death by polygon

in dividing up the writing for the project we're working on, my teammates gave me one particular chunk on the very reasonable claim that i was the only one who understood it (true). there are two problems with this: i have tried to explain this point to various people at least three times, so my explanation in rapidly devolving into the high points only, in the way a proof does when you've been sitting in it for a week and know it front and back. second, it's mostly a set of precise graphics that make the argument convincing, and i am the person on the team least qualified to make neat well thought out graphics, and the person most qualified to know what graphics are needed. (actual quote: "i'm going to steal a torus off the web and doodle on it in Paint. are you guys okay with that?")

i offered to take on more of the project, and they waved me off, saying i had the hard part so it was okay if it was a small part, which i was a little whatever about, but since the soreness in my wrist has rapidly moved into the 'ice, aspirin, and ace bandage' state of things, perhaps i shouldn't complain.

i am getting quite good at one-handed + one finger typing, though.

(no subject)

One of my professors decided that we should all go hear Lisa Dodson speak today instead of having class, since she writes about low income women and their struggles to balance work and family in and the class in question is about the economic history of work and the family. It was a really interesting and utterly depressing talk, and there was good discussion about her data and her methods and all sorts of things, and people were being challenging without being rude. And then someone (not from my class) asked a really stupid question about how the middle class doesn't get to spend time with their kids either, and besides the poor get all those benefits like welfare and food stamps and subsidized house, and how hard it is to be upper middle class.

Appalling as this was, Dodson basically responded with a beautiful smackdown that amounted to the academic version of "LOL NO". I think I might be a little bit in love.