Random Stuff From Today & Stuff From Last Week

Pretty much everyone in the department is aware of the situation concerning my slow advisor and the delays with him reading my thesis. I will meet with the department head early next week to see what might be done about this perpetual slowness on the part of my professor. I did hear today that I passed my comprehensive exam for the degree (which I took three weeks ago). So that is one more thing out of the way now.

Mostly lately I have just been finishing up reading several books for my directed readings course as well as finishing up statistics assignments (she gave us our take home final today and it will be due next Wednesday). Today was my last day of classes, and final exams go until May 9 (a tuesday). But, other than the take home final in stats I don't have any other finals to do. I'll have to help administer and grade the final for the geog 101 course I'm a Teaching Assistant for, which we will actually give on May 9. I'll also be serving as an usher at the graduate hooding ceremony, part of the university commencement, on May 11 (I think we rehearse on May 9 evening).

I've been meaning to write about two speaches I went to hear last week. So, here goes:

Last week I went and heard a talk at the Tennessee Theater here in town (similar to Alabama Theater) given by Lois Lowry - http://www.loislowry.com/ , the author of many young adult novels such as "Number the Stars" and "The Giver", both recipients of the Newberry award. It was really very interesting. She talked about all the experiences that she has had, people she knows and has met, etc., that have all gone into the formation of ideas for her novels. I think she said she's churned out one to two books a year over the past thirty years. Most of the characters in her books are based upon people she knows or her own experiences, even if somewhat loosely(sp). Her suggestion to people who would like to write is simply this: read as much and as widely as you possibly can, write often about anything that comes to mind, and experience as much as you can.

Also last week at the twice a month "Conversations About World Affairs" talk (a lecture series that coincides with the region being discussed at the time in the World Regional Geography courses here at school), a person who works for Al Jazeera International came and spoke - Joshua Rushing. http://english.aljazeera.net/HomePage
He was a United States Marine Captain who was a press officer for United States Central Command during the 2003 Invasion of Iraq. He became famous for his appearance in the documentary Control Room, which documented his conversations with Al Jazeera correspondent Hassan Ibrahim. He left the Marine Corps and has agreed to work for Al Jazeera International. He detailed his long, but interesting story about how he came to work for Al Jazeera news network. Anyway, there are apparently many "Al Jazeera" (or "the island") companies in the Middle East, some of which have developed bad relations and bad reputations in the West. This Al Jazeera, the one that is frequently mentioned on U.S. news networks for showing a lot more than what U.S. news stations would show (i.e. they show what happens after the missile lands and the very real effects on real people, rather than only showing the launch of a missile like the U.S. news people only do), is the most prominent Al Jazeera in the world, and is run out of Qatar (a key U.S. ally in the region). Currently, they are forming an Al Jazeera International news network, which will be broadcast in english from four news centers: Washington DC, London, Qatar, and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Unlike CNN or BBC that are broadcast from one world headquarter center (Atlanta and London respectively), each of these four centers will be given complete control of 1/4 of a day, and control of the network will be rotated throughout the day from one center to the next - each center is free to cover all world news the way they want, and many stories may be covered from different angles from one center to the next. A wider variety of stories from all corners of the globe will be covered as well. So, it is a new concept, but sounds exciting. They are trying their best to get on cable tv in the U.S. but are having difficulties. He said they thought at first it might be a stumbling block because people might blindly equate an Arabic word (Al Jazeera) with terrorism (despite the fact that the network has managed to upset Al Queda just as much as they have upset the U.S. government). But the cable companies said that wouldn't be the problem. The problem that the cable companies have is that apparently "most people aren't interested in international news". When asked what cable customers are interested in, the company representatives replied: "we get a lot of requests for 24 hour NASCAR television stations and stuff like that". At any rate, CNN International can't get a spot on cable tv in the U.S. (so they broadcast an hour of it during the lunch hour on regular CNN). BBC World has been trying for years to get on US cable TV, but can't either because of the same fear of the cable companies. It is all about money and delivering only what the people want apparently - mindless entertainment that doesn't require any thought processes. Additionally, the current cable news companies that broadcast in the U.S. (CNN, FOX, etc.) are also run like businesses, showing only what most people want to see: the same stuff over and over again, never paying any attention to entire regions of the world.Well, all that to say that it was an extremely interesting presentation. Whoa, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to ramble on like that, but sometimes I just get to going and well...

I'm really getting excited about the trip to Peru this summer. My mom and her friend/coworker are speaking at a conference in Lima in July - and will be there for a week. So, one of my brothers and I are going down there during that time, but will also stay for about two to three weeks after that to travel around the country and hopefully see many of the famous sights: Lima, Nazca Lines, Arequipu, Macchu Piccu, Cuzco (one of the oldest cities in the Americas and former capital of the Inca Empire), the Andes, the Sacred Valley, the Peruvian Amazon, Lake Titicaca (highest freshwater lake in the world), and maybe even cross into Bolivia and/or Chile. It will be really exciting!

