Nassau was fun, my paper was well-received, I should have been working on said paper since then since it is to be published in the conference proceedings. My favourite thing about Nassau? The daiquiri shack across the street from our hotel...

This place rocked.
Fresh fruit in whatever combination you wanted, with copious amounts of rum - who could ask for more?.
The island people were the most hospitable I have ever encountered. We rode the city bus where everyone was so polite - they tell everyone "good morning" etc. when they get on and off!!!
I have to admit to having been quite a bit disappointed with the food though. Conch cooked in every possible way (it still tasted like rubber snail) and "Bahamian" fare like macaroni and cheese and cold slaw with everything. How is it possible to have boring island food? For shame Bahamas!! But all in all, a very nice trip, I would go back.
Presented a paper at a conference celebrating International Women's Day and did my first radio show to promote it - fun stuff. Both the paper and interview addressed the work Carissa and I did in Rwanda and the response since we've been back. On that front, so much has been happening - UWO is now totally onside with the planning around a collaborative project on gender at the National University. We have had a number of meetings around that - VP Research (Ted Hewitt), Associate Dean of Social Science (Julie McMullin), Associate Dean of Women's Studies (Tracy Isaacs), RC, myself and others, and now the plan is to hold a summer institute there at the end of August. How cool would it be if I would be able to go back there?! Yet, if I am honest, I am ambivalent about that. I think part of that is the fact that I have not kept in touch with people in the way I thought I would, but then, that is just me isn't it?!!
Did Boobalicious again this year. For those of you who have never been, it's a fun private party that's held annually to raise funds for the weekend to support breast cancer. It's fab. We all wear pink, the event is more of a fair/festival than a party. They have performing acts, vendors, massage therapists, psychics, you name it. Check out the website for this year's party: http://www.boobalicious.ca/. Here's much of the group of us that was out that night:

That was last weekend, and I have to admit that weekend in Toronto was most excellent. These days I find myself less inclined to go visit - it's the way things work, I've been away 3 years and life goes on, so now I don't always get the jokes or the story references, and at first that was hard, especially since I haven't developed that kind of network here. Feeling that homelessness again, but it seems to be endemic to this life phase since my other single friends in doctoral programs are finding themselves adrift as well. Of course, if I do follow the path I have in my head - the development work and research, I may be living out of a suitcase or at least not having a true home base for a while. That was something I grappled with while I was away last year, and I worried/wondered if I was cut out for that life, yet I still seem to be headed in that direction! There you go.
So those are the highlights of the past couple months (as I recall them). Been making relatively regular trips to Buxton collecting data, starting to get an image in my mind of what the finished product should include. That should be a good thing right?

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