ABracaDabra

I turned a corner yesterday - defended my dissertation proposal. Now I can call myself a doctoral candidate or "ABD." It wasn't so bad - kind of like going to the doctor. I'll probably back-burner my research for a few weeks and pick it up again in January. Right now I'm just sort of bored with everything in my life. I don't even post much here anymore because as soon as I think of something I follow it up with a 'who cares' and then let it go. I feel like everything is so obvious.

Mmmmm....Butterbeer

I went to the new Harry Potter movie last Sunday at the Alamo, and it was the most fun I've had at a movie in a long time. Since it was opening weekend, they had gussied up the joint by creating a "Platform 9 3/4" entryway into the theatre (you walked through curtains that had a brick pattern on them). Waiting in line was like being on the train to Hogwarts as a be-robed Alamo employee hawked chocolate frogs and bertie bott's every flavor beans up and down the line. Once in our seats, we immediately ordered up some Butterbeer. I have been wondering for five years what butterbeer would taste like. It was hard cider, butterscotch, spices, with whipped cream served warm in fancy glasses. I had two! Then we ordered the Beaubaxton's Bouillabaise and Dobby's Steak and Potato Pie. The movie itself was decent - a nice supplement to the book. It focuses exclusively on the Tri-Wizard Tournament. The few scenes in the beginning of the World Quidditch Cup were pretty spectacular, I wished they had shown more of that. I'm not sure what's up with everyone's hair though - all shaggy and stuff.

"You're So Judgmental!"

Growing up often on the outer edges of social groups observing how people dealt with each other (sometimes with the rather misguided hope that I might be able to decipher the right social codes that people use so that I could one day be on the inside of one of these groups), one lesson became clear very quickly: One must not, or give the appearance that one might, "judge" other people. What does this mean, exactly? It seems to mean "live and let live," or "to each her/his own," and any number of similar individualist/liberal-type adages.

There is such a strong taboo (or at least a more, for the sociologists/anthropologists out there) against forming judgments of others that people go around actively holding back their opinions, or maybe not forming opinions at all about what goes on around them. It is always good to check your judgements for unfair/indefensible prejudice (e.g. basing them on some weirdo moral/religious grounds favored by the KKK) before blurting them out, but I think this obsession with not judging people gets carried too far and can be downright harmful. Like when people see sexual harassment going on and don't intervene because "who are they to judge." Sometimes I'm around people who make me afraid to say anything for fear of being labeled with the dreaded "you're so judgmental!" Damn right I'm judgmental. That's how we communicate and learn, by making judgments about things. That doesn't mean I think I'm right - big difference.

From the mission statement of the College of Liberal Arts at the University of Texas at Austin:

"The mission of the College of Liberal Arts is to make a free people wise, by educating its students in the ways of freedom, and by providing a model for education at other universities. The heart of a democracy is that the people must judge. Through education in the humanities and social sciences, the College of Liberal Arts will give its students the power and confidence to judge well."

There it is. I just need that confidence part.

Coolest thing about Toronto

I was back in Toronto last week, and when I boarded the airport express shuttle bus to downtown, Arcade Fire was playing over the bus speakers. I love Canada!

Can't imagine Austin without it

Now that it's public knowledge, I'm here to confirm that Lovejoy's in Austin is closing. The first bar I went to in Austin, before I had even moved here, when I didn't know a soul and I felt instantly comfortable. It's the place I met my 'main man' of three years. Said 'main man' works there currently, and I think he's in denial - he and many others who have been there for 12 years (either as customers or employees or both) will be essentially losing their family gathering place, a space whose DIY communal spirit is like no other.

It was going to close at the end of the year when the lease is up, but M. suggested that they ask the landlord to extend their lease until March, so they could have another SXSW, and they said yes.

Anyone have $100,000 to keep it open?

Parsing the anti-feminist "arguments"

Today I came across this post from Mind The Gap on how to respond to arguments from anti-feminists. It's one of the best, most well-thought-out pieces I've read on the subject. If you've ever been confronted with the "Feminists are all angry" and "Feminists are all lesbians" and "Feminists hate men" attempts at shutting you down, this is for you!

So what?

I finished my dissertation proposal! Yowza! I ran around town last night trying to find a copy place that was a) open and b) had an operable comb binding machine. I had to opt for the icky tape binding but it's better than a binder clip or a huge staple. This morning I distributed it to my five committee members, who (whom?) I am sure will read it the night before the defense. You'd like to think that after all that work people would give it the proper time it is due, but that is one of the many myths of graduate school. So now I wait until the 29th, at 9am, at which time I go before the tribunal, otherwise known as the proposal defense. In the meantime I will be preparing stock answers to such universal questions as "why are you doing this?" and "so what?"

Where the caribou roam

A bit of good news today:

GOP Leaders Yank ANWR Drilling Plan

But really, what is a "man" and a "woman"?

I hope all the homophobes in Texas (and there are a lot of 'em, hoo-boy) are breathing a huge sigh of relief today that they successfully thwarted a hostile takeover of their state by raving "homosexuals" hell-bent on getting married and....what?

I wonder how "opposite" these opposite sex marriages have to be to be legitimated under the constitution? When pressed, how would they define what a "man" and a "woman" is? As we all know, gender and sexuality are on fluid continuums, and to a large extent so is biological sex. There is a lot of ambiguity lurking underneath this idea of distinct biological sexes. What we need is someone with ambigous genitalia to sue the state of Texas (or any one of the other 19-odd states that have this in their constitutions now) for denying her/him the right to marry. Heh heh. I can already see the blank confused looks on the faces of legislators.