I’ve set up a webcam again to help with researching my Thesis topic. The cam will only be live while I’m at the library and only available through Yahoo! Messenger.

The goal is not to use these experiences as a direct part of my thesis. Instead I’m trying the webcam to assist me in forming interview questions and exploration paths.

So if you’re interest in chatting with a hot, fully dressed, grad student at the library feel free to look me up: rockOn_Matt. I promise I won’t ever appear as a popup in your browser.

This may be old news. I came across a cool little web ap that has a Gojira (that Godzilla for all you round eyes) style monster do battle with tanks and planes with your web page as a backdrop.

For example

• Oh No! They trash my page

• Then head over to LJC

Give it a shot, append you’re favorite web address (including the “http://”) to this url:

http://bunnyherolabs.com/dhtml/monster.php?ref=

In other news, I’m fighting a cold. Student Health has informed me that it’s a virus and I just have to wait it out. The problem is that it’s reeking havoc with both my sleeping patterns and concentration. Neither I can afford to screw with. On the plus side, if nothing else, it’s allowed me to catch up on some reading for pleasure. Since text books typically require too much focus, they’re not the best solution for sleepless nights. Instead I’ve been working on my backlog of other books. I just finished Neil Gaiman’s Coraline. My goal is to start a book log here when I have a moment so I can keep track of what I’ve read.

To begin to tell this sordid story of things that shouldn’t be seen, I need to first set the tone:

It’s cold here. Not necessarily super cold, like sub zero, but cold none the less.

Good, now that’s established, on to the story. I left the Reg a little before five today in hopes of catching a $1 latte at the Divinity School Coffee Shop. It’s a Friday tradition here at the U of C and one I take full advantage of whenever I can. On my walk through the first quad I notice something strange:

Lots of people lined up on either side of the quad, forming a corridor of sorts. I get a little further and notice this:

I can’t say whether it was NBC or Telemundo who had sent a camera crew to the U of C. Curious as to what might be going on I asked one of the people what was up. They said it was The Polar Bear Run.

“Polar Bear Run… What’s that?” I replied.

“Part of the Winterfest”

“Winter what?”

“Oh… You must be a grad student… HERE THEY COME”

And then they came:

Fifty or more students. Mainly male with a spattering of females in there. All running. All missing clothes. Some all of them… burr…

And the first thing that ran through my mind is: I need to blog about this… Cell Phone Camera, AWAY!

quick aside on ethics: the only reason I photographed this was because I knew that the camera wouldn’t have enough resolution to capture faces. Beyond that, this was clearly a public event and therefore the people waived a lot of their rights by participating. And besides, they’ll all be shown on Telemundo anyway.

So apparently, there’s a Winterfest going on. It’s the type of thing they don’t tell the grad students about )we’re too busy studying). And this Polar Bear thing has been going on since 1983.

Anyway… What can I say. I’m scarred. Especially after watching some of the people do somersaults. Let’s just put it this way… Cold weather is not a friend to the naked.

On the roadtrip from Chicago to Rochester I happened upon the NPR program Speaking of Faith and heard an interview with Martin Marty, a Lutheran theologian and an instructor here at the University of Chicago. As part of the interview he quoted Reinhold Niebuhr, a famed theologian and the writer of The Serenity Prayer. It’s been stuck in my head for a while and I thought I’d share. Thoughts? Reflections?

Nothing that is worth doing can be achieved in our lifetime; therefore, we must be saved by hope.

Nothing which is true, or beautiful, or good, makes complete sense in any immediate context of history; therefore, we must be saved by faith.

Nothing we do, however virtuous, could be accomplished alone; therefore, we must be saved by love.

No virtuous act is quite as virtuous from the standpoint of our friend or foe as it is from our own standpoint; therefore, we must be saved by the final form of love, which is forgiveness.

- Reinhold Niebuhr

One of the aspects of my program is that I’m only allowed to officially take three classes a quarter. In the preceding post I referenced the fact that I’m actually sitting in on five classes, three taken for grades and two audited. Which ever classes I audit will not make it on to my transcript, as I don’t receive a grade in them. So part of what I have to do is decide which classes will look the best on my transcript (in the event I decide to go for a PhD).

Which leads me to a switch that I’m making a little late in the process. Originally my three were going to be:

• Language in Culture II (aka Metapragmatics: the revenge)

• Crowds and Publics
• Rewriting the Past: Memory, remembrance and Memorial

However, I’m going to be switching the third slot to Social Psychology. In part I think it’s because I’m netting out somewhere in the space between Anthropology and Social Psychology. If that’s the case, then it’s more important for me to have the Social Psych on my transcript. Also Rewriting the Past, while useful for my interest in memory creation (which ties back to an interest in the generation of personal histories, which in turn ties back to Kodak), has thus far been a bit of a clunker. It’s focusing heavily on psychoanalysis. I have a lot of issues with the application of psychoanalysis to social (read as group) phenomenon as it really seems a tool geared for individual analysis. And so, right now, that class seems to be built on some dubious assumptions.

Things are a little hectic here in the windy city. Grr.

