My So-Called Life of the Mind: Whoo Boy It's Been a While

Yeah, no posting since June 17. I've thought about it several (many) times but just didn't feel like I had anything to say and would have had to face up to the fact that I wasn't working on my dissertation proposal to the level that I should have been. I've started and restarted this post many times. I think not posting is definitely a portrait into how I was feeling about my schoolwork - it could wait, do it later, don't feel like it, UGGGHHHH, amongst other things.

But, I'm feeling a bit energized after going to the Qualitative Health Research Conference in Montreal last week. I met a lot of great people in a great city and felt more confident that I really do have something to say and something to contribute, even at this point when I haven't done any of my research yet. I took an amazing workshop about interviewing that really changed how I'm thinking about my interviews. I also started thinking about how I want MY research to be. There was a lot of talk about how qualitative research tends to be descriptive without meaningful analysis or attempts for analytical generalizability (a new term for me that I think bears more thinking about in terms of what I'm trying to do). And I got to meet a lot of great people doing research in interesting things. I was one of the only policy people, but I met two people using similar theoretical underpinnings and they were both so nice and helpful. Those Canadians man, they don't call it Canada-nice for nothing! I don't know how often I'll be able to afford to go to that conference, but I really felt at home.

I also loved Montreal. Contrary to my usual, I took tons of pictures. The conference was basically finished by 3:30 every day (though there were evening events two out of the three nights) so I got to see a good portion of the city. I would definitely go back. Here are some pictures: