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1 0 . 3 0 . 0 7 Strange dream last night. If you are studying dream interpretation and have an explanation let me know. In this dream I am young girl searching for something hidden in the wall between two carved sculptures on the town hall, placed several stories high overlooking a town square. I need to get the treasure at all cost, quickly though, without anyone discovering that I am up there. The path up to the unseen treasure is a difficult one, literally up the side of the building wall. Somehow I am able to scale the wall, and wedge myself in between the stone carvings enough to search for the ancient treasure. The treasure is a set of decorated plates or tiles, with rows of solid gold engravings, all in a circular pattern, maybe as a Buddhist mandala. When I am able to get my hands around it I am awed by the weight of it and condition of it after all these years. The next challenge I face is that I know of another similar tile that lies on the other side of the rock carving that I must also find, but it is just out of reach. After some thought I put the first time back and climb over to reach the second one. When I remember that waiting below is my friend to whom I can throw the first tile, double back and then get the second one. The only problem is that the way I am clinging onto the rock wall, I would have to make a blind throw to her. I am just about the throw the first tile to her when the stone ledge bends (but doesn't break) and I am sent plummeting to the ground below. Almost immediately I am flying up to a stone ledge, flapping my wings as I soar up towards the side of the building wall, this time as a bird, either a goose or a crane. It all happens so fast that I don't realize that I am no longer a human, or that the building face has changed over time, and that there are vines and trees growing out the side of it. I am also no longer in search of the decorated tiles. I am now seeking a seedling impeded into the wall that I am trying to dig out with my beak. Standing on a protruding stone ledge, I use my long neck to reach into the decaying stone wall and pullout in pieces by mostly intact, a seed partially sprouting out the side. I fly down to what is left of the town square where there is a small crowd of people gathered, apparent spectators to my task. I hand the seedling to the old shaman who is standing there and fly back up to retrieve the rest of the seed, piece by piece. I overhear the shaman address the crowd with emotion, talking about how this seedling is in fact his long lost daughter who has finally have come home, thanks to this benevolent creature of the wilderness. After a few trips back and forth, In doing so, I notice that there is another separate seed growing in the rock, but hidden from view. I chip away at the wall as I did with the first, and eventually bring that seedling down to the shaman in the square. When I return the second seed to the shaman, he is overcome with joy that I have found the second daughter, which he did not realize was hidden in the wall along with her sister. I stand silently behind him, listening to his words, unknowingly to the shaman and the crowd around him, I can understand everything they are saying. Maybe a reminder from my former life. 1 0 . 1 2 . 0 7 Busy days continue, but I did have a chance to answer a Sociology Survey I got via email. Thought it would be worth posting the questions/responses. Sociology Alumni Survey - So what did you do with a sociology major? We know that our majors go on to do many different things with their lives. We'd love to hear from you about what you have done, and how your education in sociology might have affected you. The whole survey includes four open-ended questions (your answers can be as long or short as you want) and a couple of short information questions. We are interested in hearing from you to help us improve our program. Optionally, please give us your contact information if you want to get our newsletter a few times a year. You will NOT be getting a lot of junk mail from us, nor will we share your information with others. Q: What have you done since you left college? (Occupations, family, service, politics etc.) Tell us whatever you want us to know. A: Worked for the state of Hawaii, took evening classes at the University of Hawaii in Economics and Political Science as an unclassified graduate student. After that I returned to Madison for a Master's degree in public policy from the La Follette Institute, and am currently working for the federal government and working on a law degree as an part-time, evening student. Q: Has your education in sociology been relevant or useful in your life? How? (We are wondering about general citizenship or social awareness as well as occupations.) A: One of the true realities both in academia and in the real world is that humans are by nature social beings, and thus the study of society is very relevant and useful in living as a human being. I think the sociology education at UW-Madison has help make me a more conscious person better able to appreciate better people from different backgrounds, perspectives, socio-economic status, cultural, religious and personal values. This broader perspective comes in handy when working with