Today

A couple of my cohort members and I are sponsoring an end-of-semester gathering. My friend Melissa fried chicken...and Danielle is making baked ziti. Others are bringing libations (lushes)! I'm not really sure what will come of this gathering. I'm not really a board gamer so I think I'll be disappointed if it turns into that kind of a gathering. What I would prefer is if we talked about some of our experiences and came up with some ideas to make our experiences in the program better. However, I'm not sure if everyone will be in the mood since this may serve as a break from finals work. I will update you all on what comes of this get together.

The End of Semester

I have a week and a half left and then I'm going home! Wow, where has the time gone? I'm thinking however that the next week and a half is going to be the hardest time I've spent in school since being here. I have only done one all-nighter (during midterms) but I'm sure I'll end up doing one more before next Friday. So this is what's on the horizon, in terms of finals. School and Society with Ingersoll: I have a take-home exam, no more than 10 pgs. which is decent. He has actually given us an extension on the exam but I pretended not to hear about it for fear of procrastinating just because I can. I have a final project that I'm already done with and is due today (Wed) for Counseling for Educators with Kuriloff...great class by the way. I strategically planned for my last three assignments to correspond. My final paper/study for Qual/Ethnographic Methods for Ravitch, critical book review for Anthro. and Ed. for Hall, and my final paper for Slaughter-Defoe are all virtually the same. The observations/data that I collected will go for my data/observational write-ups for Ravitch and Slaughter-Defore, and I'm using Hall's critical book review for my review of literature for my Ravitch paper. (Don't mean to offend by using proff's last names its just easier for me to keep them organized.) So, I'm planning for this to be easy but, you know, we will see. I have really gotten a chance to observe the patterns of my writing. I love to mull over words in sentences in paragraphs and it usually takes me a lot longer because of the way I like to play with words. It's not really even me playing, it's something that I feel like I have to do. I am not one of those kinds of writers that can just freewrite all of their thoughts. I don't like to see my thoughts on paper unless they are organized and make sense already so I spend a lot of time thinking about what to say instead of putting it down and arranging it later.

I'm sorry for that...i digress. Anyway, so I'm really excited about my classes for next semester. My schedule is solidified: Critical Race Theory (which is a graduate course I'm taking in the Africana Studies Dept.), Psychology of the African American with Howard Stevenson, Gender and Education with Peter Kuriloff, Masters Thesis Seminar, and an Independent Study with Marybeth Gasman in the Higher Ed. Program. I am really looking forward to next semester...really.

I am also looking forward to Atlanta!!! There's no place like home!

My Mid-terms are officially over!

So, mid-terms. I guess this was probably the first time I really ever had mid-terms...like real ones. This was some serious stuff! It seems like midterms fall right before finals so, I literally have like a week or two before I'll be doing finals. I can't believe its almost the end of the semester! I'm so excited about going home! I am still working on my schedule for next semester. I just got my independent study proposal approved so I'm really excited about that. Melissa and I are actually doing a case study of one of the required courses for freshman at Spelman. We are looking at how this course impacts the construction/exploration of racial identity and experiential knowledge spaces which, in turn, influences civic engagement. I'm so excited! So that's one class. I'm also doing my master's research seminar, Gender and Education with Peter Kuriloff (my favorite prof.), Globalization and Education?, and Politics and Education. We will see how it turn out. I'm still kind of looking for something a little more interesting, but I want to make sure that I'm not too overwhelmed with coursework. My priority next semester will be my thesis. Next week is Thanksgiving!! Happy Turkey Day!

It's cold

General update on non-academics:
I have had a really interesting week so far. Really interesting conversations/discussions/revelations in class and outside of class. Not really even conversations that I would choose to have, just really interesting--eye opening. I digress.

