Turns Out I Love Selected Topics, or Geeking out Over Geeking Out
Classes are clicking along here- we’ve hit the midpoint of our stay in Japan, and of my courses. I have a medium-sized pile of midterm exams to grade, so what better time to write a blog post? I continue to love all of my classes- IR because it’s my heart, Intro to US because the […]
Weeks 3 and 4 Teaching
Two weeks that were so busy I didn’t blog, so here’s quick catch up of some highlights. The classroom continues to be a space of joy for me- I missed it so much, and I’m so glad to be back. It’s also very tiring, so I’m grateful that I will have my spring semester to […]
How to Move 4 People for 5 Months
Getting to Japan has been a bit of a rollercoaster- applying and being accepted during a pandemic meant that we were not sure we were even going to be admitted into the country. Nothing went according to the usual schedule (which is completely understandable- it was then and still is now a whole pandemic!). Once […]
Week 2: Teaching Thoughts
This week, I wrapped up week 2 of teaching in Kyoto, which is also our second week out of quarantine. Living in a new country and trying to get along in a language that is not my first has been exciting, challenging, and tiring, even with the help of technology and the kind understanding of […]
I taught! In a classroom! And it was AWESOME!!!!
This week, I had nerves like I haven’t had in years- back to school nerves! I’ll be teaching four classes at Doshisha University this semester. The course load is very similar to what I’m used to at home (the Fulbright representative I met in 2019 had said they were looking to expand their outreach to […]
Policy Choices: COVID, Guns, and Trains, oh my!
I’ve only been here a few weeks, and the first two weeks were spent in strict quarantine, but already I can say, Japan is awesome. Japan is awesome in and of itself, but as a comparative politics person, the differing policy decisions between Japan and the US are so very striking! Since they’re both high […]
APSA on Fire, or Why I’m Extra Weird at APSA
7 years ago, someone set several fires in the biggest hotel in Washington DC, causing a very difficult night for many political scientists, who had gathered for the annual meeting/end-of-summer-nerdfest of the American Political Science Association (APSA). I have long suspected APSA was the worst- a holiday weekend, right before school started in my neck […]
Doshisha Diary: T – 2 weeks
In two weeks, I’ll pack up my partner, kids, and many electronic devices to spend 5 months in Kyoto Japan as a Fulbright lecturer at Doshisha University. This has been a long time coming, and I’m still not entirely sure it will all happen (it definitely should, and hopefully will, but it’s 2021, after 2020, […]
Half and Half and Crazy 8’s
I’m not a numerologist by any means, but halves and the number 8 are really hitting me these days, giving me some rather Proustian vibes. In April, I hit a big milestone birthday which is a multiple of 8, and June contains the 16th anniversary of marrying this guy; we’ve been more than friends for […]
Digital Pedagogy 2: Too OER, Too Curious*
So, this past semester, I had the great privilege of teaching a class in the CUNY Graduate Center’s Digital Humanities MA Program. Not only that, but I got to design the whole thing, from top to bottom, with no example or prior syllabus to go on. It was my first time teaching at the graduate […]
