There’s that saying “Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they aren’t out to get you.” Why is there a saying: “Just because there’s a phenomenon called impostor syndrome doesn’t mean you are not an impostor.” Except, not about you. You aren’t an impostor and if you think otherwise that’s just more evidence of how insidious [...]
(I realize that I haven’t blogged in weeks and now it’s two times in an hour, but bear with me)
Back in my Intro to Soc days I used to have students do this project on stigma.* Within minutes of my last post, a friend shared a link to this little Hollywood adaptation of that assignment [...]
I’m sure that I’m not the only social psychology instructor that hates to show any part of the Stanford Prison Study because of the lackluster video and sound recording (especially evident about a minute into this excerpt). I mean it’s such an important and influential experiment - methodologically, ethically, and intellectually - one would hope [...]
My TA recently approached me about students in our class (stats/methods).
TA: I think we need to reassess where our students are.
SK: Oh, really? Why?
TA: Um… well… one just came up to me and asked, “what is this thing - a ‘mean’ - that he keeps talking about?”
SK: Oh! [eyes widened, worried surprise]
TA: Yeah, well, that’s [...]
This is both a story about how I’m pathetic, and (cleverly) a way to brag. Soon, Top Chef begins. And through some mystical process, I have managed to get invited to watch the opening with one of the contestants! So I get the evite today and notice that only ten of us will be there. [...]
I’m not usually an especial fan of this sort of humor, but this clip made me laugh out loud here in my office several times. I mean, not a big guffawing laugh but the little snorty laugh I do. [HT: Gwen and Cap'n Crab]
Remember in Quiz Show where the producers rigged the game show so that the guy won week after week and then blew it on a comparatively very easy question, because that was more poignant and had a compelling irony? Lo, via a Washington Post blog:
If you’ve missed [Fox's "The Moment of Truth"], I’ll summarize: [...]
I didn’t realize how bad. I know that others here (and readers) know far more about this than I do. But really? 1 in 100 U.S. adults are behind bars? I have recently been feeling that we’re moving to a moment of Marx’s revenge. It may not be proletariat and bourgeoisie, but I feel like [...]
Based on popular demand (n=2), I’m raising a question from today’s “ask a scatterbrain” comments thread from “off topic” to the topic:
Is it possible to be on the job market “on the down low”?
“The Economics of Workaholism: We Should Not Have Worked on This Paper” by Daniel Hamermesh and Joel Slemrod.
1. Expend energy railing against the Patriot Employer Act, co-sponsored by Barack Obama. What’s to hate about it? From the Economist’s Free Exchange blog (h/t Mark Thoma):
There is much to dislike in the bill. Essentially, it offers employers a tax credit, worth one percent of taxable income, in exchange for adherence to a [...]
From a student:
I’m a few years away from the job market. But not THAT far away. What matters? Everyone I talk to alternates between telling me how hard it is to predict the job market while acting surprised that I’m not doing what I “should”. So, what “should” I do? What matters on my CV? [...]
I decided that with this morning’s class I would finally master the mojo of integrating video clips into my lecture. After all, the topic was “authority,” which meant giving some consideration of–you have to see this coming–the Milgram experiment. I downloaded a program to convert YouTube/Google clips into .mwhatever files, and upgraded QuickTime [...]
OMG! I am reading the copyedits of my book and making almost-final revisions! Squeee!
I don’t know what is wrong with me, but for whatever reason, I have this feeling of excitement combined with nervousness that seems to be building upon itself into a crazy whirlpool of doom/glee in my stomach. Why the doom? Why not [...]
I am on the graduate admissions committee here at Northwestern. Unbeknownst to me when I signed up for the gig, this also involves helping to plan Northwestern’s recruiting event, a two-day affair here called “Sociology Days.”* Does anyone have any sense of what works with these sorts of events and what doesn’t? [...]
Ralph Nader is running for president. My presumption is that he will not be invited to have a quasi-rally at ASA, like in 2000, but you never know. After all, note #5 in Kestrel’s list of “How many sociologists does it take to screw in a light bulb?“
I have said that it was good that [...]
In my office, grading. I’m used having my last name misspelled with a “z” instead of an “s,” but I just read a student assignment in which my name was listed as “Professor Breeze” rather than “Freese.”
As I’m in an advice-giving mood, I thought I’d post here something I wrote quite a few years ago. This began as a lunch conversation with a departing grad student (who is now a dean) who asked me if I had any advice for her as she took her first job as an assistant professor. [...]
As someone who suffers from kidney stones, I’m always on the lookout for news about them and how I might better avoid another round of the excruciating pain that come with them. I recently noted several reports recounting a recent study in JAMA on how kidney stone pain is treated in emergency rooms by [...]
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