My mother always wanted me to be a Doctor

And Hey! I am!

Yep, I defended my dissertation last week. It went well -- my strategy of scheduling the defense at the unlikely hour of 7:30 am prevented hecklers and kept my committee groggy enough to let me slip through with only minor scrapes.

So, I was able to check that off my to-do list. A few more revisions to the diss, and its good to go. If I can figure out how to get the durn thing formatted in the Uni's style template, that will be a win as well.

On the not-so-good news front, I did not land a job this go-round. I have a couple of irons in the fire that might pan out, but basically I am looking at scraping together some work until the next season of applications rolls around. That has been pretty tough to get my head around, especially since I just passed the major milestone of the defense. I would have liked to have had a few more days to savor that victory before turning my mind to the difficult days ahead -- but no Uni job means no insurance, and that's something that I can't allow to happen.

On the fitness front, its been a tough week as well -- I always have trouble with that when my mind is not at ease with my future. For example, I had a fabulous 21 mile run the day before the defense -- I ran easy, felt good, didn't hurt too bad after. Sunday I had a crushing day, tried to run 10 miles hard (+/- 7:00 minute miles) and went: 6:56 / 7:45 / 7:30 / 7:15 / 8:45 / 7:08 and then quit and walked it in. I think I'm fit enough -- my body certainly was capable of getting back down to near the goal pace -- but I couldn't keep my head in the game. I tried to make it into a workout about being gutsy -- thats what miles 3/4 & 6 were about, but in the end I just couldn't keep picking my feet up and putting them down. 3 weeks until the marathon; I'm not going to let one bad day ruin my confidence -- I did run 10x 800m @ 3:30 on Thursday last week, right dead on pace for a 3:30 marathon -- but I have to get it back together before too much longer.

To that end I went down to the Library of Congress today. I love the LOC, the magical way books appear on a conveyor belt from out of the bowels of the building. The Jefferson Reading Room is really splendid; a good place to be. I am digging in to the book manuscript, beginning to map out some territory for chapters, looking over the field, as it were. I found a Fred Astaire dance book that contained sheet music and Labanotation for 12 pieces of choreography; Two books by Arthur Murray -- one of his 1924 "study dancing by mail" books and a 1936 hardback from after he had hit it big, and had a studio in NYC. Paul Whiteman, the white jazz bandleader, wrote the intro, in which we learn a little about Arthur's past -- he won a waltz competition, took a class at Castle House, and became a teacher there, then went with a baroness to teach in Asheville, NC, where the patrons were charged $50 an hour for lessons, and he was paid $5. He stayed on for three years teaching (after the anonymous baroness left -- something for me to research, there) before going to Atlanta to business school. Where he hit on the teaching dance-by-mail thing, and the rest is history.

It was also a chance to sit down and chat with one of my peers in the department with whom I don't get enough face time -- we were in different buildings doing research but got together for lunch -- that was awesome!

Also looked at a book by Skippy Blair, the legendary California dance teacher, published a book in '78 about her system of dancing, which would be easier to read without her PENCHANT for ALL CAPS.

The thing I was reminded of is how tiring that kind of research is -- I know I have a finite time with the material, so I'm skimming and trying to get a sense of what is and isn't important, taking notes, looking for stuff that I might use and trying to weed out stuff that isn't appropriate. Mentally taxing. I'll probably be down at the LOC a lot this next couple of months, kicking through GV1751 -- thats right, baby. I have my own call #.

Dissertation to Committee? Check.

Hello faithful readers and welcome to another edition of the Rundown! Apologies for the delay, and heck, I even ran a 10 mile race and didn't bother to tell you about it (73:25, 26th of 111, 6 of 16 in my AG). Why? Well, I had a good reason, I think. I was finishing my dissertation.

Which was a good thing. Ok, yes -- I have found four things I would have changed or added in the last 48 hours, but nothing major. Cleaning up the office after the final push, I found a couple of file folders of material I had meant to get back to but never did. Meh.

The Diss came in at a mere 250 pages, which I am told is not all that short for the humanities nowadays. I know some of the work of my peers is in that same ballpark. But, length aside, is it any good?

Some of it is. Some of it, if I may say so myself, is dead sexy. Much of it is not, but I subscribe to the belief that the dead sexy bits are set up by the grinding away at the data that just isn't all that interesting. There are one or two bits that I am especially proud of, and a couple of sections that I think aren't all that strong. I don't think anything is flat out bad, but then I wouldn't, would I? :)

Maybe the best thing (aside from just being done) is that there are four or more ideas that I want to pursue further that arise from the diss. That's a good sign, I think, that I don't just want to shelve it and move on to something else. I mean, I AM going to shelve it and move on to something else -- I have a book manuscript for a different project due in November, so that's the next thing that has to get going -- but nonetheless I am excited to start looking with fresh eyes at the material.

