Just some of the exciting news...

My thesis is really coming together. I feel confident that I will be proposing this semester, and that I'll be data gathering by early summer. Should have my stuff together before I head to the Big Island in June. Also, I have a few potential sources of funding that I'm working on. Maybe, maybe. But whatever happens, it's all coming together. It will happen. And that is awesome.

I've been looking at the Superferry, and in particular I've been interested in the conflict that came up about the Superferry. It's pretty clear when you hear from those who are most adamantly opposed to it, that they feel this is just one more example of money and government walking all over the people. It's also pretty clear when you hear from those who are most supportive of it, that they can't understand why anyone would /not/ want it. And of course, from a community psychologist perspective, I must ask why.

My theory is that different groups of people -- that is, communities, businesses, coalitions, whatever (the jargon term I won't both to explain right now is 'activity settings') -- have different values that they attend to more than others. And conflict arises in such a big way when change rubs some groups' values the wrong way. So, I'm going to interview people (working on setting this up, designing questions, background research, lit review right now) in order to see if this is true. And then I'll start looking at implications for the future.

Of course, I'm ultimately interested in discrimination. That, I think, is where my dissertation will come in. Tentatively right now, I'm seeing this "value disparity among activity settings" thesis research leading into "power disparity among activity settings in relation to values" dissertation research, which is a very academic way of saying, I want to define the injustice done to poor people and minorities when rich and powerful people come in and change things without asking. Of course, value disparity in conflict situations also has implications in politics, in policy work, in inter-cultural experiences, in social work, in environmental action...

But that comes later. Right now I'm just looking at how different situations (rural community versus business community) will lead to different values. If it does. If it doesn't, I have to say, I'll be quite surprised. But what do I know? As Anna and I discovered in a facebook game recently, I have a brain the size of a chimp. Who'da thought?

Which is of course the perfect segue into my other fun and exciting news. My writing group is putting together a short film for Showdown in Chinatown (http://www.ourfilm.org/index_flash.html). We're filming tomorrow night. I've spent the last two evenings learning stage fighting, because yes, yes, I am going to fight with a sword in this film.

It's so much fun! I just love it. And yeah, my foot is absolutely killing me, but this is most definitely one of those things that I'll always be glad I did. Even if the film turns out really crappy, which it just might since none of us have experience in film making. Even still, once we get the finished product together, I'll see about setting it up online here. Oh, I hope it turns out cool, even if not great.

And I'm tired right now (after 11pm). I have so much reading, and I'm putting together a lit review, and I have my first mock-proposal in... ooh, like two weeks. That'll get me some good feedback so I can get ready for the real deal. But it turns out that there are enough hours in the day for both work and play, if you pace yourself, and don't watch TV.