SYMPOSIUM, PARTS 2 & 3 (and more RL stuff)

Previous days: 1

MONDAY

On Monday night we had the lecture for our keynote speaker, Ester Hernandez, a visual artist from San Francisco who deals often with her Chicana heritage. Sadly, I don't have much to report on this, because her lecture was so uninteresting that I wasn't paying all that much attention. She did say some great things, to be sure, but she ended up talking about her own work, and the ideas and thought processes behind some of her work, which she showed via PowerPoint. Which would have been all right, but instead of giving an actual lecture, she read off her entire talk on pieces of paper (and I suspect she's given this very similar talks elsewhere, given that for an artist, she didn't seem all that animated). Seriously, I could've gone to her website to read her bio and look at her gallery, and I would've gotten the same out of it (except maybe her explanations of her art, but it's not like it isn't hard to decipher anyway). Plus, turnout wasn't as great as I expected (which I'll get into more later). Overall, a bit of a disappointment. :(

TODAY

Now this was pretty interesting! This afternoon one of our professors, David Stoll (who I mentioned before was involved with the controversy over the accuracy of Rigoberta Menchú's autobiography), gave a talk on the experiences of the Ixil Mayans of Guatemala ("Ixil" pronounced "ee-sheel"); it was supposed to be focused more on Mayan immigration to the U.S., but since he didn't have much personal experience or knowledge about that, we didn't get to hear too much about it.

 ( In which mecteol learns Mayans are lizards in the sack -- literally )

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OK, RL stuff.

Things I am not looking forward to:

• Friday. Because this is what I have due for Friday: a problem set for Environmental Econ (which are pains in the ass to do, and I need to look over the relevant chapters for tonight because I still haven't read them yet, lol), a problem set for stats (not nearly as bad, can be done the night before), a paper for Japanese (it's only supposed to be a page, and I can totally do this the night before, but it's still somewhat annoying and time-consuming), and the infamous "letter to the editor" assignment for IEP (it's only supposed to be 50 words, which is exactly the problem). I tried reading more of Collapse Monday night, but after reading 10 pages I fell asleep and woke up a little before 1 AM, so I've decided I can wing it, so I can focus more on Enviro Econ for tonight and tomorrow. (And I'm totally procrastinating right now by writing this, lol XD)
• My second Enviro Econ exam a week from tonight. Which means I need to study extensively this weekend, and I have to miss both the symposium's screening of Smoke Signals (GODDAMMIT DDDDDDDDDX) and the first half hour of the first poetry slam of the year (though I guess I can still make it to that).

Things I am looking forward to:

• BASKET WEAVING!!!!! This Saturday afternoon, we're bring in an Abenaki basket weaver as part of our symposium. I'm not quite sure how it relates to "current issues of indigenous people," but I suppose we need events like these to allow people to have some fun, and to raise awareness over various aspects of native cultures, which need to be protected. I'm definitely looking forward to this! :D
• QUIDDITCH!!!!! OK, I'm not actually participating (there's no way in hell I would play that, not even if you made me God), but I will definitely be a spectator (though maybe not for the whole day, depending on how much homework I have). And if it is anything like last year, it will be positively EPIC. (Oh the stories I have of last year....8D)
• SUSHI PARTY!!!!!! And tomorrow evening too! :DDDDDDDD Two of the professors in the Japanese department hold one at their home every fall, and as you could probably guess this is a much-anticipated event. I'll probably end up as the wallflower again, but hey, I only get to have sushi once a year! ;-)
• JOB INTERVIEW!!!!!  I was supposed to have an interview for Vermont Campus Compact for their web assistant position (which one of the people involved in it offered me directly) on Tuesday morning, but the person responsible for my interview was sick and had to push it out until next Tuesday morning.  It's a big trek into town, but if I get the job it would totally be worth it.  Which is a VERY big "if," given I am vastly underqualified for this job.  Oh well, it never hurts, right?  In the meantime, I'll try to read up on Dreamweaver and Filezilla, and apply for a job at the college computer helpdesk as well.

Also, I went to Wednesday yoga class for the first time this afternoon. Very different, but I like the instructor (even if her style of teaching is VASTLY different from the one I'm used to), and I will definitely continue this.

.........I just realized that when I finish this week, I'll be halfway through this semester. O_o;;;