At any rate, this weekend I'll probably be working on grading a lot of projects and assignments for geog 101 as well as working on a take home statistics final. Well, I guess that's enough for now. It's a beautiful, if not somewhat cooler, day here today.

Professor Issues

I’m sitting here at my carrel in a corner of the library with a view of the surrounding region, grading map quizzes and assignments (that I had forgot about until today), but thought I would take a little break (I need to finish some readings before tomorrow as well, but I’ll get to them eventually).

Well, our classes end at the end of this week, and our finals end on May 9. I just have one take home final (quantitative methods in geography - i.e. statistics), but I have to give a final in geog 101 (on May 9 of course) which will take a while to grade. I'm working as an usher at the graduate student graduation on May 11 (they pay pretty well for that short amount of time). After that, I really don't know what will happen - it all depends on if they get my thesis back to me so I can start revising it. I'm so exasperated with him (my advisor) for this whole mess. I met with him yesterday afternoon and all that comes out of his mouth is one excuse after another for not having looked at my thesis or my comprehensive exam yet (which I took almost three weeks ago! and which I found out my other two professors have already read). He's certainly not any more busy than any of the other professors who don't seem to have problems getting stuff back to students in a timely manner. Also, don’t overlook the fact that he only advises 3 or 4 students, while some of the other professors (particularly the physical geographers) may advise 15 to 20 graduate students. This next thing is really what set me off: he said he doesn't look at any graduate student stuff after May (during the summer) because "they don't pay him to do that in the summer - they only pay him to teach one class". That really enraged me because he is also the one who told the graduate committee not to give me funding in the fall because I would be finished by August (another story – why would they not have extended me an offer to renew funding? I’ve done a hell of a lot more around here and academically, finishing my thesis when others have yet to start on a proposal, attending and presenting at conferences, running extra activities, etc., than most of the other people in the department who have really only just messed around?). Well, some wheels really need to start spinning in order for that to happen because certain deadlines are quickly approaching. He said those deadline dates really don’t matter since they don’t pay advisors to advise graduate students during the summer. I mean really, it is just one contradiction after another. I told him I need to start applying for jobs to start in the fall since I won’t have funding now (or insurance). He said I should go ahead and do that at least. (again, another tangent – where and what should I look for to work at for a year? I’ll try to put into words my thoughts on that after I finish this segment. I suppose I’ll start applying for Ph.D. programs this fall to start in fall 2007). The class he must teach in the summer is geography of the American South – his specific specialty which I’m sure he doesn’t have to spend a lot of time preparing for. He won’t have any TA’s in the summer so he’ll have to do all the grading himself (probably no more than 30 students), bless his heart. Additionally, he is still working on reading another student's thesis (she gave it to him last December! – and she has been here for five years working on a masters degree.). There is also another student he advises who is also currently on year number 5 of working on a masters degree (of course, her thesis is over 200 pages and she just needs to quit writing and turn it in). Five years on a masters degree! Seems a bit ridiculous to me, especially when most people can obtain a Ph.D. in the same amount of time. I then went and met with another one of my committee professors and she had some good positive advice and encouragement - and suggested I meet with the department head (who is out of town all this week for some conference though). Well, the whole thing is just so frustrating and vexing, I've about had it!! I finished writing the thing in February and he is still flouncing around the issue! Is it too much to ask for someone to at least do part of their job that they get paid to do?

As far as applying for a job to start this fall – regardless of whether or not I get my degree in August apparently – I repeatedly feel drawn to attempt to get a job teaching English in another country for a year before returning to start a Ph.D. at some university in the South. I don’t know what it is but things keep turning up, different unrelated things that seem to point in that direction. Things some people say, things I inadvertently read about or see, feelings of excitement at the prospect. Maybe it’s just my affliction with wanderlust – I don’t know. Yes, I would miss people here, certain specific people very much so, but it would only be for less than a year really. And the way communication technology has come along these days it would still be easy to communicate on a very regular basis – perhaps even daily. I just feel that it is something I’m supposed to at least attempt to do – whether or not I do end up doing something like this. If I don’t it will be something I will always wonder about my whole life. I just feel I should take time to contribute something to other people rather than continuing a focus on myself in school (even though my research is ultimately an attempt to understand people I guess). Yes, I suppose I could do that right here, but different people feel led to do different things I suppose. It would be a big decision, not one to be taken lightly, but I have given it considerable thought for quite a long while now. On the other hand, there have been some people who seem to question why the thought would even occur to me or why I would even consider the possibility of working elsewhere, if ever so briefly, rather than just settling down and working here. Granted, these are also people who never have traveled themselves, or don’t like to travel, or don’t seem to have an innate curiosity about everything (or anything), or seem to throw black cloud over anything someone else gets excited about. Well, I can’t explain why I feel this way, I just know somehow that it is something I should try to do now.

Well, I guess it is time to get back to work. Perhaps more thoughts on this will occur to me later.