Tanya the Zany T.A.

Greetings from academic boot camp...

Wow, I should be doing one of the 3 papers or 450 pages of reading I have due next Tuesday instead of click-clacking away on my weblog. Seriously, I can't believe how much stuff I have to get done before then (even though I'm THRILLED about all the stuff I'm reading/writing about). There's the IDCE Program retreat this weekend, so that will rule out any quality library time. What is the retreat, you ask? Well basically (And I DO mean basic), we are being forced into kumbah-ya-ing with our fellow grad students and profs in the woods of New England for three consecutive days. There go my fantasies of a Labor Day weekend that involves electricity and running water. I keep imagining myself shivering in the rain with my colleagues, huddled under a lean-to made of leaves and a stick. Not to mention the forced competitive sports and NO HAIRDRYER...the humanity!

On a sunnier note, I got assigned a pretty kickass teaching assistant position yesterday. I get to work closely with a professor in my own department (International Development) and assist with his "Introduction to Cultural Anthropology for Development" course. I'm so excited about it. He'll give the general lectures to the large group, then the 3 TAs lead individual discussion groups of 25 students or so. So yes...I will be molding young minds. I just hope my pants don't fall down and people don't throw paper airplanes at my head. Professor Duncan is a hilarious guy and a great lecturer. To demonstrate cultural relativism today, he jumped on his desk, squatted in the universal position and asked students to ponder "Why do we sit when we shit? Why don't we squat like the rest of the world?" He then reviewed the anamolous history of "The Throne" in the Western world, and how it's actually counterintuitive from a biological perspective. I'm gonna LOVE this class.

Anyway, I must run and download my readings for my Development Theory class. It is some heavy stuff. I haven't heard the word "epistemological" for a while, so gotta brush up...

Professor TKP