If you're interested in reading it, drop me a line -- I go to defend in two weeks, and then I am sure I will have some re-writes, but a major chapter in my life is coming to an end here. Next up =-= get a job! (Hi mom!)

Finding the Seam

This was a productive week. Although I did not run as much as I would have liked, I did get a lot of writing done, and the quality of said writing seems to be pretty darn high. As an added bonus, I think I have found my smoking gun.



As you, faithful reader, know, I contend that the Waltz became the sine qua non of ballroom dancing at/around the turn of the century, in response to the increased popularity of African American dance and musical forms. When I look at the popular ballroom dances of today, mostly what I see is a variation of the Waltz - yes, even in the latin categories. Or, more correctly, I see that these dances have all been through a filter that makes them look more like Waltz than anything else.



This week, while tracking down some more information on Allan Dodworth, a dancing master in NYC in the 19th century, I came across a mention of an organization, the American Society of Professors of Dance. They organized in the 1870s, and incorporated in New York in 1883. Every year, they held an annual meeting, and every year the NYTimes or the Washington Post managed to print something about their agenda. Some years more, some less, but from 1883 - 1918, I have been able to track the broad strokes of this association.



In 1922 they re-appear as the American Society of Teachers of Dance (A move to be more like the British teacher's group, the Imperial STD? Likely.), but 1922 is really beyond the scope of my study. It is telling, however, that the organization has such continuity, particularly in light of their principles. They were formed in reaction to the dwindling popularity of set dances -- quadrilles, lancers, germans, what you probably think of as "folk dancing" if you think of it at all, which, exepting when you read this blog, you probably dont -- in favor of "round" dances, like the Waltz, two-step, polka, etc; what you know today, broadly speaking, as ballroom dances. Partners go around the room together, in a counterclockwise direction, yada yada yada. The problem for the dance teachers is that round dances like these are WAY easier to learn and perform, they require far less by way of skill and dedication to master -- you can learn them from a friend, and have fun doing them. What to do? They are going to be out of a job if things keep moving in that direction. . . This is the 1880s. They aim at Standardization of performance as a way of job security -- making everyone everywhere dance in the same way. Sound familiar? Well, maybe not to you, but ask a ballroom dancer that you know if they could go anywhere and dance with anyone, and odds are they would say yes -- dancing is that standardized today. Common knowledge, really. Please, don't bother me with such trivial distractions!



Anyway. By 1900, the ASPD have far worse problems than the popularity of the Waltz or two-step. No one dances the waltz anymore, they are all into this crazy new fad, Ragtime. Long story short (too late!) they go to war against it, ban the music from their halls, and try to get people to dance properly. And the model they hold up, the standard to which everyone they instruct must aspire? You guessed it -- the Waltz. Boo-yah. Knocked out 15 pages this week on these folks, and there's more to come. That's chapter two nearly in the bag, and with luck I'll bring it in only 2 weeks behind my anticipated schedule.



On a sadder note, I got my first rejection letter today. Ok, yes, thank you Landru, its not my first rejection letter EVAR. But for the current job hunt, we can scratch the Jesuits of Scranton off our list of prospective employers.



Ran 10.12 miles today, 92 minutes. Rock Creek Park is really quite loverly!

Track workouts in VA are overrated

So, after the 10K sunday, took monday off, then ran 45 minutes down 16th street, (23 out, 22 back). That works out to be about 4.8 miles. Yesterday, took the Metro to VA where I ran a track workout -- 5x400, 4 mins per (8 min miles) with 200 easy jog between. 1 mile warmup/cooldown, 5 miles net.

So, this track is in VA, right? 45 minutes to get there, 90 minutes home, and I functionally ran by myself. B was insistant that this was a good thing to go to, there are a lot of people there, blah blah blah. Did I mention that it was 30 friggin degrees yesterday? Hence the title of the post -- going all the way to VA to do this run was no way shape or form worth the trouble. There's a perfectly good track ten minutes from B and I, and if we're going to do the work, why don't we go there?