other people in the real life work environment. Office politics always come into play and it helps to understand co-worker's backgrounds as possible markers or explanations for their behaviors. There is also much to be said about the study of sociology as a means of establishing a strong sense of identity and self worth, which I find is essential for confidence and general happiness in life. Q: Are there any classes or professors or other experiences in our program that stand out in your mind as especially memorable or useful? A: Professor Duneier's introduction course to Sociology was very memorable. I actually took it late in my degree path, one of my last soc courses but ended up being very enjoyable and personally beneficial. I was especially interested in Mitch's research in writing "Sidewalk" and how he invited one of the people he met during his research to visit Madison as a guest lecturer. He was a "subject" in the strictest sense, but the respectful but honest way that Mitch wrote about him and interacted with him reflected the very human-focused aspects of sociology. The other memorable sociology course that I had the opportunity to take was professor Elder's Global Village seminar which gave students currently living in the Merit House Global Village a chance to share and learn from each other's cultural backgrounds and experiences. Another memorable course that I took which I believe was cross-listed in Sociology and Afro-Am Studies was professor Michael Thornton's course on cross cultural interactions between ethnic minority groups. The premise of the course was to move away from focusing on white-black interactions and to allow discussions on asian-black, brown-black and other interracial interactions that are as much of a reality as the white-black discussion. I found his no-nonsense approach towards discussing race relations in an open and active setting very beneficial to thinking outside of the box, which is what we as societies need to constantly be challenging themselves in order to improve race relations beyond the status quo. Q: Do you have any suggestions for future students or for us that would improve our program for students? A: Looking back on everything, I think more efforts at providing career and job placement to sociology majors would be helpful. Sociology gets a bad rap as an "easy" major with limited job prospects on graduation without plans to go to graduate school. There are opportunities out there, but I remember as a student I was at times a little uncertain what I would be doing after graduation with a sociology degree. While I can definitely say that the degree program overall prepared me for the next steps in my academic and professional development, most of my opportunities were obtained on my own with minimal official guidance from the sociology department. Instead, it came from the professors themselves that I reached out to for guidance and advice. Also triple majoring and getting a criminal justice certificate probably helped out as well. Linkes 10/10/2007: Book of sadness Facebook stalking new college pasttime Ann Telnaes: Cartoons Greco Weightclasses light to middle to heavy Whats in a score anyway? 1 0 . 2 . 0 7 Class notes time, to sample the sometimes confusing legal reasoning in the beginning stages of processing - Criminal Procedure: the general procedures of a warrant. 1) Who can be ordered out of an automobile, and why? The driver, and any other occupants at the time of arrest. 2) Who can be searched, and why? With probable cause, anyone in the car can be searched for weapons based on the automobile search exception under Terry, provided the arrest was lawful. 3) What area can be searched, and why? Compartments, closed containers With probable cause, anything in plain view, subsequent to a lawful arrest, and the officer have probable cause that a crime had been committed, and that the objects seized in plain view had some relationship to the crime. 4) What legal analysis is applicable to answering these questions? First, whether there was probable cause that a crime had been committed for the warrant-less arrest to occur. Secondly, whether the warrant-less arrest was lawful. If it was an unlawful arrest, then anything seized is considered fruits of the poisonous tree, and therefore should be excluded, even if there were exigent circumstances, or if the items were in plain view, or if it fell under the automobile exception. Third, if the arrest was lawful, and based on probable cause, then the search and seizure is considered unconstitutional unless if fits under one of the exceptions? Exception 1) What was the expectation of privacy? (Lower expectation of privacy with automobile on a public street rather than in a home). Exception 2) If the arrest was lawful, and there was probable cause, then you need to determine whether the search and seizure falls under one of the exceptions – Whether there were exigent circumstances present to justify a warrant-less search of the person. Exigent circumstances include whether the arrest was made after following suspect in hot pursuit, in the process of looking for weapons, or under the concern of imminent destruction of evidence. Linkes 10/2/207: Kahoolawe Adze, Found in Chile? Tuning da sanshin how to Recession theories and some |