Political Wordle

Tomorrow I am giving a riveting lecture on 'unobtrusive social research methods.' Avoiding most of the content that may give this observation more legitimacy, (what would be the fun in making a legitimate generalization, anyways?) here is one of my examples...

Below are the word clouds (made at wordle.net) for the presidential inauguration speeches back through Clinton's first round (ordered from newest to oldest). These are essentially word usage frequency counts, bigger words are used more often. The change from Bush #1 to Bush #2 is very interesting in terms his focus. Also, it would seem that the dem. guys have a bigger focus on active things: today, time, now, work, must, new, and generation look to be popular. Bush looks to focus more on national identity kind of stuff: story, nation, country, promise, common, freedom, courage, citizens, character, liberty, history, cause, free, hopes and so on. This is pretty interesting (i think). It doesn't mean, necessarily, that Bush didn't care about being active and taking care of thing, nor that the Dem. guys didn't care about national identity. It could be that the way they communicated and envisioned this in action was different, but they thought they were doing the same thing. Who knows.

Either way, the difference in their focus in their speech is interesting....

Obama

Bush's #2

Bush's #1

Clinton's #2

Clinton's #1

passion x skills x opportunity = hot spot!

found on: http://50topmodels.wordpress.com/

I was looking around for a diagram of Bourdieu's theory of habitus and social fields and stumbled upon this one (not his, by the way). it is from this awesome blog that corresponds to a book (that is only in German right now) of the 50 best diagrams. Anyways, i like this one a lot. I have always liked to see people doing things that they love even if it is not the most profitable thing for them to do. There are few people out there, i would think, that actually are in the center of this diagram. Often i think we get sucked off 'course' into sectors where possibly some of our passion is lost as a result of an immersion in an overabundance of opportunity, or something like that. Anyways, it is an interesting thing to think about in terms of life decisions and an evaluation there of.

Space

Space, originally uploaded by a b franzen.

The last few days I have been thinking a bit about ecology. I think that space is a hugely important thing in our lives that we rarely stop to think about. How we are shaped as people is almost inseparable from the space in which we find ourselves. Our cognitive structures develop as a reflexive response to the space and time in which we are. This can, in a very real sense, constrain thought and choices of action, while not determining them. Expanding horizons takes on a while new meaning that way!

Anyways, this is a picture of one of the 'reading rooms' here at Baylor. Sometimes I start to be less productive in my office here so I will rotate around campus, and this is one of the places that I like to go. The decor is all what I would think classic southern decor as being. This space has an impact on me.

Last night when I was riding the motorcycle back to B's place, there were so many interesting smells. It got me to thinking about how much less of life we are able to experience merely by being in a car and not traveling in some other way. It is true you can put the windows down, but it is still significantly different than on a motorcycle. In general, everything is experienced in a completely different fashion when on a motorcycle. That 'space' has an impact on me.

The other day Sara and I were talking about being in TX a bit (small bit, and I got to thinking about it later). Being in TX is very good for what we are doing. I am less sure that TX is as good as other places for us. This space has an impact on us.

BearDowns!

BearDowns-6, originally uploaded by a b franzen.

This last week there was a relay-bicycle race on campus, called BearDowns. It is a 30-mile relay race. Each team was a team of four, and each person went for 1.4 miles before changing. It was totally awesome, and I hope that we can get a team together for it next year (if they do it again that is). Also, it was after the sun went down, just to make it that much cooler.



It was pretty fun to watch as well because it was a short loop, so you always get to see something going on. It was also kind of funny to see them change out riders. All teams only use one bike, so the change-out can get interesting. The one rider usually hopped off and let the bike keep going while the other person would hop on it. As you can imagine, just like passing a baton, there were some fails - all them more crazy to see since it is a bike and not a baton!

Firsts

It is a strange blessing and burden to deliver bad news to someone. Today I had to tell a family that their 4 month old child had cystic fibrosis (inherited disorder mainly affecting the lungs and GI tract/pancreas that has no cure and has a current average lifespan of 36). It was really the first time I've had to deliver bad news to someone. I guess the news could have been worse...i didn't have to tell them their child had died, or had cancer with a poor prognosis but it is still bad news. An answer, yes, which is nice as for 2 and a half weeks we really didn't know what was going on and felt like we were getting no where fixing their child, but no one truly wants an answer of an illness without a cure with a lot of morbidity.

It really is a privilege though to get to care for these patients and play an intimate part in their lives and the lives of their family. I hope as I go through residency I get a little less awkward in talking to families, but today went as well as it could. A humbling thing to have to break news like this. Just makes me realize too that I wish all my patients had the comfort of ultimate faith in God and His plan at tough times like this (and non-tough times too!) and sadness knowing that most don't and wondering how to actively make my faith a more active part of my interactions with families.

On a positive note, day off tomorrow!!! A long run with a friend, hanging out with my hubby once he gets back tomorrow afternoon, and some much needed house and car cleaning before gearing up for working ALL weekend (Saturday AM to Sunday noon....). Weather has been beautiful though, finally enjoying the Dallas sun and warm weather when others are getting snow :)

Late Night Cures

Late Night Cures, originally uploaded by a b franzen.

I thought this would be a fitting photo for today. I was here at the office 'till fairly early this morning. For some reason it is inevitable that I have a full book and a paper to write on Wednesday nights.

Common Grounds is one of the coffee shops right by campus here. It is a pretty sweet little place that is a cool place to study and is kind of trendy. It has all the signs of a 'socially progressive' joint, but interestingly enough, they sell all of their stuff in Styrofoam cups. Weird. Anyways, the coffee is not too shabby.

Shade Tree

Shade Tree, originally uploaded by a b franzen.

So there has finally been a bit of a break in the rain around here. Over the last month and a half or so, we have had more rain than the typical yearly average. Each time it would rain there was flooding around as the ground was all saturated. The Trinity River outside of Dallas hit a high water mark (for now) of 30 ft.

This is a picture of probably one of the nicer quads on campus here. It is right outside of the building that has our offices in it. There are huge pecan trees all over and many of them have these swings on them. I didn't really notice when I was taking the picture that you could see this as well, but those bushes there spell out 'BAYLOR BEARS.' They are just starting in this picture, but right now around those bushes are these awesome bright yellow flowers blooming. I am glad for a no-rain week. I was going into motorcycle withdraws there!

Sea of Blankets

Sea of Blankets, originally uploaded by a b franzen.

Weekends have almost taken on a new meaning. I get to see the wife and cram a week's worth of quality time into a day or two (or into hours, depending on her rotation). I get to sleep in my own bed. I get to choose clothes from anything in the closet. I can wear any of my shoes. I can make my own delicious coffee.

I could probably go on, but you get the idea. It is the little things in life.
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you should read Rendering Unto Caesar if you are interested in the relationship of governments and churches as interpreted through rational choice theory (dad, this could be interesting in relation to the German church in Nazi Germany in comparison with the Confessing Church. just a thought)....

Did you Know?

So, I think I am going to try and make a new rule about posting on the blog for myself. I am going to try and not post things that people may need to read more than once to get the point as often as I have as of late. They may still come out sometimes, but not as often as it is probably not really all that interesting to most (or any?) who read this blog...

Anyways, here is a video that I stumbled upon today that is pretty interesting. I will save the social commentary for another time. :)