Breaking the Silence: WPC

I was planning to take a photo of a nice, empty cobble stone street down in the Soho area for this week’s photo challenge: silence. The idea was to do some sort of photographic illustration of the Simon and Garfunkel song “The Sound of Silence” (speaking of, I recently heard Disturbed’s cover of the song—it’s beautiful). But I just wasn’t feeling it. I even had the song (both versions) streaming on my phone to inspire me.

I’d gone downtown after walking for a while with the Women’s March and I guess that changed how I listened to the song.

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Bathroom Bills Just Don’t Make Sense

Remember I mentioned I got a blog post published on an academic blog? Here’s the link: http://bit.ly/2xjzolM.

In the article, I poke holes in the logic of bathroom bills by looking at how they classify gender as binary when, medically, it is not. I hope it provides an cogent argument against a set of discriminatory laws. More than that I hope it helps shed some light on non-binary and nontraditional gender and sex identities, something that, for most, is a confusing issue.

Solar Eclipse and Media Events

In the seemingly distant past, when TVs were the pinnacle of luxury, major televised events–like Elizabeth II’s coronation–became major events. These so-called media events centered around a media experience, but were truly communal. People crammed into living rooms and public spaces with TVs to watch the spectacle.

Stegosaurus

I’ve got a close friend who, among her many talents, is a software engineer. She built me a website for my birthday. It’s like index cards for recipes, but online and prettier! Plus you can’t lose a website. Plus she gave me a dinosaur origami book! Her birthday is a month after mine and the bar was set pretty high.

Look at the blue belly! That took some skill to plan and sew (if I do say so myself).

I’d found a random fat quarter with dinosaur names on it at my local sewing store upstate and bought it. I knew I wanted to make something with it for her (we both like dinosaurs!) but I wasn’t sure what. A pillow wasn’t very exciting (and definitely not as exciting as a custom made website!) So I thought a dinosaur made of dinosaur fabric would be fun.

Earth Day and the March for Science: WPC

I admit I didn’t march in the Women’s March. I had a lot of homework and I’m not particularly fond of crowds or being up at 7 am on a freezing winter weekend. But I couldn’t resist heading to the March for Science. Not only was it being held at a more civilized hour and in my neighborhood, I’m a scientist (alright a political scientist–but my field employs the scientific method and depends on government grants too!)

I’m so glad I went.

Make the SAT Great Again (Or: Politicians Need to Learn what an Appropriate Analogy Sounds Like)

It’s time we bring back analogies on the SAT. Okay, okay, we probably shouldn’t. They were racist/classist and not remotely reflective of actual college preparedness skills.

On the other hand, being able to make comparisons is a useful life skill. I always  thought coming up with a passable comparison was as easy as falling off a log (but I was also rather perturbed that I was among the first batch of students who didn’t have analogies on their SATs, so what can I tell you?) As we’ve seen recently, however, I was mistaken.

Sean Spicer said Assad is worse than Hitler because Hitler didn’t use chemical weapons on his own people. How dumb do you have to be to say that? I mean even if you don’t remember 10th grade world history, you should know that making a comparison where Hitler comes off favorably is a bad idea.

Thoughts on Immigration

The border control agent handed me a slip of paper instead of my passport. She had checked the box next to, “you are being detained.” It would have been farcical if it hadn’t been so terrifying.

I knew the worst case scenario was that I would be sent back to the U.S. where I have family, friends, and a life. It would also mean a struggle to get my student visa and I had only applied to schools in the U.K.—but I hadn’t even accepted a spot yet, so I wouldn’t really be losing more than a year and a few application fees.

I also knew that the law was in my favor. I hadn’t overstayed any visa, I showed ample resources, and the accusation that I was trying to establish residency was absurd (and showed the border agent’s complete and utter lack of understanding of immigration law). I had done nothing wrong and immigration law was on my side.

But in the moment, sitting on a plastic chair while the arrivals hall emptied out, the worst case scenario seemed much worse and I didn’t feel like I had anything, let alone the force of law, on my side.  I can’t imagine how terrifying that process would be when the worst case scenario as bad as I felt it was—or even worse. I can’t imagine what it must feel like when you cannot cite the law in your favor (especially when you should be able to).

Stronger Together?

I wrote this blog post for my elections and campaigns class. The assignment was to discuss the readings in an accessible way. I’d been doing this most weeks and succeeding. But the week after the election (it was due on Monday, November 14th) I was still processing. The readings were actually quite relevant to the election outcome and I’d had every intention of writing something insightful about them. That’s not what happened.

It’s been a month since I wrote this. I’ve been debating whether to post it. It’s still very much how I’m feeling, so I’m going for it.

The trials and tribulations of getting a PhD during a presidential election

I have a confession: I’m studying for a PhD in American politics and I don’t want to talk about the election. More than 500 days ago, when Donald Trump announced his candidacy, I was excited at the prospect of going back to school. It would be fun, I thought, to study the electoral process while watching this crazy election take shape. I was wrong.

Studying political science requires a certain objectivity, which provided some comfort during this contested election. Conversely, there was something extremely dissatisfying about the coldness of theory during a heated campaign season. Worse than that, being dispassionate can blind us to reality—because reality is all about passion. But all I saw was the instant gratification of analyzing an election while studying elections!

Unite Against Intolerance

My high school had a club, Students United Against Intolerance. The name was intentionally ironic. If you unite against intolerance, you are, in essence, being intolerant of intolerance.

My point is this: we must unite against intolerance, but we cannot allow that coming together to exclude others. We cannot ourselves be intolerant.