04/29/09 10:19 - 47ºF - ID#48533

Beer-Ology and the like

So Beer-Ology ended up being a lot of beer and not a lot of ology. There were plenty of different breweries represented and they were serving beer past the 9:00pm deadline, but that was about it. There were a couple of presentations...we went to one and the guy seemed like he knew a lot about WNY and Buffalo old school breweries, but he wasn't the best public speaker, so we left. We did, however, find it quite enjoyable to look at science exhibits and the Egyptian exhibit while slightly intoxicated. Good times. All in all I got to try some new beers (for those of you who like light beers like Blue Moon, might I suggest Saranac's Pomegranate Wheat) and got to see some really interesting people all drinking in a museum. Not too bad.

The sun on Sunday made me so happy that I spent most of the day outside on my porch doing random things like cleaning the fan that has been sitting in out basement all winter, just so i could be outside. I also made friends with my neighbors...one old, one new. It's been so nice to take Ralphie for walks around the neighborhood and just have my porch door open. Sigh. I'm a happy camper. I haven't already marked 4 or 5 different Buffalo events on my newly printed out summer calendar. I'm ready to thoroughly enjoy my last summer in this crazy city. Word.

Permalink: Beer_Ology_and_the_like.html
Words: 240
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: school

04/09/09 02:22 - 47ºF - ID#48334

Abstract

Ok so as many of you know, I am writing my thesis. I think I have finally come up with a worthy and comprehensive abstract, but I was hoping for some feedback from you all if you are feeling so generous. Not generous in the 'go easy on me" kinda way, but generous as in, honest and sincere feedback. So yeah, here goes....

Chaotic whiteness is a road map, a tool box, offering ways of being that allow for the possibility of re-membering, re-imagining, and un-mastering whiteness in the ongoing projects that make up critical race theory and whiteness studies. By trespassing on the boundaries that have been fabricated in and among various academic disciplines, I will navigate through women's studies, African American studies, literary criticism and various other theoretical paradigms in order to expose and explode the ways in which the fabrication and maintenance of whiteness haunts both black and white bodies. Finally, I will consider the necessities of articulating and performing a whiteness that must not be bound by what whiteness is supposed to be or have access to, while simultaneously taking seriously the ongoing potential for appropriating, commodifying and romanticizing the knowledges, imaginations, memories and interiorities of people of color.

tinypliny writes at 11:16:51 04/09/09 - Comment #47456: Hey Lauren, here's my viewpoint. Take it in with a grain of salt, though. In my field, the stress is on simple short sentences and absolutely no jargon in abstracts. The idea is that a vast number of people will not be reading your thesis directly. They will instead be reading your abstracts to get a rapid idea of what your thesis is about. In fact, the abstract is sometimes the only thing they will read if they don't get it at first go. Quite honestly (and you asked for it. HEHE), I had trouble getting the central idea because:
a) I am completely alien to your field
b) I have no idea what some of those words mean.
c) Perhaps you are not targeting a completely "naive" audience without even a social science background.

Nevertheless, I am taking some liberties and rephrasing your entire abstract, according to how I understand it right now. The question is - is this what you meant?

Ongoing projects in critical race theory and whiteness studies have a rigid idea of "whiteness". In contrast, "chaotic whiteness" is a road map and a tool box that offers ways of re-membering, re-imagining, and un-mastering this conventional and inflexible construct of "whiteness". In my thesis, I propose to conceptualize "chaotic whiteness" by trespassing on the boundaries and navigating through the theoretical paradigms that have been fabricated in and among various academic disciplines such as women's studies, African American studies and literary criticism. I intend to expose and explode the ways in which the fabrication and maintenance of "whiteness" haunts both black and white bodies. Finally, I will consider the necessities of articulating and performing "chaotic whiteness"- a construct of whiteness that is not bound by what "whiteness" is supposed to be or have access to. I will argue that any concept of "whiteness" must utilize the potential to appropriate, commodify and romanticize the knowledges, imaginations, memories and interiorities of people of color.

heidi writes at 04:57:33 04/09/09 - Comment #47451: Ah, thanks for the explanation.

james writes at 03:37:23 04/09/09 - Comment #47450: godspeed captain!

lauren writes at 03:27:50 04/09/09 - Comment #47449: Thanks Heidi! I did change the wording of the first sentence...I tend to try to put too many words into sentences...and interiority, more specifically "the black interior" is a book by Elizabeth Alexander, the woman who read that poem no one like at the inauguration. I expand on that later in the thesis. i am not a big fan of the need for "thesis statements" and abstracts but I have no choice. sigh... :)

heidi writes at 02:49:54 04/09/09 - Comment #47448: Nice, Lauren! That's some complex stuff. From the abstract, I'd expect a definition and explanation of chaotic whiteness and how it can be used to challenge and reconceptualize hegemonic whiteness, drawing on several disciplines' uses and interpretations of critical race theory while also not allowing the reader to marginalize experiences/knowledge/etc. of people of color. Is that what you're expecting the reader to get?

I particularly like the phrase "...haunts both black and white bodies."

I'd like a slightly different punctuation of the first sentence around "tool box" or an increase in parallelism like "a road map, a tool box, an offering of..." or "that offers..." ? Without ",a tool box," the sentence works fine.

"is supposed to be or *has* access to" ?

"interiorities"? does that mean something like "interior landscapes" or "internal experiences" or "subjective experiences"? I get that you're trying to convey something like that in one neat & tidy word but I'm not sure I like that particular construction.

Hope this helps. *Encouraging thoughts!*

Permalink: Abstract.html
Words: 203
Location: Buffalo, NY

04/06/09 09:21 - 31ºF - ID#48310

Bonsaiiii Pics!

So Felly spent

$6 plant
$11 Pottery
$2 garden shears
$5 soil

$24 for a not so bad lookin bonsai

Dwarf Japanese Juniper...aka shrubbery.