I just bought my plane ticket to N.C. for Thanksgiving! My grandparents live in Clinton, N.C. right outside of Fayetteville so I will be spending almost an entire week with them and I have very excited. I haven't seen them in a year. They are approaching "that age" you know. I really try not to think about it, but I know that I won't always have them around so I am really trying to take advantage of the time we have left even though I can be a really crappy granddaughter most times. The ticket was nice and cheap luckily. However, I'll be forking out the dough on the car rental...jeez! I'm flying into Raleigh so I have to drive an hour and a half to get to them. I was asking my dad if he thought my grandpa could pick me up but I guess we decided we wouldn't try that out. That may be the ultimate fallacy. I have really improved my SEPTA train riding skills! I got on for the first time by myself today. (I'm always going somewhere with Melissa who is the queen of SEPTA so I never have to pay attention or plan the trip). Anyways, I did well. I was really trying to be a local!! You know, act like I knew where I was going and that I got on the train every day! So funny! Um...I joined the gym. Yep...$230 worth of membership (doesn't include classes). I've been twice and I am just so out of shape. It's pitiful. My friend is coming next week for Halloween! I think that covers it. Oh, last thing. I bought three coats!! I'm still not quite sure if they will suffice in Philadelphia cold, but I am hoping that they won't be useless.

Blogging Today

So it's time for the weekend almost. Boy am I excited. I don't know what it is about the weekend...especially since my weekend and my week are nearly identical. I guess its the no-class factor. Anyway, I have been planning to make some important phone calls to my grandparents, aunts, ex-coworkers, co-teacher, etc. for the past few weekends and I never get around to it. I feel pretty awful about not calling my grandma...I am an awful grandchild. Hopefully, however, she won't be too mad with me since I just bought my plane ticket to visit her (i call her mama) and papa for thanksgiving. I think I need to rent a car--fun, fun! I am missing my immediate family a little today. I haven't seen my dad since May and I really want to snuggle up to him and tell him some jokes. He has the best laugh!
On to school issues, midterms are next week. Wowza! That came quickly! Professor Kuriloff (who teaches the course Counselors for Educators) is going to post the exam on Blackboard a few days early so I am going to start working on it this weekend. I have started to kinda synthesize/categorize my notes for School and Society to compare and contrast traditionalist and progressivist theories of education. I'm hoping that this will help me respond to his mid-term questions more specifically and I won't have to spend so much time trying to read back through my notes and highlighted quotes. I'll be glad when mid-terms are over. It'll be Halloween and my best friend will be here!

Hello World

So the verdict on the weekend, did I follow my schedule? Not quite. I fell questionably ill on Saturday morning and literally was in the bed all morning. When I finally got out of the bed I had so much energy and started plunging the heck out of my shower and sink drains! It was invigorating...I missed my calling! I decided to disinfect my apartment from top to bottom (I know so random). I get these strange urges to clean sometimes by the slightest discovery of dirt or just anything being out of place. Strange because I am so not a neat freak, it really just depends on the day. So I bleached (I know not so environmentally friendly) pretty much everything on Saturday. I started in on my work around 8 p.m. and got sleepy about two hours later. My weekend wasn't a complete fallacy however. I did get my Blackboard responses done on Sunday and finished about half of my readings for the week. As for getting out of the house, that didn't happen. I am such a home-body. The week is turning out to be fairly productive. Today, my Anthropology and Education class was...better. We are, so far, really analyzing the various definitions of constructed social categories ie. race, ethnicity, nationality from anthropological, historical viewpoint...yeah. The course is in the utmost, theoretical and I am having to fight to make it applicable to my life and the lives of children in my sphere--Black children. It's coming along though. I spent most of my evening reading a book for my Foundations in Urban Education course called So Much Reform So Little Change by Charles Payne. Wonderful read. I can "Amen" pretty much everything in the book because I have lived it. I'm looking forward to the class discussion on Thursday. Next week is the big midterm week. I actually only have three midterms-two of them are due the week after next and one is due the second week in November. I'm a little anxious about one of my midterms because it counts for half of my grade and I haven't had the opportunity to gauge my writing/thinking with this particular professor so I don't really know if we are on the same page (the page that will merit an "A" letter grade)! We will see. I am doing a good job this week of structuring my day. I don't feel like I'm being a fallacy this school week. That's good. I do love my weekends though, I look forward to the mischief.

