Author Archives: rglw

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About rglw

Sociologist mom writes for work and for pleasure.

A very merry un-birthday to Rogue Cheerios!

So, my one year anniversary of the blog came and went with little fanfare yesterday.  I can hardly believe that I have been blogging for a whole year.  My husband can hardly believe it either. When I first thought about … Continue reading

Posted in academia, blogging, community, lessons learned, motherhood, parenthood, personal, writing | 2 Comments

What I Did On My Summer Vacation (2013 edition)

I have been struggling to find the right words or images to capture the last few months. How exactly do you get the essence of what we did into a short, sweet blog post? So many things happened this summer.  I … Continue reading

Posted in family, kids, marriage, motherhood, parenthood, personal, summer, vacation | Leave a comment

Unfounded parenting guilt on the first day of school

In my four years as a parent, I have not found one person who thought that they had it together all of the time.  I have met some folks who project a put-together image and I have met some folks who … Continue reading

Posted in family, kids, lessons learned, motherhood, parenthood, personal, schools, summer, Uncategorized, vacation, work | 3 Comments

The calm before the storm: on course prep and a reality check

I need to get over myself. I am doing exactly what I have done for semesters now: I am over prepping my courses. I’m paralyzed thinking about updating the syllabus for a course I’ve already taught because I know it … Continue reading

Posted in academia, higher education, lessons learned, reading, schools, students, teaching, work, writing | 1 Comment

A tale of two conferences: the postmortem on ASA in New York

Last weekend in New York City was productive and fun. I saw some old friends and met lots several new people (in real life and via Twitter).  I picked up some inventive teaching ideas.  I heard (mostly) first-rate research presentations. … Continue reading

Posted in academia, higher education, lessons learned, research, sociology, teaching, work, writing | Tagged | Leave a comment

Surviving (and thriving) at the annual academic meeting

Two thousand sociologists in one place? Sounds like a crazy time. This will be the eighth year that I’ll attend an academic conference.  I try to go to two meetings a year (one local and one national), depending on where … Continue reading

Posted in academia, blogging, coffee, community, fashion, grad school, higher education, lessons learned, sociology, travel, work | Tagged | 1 Comment

Is it possible to have status in academe without tenure?

This past year, I served as a “Visiting Lecturer” at a private, liberal arts college and this coming year, I’ll be a “Visiting Assistant Professor”.  I used to think “visiting” sounded really distinctive, like your talents were so specialized that … Continue reading

Posted in academia, dissertation, grad school, higher education, lessons learned, popular press, sociology, teaching, tenure, work, writing | 7 Comments

I need a remedy [for my Pinterest and Facebook-induced vacation envy]

I’m a little embarrassed to admit in writing that I have vacation and birthday party envy. I attribute this envy to the sharing of photos and status updates on Pinterest and Facebook.  I used to be an avid Pinner and … Continue reading

Posted in blogging, community, family, kids, lessons learned, media, parenthood, personal, social media, summer, vacation | 3 Comments

Dispatch from the mat: lessons on teaching gleaned from yoga boot camp

Yoga boot camp is a contradiction in terms.  Yoga, by nature, is meant to be peaceful and meditative.  The only “boot camp”-ish thing about this yoga boot camp was the 6:15 start time (and thus the 5:30 wake up call). … Continue reading

Posted in academia, blogging, health, higher education, lessons learned, students, teaching, work, yoga | 7 Comments

The Real Housewives is sociological (I swear it is)

While in graduate school, I missed the boat on so many cultural touchstones.  There are new television shows, musicians, reality stars or movies with which I am only vaguely familiar.  For example, I know Mad Men is critically acclaimed but … Continue reading

Posted in culture, guilty pleasures, media, personal, procrastinating, television, women | 10 Comments