Post-midterm
Five weeks are gone out of my ten week quarter. DAAP doesn't really have "mid-terms", per se. We do, but they happen around the eighth week of the ten week quarter. No, it doesn't make a lot of sense to me either.
Through much deliberation and mental anguish, as well as being an annoyance to everyone around me, I have a capstone topic. I'll be creating a motion piece based on the idea of women and numbers. Vague? Oh, maybe. It makes a little bit of sense in my head, and I have three more weeks to work it out before I get thrown under the bus in front of a panel of professors. I'm not terribly worried. Just a little worried.
It's my experience, in my clearly so-many-years-as-an-adult life, that women tend to define themselves by numbers. Even smart, successful, amazing women have that occasional voice in the back of their head reminding them how old they are, how much they weigh, what size that skirt was that they couldn't fit into yesterday, how many calories were wasted on lunch, how long they'll have to spend on the elliptical to overcompensate. We create websites based on giving a woman a numerical rating, as if someone can be defined by one picture of themselves uploaded to the internet. Sure, some people think it's all in good fun, and I won't pretend I haven't looked through them with friends and had a good laugh or two, but what does that honestly do to our view of ourselves and one another?
If anything comes to mind for you when "women and numbers" is mentioned, feel free to drop me a line. Comments here will be seen by everyone, of course, but you can feel free to email me at rizzo.jen @ gmail.com if you'd like to share your thoughts with just me. I'm compiling information from everyone who's willing to give it to me. Your thoughts will contribute to the final project, but your identity won't be used in any way.
Other than that project, nothing terribly notable has been going on. Work has been a little slow, teaching has been great as always, and I'm working on a diabolical plan to book three vacations in the near future. (Kansas City in April, Sarasota in June, Kansas City again at the very end of June for the graduation party spectacular.) It has left me complaining to anyone who will listen about the price of gas, hotels, airline tickets and renting a car when you're under the age of 25.
I'm also cooking up a plan for dinner on Valentine's Day. (Pun entirely intended.) We're a little strapped for cash thanks to one of us finishing up our education and dropping to less-than-part-time hours, so rather than going out for a pricey meal, we've decided to do a nice, quiet evening at home. I have no idea what I'm going to come up with, but I wouldn't be surprised if some sort of seafood was involved.
