Maybe it's just me, but is there a serious sex industry in Providence, RI or what? I think I ran across three strip clubs and two adult video stores just, you know, out walking around and shit. Apparently, New England makes you really horny.
But really, Providence is a cute place. Kind of fun, with Brown there and lots going on. The capital building is really gorgeous. People seem nice, but the driving is kind of aggressive? Especially given how relatively good traffic flow seemed to be? And the driving aggression had a mean edge to it, compared to the casual "I'm in a hurry" aggression you see here in Chicago.
The conference was good. I saw a couple of bad papers, saw a couple of bad ones. It actually makes me think a bit about my profession. Part of what my work tries to do is take a general puzzle, and while I work within in a specific case (re: antebellum railroads and American federalism), I like to think my story has broader implications. Other people work from *very* specific problems - with minimal broader theoretical interest (and "broader" is a pretty narrow term here. Say, just trying to explain "education in schools" is broad enough. But people often work *super* narrow: how do I explain this *one* decision in this *one* state). My tendency is is to value the former work more, and be wary of the latter. But I'm not sure that's fair anymore. If done well, that very specific work is probably closer to actual *policy issues*, and sort of .... meaningful. It's just making me think that my sense of what "good work" is might be really skewed.
But my presentation went well. Got some feedback. Some of it that I've gotten before, so I need to take it really seriously now I guess. Getting back was a hassle. My flight was delayed twice, and then apparently the Blue Line is hella fucked. I forgot they shut the lines down around the Harlem stop, so you need to take a shuttle bus. THEN there is track work around Damen still, which meant we had to sit on the track and wait for another train. It took me almost as long to *get home* from O'Hare as it took me to fly across half a continent.
In more bummer news, so far I have not gotten any fellowship money for next year. I still have three or four chances coming around. But I'm not optimistic. I'm not really worried about *next year.* I'm teaching a class, and I can TA a coupe of courses. I can also pick up some research assistant work. Further, I can probably apply to be a preceptor for undergrad's working on their BA thesis in both the department and the policy school. And I have some savings. So I'll get by, even if it's more work than I wanted while finishing up the dissertation. It may be irrational but my fear is: If no one wants to give me fellowship cash, who's going to give me a job????
I know that's a bit crazy. The process of getting a job is more specific, and the criteria different. Plus, my work has improved *a lot* in the last few months, since I applied for those grants. I've reworked the chapters I sent off as "examples" of my work. And while the early versions weren't bad, they were really unfocused and a bit clumsy in their methods. What I've done since still isn't perfect, but much better. But *still.* All that said, it is worrying. I'm sure something will shake out.
But really, Providence is a cute place. Kind of fun, with Brown there and lots going on. The capital building is really gorgeous. People seem nice, but the driving is kind of aggressive? Especially given how relatively good traffic flow seemed to be? And the driving aggression had a mean edge to it, compared to the casual "I'm in a hurry" aggression you see here in Chicago.
The conference was good. I saw a couple of bad papers, saw a couple of bad ones. It actually makes me think a bit about my profession. Part of what my work tries to do is take a general puzzle, and while I work within in a specific case (re: antebellum railroads and American federalism), I like to think my story has broader implications. Other people work from *very* specific problems - with minimal broader theoretical interest (and "broader" is a pretty narrow term here. Say, just trying to explain "education in schools" is broad enough. But people often work *super* narrow: how do I explain this *one* decision in this *one* state). My tendency is is to value the former work more, and be wary of the latter. But I'm not sure that's fair anymore. If done well, that very specific work is probably closer to actual *policy issues*, and sort of .... meaningful. It's just making me think that my sense of what "good work" is might be really skewed.
But my presentation went well. Got some feedback. Some of it that I've gotten before, so I need to take it really seriously now I guess. Getting back was a hassle. My flight was delayed twice, and then apparently the Blue Line is hella fucked. I forgot they shut the lines down around the Harlem stop, so you need to take a shuttle bus. THEN there is track work around Damen still, which meant we had to sit on the track and wait for another train. It took me almost as long to *get home* from O'Hare as it took me to fly across half a continent.
In more bummer news, so far I have not gotten any fellowship money for next year. I still have three or four chances coming around. But I'm not optimistic. I'm not really worried about *next year.* I'm teaching a class, and I can TA a coupe of courses. I can also pick up some research assistant work. Further, I can probably apply to be a preceptor for undergrad's working on their BA thesis in both the department and the policy school. And I have some savings. So I'll get by, even if it's more work than I wanted while finishing up the dissertation. It may be irrational but my fear is: If no one wants to give me fellowship cash, who's going to give me a job????
I know that's a bit crazy. The process of getting a job is more specific, and the criteria different. Plus, my work has improved *a lot* in the last few months, since I applied for those grants. I've reworked the chapters I sent off as "examples" of my work. And while the early versions weren't bad, they were really unfocused and a bit clumsy in their methods. What I've done since still isn't perfect, but much better. But *still.* All that said, it is worrying. I'm sure something will shake out.
VIEW 3 of 3 COMMENTS
As far as the traffic goes, I think people are on the edge. There's been some major highway construction and re-routes in the past few months and it's made many a Rhode Islander unhappy especially around Providence (from what I've heard on the radio anyway--I usually bypass all that on the way to my grandfathers).
I really wish I had known you were going to be up this direction, we could have hung out.
As per the money thing, yeah, I'm trying to figure that out myself.
Take care, hope all is well.