Well thats summer gone....

Hello dear readers (if you're still out there!),

I know I have been rubbish at posting. And that I have a lot to catch up on. But now I am officially done with my Masters! I turned in my dissertation today. So I have time to catch my breath and figure out what has been going on here.

Dissertation title:
"The Battle Continues!"
Queer Affect and Gay British Activism in the 1970s-1990s
(I will take requests for copies ;) )

Now that thats done, I will be able to post a bit more! Some highlights to come:
-End of Masters - where to now?
-3 weeks in France (Cagnes-sur-mer to be exact)
-London Pride (maybe that is too long ago now to post!?)
-Weekend in the countryside of England
-More knitting
-More baking too

GI 2009-2010 class photo!

a little update

I know it has been awhile! School picked up and got really busy. I have been working on facilitation, research proposals, and keeping up with massive amounts of reading. The term is over on 11th December, when I will try to write a longer post about how everything is going.

Tonight was the holiday party for the GI. There was some amazing mulled wine, mince pies, and other treats. It was held in the GI space, lots of students, and all of the faculty attended. I've made a nice little group of friends, and so I spent the evening mostly socializing with them. I like the general feel of the GI, and the professors are so nice to socialize with.

Ellie is working until 1:30am every night for the rest of the week, and all next week! So I am home alone in the evenings. Its a bit lonely at home alone, but I am trying to get work for school done. She is still looking for runner jobs and currently working for an events staffing company.

I am going to turn in early I think, I have been sick on and off, so I am trying to sleep as much as I can. Tomorrow I am facilitating in my "Cultural Constructions of the Body" class. The topic is "Precarious Bodies" - the assigned readings are about how perpetrators/enemies/terrorists are embodied in terms of racialized masculinity, heteronormativity, etc. I've been reading a lot about violence, prisons, terrorism, and Abu Ghraib this week and it has been quite difficult. The lecturer for this week showed a few pictures from the Abu Ghraib scandal, which caused quite an uproar from students. I felt it was inappropriate and kind of traumatizing, even though I understood the learning objectives. The pictures bear a striking resemblance to pictures taken during the slavery era in the US as well as pictures of racial violence against African Americans in general (gatherings when people were hung, etc).

If you are looking for something to read about prisoners rights, I would recommend "Are Prisons Obsolete?" by Angela Davis - not if you're looking for a light read though!

Some recent events in my life:

1) I pretended to be interested in an event about Jesus in order to get free coffee from the Christian Union. I bought a conservative paper for £0.40 because they were giving away free chocolate bars with it. These chocolate bars cost over £1 in a store.

2) I signed up for a Spanish certification class! I start next Tuesday.

3) I talked to a professor at the GI about a PhD there, she is going to help me with the proposal.

4) Confirmed my RSVP to my friend's wedding in Bilbao! Gay wedding in Spain, best thing ever! Ellie and I are going to book the plane tickets soon.

5) Patrick gets here tomorrow!

Also, here are some pictures from the vigil I went to.

Beginning of Week 3

My brain is exhausted! The things I am reading at the moment are intense and there is a lot of philosophy-type concepts I am having a hard time wrapping my brain around. I am enjoying my classes in general and getting into the groove of reading, even though it is quite difficult.

Things are rolling along, I am making friends! I had a friend, Alex, over last night for dinner! I met her at the LGBT bar hopping thing. I went out for some drinks for her birthday last week, we went with a few others we met at the bar hopping event. Apparently, in Italian culture you buy people drinks on your birthday. So she bought a round of 5 drinks! It made me feel slightly uncomfortable, as I felt I should be buying her drinks. I must save up for my birthday! Alex likes Buffy! We have some important things in common.

In addition to the study group for my Gender Theories class, I have just started a study group with 2 others for my Gender Research and Knowledge Practice class. We are basing this study group on baked goods. Each week, one of us will bake something for the group. I am the first up, I don't have time to bake something for tomorrow, so I am just going to bring some biscuits. I think they will go over well. The two fellow classmates in this study group are really nice, I think we are becoming friends.

I have had a few headache moments with the banking system and bureaucracy here. I deposited my financial aid checks in the bank a few weeks ago. The checks are in $'s instead of £'s (no idea why). Because they are in $'s, the checks have to be sent to the US and back. Anyway, I was originally told this would take 2-3 weeks. I received a letter last week saying it would take 6-8 weeks!! If it does take 8 weeks, I won't have money until December! I immediately emailed the LSE fees office and explained - they gave me an extension to pay me fees. The fees are due on the 28th of October. I am currently living out of my US bank account. This is super frustrating. I am going to go into my new bank and talk to them about how they mislead me. Had I known it would take so long, I would have gone with a different bank. Part of this process is probably complicated by the postal strike, but come on people! The strike was announced! Many businesses that have time-sensitive mail are using other carriers like DHL.

Ok, off to watch Glee with Ellie!

