Getting to know the first-year graduate students<\/h2>\n<\/header>\n
by Pierce Greenberg<\/p>\n
Sociology is a discipline renowned for asking about opinions and attitudes, but sociologists rarely turn the focus back on themselves. This year, Sociology News <\/em>introduces our readers to new graduate students by probing their thoughts on a variety of topics. The results were wide-ranging conversations about everything from aliens and drones to coincidental couch surfing.<\/p>\n Ed. Note: Questions were adapted from the 2004 book <\/em>4,000 Questions for Getting to Know Anyone and Everyone<\/a>.<\/a> Answers were lightly edited for clarity. <\/em><\/p>\n James McCall Education: <\/strong>M.A., Digital Sociology, Goldsmiths University of London, 2014. B.S. Anthropology, minor in Natural Resources, University of Idaho, 2012.<\/p>\n Research interests: <\/strong>Health and Health Risk Behavior; Family; Life Course and Transitioning to Adulthood<\/p>\n Pierce: <\/strong>Tell about the time when you were the coldest.<\/p>\n James: <\/strong>I think the time I was coldest was a set of times over about four or five months when we were living in London, when I was doing my master\u2019s degree at Goldsmiths University of London. My family didn\u2019t have a car, so everything was public transportation and the closest bus stop was just under a mile away. So, during the winter, we were constantly exposed and constantly cold, and usually kind of damp.<\/p>\n Pierce: <\/strong>What daily activity do you treasure more than any other?<\/p>\n James: <\/strong>Probably mornings with my kids, because that\u2019s the one time of day where no one\u2019s in the house but us. We\u2019re doing things like eating breakfast, packing lunches, and talking about the day. That\u2019s probably the best part of the day.<\/p>\n Pierce: <\/strong>If you had an extra day every month that no one else had, what would you do with it?<\/p>\n James: <\/strong>I\u2019d want to do things like hobby things, like flying helicopters. I think quad-copter drones are pretty cool. I\u2019d do that and work on other projects\/hobbies that I\u2019m interested in.<\/p>\n Pierce: <\/strong>Drones that you can attach cameras to?<\/p>\n James: <\/strong>I haven\u2019t bought a real camera-fitted drone yet. My brother-in-law and father-in-law have been continually giving them to us for Christmas presents over the past few years. We\u2019ve been flying them pretty regularly. In a way, it\u2019s experiencing a form of flight, without actually flying. It\u2019s like directing something through the air and learning its behavior. That\u2019s really fun.<\/p>\n Elizabeth Dzialo<\/strong> Education: <\/strong>B.A., Sociology, Bryant University, 2013.<\/p>\n Research interests: <\/strong>Environmental Sociology; Political Economy; Civic Engagement.<\/p>\n Pierce: <\/strong>What do you think the world will be like 100 years from now?<\/p>\n Liz: <\/strong>We\u2019ll probably have bigger eyeballs, because we\u2019ll be staring at computer screens. We\u2019ll probably communicate telepathically, we won\u2019t even have to talk to each other anymore.\u2026<\/p>\n Pierce: <\/strong>Do you think the technological advances from the last 100 years\u2014like, going from Model T Ford to an electric car\u2014do you think that big of a change will occur over the next 100 years?<\/p>\n Liz: <\/strong>I don\u2019t know. That\u2019s a good question. It has increased exponentially, but I don\u2019t know if it will continue. It might plateau. How much farther can we go? But then again, at this point 50 years ago, we had no idea what was going to happen.<\/p>\n Pierce: <\/strong>If you could own the world\u2019s largest collection of anything, what would it be?<\/p>\n Liz: <\/strong>Chocolate. I love chocolate. But if it was practical, I like to read, so books. But chocolate, definitely.<\/p>\n Pierce: <\/strong>What kind of chocolate?<\/p>\n Liz: <\/strong>Dark. As dark as possible. Maybe from around the world. It would have to be fair-trade, obviously. I like spicy chocolate.<\/p>\n Pierce: <\/strong>What is a recent fad you admit to trying? Liz: <\/strong>I did the Paleo diet. That was a fad that I tried, for a few months actually. And I felt really good. I was going to continue doing that when I moved here, but it was really hard because there\u2019s Dissmore\u2019s and there\u2019s Safeway. I can\u2019t get organic, grassfed beef and stuff\u2026. You could go to the Co-Op\u2026. But it kind of just fizzled out. I wasn\u2019t that dedicated anymore.<\/p>\n Alana Inlow Education: <\/strong>B.A., Sociology, University of Portland, 2014.<\/p>\n Research interests: <\/strong>Criminology; Urban Sociology; Spatial Analysis.<\/p>\n Pierce<\/strong>: If you opened a restaurant, what would the house specialty be?<\/p>\n Alana: <\/strong>It would definitely be some sort of breakfast food. Something with potatoes.<\/p>\n Pierce: <\/strong>So, like, hash browns? A scramble of sorts?<\/p>\n Alana<\/strong>: Just, like, everything but the kitchen sink: eggs, bacon, all the veggies, cheese. That sounds really good.<\/p>\n Pierce: <\/strong>For what one activity would you like to regain the hours you have lost doing it?<\/p>\n Alana: <\/strong>Sleeping, because if I didn\u2019t have to sleep, I could do so much more.<\/p>\n Pierce: <\/strong>But then wouldn\u2019t you be tired all the time?<\/p>\n Alana: <\/strong>If I regained the hours that I slept, I would just have that many more hours to live.<\/p>\n Pierce: <\/strong>What were you once afraid of but you are no longer?<\/p>\n Alana: <\/strong>I was afraid of dogs when I was little. When I was little, the people down the street had this crazy\u2014it looked like a wolf to me, but it was a husky. It would get out of their yard all the time. When I was two or three, it ran out and jumped on me. But then I got over it a few years later.<\/p>\n Pierce: <\/strong>What age would you like to be for the rest of your life?<\/p>\n Alana: <\/strong>32. Because, my dad always said it was the best age to be. Second, because I feel like you\u2019re old enough to where people take you seriously but you\u2019re young enough so that you can still do things.<\/p>\n
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