The temp has dropped from “cold” to “damn.” It’s our hope that it won’t go down to “fuck.” Needless to say, I’ve gotten soft. You would think after years of doing the quarter mile at RIT I’d be ready for the walk to campus. No such luck. However, word is that Rochester is getting buried with snow as I type this… so I will complain no further.

Classes are good. Here’s the official breakdown of my winter quarter:

Monday & Fridays - Reading and Thesis Work

Tuesdays & Thursdays:

Social Psychology

9.00am - 10.20am

This course examines social psychological theory and research based on both classic and contemporary contributions. Among the major topics examined are conformity and deviance, the attitude-change process, social role and personality, social cognition, and political psychology. J. Cacioppo, Winter.

Language in Culture II

11.30am - 1.20pm

This two-quarter course presents the major issues in linguistics of anthropological interest. Among topics discussed in the first half of the sequence are the formal structure of semiotic systems, the ethnographically crucial incorporation of linguistic forms into cultural systems, and the methods for empirical investigation of “functional” semiotic structure and history. The second half of the sequence takes up basic concepts in sociolinguistics and their critique, linguistic analysis of publics, performance and ritual, and language ideologies, among other topics. M. Silverstein, Autumn; S. Gal, Winter.

Rewriting the Past: Narrative, Ritual, and Monument.

1.30pm - 3.00pm

This course focuses on the manner in which we make use of the past, the personal past, and the collective past, as well as the place of social and historical change in retelling and rewriting life-history and history. We begin with a discussion of memory, conceptions of the personal and historic past, and such related issues as nostalgia, mourning, and the significance of commemoration in monument and ritual. We explore these issues in topics that include twentieth-century war memorials, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, high school and college reunions, the Holocaust’s representation in contemporary European society, the construction of the Israeli national tradition, and the construction of Abraham Lincoln as an American story of loss and renewal. B. Cohler, P. Homans. Winter, 2005. (B)

The Little Red Schoolhouse (Academic and Professional Writing).

3.00pm - 5.00pm Thursdays

This course teaches the skills needed to write clear and coherent expository prose and to edit the writing of others. The course consists of weekly lectures on Thursdays, immediately followed by tutorials addressing the issues in the lecture. On Tuesdays, students discuss short weekly papers in two-hour tutorials consisting of seven students and a tutor. Students may replace the last three papers with a longer paper and, with the consent of relevant faculty, write it in conjunction with another class or as part of the senior project. Materials fee $20. L. McEnerney, K. Cochran, T. Weiner. Winter, Spring.

Wednesdays:

Crowds and Publics

9.30am - 12.30pm

There isn’t currently a write up for this…

So thats about it for the moment. I’ll have more stuff tomorrow.

In the five years I was involved with kodak.com’s birdcam, I never once saw one of the Peregrines actually catch prey. It’s something I’ve always wanted to see, but always seemed to miss by a few moments.

This afternoon I watched as a large bird flew into a tree here on campus. I stared at it for a few moments thinking “Wow… that’s a big pigeon.” Then my brain kicked in and I realized I was staring at a hawk. Not able to identify by myself, I called Drea, who is an expert at these things. Slowly I edged to the bottom of the tree it was in as I described it’s features to her.

Suddenly it took off, flew into the ivy covered wall of a building no more than ten feet away, and lighting fast, emerged with a small bird in its talons!

With total disregard to snow and fellow pedestrians, I chase the hawk to a nearby fire escape and watch as it tears into it’s dinner, feathers flying everywhere. All the while I’m relaying a description to Drea. She successfully ID’d it as a Cooper’s Hawk.

So I’ve finally seen a raptor take prey in the wild. While it wasn’t a peregrine, its still a cool start. My great regret… no digital camera to take a picture. I need to get one. I keep looking at the Kodak DX7590… I’m a company man, what can I say. Hey guys (you know who you are), any chance of a price drop in the near future?

The storm that left Hyde Park with about five inches of snow has moved on to Rochester and it leaves me feeling rather connected to my friends back there. I had never really thought about weather patterns before in that way. But it’s somewhat comforting to know that the weather that froze us here is currently freezing friends a couple states away.

BTW guys, its still snowing here.

Tuesdays and Thursdays are definitely hell days this quarter. My schedule is all but locked, I’ll post it tomorrow. Now back to the reading.

Well sorta. Those with a standard 9-5, if such a thing even exists anymore, please don’t take this as a “my life is so hard” posting (that won’t be coming for at least five weeks ;-P).

My first class was at 9.00am and I just wrapped up. It’s been pretty much straight lecture since then. The plus side is that all of the classes have been quite good. And I expect that I will be staying with the one I mentioned earlier. The reading lists are still intimidating, but not as bad as last quarter.

All and all I’m really optimistic. Once things lock down a bit more I’m actually going to post both my schedule and a description of the classes that I’m taking.

I got back late last night after the usual 12 hour drive. Thankfully, while long it was uneventful and the weather was, for the most part, clear.

I’m doing my best to get back into the swing of things after wonderful and relaxing visits with friends and family. Thankfully, the University is doing it’s best to immediately reintroduce me to stress. I just found out that one of my course’s focus has been shifted. I’m not completely sure if this new direction, focusing on social reaction to tragedy, is going to work for my research. So I’m in the midst of researching other classes.