Date: Tue, 1 Oct 1996 21:37:41 -0400 (EDT)
Message-Id: <199610020137.VAA22635@postbox.acs.ohio-state.edu>
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To: socgrad@csf.colorado.edu
From: maguire.9@postbox.acs.ohio-state.edu (Jessica Maguire)
Subject: An introduction
I've been reading this list for about a year, and this is the first time
I've had anything to say.  What motivated me, in conjunction with the debate
about TR Young's mini-lectures, was the suggestion that we introduce
ourselves (a great idea, since I have previously felt excluded from some
imagined inner circle).  Hi, my name is Jess.

Some things I'm interested in are childbirth (homebirth), (holistic)
healing, (alternative and home) schooling, mythologies (of all kinds
including the myth of "progress"), cooperative living (intentional
communities) and working (worker-owned) environments, and qualitative
methods.  I have yet to be encouraged in my study of any of these things.

TR wrote:
those at Berkeley, Michigan
>and Colorado [as they are now], Stanford, Chicago, Illinois, Ohio
>State and other places around the country have little need of such
>posts.

As a student at Ohio State I would like to extend my thanks to TR Young for
his mini-lectures, and say that I (and I'm sure many others) *do* have need
of such posts.  While there are scholars who deal with some of the issues TR
addresses, the bulk of my training has neglected the very things that drew
me to sociology in the first place - specifically, integrating and
synthesizing knowledge about society, and taking nothing for granted.

Graduate school has been a disappointment for me in a lot of ways, and the
exclusive focus on specialization and quantitative methods is probably the
biggest.  It's difficult to verbalize my concerns, especially because few
people I've met seem to share them.  In my experience so far (2 years), the
program I'm in overwhelmingly promotes the categorization of miniscule bits
of data for the purposes of publication (and maybe trickle-down education)
without regard for the big picture, actively informing the general public,
or having *any* impact on the real world.  I have a hard time with this.

I'd love to hear from others on the list about their evolving relationships
with the discipline.  Have you been disappointed?  Have you been inspired?
By whom? What? Where?  Is anyone in a program that supports the kind of work
I'm trying to do?

Peace

Jess