Gettting back in the writing groove

So I haven't used this site to its fullest potential. I've been lazy. So I'm going to start again and I totally rely on YOU to give me feedback on my writing and thinking to help me finish my thesis.

(In fact I just had a new idea on an interactive e-thesis...hmm.. transformative interactive e-thesis? With sprinkles of popular education? Coding images?... will develop that later).

I used to blog quite a bit. Under pen name. And realizing the power of the blog world was seriously amazing- the networking possibilities and the way just some dude's personal thoughts can become so influential when placed on an e-platform. My pen name blog was rather successful and I even started to get paid to write (which I love). However I sometimes was criticized for writing under pen name and, oddly enough for people who thought my pen name was my real name, I also got attacked for my non-politically correct opinions.

I started writing under my own name but then got self conscious and deleted all those posts. I love anonymity not only for the safety of nobody pointing the finger at you in real life (not that I'm ashamed of my ideas but there are some weirdos out there), but also because people tend to ascribe character traits and personality traits to the written word without even knowing who the author is or looks like. What I mean is, people tend to label some types as writing as a "female voice" or "male voice". Likewise, when writing under pen name, I was often labeled by my readers as being a White male. Which is funny, to say the least. So I love the divorce between my written-voice and my real-life identity/image.

I got the image (up above) from my friend Brea. I think its fantastic because a) I adore venn diagrams and b) Nothing is better than people paying to hear/read what you think about stuff.


Also, I'm going to just publish the link of my rabble.ca page and Ryerson FP page. Really, for the benefit of my mother. Because she likes seeing my face attached to semi-important things = )

http://www.rabble.ca/taxonomy/term/377
http://ryersonfreepress.ca/site/index.php?s=%22melissa+fong%22

I'm a farmer

Part of the reason I want to start this blog is because nobody knows what I do. People ask what I'm doing my graduate studies in and any way I explain it I get into a frustrating conversation. When appying to grad school I applied to five different programs. Sociology, geography, urban planning, urban studies, and education. Few people understand that they are basically all the same department- social sciences are social sciences, no matter what department. And it is astonishing how little people know about these subjects. When I say I study sociology they say, "Oh, you want to be a social worker?" I then must explain that social work and sociology are two completely different fields. When I say I study geography they attempt to quiz me on capital cities. High school geography is vastly different from post-secondary geography and no, I do not know what the capital city of whatever-country-you-named is. When I say I also like urban studies they say, "So you want to be an urban planner?" And then I must discuss how urban planning is different than urban studies- and no, I do not want to be an urban planner- too much bureaucracy for me. Finally, when they find out I also have a degree in teacher education they say, "You must want to be a principal." This is by far the most common mistake people make about me in grad studies- I have absolutely no desire to be in school admin and a master's in education often has nothing to do with the schooling of children.

The discussion gets messy and much frustration ends the conversation abruptly.
I'm just going to say I'm a farmer from now on.

Watch this clip from That 70s Show when Kelso visits his dad at work for career day:



I love this clip. Apparently so did this other woman who clipped this episode, but she didn't include the funniest part of the episode, in Eric's basement:

FORMAN BASEMENT (Transcript "Career Day" 118-18)

THE GANG is finishing up their reports.
KELSO: “Autumn is harvest time for the farmer. At dawn, my dad and I were out in the field picking carrots fresh off the trees.”
HYDE: “Kelso carrots don't…That's good, you should put that down.”
DONNA: “So what do you guys wanna do when you graduate?”
ERIC: “Oh, um, not touch dead people, ever.”
FEZ: “I want to go back to my homeland with all the knowledge I've learned here in Wisconsin, and rule with an iron fist!”

(Queue the youtube video to 9:40)


So if you insist on asking me what I do, read this. It's a list of things I am interested in and they all loosely relate to research topics I would take on.

ABOUT THIS SITE

I am a graduate student at the Ontario Institute of Studies in Education at the University of Toronto (OISE/UT) in the Adult Education department- in the collaborative program in the Centre of Urban and Community Studies (CUCS).

I completed my B.A. at the University of British Columbia (UBC) in Sociology and Geography.
I also completed a B.Ed. and D.Edu at the Faculty of Education at UBC.


My research interests include:

Sociology
-classical theory and texts
-critical theory
-postmodernity versus dialectic
-social movements

Human Geography
-urban poverty in developed countries
-gentrification
-housing systems
-Hägerstrand

Urban Studies (socio-political)
-urban sociology and geography
-local governance and municipal politics
-neoliberalism
-urban design and regulation theory

Education
-activism and popular education
-critical pedagogy
-social equity
-ideology


I used to have a website but I found it a pain to update. The social media trend seems like a bandwagon I want to jump on and google just makes it so darn easy (google will rule the world one day, no doubt). I've also been convinced that it is a good thing to keep a running record of my successes and failures as an academic. As an educator, we learn that we need to be more mindful of the process, rather than the outcome (aka, Assessment 101)- this site will be a testament to practicing what I preach. I also hope to provide some type of witty commentary along the way.

I've seen a lot of blogs with a disclaimer stating that their site is in no way related to their professional life. I'm just going to say right now that that I have no such disclaimer. Any personal thoughts found on this site translate into how I practice my profession. However, my audience must keep in mind that posts here represent small snippets of larger thoughts and processes so please do not take anything I say out of context. It makes both of us look bad.


If you are interested in anything I have written here, potential partnerships, or suggestions/comments please feel free to contact me by way of this page. Leave a comment and your contact information and I will make sure I contact you.

Thanks,
Melissa Fong