Monday, May 22, 2006

Vacation update

Rainy, windy and cool in Steamboat -- also, beautiful and pretty empty... many of the businesses are only open in the winter. I used to have phone contact with a salon here that was only open from mid-October to late-April.. i.e. ski season. She earned enough money over the winter to play all summer...

I scanned / read / parsed and "endnoted" three books today:
"The Ethics of War and Peace" by Lackey
"On War and Morality" by Holmes
"Just War Principles and Causes" by Richard J. Regan

All are pretty good books, either Lackey or Regan will give good info on the subject, but Regan is better because it is more updated (1989 vs. 1996).

It is nice to be done with teaching and to have time to work on my own stuff...

At BNCC I noticed certain faculty members (none in my discipline, I'm the only non-PhD in the bunch....) turn-up their noses at the prospect of my wanting to work on my dissertation. They also got pretty defensive etc... and I think the only thing that made my summer plans acceptable is that I'm also presenting at a pedigogical conference this summer.

I really hate that attitude. It isn't like I'm a worse teacher because I spend time learning about my own subject --- of course, Wise Woman would tell me that the person who got really bent out of shape is in a made-up discipline and that I shouldn't take it seriously -- as she probably DOES know everthing about her field.

Of course, the person I'm thining about has a BA in education.... hmmmmm. I'm glad other people do that and not me.

3 comments:

timna said...

You know you need to do it. But you're right, sometimes it can seem like a furtive project.

App Crit said...

It's ironic, isn't it? People in Education are the biggest opponents to advanced degrees, unless they're in Education.

Good luck on the research!

Cheers

Inside the Philosophy Factory said...

I just keep getting the message that somehow since I came in with an MA, finishing my dissertation is no longer important, and that when I do work on my own academic projects I'm somehow cheating my students.

Dammit -- my students get plenty of access to my mind/brain -- they don't get it all. Next year is going to be even more of that BS --- but, hey -- I've got our equivalent of tenure, screw them... not really... but I can ease off a bit in favor of my own professional development.

What is really interesting about all of this is when I tell my students that I'm still doing my own PhD work they seem to have more respect for me and make comments like "she doesn't give us busy work, she's also a student" -- they also ask me about how it is going. Maybe they just like to see the other side of me.