I survived the 1st week

After the first week I have a lot of feelings about my program. I have an incredible amount of reading. I am working on keeping up. Today it took me 3 hours to read one article - it was about 50 pages and boring. I don't feel like I have been intellectually challenged yet. I am sure that will come. The only challenge I have felt is keeping up with the volume of work. I think I started this program at a higher level than some of my fellow students. Feminist theory is not new to me at all. I am keeping an open mind, as the director of the GI mentioned that some of us who have come with a lot of prior knowledge may have things to "unlearn" about what a gender studies perspective means.

I have been looking at the PhD program for the GI, and I think I am very qualified. I am planning on applying. I tend to do ok with independent study as long as I make a schedule for myself and have deadlines.

I am making friends! I met this person from Italy at the LGBT event I went to last week. We went for lunch this week and it was fun. I think we might be friends. Also, I feel like I am beginning to mesh more with my fellow students. In my last class on Thursday, there is a very frustrating man - he calls himself a "men's rights activist." While I respect his right to opinions, he says really offensive things and makes generalizations about things he knows nothing about. Anyway, a lot of people in my class have bonded over feeling frustrated and alienated by this man. I have also bonded with people in general (not involving frustration about another student). After class on Tuesday, a bunch of us went out for a drink at a pub on campus. From this outing, I got to hear about how others have felt like making friends is hard as well. It is nice to commiserate with others about these feelings and to know you're not alone. I am excited to see where I end up with this year!

Tomorrow I am going to work on more reading for my classes. Ellie and I are going to go for brunch somewhere as well.

Small world!

Today I ran into someone I used to go to school with in Guadalajara! He is from Canada and is in his second year of his PhD at the LSE! I used to hang out with him 3-4 times a week. And we hung out for a whole weekend at the beach right before I left Mexico. It was quite strange to run into him. I think we are going to go out for a pint at some point.

I have had a frustrating day. I went to my bank to deposit my financial aid checks and was told that I wouldn't be able to deposit them because they were made out to me and LSE. The man behind the counter said I would have to have it just made out to me. But this is how everyone's financial aid checks are! After he denied me (a bit rudely I might add), I talked to another person walking around the bank and finally had it resolved. It was stressful for awhile though! The same man who refused to take my checks was the one who had to enter them. He was just uninformed. I really need that money, I am living off of my money in my American account.

Speaking of money, I took £100 out of my American account today and I am left with £10! I spent £80 on course readers for 3 classes. I was not happy to find out that total. I also bought lunch, coffee, and allergy medicine - and thus the £10 left. I can't wait until my financial aid checks clear.

I spent the rest of the day working on reading for tomorrow's class. I am only about 1/2 way through the reading. I plan to go to campus early tomorrow to finish the readings. So much reading! I really have to keep on top of it or there is no way I can keep up.

I have joined a study group for my "Gender Theories" class. I am optimistic about keeping up with the course work this year!

Overwhelmed, Excited, Nervous

Sorry its been so long since my last update, I have been quite busy! I just got home from my first day of class. The class is called "Gender Theories in the Modern World: An Interdisciplinary Approach." I have an hour and a half of lecture and an hour and a half of seminar (like a section, its for student facilitation and discussion). I am very excited about the whole thing. The class is team taught by all the faculty of the gender institute. Tomorrow I have "Gender, Knowledge, and Research Practice." On Thursday I have "Cultural Constructions of the Body."

Here is what I have been up to since my last entry:

Wednesday 30 September:
I attended a public lecture by Amina Mama on "Militarism and Underdevelopment." The Gender Institute (GI) has a public lecture series and this was the first one. Amina Mama is a quite famous woman as a pioneering academic for gender studies in South Africa. After the lecture was a reception at the GI. I met a bunch of my fellow students. And there was free wine. Very nice night!

Thursday 1 October:
3 hour orientation to the GI. The faculty introduced themselves, their research interests, and what they teach. The director of the GI started by saying that we probably all feel overwhelmed, excited, and nervous - and that she feels that way all of the time, such is the life of a gender theorist. After the large orientation with all of the MSc students, we broke off to our individual tracks. I am doing the Gender track (there are others like Gender, Development, and Globalisation and Gender, Media, and Culture). I met with my cohort and the convener of the course.

A few hours after the orientation, I stayed on campus to go to the LGBT society's bar hopping night. It was really fun! I was nervous at first going alone, but I ended up talking with people all night. I only went to the 1st three bars. I met some people who were really nice and will maybe hang out with them again.

Friday 2 October:
On this day I had an all day induction for the GI. This was lead by a PhD student. We learned the ins and outs of the GI - how courses and course work actually work, what is expected of you, how to be involved, etc. I found it really helpful, the whole thing felt scary after that. We had ample time to ask any questions we had at all. After the induction, there was a reception with free champagne and snacks. I talked with a bunch of people in my program. They like social receptions at the GI! I didn't stay late at this, as I went to Ellie's friend's house for dinner.

Saturday and Sunday:
Ellie and I finished Buffy. She loved it. I worked on my reading for my first day of class. Pretty nice weekend!

Other than that, I am working on making friends. I am having lunch with someone from my course tomorrow. I am also working on keeping up with my studies. There is an incredible amount of reading every week. They say probably about 40 hours a week worth of reading. This is my new full time job after all!