Every time I go back to Princeton, the entire thing feels like a non-stop personal examination. While I should just enjoy my precious few days on campus, I find myself spending the balance of time agonizing over how it is, exactly, I am supposed to relate to my alma mater. I am I supposed to… Continue reading Going Back; Moving On
It’s amazing that I’ve already been back in the United Statse for a week. As usual, the transition is much faster than I would have imagined. Preoccupations with my Spanish skills and obsession with grabbing a few more interviews have quickly fated, as I shift gears back into ivory tower mode. Some things stay with… Continue reading Hot Latin Romance
The dirty secret of my budding* career in the social sciences is that talking to people kind of scares me. It’s a bit difficult to explain why: having spent three years Mohawk-ed in one of the country’s more conservative institutions, I can’t say that I’m too obsessed with what people think of me. Still, though,… Continue reading Cold Calling
For all intents and purposes, I finished my term on Thursday—the day before my final exam—when I gave up on studying, unable to convince myself anymore that learning to do ANOVA statistical tests by hand or to ramble about epistemological approaches to ethnography had anything to do with, well, anything. Paul Willis, a Professor at… Continue reading Adventures Under the Midnight(ish) Sun
Back for one weekend only, by popular demand: Feeling a tad aged on my birthday, and consumed with fear of becoming a bit too predictable (or maybe it was just how temptingly long I had let my hair grow out?), I decided to re-shave a mohawk last weekend. It was a lovely 48 hours of… Continue reading Blast from the Past
Somewhat against my better judgment, I turned twenty-three yesterday. Anyone who reads this regularly knows that I’ve been going through a bit of existential angst about where my life is heading lately. Yesterday was a nice switch, a chance to take a step back and think about where, in the last year, I’ve been. As… Continue reading Twenty Three
Reunions with fellow marching-bandies are inevitably the catalyst for endless reminiscing, and Bagdis’ recent provided opportunities aplenty. We were skyping with a friend back at Princeton—who, dare say, I predate—and, as usual, I started subjecting her to tales from my orange-plaid glory days (I think being forced to listen to stories from alumni is something… Continue reading Some aimless reminiscing
Bused down to London yesterday to view “The Boat Race,” the hundred-and-eighty-something year old rowing race between Oxford and Cambridge. It’s quite a big deal (and not just for wanna-be, neophyte rowers like myself) – the Oxford boat had several Olympians and two guys who claim to have invented facebook, and it seemed like half… Continue reading How the other half lives
Well, I finally did it: I had a proper spring break trip. Never mind that I waited until I was a graduate student to do it, or that I wound up in Barcelona, not Cancun, and that it barely got above sixty degrees. All the parts were in place: there were messy nights at overcrowded… Continue reading Americans Abroad
There are so many things to be stressing about on a Saturday morning: ever-nearing deadlines for assessed essays, upcoming meetings with my thesis advisor (still without a topic), and looming qualification exams. And, for all that, I’ve spent all morning with my mind fixed on five minutes I will spend on the Isis this afternoon,… Continue reading The Race
Alex V. Barnard - Sociology 