Weekend Fallacy

*Note: I will probably use the word fallacy incorrectly. However, it is a common colloquial word used amongst my closest friends, and I do not see any harm in using it or any connected phrases to express disgust with procrastination, laziness, stupidity, neglect, or very avoidable mistakes observed within self and observed in others.

I think I have "gotten into the swing of things" (for the most part) in terms of finishing and digesting all of my readings for class every week. Fridays are my writing days; that is where I am working on any long-term writing assignments, adding to my bibliography for my thesis, etc. I also visit my school observation site on Friday mornings from 9-12. Saturdays are my designated reading days where I read everything and
higlight problems/quotes/theory/implications in the reading. Sunday is my note-taking/question making day. I type highlights and questions and save them into a corresponding class folder. I also respond to my readings on Blackboard on Sundays (a requirement for two of my classes). Ideally, I have time to work on specific writing assignments on Monday-Thursday although that, at times, proves to be a fallacy.
The problem, however, is the likelihood of my weekend schedule "falling fallacy" to my seemingly inherent fallaciousness. This past weekend a good friend came into town and I completely neglected my weekend work schedule. My week, in turn, was absolutely fallacious. The funny thing is I really couldn't even enjoy my laziness because I knew I was wasting time. I think I may need to schedule my week (m-f) a little more intensely. Like, for example, I need a bedtime and a wake-up time. I need to go the library more often during the week, maybe after class. I need to get out of my apartment. I'm not sure how I will go about scheduling my week, however, I know that would help me feel less fallacious.

Hooray for October!

I must admit that I am looking forward to the change in weather. I am curios to see what cold really feels like. Before I moved here, that was the great commentary of all the southerners: "I hate that cold weather!" "The cold is unbearable...I didn't leave the house in the winter (right)." Right now, the weather is not as I expected it would be. It feels like Georgia--hot and muggy during the day. Cooler in the evenings. So, on my way to class it's hot and on my way back home its chilly. It just occured to me last week that I didn't bring a coat, a jacket, or anything of substance for the fall weather. I went and bought a nice, big sweater cape and a jacket. That should tide me over until it get's colder. I do believe that my coursework is starting to pick up now. I spent the whole weekend reading, and however interesting the readings may be, I don't like being stuck in my apartment all weekend. I had to finish a book by Lee Baker From Savage to Negro: Anthropology and the construction of race, as well as readings for my other four classes..yep you got it...that makes five!

so once again i am a blogger

This is a funny thing...this blogging. I was, at one time, an avid blogger on one competing blogsite that I will not mention, and came to the conclusion that I would begin writing in a tangible journal. I started to write for an audience and not for myself, which at that time, was problematic for the progression of my life. However, I find myself here. Beautifully situated as a Graduate Assistant who blogs. How lovely. I will enjoy this opportunity to capture, publically, this master's degree experience. I haven't really decided or figured out what exactly I should be sharing, so I'll start with something simple. On the subject of groceries-- I've never lived without my parents (I am not a sheltered, brat--how dare you insinutate!) and thus have never had to be responsible for my food consumption. However, I have realized recently that if I don't feed myself, I don't eat! So, I have been buying groceries. Attempting to sustain a well-balanced diet led me to buying the following items: broccoli, cabbage, a head of lettuce, carrots, a loaf of wheat bread, bagels, cheese, butter, pickles (lol), chicken, beans, brown rice, ground turkey, wheat pasta, some various spices, and some popsicles (for the sweet tooth). During the first full week of school, however, I began to run out of meal combination ideas. My good friend, Melissa, also a Spelman alumna, suggested we have a pot luck once a week to share food and fellowship. We had a wonderful "southern" dinner last week and I contributed the meat and rice. So, I dunno, a suggestion for supper meal...try sharing the burden with talented friends. That way you won't go hungry, or at least not by yourself.