Hello world,
So a month ago, before I came out here to St. Paul for the summer, I decided that I would start a blog in the hopes of keeping my close friends and family up to date on my summer research and activities. Well, here I am a month later, but better late than never. Sooo much has been happening, and much of it has been kind of a whirlwind, so in some ways, starting this blog will help me process some of what's happened. I have the added bonus of, in a way, keeping in touch with you all.
Some of you may be curious about the name of my blog and my url choice. My url is mostly affected by what my options were. Some of my other ideas were already taken, but it incorporates my last name and "Mac," as in, Macalester. My blog name was a very old nickname I had--and I can assure you, one that was very short-lived. However, I thought it was funny, and again, it incorporates my last name. French fries are also a nice snack, or something to nibble on. My blog postings are hopefully, every now and then, something that you can metaphorically or intellectually nibble on.
I will also share in this first blog post a kind of warning, or "heads up." A lot of what I'm researching and engaging in is very theoretical stuff. A lot of the time, it may not make sense to you--sometimes, it doesn't make sense to me either, which is why I'm working on this research project with a mentor/advisor.
I mentioned that I am doing a summer research project. What is it about, you may ask. First, I will preface by explaining that this project is part of a Fellowship that I applied for: the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship. There is lots of official information at this website: http://www.mmuf.org/; however, I can tell you on a basic level that this is a fellowship for undergraduate students of color, or minority students. Five students from Macalester were chosen, and I was one of them. Now, over the summer, we have to attend weekly seminars led by a Mac (short for Macalester) professor; we also meet with a selected mentor, or advisor, who assigns us readings, movie viewings, and more, helping us during and for our research. My mentor is Beth Cleary, a theater professor whom I've taken classes from and who has directed me in two plays. So if I ever mention a "Beth" in the future, now you know who I'm referring to.
As for my project itself, I still don't know what my final product will be, but chances are that it will include a research paper and a performance piece. I also am still determining what the subject of the project will be, and I'm pretty sure that it will be centered around performance studies (kind of a branch of theater, but relevant to so many different academic disciplines) and queer black culture. This means that I read many scholarly articles about queer black culture, performance studies, and the intersection of the two areas. Masculinity, especially black masculinity, gets discussed frequently, as well as interracial considerations or "performances" in this/these areas. In my next blog, if you're still interested, I will explain more about "performance," since the word can have a very different meaning in academic settings--it is now a loaded word, and one that I'm still grappling with.
I will also start ending my blogs with a song lyric that resonates with me today. I'm going to try to have a new one each time, but I may forget, so forgive any repeats.
"Yes, everything's as if we never said goodbye. We taught the world new ways to dream."
-"As If We Never Said Goodbye," Sunset Boulevard
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