The Den-Den Community

"We tell ourselves stories in order to live."  Joan Didion

One of the more fascinating elements of social network platforms is our digital narrative, that is, the stories we tell others, usually about ourselves.  We are the center of plots that we construct and if we hit publish, we make it real.

I started this blog in 2009 with no particular goal in mind other than the private blog I maintained on the now outdated MySpace seemed to suffer some technical glitch.  Perhaps the purpose, as denoted in the title, was to journal my academic journey which I intended to mythologize as an adventure or odyssey of sorts.  The entries were sparse, personal, and rarely academically oriented.  Life was sleepy and I basically lost interest in whimsy blogging on mundane topics with no readership to witness.

I am re-purposing this blog.  In general, I am gun-shy about about social media platforms, mostly because, in the words of St. Vincent (Annie Clark), "The real currency in the future will be privacy."  However, I decided to enroll in a MOOC offered by VCU called "Collaborative Curiousity" which centers on community-engaged research (CEnR).

My approach to the course is exploratory.  I am currently completing my Doctor of Philosophy in Public Policy and Administration and writing my dissertation on Japanese labor policy and gender discrimination specifically analyzing implementation structure.  My other research interest is in disaster recovery, gender performance, and government response with a particular focus on post-3/11 Japan.

My other-other area of expertise is in Title IX, Title VII, Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), and the Clery Act as it relates to federal compliance in higher education.

I have been labeled a "qualitative person" and admittedly, I really enjoy qualitative research design.  Although public policy and administration is a social science field largely dominated by quantitative methods, caught between whether the field is an art or science,  I prefer alternative methods, methodologies, and epistemologies as a means of studying policy topics.

Finally, I have started and quit more English degrees than I care to admit but finally accepted that while I am unable to cultivate the necessary appreciation of Shakespeare to muddle through the degree requirements, my penchant for literature can be found in my love for studying policy frames, which are little sagas told in symbols, metaphors, and numbers.

On a personal level, I hope the "Collaborative Curiousity" MOOC may challenge and illuminate my research approach and at minimal, on a professional level, bring new insights when I work on various studies and projects.