The Kinsey Institute

Today marked my first venture into the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction at Indiana University. In my eight years attending IU I had never had a reason to step foot in the Kinsey. I was fortunate enough to enroll in a course this semester offered by the Department of Gender Studies: GNDR G702 Researching Gender Issues as taught by Dr. Judith Allen.

The Kinsey Institute is an amazing place. It is located in Morrison Hall. On face value, when walking into parts of Morrison Hall, I got the impression that parts of it was kind of a hole. But as soon as you step into the Kinsey it is like stepping into a whole different world. The artwork and pieces hanging on the walls are amazing and there was definitely a different vibe there that is not present in other parts of IU’s campus. I am definitely looking forward to visiting the Kinsey fifteen more times this semester; I only wish the class wasn’t an eight-weeks class which means double the work for the first half of the semester and then the class is done.

And might I recommend to those of you out there that haven’t seen the fabulous movie Kinsey that you go out now and rent it. It is as accurate a retelling of Dr. Alfred Kinsey’s life as you will find out there.

My First Day of the Fall Semester

With the completion of my first day of classes, I find myself reflecting on my day. It is definitely a change from my past 5 semesters. I treading into new waters that I have very little experience with. I’d like to share a few random thoughts that I’ve had about today and I hope others can relate to them.

Who schedules a graduate level class at 8am? Today was day 1. I have approximately 30 more days that I will have to attend class at 8am. It is definitely a difficult task for me to not only attend class at this time, but to participate coherently will definitely take a lot of effort.

My 8am class is in the area of media law and policy. This is definitely subject matter that I have virtually no experience with. I’ve taken a class in the School of Law of Indiana University, but nothing has prepared me for this. I only hope that I can be successful with the subject matter.

At 9:30am I had a class that was a bit more familiar to me: a research methods class in audience analysis. While some of the topics are new to me (ratings analysis) this class should work as reinforcement for many of the research measures that I will use in my future career. And any class I take with Dr. Rob Potter is definitely a good class.

Finally, I had the class for which I am the Associate Instructor. I was a bit nervous going in considering I haven’t been an AI in a long time and it is a class that I am not even close to being an expert in. Within the first two minutes of class, however, my fears were gone. Working for Dr. Susan Kelly, a great teacher in the IU Department of Telecommunications, is a big reason for my fears disappearing. This class will be a lot of fun, and I will definitely learn a lot about what it takes to be a good teacher.

Overall, a good day. Lets hope it continues for the next 16 weeks!

Here's me.

For those who wonder, here's a picture of me. I haven't yet figured out how to get it into my profile, so I thought I would post it here. It isn't the best picture, but at least it's me. Thanks to my friend Sam Bradley for taking this picture a few months back!

First Post

Tomorrow is the first days of classes here at Indiana University. With the beginning of a new semester also ushered in is a new phase of my life. I am leaving the world of being a research assistant, a world that I have know for the past 2 1/2 years, and reentering the world of being an Associate Instructor. In addition to my own course load I will be assisting in the teaching of a class in the Department of Telecommunications. On top of that, it is a course outside of my area of expertise-(Film/TV) Design and Production.

What I hope to use this space for is threefold: voice any frustrations I encounter with this new adventure, discussing all the positive things that happen to me, and just general ranting on any of a variety of topics.

I hope those that read this get as much out of it as I do in writing it.