Briefly

I have a new thesis topic and advisor. New thesis: "The Place of Sacred Space in Constructing Tibetan Identity in Diaspora".

I'm loving my Buddhism classes ("Mandala: Visions of Tantric Buddhism" and "Buddhist Ethics"), except at this point they are all review. I'm trying to wait patiently until we get to the meat.

This past week I finally worked out the kinks and officially registered my independent study "Reading Classical Literary Tibetan" with my thesis advisor.

I'm still intent on returning to Mcleodganj in the spring.

Pieces, and the Places Where They Fall

So, I moved to the Bronx. It's ideally non-ideal. I'm renting a spare room in my friend's apartment, and he's only asked me to pay $200 a month. That is inexpensive enough that I can save up to return to Dharamsala following graduation. It's also so far removed from my usual social scene that I simply won't participate in it this semester, which is helpful for cutting attachments before leaving the city for good.

I ran into the Dean and Associate Dean of my college at school last week, and had the opportunity to talk to both of them together regarding changing my senior thesis topic so that I can continue with what I started in my final paper for the Dharamsala program. They were both very supportive, especially after I told them how much I appreciated the program and my plans to return. For once someone finally said there's no point in writing my senior work just to do it; that it should be relevant to my future research interests. So they're going to help me find an advisor, and lifted a registration hold on one of the classes I will need to take this semester in order to change my specialization from Literature and Religion to Buddhist Studies. Now all I have to do is wait and see if the professor they have in mind as an advisor will agree to work with me. Oh, I do have to write a new proposal, but it shouldn't be too difficult considering I already have an 8 page paper to work with and an abundance of sources from this summer. I plan on busting it out this weekend.

Also, I've been going to Cafe Himalaya up to three times a week for momos and milk tea. It is a little taste of Tibet in New York.

Otherwise, I have been doing some preliminary research into volunteer opportunities in Dharamsala. Right now it seems Volunteer Tibet is my strongest option, with numerous volunteer positions for English teachers and tutors in Dharamsala and other regions, including Sikkim and Kathmandu.

My tentative plan is to be back in Dharamsala by February or March.

Universal Cooperation

So, I've been bugging out lately. I'm behind on getting my visa for India secured. I also flew off the handle for a couple weeks at the beginning of the month and have overspent my preparation funds and now must humble myself and go running to the family with my tail between my legs asking for a few hundred dollars loan so I don't have to buy everything at the last minute, including paying for my immunizations. But I'm not particularly fretful. I know I can pull it together. I stopped binge drinking, and have been in communication with the study abroad coordinator, and she isn't impressing me with a sense of panic, so time, though short, is not up.

On that note, I'll be in India two weeks from today. Well, tonight. My flight leaves New York approximately 8:30 in the evening on July 5th and arrives in New Delhi approximately the same time on July 6th. I've been doing my homework for the trip, reading the assigned books. The first was the autobiography of the Dalai Lama, Freedom in Exile. The second, and more factually informative, is In Exile from the Land of Snows by John Avedon. It is enthralling despite it's density, and is putting the idea in my head of changing my thesis topic to something relevant to Tibetan studies. It makes sense, actually. Not only will I be studying very closely with my professors on this trip, but I will be interviewing Tibetans and submitting a final project at its conclusion, all of which can be tailored into a new thesis proposal, which I will have to submit at the conclusion of the summer. Plus, I am so fucking over my current thesis advisor that I no longer have any desire to work with him. So, establishing a strong relationship with my professor while I'm in India could hopefully lead to him agreeing to be my advisor in the Fall.

That's about it as far as the mundane happenings of my life presently. I have been jotting down some short creative pieces that will be forthcoming shortly.

Briefly, fly by fire

Senior work proposal is consuming my life. Was floundering for a while to find a working research question narrow enough to build my proposal on. Finally, this afternoon busted out something kind of manageable, at least for round one--pre-revision. I'm sure not a single one of you has any idea what I'm talking about, but here it is... Dante Theologus: What is the relationship of Dante's representation of Heaven, specifically in the Circle of the Sun in Paradiso X-XIV, to the conflict between Scholastic philosophy and radical eschatology in late medieval Italy, especially as pertaining to the competition between the Franciscan and Dominican order and to the heretical eschatology of Joachim of Flora.

Yes, it is convoluted. That is why I will spend the rest of my weekend reading and writing and clarifying (hopefully) and writing and bibliographing.

Oh, did I mention that as soon as I finish my proposal, I have to start a 10-page paper on the chapter of my choice from Spinoza's Tractatus Theologico-Politicus, explaining it in its own context and then to the work as a whole by Thursday? And another midterm for the same day.

At least I submitted my application to Dharamsala today so I no longer have that burden weighing on me.

Damn it, I need to learn to read Latin, French, German and Italian. And Greek. And Spanish.