and the most relevant to my own research was a professor who talked about women, citizenship, and equality. I briefly spoke with her after the panel, and she directed me to a paper that she had published last March. I look forward to being in contact with her.

My poster session was in the afternoon. Quite a few people turned out at the poster session, and I talked to a few of them. I explained our research and our findings. Some had questions, but most did not. Here is our poster:

After the session, Armando and I took a walk down to the river:

Later that evening Armando, Joe, and I went to the Sears Tower. The lobby had this art exhibit of globes about global warming.

This is the view on the way to the Sears Tower:

This is the view from the skydeck:

APSA: Day 1

I was in Chicago last week for the American Political Science Association (APSA) Conference. If political science were a sport, APSA would be the Olympic Games (except that APSA comes around every year, not every four). There are several regional APSA conferences such as the Western and the Midwest, but this conference was the national one. I arrived in Chicago in the mid afternoon. After checking in to my hotel room, I headed to the APSA registration desk to check in. The conference site was in two hotels, and attendees were milling about and clogging the corridors. I picked up a tote bag and a 400 page program.

Conference presenters are part of either a panel or a poster session. Each lasts nearly two hours. Prior to each conference, there is a call for papers. Grad students and professors submit an abstract, which is basically like a summary of the paper. Sometimes abstracts are submitted before the paper is even written. Those who submit may be accepted to a panel, a poster session, or nothing at all. Each panel and poster session has a different theme, and participants' work is relevent to this theme. For example, we would not have a panel in which one presenter discussed gender politics and another discussed international security.

Panels consist of a chair, 5 presenters, and 1 or 2 discussants. The chair manages the panel, introduces the presenters and discussants, and keeps time. Presenters are alloted 10 minutes to present their papers. They discuss their research question, why previous research has failed to answer this question, the importance of their research, and their findings. The biggest challenge is to sum everything up in 10 minutes. After each presenter has presented, the discussants discuss the highlights of each paper, offer a critique, and ask questions. Finally, those in the audience are allowed time to offer their comments and questions.

Poster sessions operate differently. There are many more presenters in each poster session. Presenters simply stand with their poster, and session attendees walk around and look at the posters. In poster sessions, there is no formal presentation but the presenter may have to sum up their work, answer questions, and discuss their findings to anyone who may be interested.

I attended my first panel after I checked in. It was called Politics, Gender, and Concepts. This panel was a book panel in which each presenter had written a chapter in a soon to be published book. Each presenter presented discussed her chapter. These professors were well established in the field, and I recognized many of their names because I had studied their work. I tried my best to contain my excitement and awe of being in the same room with so many brilliant minds.

After the panel, I went to a grad student reception and met a few people from other schools. I met a guy who was originally from Florida and had completed his undergraduate degree at Bemidji State. He said that he wanted to get as far away from Florida as possible. I gave him a hard time; after all, we all know the the climate in Minnesota (especially northern Minnesota) is extremely different than that in Florida. Later, I met up with some friends from my school. We walked around, relaxed at a sports bar, and took a walk by the river.

(Zahra, Armando, Vickie, Joe, me)

(Armando, Vickie, Joe, me)