the skinny malinky » Conferences

Monday Morning

Craig — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 19:26:45 +0000

Thus far, having a good time at the ol’ ASAs. My lovely hosts in the Haight are keeping me comfortably rested, and sending me off each day with delish homemade breakfasts in my belly. My goal this time around has been to not run myself into the ground, and I’d say it’s been a success. A good balance of panels, plenaries, and playing hooky with pals both sociological and non.

I’m speaking on one of the dubiously-named SKAT panels at 4.30 this afternoon, in the Union Square Hilton, Continental Parlor 7, Ballroom Level. It looks like I’ll be in the company of some smart and interesting folks, am looking forward to seeing what happens.

Since I Haven’t Started Tweeting

Craig — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 06:44:26 +0000

Thought I’d resume the blog for a second annual ASA reportback. I arrived in San Francisco Wednesday night for a little pre-gaming with some local yokels. Thursday we traveled down south and stayed at Pigeon Point on the ocean. True beauty. Today we made our slow way back to the city, stopping for some beachy hanging out along the way. I maybe got a bit sunburned, but since I’ll be spending the next several days in dark, windowless hotel conference rooms, I figured some excess rays would be alright.

I’m excited about the conference. If you’re around, say hi!

Dang, Rethinking Sex is Heavy

Craig — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 00:22:33 +0000

Am writing from Philadelphia, where I’m attending the Rethinking Sex conference. It’s a real who’s-who of queer studies people, and my brain is pretty mushy after a long day of concentrated rethinking. A few observations: I am more sociological in my approach to questions than I realize; the UPenn campus is kinda dumpy, which surprised me for such a fancy school — it looks less ivory-towerish, and more like somewhere I might go; getting to stay in a hotel right near a conference is infinitely more pleasant than my usual routine of staying on somebody’s floor many dozen public transportation stops away from the conference.

And a h/t to Omer, whose blog inspired the title of today’s post. Off to see what tenure-track electronic music sounds like.

Recuperating

Craig — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 22:24:05 +0000

I think I am finally back in working order post-ASA. Phewf, that conference really took it out of me–that’s alotta days to be on all the time. Nonetheless, I have to say, overall, a good sociological time was had by all. I think I got everything out of this conference you should–meeting new people, reconnecting with people you’ve met before, hearing some good talks, hearing some iffy talks that make you feel good about your talk, not getting lost and locked out of your hotel room.* I know there’s lots of debate about the usefulness of the Employment Service interviews, but I definitely recommend doing it–a brutal but effective education in learning how to describe your work and how to connect quickly and effectively with different personality types, scholarly backgrounds, etc. I got kind of sad about how worried some of the other grad students waiting for interviews seemed. I found my true hippie nature coming through: Hey, everything is going to be fine, it usually is, you gotta stay positive there’s a long haul ahead. As Dean would say, you gotta womanifest the best.

In other, technical matters: Anyone having trouble (or success?) subscribing to The Skinny Malinky through an RSS feed? I hear reports of trouble in cyberspace.

*See International Association for Science, Technology and Society Annual Meeting, Baltimore, 2006.

ASA Dress Codes

Craig — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 18:21:14 +0000

Members of the undergraduate honors program: Business skirts, high heels, oxfords, pants, suit jackets, ties, button-downs, brief-cases.

Grad students doing employment service: Pants, skirts, ties, shirts, sports coats, suits, khakis.

First & second year grad students: T-shirts with slogans, sneakers, hoodies, no deodorant.

Just graduated assistant profs: Cute going-out outfits.

Assistant profs: Shirts, no ties, dresses, khakis.

Recently tenured: Shorts, t-shirts.

Associate profs and up: Hiking hear, printed scarves, buggies with grand-children, loose & comfortable.

Best Quotes of ASA

Craig — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 18:07:38 +0000

At the political sociology session on political science, after acknowledging that he was basing his claim in an anecdote, Peter Evans: But remember, the plural of “anecdote” is “data.”

Report from the Hynes Trenches

smalinky — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 19:53:48 +0000

I’m in Boston, at ASA. Arrived yesterday. The rough start to my ASA adventure included: waking up yesterday with a nauseating migraine; a bus driver who got lost leaving NYC and entering Boston, making us late and unable to attend the panel we were arriving for; a panic that I might puke on the bus; a near-accident that involved the bus-driver slamming on the brakes and swerving into another lane. I don’t know if you have ever been on a bus that has had its brakes slammed on, but it doesn’t slow the bus down much. Upon arrival in Boston, I discovered there had been a mystery flood in the bus luggage compartment, and my bag and all of its contents were soaking wet. My precious interview outfits! A few loads of laundry and beers later, I calmed down, and dragged Greg and Rachel to the Scatterparty. We made a few new friends, speculated on the identity of various anonymous bloggers, and had a nice chat with one of my favorite soc bloggers.

Today has been much smoother. My talk went fine, I’ve done a few interviews that were fun and not scary, and I’m feeling pretty good. The conference is in several hotels, but they are all connected by a gigantic mall! I am heading to the food court now.

What I Ate For Dinner and Why

smalinky — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 03:48:52 +0000

Had a great, wonderful time with Emily tonight. I made us pork chops and kale, she brought us a special beverage. Dinner conversation topics included: reading The Order of Things; abandoning The Order of Things; professional conferences; alienating professional colleagues by criticizing gay marriage movements; sociology journal rankings versus library science journal rankings; her new book contract; my new book from the library. Whereas my next profesh conference, ASA, is in Boston, Emily’s, ALA, is in Anaheim, aka Disneyland, so after dinner I gave her a haircut (fall-back career fall-back, if the cafe tanks) to make sure she is looking sharp when she hits the teacup-n-saucers ride. She is. Librarians, watch out.

And, btw, did you know Emily’s blog is inspiring a new sub-genre of minutae blogs? Introducing What I Saw Riding My Bike Around Today and Stuff I Saw and Did While Going About My Business Today and How I Felt About It.

Summer School

smalinky — Thu, 29 May 2008 02:36:56 +0000

Tonight, taught the first meeting of my summer class, Intro to Soc, Monday and Wednesday nights. I think it went well enough, except for the part where I broke the projector screen, so it wouldn’t retract and was covering up two-thirds of the chalkboard. I also think some of the students have found this blog, based on (1) the knowledge that students google instructors they are about to have and (2) the increase in hits to this blog from google searches for my name. If my hunch is correct, then hello, students.

I am pretty worn out after a long day of prep, computer problems (many hours scanning just three articles), and then talking in front of a room for over two hours. Hope to get some good sleep tonight, and then am looking forward to getting back to my own work after a lot of grading from last term, then some travel (Cape Cod, Vermont, Brooklyn), and then the start-of-teaching vortex.

Also, the soc blogosphere was me sort of freaking out about ASA. Should I really be preparing (mentally, scholastically) already? I signed up for the employment service today, which means I have two months to buy a suit.