Ethics questions

Definitional angst during the dissertation blues

Posted onMonday 22 June 2015

Due to the subject matter of my dissertation and proposal, I’ve had to include a Glossary. Dear heavens, what a headache. Here’s my introduction to the Glossary, with reasoning: Because of the ever-changing nature of the English language, the definitions of words can be slippery to pin down. This issue is compounded when particular words…

Finding the source of dis-ease

Posted onThursday 18 June 2015

Butter chicken for dinner tonight — yum! It’s in the crockpot and starting to make the house smell delicious. Combined with the fact that it’s summer and my proposal deadlines are all stalled until my adviser returns from her (well-deserved) vacation, that means I find myself with a bit of writing time on my hands,…

My esprit de l’escalier, part 1

Posted onWednesday 22 April 2015

There is a French term I love: esprit de l’escalier. It translates literally as “wit of the stairs,” and means roughly “the concise and clever retort that occurs to you too late, as you are on the stairs and leaving the scene.” I was sad to hear it is rarely used any more in French,…

Anthropology | Ethics questions | Feminism | Random

JCP’s Dance of the Hours

Posted onTuesday 21 April 2015Tuesday 21 April 2015

Consumerism often confuses me. Statistically speaking, I am apparently taller than average for US women and (depending on what charts you use) either average or above average height for US men. I also mass more than the average woman, though I’ve not checked my weight in comparison to US men — that has the potential…

Bon courage, Women’s Spirituality of ITP

Posted onSunday 29 March 2015

I am very sad to report that the Women’s Spirituality program at the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology is being closed down. Apparently shortly after I graduated, the much-beloved president died, though this was not a surprise. A new president was selected, apparently without enough searching into his background… because — and here I condense and…

Needin’ some good vibrations

Posted onTuesday 24 March 2015Wednesday 25 March 2015

I think today I’m going to do a bit more venting on my dissertation blues… and then tomorrow talk about what I think might fix things a little. We’ll see how it goes. So at CIIS there’s something called the “Principles of Community.” They’re basically a list of suggestions to keep in mind when talking…

How about a little respect, please?

Posted onThursday 19 March 2015Wednesday 18 March 2015

Okay, time for more venting and dissertation blues. Haul out the tiny violins, please, and also everyone get ready to sing along with Arethra Franklin singing her wonderful “Respect”… Whew! Always love good, passionate music. So, now that we all feel better for that, let me get into my grumpy pants again. This log is…

Setting goals

Posted onWednesday 18 March 2015

Time for another 15 minutes (minimum) of writing, so I start getting back into the habit of doing so… The 2015 Parliament of the World’s Religions is meeting in Salt Lake City, UT this upcoming October 15th through 19th. One of my sister scholars suggested several of us get together to present a panel there,…

Dissertation blues | Education | Ethics questions | Random | Writing

Dissertation blues… part one ;)

Posted onTuesday 17 March 2015

I’ve come to the conclusion that I need to write down some of the issues I’m butting my head up against, as I write my dissertation. I’m not going to use names because hurting people isn’t my goal. I just want to vent a bit — and, should any present or future students in my…

Struggling with defining personal ethics

Posted onFriday 19 December 2014Tuesday 23 December 2014

Some years ago I had a friend with whom I lunched on a weekly basis. At that time he was on a job team that had something particularly difficult and complex to accomplish. This wouldn’t have been such a big deal except that, frankly speaking, the manager was terrible. He wished to hear only that…