Not Built in a Day

Just when you thought this year could get no more strange, difficult, or unexpected... hurricane season hits with a vengeance.  This post won't have any real focus, but my head is buzzing with so many thoughts that I needed to write some of them down, to share with others who may also need a moment to reflect (or just to distract themselves). I should start with the note that I am very grateful that my family came out of Hurricane Irma unscathed, but grieve for everyone affected by both Irma and Hurricane Harvey, including Puerto Rico, the Antilles and the Virgin Islands.  If you want to donate to relief efforts, the best suggestion I've heard thus far is to donate directly to local organizations, like the local chapters of the Red Cross, since they can use the funds immediately.   Or if you just don't want to donate to the Red Cross, but still want something that goes to local communities, try Presbyterian Disaster Assistance.   And don't forget there are many ot...

Another old unfinished post from the drafts pile... now complete! Often I have to explain to my colleagues that I studied art history (with a concentration in architecture) in undergrad, and recount how I decided that staying in art history wasn't for me.  Those outside the arts fields usually wonder what one does with an art history degree anyway, and I have to explain that many graduates either go into teaching or research or, after getting their master's degree or PhD, become curators.  As much as I respect the brave souls who choose those routes, I have some fairly strong opinions about why I didn't think that curating or teaching was for me.  And most of those reasons have to do with money and politics. Regarding the PhD route, my undergraduate advisor recommended that I take it, so I spent a summer doing independent research at Stanford to test it out.  Although I don't mind research, I was so unmotivated that I never actually wrote the paper I set out to ...