In which I have a big weekend, and Maya reminds me to update my blog

Yep. So I went to graduation and marched around and my parents waved their hands and took pictures and were very, very pleased.

And I got a prize and some honors, and the department ceremony had a lovely speech courtesy of the Very Famous Professor About Whom Ariel Complained to the University Ombudsman.

After the ceremony:

Different Very Famous IR Professor: "So, I heard your praises being sung in faculty meeting, but I've never had you in my classes. What did you write your thesis on?"

Ariel: "Uh, hi. It was on some linguistic structures used by gubernatorial candidates within televised debates and how they shaped media perception of those candidates, and how these debates were used as sites for performing gender."

DVPIRP: "Ah. That sounds very grad-school."

A: "Do you mean obscure?"

DVIRP: "Ho ho ho. I didn't say it!"

So yea, I'm thinking about going to grad school next year (like, fall 2010), actually. And right now I'm kicking around looking for a part-time job for the summer here in Ithaca, and am considering staying for a little while unless someone swoops down to offer me my dream job elsewhere. But no one seems too keen on doing that right now. But I've planted this garden and I'm getting involved in the campaign to push Cornell to pay their workers a decent wage even if it is a recession and I am strangely cool with the idea of taking a year to work boring jobs and think about things and volunteer. I would not be the first person to do so, and at present I would definitely not be the only person.

In other news, we went to the garden on Monday and finished planting everything.
Things we have, actually growing:
- chives (were already in the plot)
- cilantro (also already there--hooray!)
- tomato plants (yea, we used starts, but little cheap ones. and some were heirloom)
- peas (we planted these, they sprouted!)
- basil (again, tiny sprouts!)

Things we have planted:
- zucchini (bush and vine)
- cucumbers (bush)
- green beans (bush)
- butter beans (bush, I think)
- parsnips
- radishes (the nice long French kind)
- cabbage
- cilantro (before we found the other stuff weeding the back of the plot)
- swiss chard, piles of it

Oh, and also I have a lovely salad box which has just started to look like actual lettuce. And my indoor tomato plants, but those are ridiculous.