….and working hard on a few different things. First, I want to thank you all for the tips and ideas and encouragement around writing. It helped. I cranked out another chapter and am now on my last. The end is in sight, thankfully. Thanks so much for all of the thoughtful comments. I really appreciate them all. Second, I’m beginning to put together my file for my tenure review. This is one of the nice perks of academic life. If I get tenure, I basically have a guaranteed job for life. If I don’t, I get fired. So as you might imagine, this is a big process, and one fraught with some stress. I feel confident about my record, but I still won’t know the outcome of the whole process until some point in the late winter or early Spring. And putting the file itself together is like giving yourself the academic version of a high-colonic (I guess, I never had one). We’re talking hundreds upon hundreds of pages of material. It is insane.

That craziness aside, earlier this week I talked with a reporter from the NY Times about freeganism. Initially, I was hesitant — I’m not a freegan, and have, on occasion, been critical of certain freegan practices — but he basically wanted a low-down from a sociologist on the context for the movement itself. With that in mind, I felt positive talking about it, and I think the interview went well. Unlike other interviews that media folks have scheduled with me in the past, the reporter from the Times actually called me when he said he would. I was scheduled to talk to various people at the BBC twice, and both times, they never called back, the suckas. The article is supposed to be out on the 21st or so. If it doesn’t quote me out of context or anything, I’ll link it here.

Thanks again, everyone, for the ideas and such. I hope to return to blogging some more, since it is a nice outlet.