There is a weekly poker game not too far from the track. They were playing texas holdem, and B was going. But I have one firm rule for cards -- don't play if you can't afford to lose. So, I said thanks, got back on the metro, and headed home to M, cranky because I had been gone for 4 hours and she was having a bad thyroid day. B did well though, finished up two bills; but that is kinda my point -- I couldn't have afforded to lose those two bills, and that's what playing at this game means -- you have to be willing to put more than a bill on the table to not be pushed around by big stacks, and you may just have a night where you have second-best hands. So, I am grumpy - I would have liked to go.

Family is coming to town today -- My dad gets into Dulles at 3:30. Proximal cause is the funeral of his brother-in-law, from the side of the family that I haven't been much in touch with in the last 20 years. There have been series of bad-blood-inducing incidents in that branch of mi famiglia, and so despite the fact that a cousin of mine lives in the metro area, and has a kid 2 months older than J, I've not gotten in contact. Which should make for an interesting weekend, no?

My uncle was a major general in the army, and is being buried with full honors at Arlington. We decided that J should go to this event; J was unsure, and thought that perhaps he could just visit the grave with flowers at a later date. I had a troubling experience at the first funeral I attended as a child -- I couldn't understand why people at the wake were not solemn and mourning -- and I hope to help J through the experience. He's a pretty emotional young man, so we will see how it goes.

There has been some interesting academic manouevering as well -- I think I am getting re-assigned for my TA hours next semester because of some ill-thought-out decisions made last year. Not a big deal, but I didn't do the best I could have done in working the situation at the management level. A good, low-stakes place to learn the lesson that its all political, and you have to keep your eye on the ball. Functionally it won't mean much different, but I wish I had displayed a bit more savvy in the gamesmanship. I tend to idealize the environments where I work as being free of that kind of happy horsehocky; no more of that!

Probably out of touch until the weekend. I will have some stuff to write about that isn't mere reportage, I think. Value added anticipated!

Move over little dog . . .

So, as the end of the grad school experience approaches, I have begun to apply to jobs -- first packet went out on Tuesday. I am of decidedly mixed emotions about this moment. I love the place we are living, really enjoy being in a city with M's family nearby and friends-a-plenty, and the stable environment / awesome school system has been great for J.

On the other hand, I want a friggin job. First app went out to Batman State, which employment would theoretically begin Jan 1 2009.

Yes. Two months out. !!!

There are other jobs I am more interested in, in parts of the country that M would rather be than the Motor City. But you know what? I am taking the job if they offer it to me. We may have to work something out where M and J stay here for the spring or something, but . . . that's certainly the cart before the horse.

Other prospects include a Jesuit school in the Windy City, Nut State (IN), EnsignCrusher-an (CT), and the big brass ring, the job from UNCle.

On the home front, took J to see The Express (and failed to let M know, putting me in the doghouse, hence the title of this post). A Fine Film, though I can't disagree with the reviewer who said that it works despite its conformity to convention. The movie has a lot of heart, and it was a real treat to watch J watch the movie. He doesn't know the formula - or rather, he knows it so well that he would only notice it if wasn't there - and I take a fierce kind of pride in the way he doesn't understand why people would be so hateful because of skin color. I've thought alot about the way my parents raised us regarding race relations. For the most part, growing up in the center of the country, the subject never came up. I dont remember knowing anyone who wasn't white until middle school. So, on the one hand, there was no attempt to make us kids aware of that aspect of the world.

On the other hand, early on the three of us - without exception or ambiguity - rejected the idea of prejudice based on skin color. I will never forget a conversation my brother and I had with my dad on day. Pop had a job working in a big box store, and made the comment one day, I don't remember why, about how "those damn black kids are so lazy." What I remember most about that moment is how much it shocked me, that my dad could even say something like that. G and I tore into him for a good thirty minutes, and I remember what it boiled down to: in my dad's experience, the black people he had worked with had a different work ethic than he did. He apologized for putting it into a blanket generalization, if I recall correctly. I can't imagine anything less would have satisfied G and I, fired up as we were.

I have more to say about race and my family, but enough for one day. Point is, I guess, that I want J to know that America, with her great ideals, has failed to live up to her promises for so many of the people who live here. I want him to know that the problems they had - as J says, "back in slavery time" or "back in segregation time" aren't gone, or fixed, or over. Better? Yes. But the work isn't done. "Until the color of a person's skin matters no more than the color of their eyes," yes? I worry at what a completely unattainable standard that seems to be -- but then I think about the changes that have happened in my lifetime. Maybe its not too much to hope that J's kids might know a world like that.

Ran 20 minutes hard on Monday, 15 on Tuesday, and took Wednesday off.