[insert clever title here]

ok, so i had all this momentum going with posting regular blogs, then these past couple of weeks just hit me like a ton of bricks. the conference was great; it was pretty bad timing, considering all the work i had to do that weekend, but worth it because i got a break from school. at the end of the weekend my brain was completely full, and my resolve to help "save the world" renewed. oh, and not to mention the numerous additions of corporations i must now boycott (coca-cola); got to hang around some fun presbyterians, a group of whom let me crash in their hotel room (thanks maggie and claire!). hearing marian wright edelman speak was amazing-her speech was simple and to the point; there were no grandiose statements or pretentiousness that normally goes with speeches from someone of her stature.
for most of the weekend, i thought of how all of this related to anthropology. don't get me wrong, i'm really enjoying my studies so far, but at times i feel like we spend too much time discussing what it means to be a practicing anthropologist, but not a lot of time on what kinds of things we should be doing specifically.
speaking of which, the good news is i have an internship! yay!! some of you might know that i had planned on working with my advisor this summer, but that fell through. i was really starting to panic after awhile-i didn't really have a clear sense of what i wanted to do. most of the research being conducted in my areas of interest-race, the African diaspora, and missiology(study of it, not practice) were mostly academic. then i had an epiphany a couple of weeks ago. i did a presentation on an article about applied anthropologists working with sudanese refugees in nebraska, and i thought, hey! that's what i could do! i can't believe i didn't think of this before! i have experience volunteering with refugees in the past, and it fits in with my research interests. so i will be working at the presbyterian washington office researching issues facing african immigrants, and hopefully doing some ethnography. the drawback is that it's sort of up to me to develop the internship (hence the ton of bricks) on top of mid-terms...
so that has been my life so far. sorry, my camera broke so no pretty pictures to look at.

really tyra? really?

so, one of my classmates alerted me to an episode of the tyra banks show (for those of you who didn't know, yes, she has a show. yeah, i know.)
anyway, apparently she is celebrating an important milestone in black american history. and just what is this milestone? the first black supreme court justice? desegregation of public schools? the freedom riders? the march on washington? umm,well......just watch:

SNOW!

ok, so i know i've complained a bit about maryland, but one thing i do like is that they panic almost as much as virginia does when it comes to snow. which means school was closed today! yay! i was even productive; i trekked over to the anth department and did some homework for my stats class (aka, the bane of my existance). so tonight i'll reward myself by renting some bette davis and carole lombard (ask your parents), so i can pretend that i live in time when women were famous and got movie deals because of actual talent, not because daddy owns a few hotels.
and yes i know what day it is-i'm choosing to ignore it.

sigh...

you know, there's just something wrong with the world when there are plenty of perfectly talented singers and musicians out there, but for some reason, the people who give out grammys actually listened to the song "My Humps" and thought"Yes! This is a quality song that deserves a Grammy!"
seriously!!! my humps!! my HUMPS won a Grammy. a GRAMMY. not familiar with the song? besides the fact that the song has absolutely no artistic content other than a few electronic beats and some synthesizers, it contains the following lyrics:
whatcha gonna do with all that breast, all that breast inside that shirt?
i'ma make make make make you work, make you work work, make you work

really? really people? REALLY? really.

I'm strange

Or rather, I have a strange process when it comes to decision making. When it's something seemingly minor, it can take me like, ten years. But for big, almost life-altering decisions, I can make them just like that. Like when I decided to go to Guatemala for 4 months, I think it took me less than a day to decide. It had been in the back of my mind for a couple of months, then finally one day I just decided to go. But the other day when I was at the shoe store, it seriously took me forever to decide between the brown and tan boots that were on clearance.
It was the same for graduate school-it took me all of 2 seconds (ok maybe a little longer) to decide that I was going to Maryland.
Anyway, I was thinking about that the other day when I finally decided to go to this conference being held in DC in March. I think it took me about a month to decide. Well, I guess it helped that I got a partial scholarship.
So, yeah, I'm going to Ecumenical Advocacy Days in DC.
I'm looking forward to networking. You'd think I would be sick of conferences by now, considering I went to about a thousand of them last year. It'll be nice to be at one without worrying about setting up a display table for a change. Check out the website.
That's all.

Brrrrr!!

I never thought I'd be happy to see winter arrive. After 2 months of 60+ degree weather, I am actually glad that it's cold outside. Or rather, relieved. It just didn't seem right for it to be warm outside in December.
Anyway, I'm looking forward to a slightly less hectic semester. My new job is going well-it's been sooo nice to be able to walk to work.
Wow, that was kind of boring. Don't worry, more exciting posts will follow. =)

FREEDOM!!

So I survived my 1st semester!! Yay!! I can't believe it. I feel like I've fluctuated between "This is great, I LOVE anthropology!" to "What the ^%$@#$# am I doing here?" But other than being incredibly stressed this semester, it was definitely good. Here are some the lessons learned:
Don't get a full time Americorps job while going to school full time.
Get a parking pass.
College Park sucks.
Don't get a job with a 45-minute commute while going to school full time.
The state of Maryland has too many rules.
Jump drives are the best invention EVER.

Yes, sadly I have to leave my Americorps job at Study Circles. It was a great learning experience for me, but incredibly stressful to balance with school. So, unless I wanted to end up on the news, I decided, along with my boss, that this wasn't the best thing for me.
Sooooo...my new job will be with Graduate Student Life, planning social programs for grad students. I'm excited to have a job on campus-I felt such a disconnect before, only being there 3 days a week for a couple hours.
And yes, that also means more exciting updates for all you! Oh, calm down, don't get so excited. You'll be ok.
Have a great holiday! And remember what the season is all about-getting stuck in traffic, retail corporations getting rich, and whether or not you can say 'Merry Christmas' to complete strangers. Mmmmmm...can you just FEEL the warmth and love?