So it turns out that I have, in fact, chosen a research topic for my MA that other people find interesting :) It honestly was a baby concern of mine - I even brought it up to the external supervisor when she was here and my proposal was approved, I asked her if she was sure this topic was good enough, if it wasn't "overdone"...
anyway!
At camp, Bro Matthew sat down beside me one lunch and we talked just the two of us for about 45mins -- it was really neat! I have really enjoyed the time I get to spend with his wife, Shusheela (spell?) and she's been wanting me to visit them in NY for years and years - and his son, Sarge, is one of my longest friends - but until very recently, when I saw Bro Matthew, he's like, "HI! what's your name?" or "nice to meet you!" So it was nice to have a face-to-face visit with him and talk. Most of the conversation was him quizzing me on my thesis. Which evolved into an Irish History lesson, which paralleled the history of India, since Ireland & India were both colonized by England... and he's Indian. As a result, he has asked me to mail him a copy of my thesis when it's complete! I told him it would be around 100pp and he responded with, "and I would love to read every page". How cool is that???
and then today:
okay, back story, I guess:
I worked at that Utopian Studies thing, right? It was soooooooooo much fun and I am so excited I got to be part! It was on University campus and Serena and I were the only 2 classmates involved with the organization of the conference (did I tell you I get to put it onto my resume, fyi?), but the other classmates were attending some of the sessions and/or on campus doing research. And since nearly everyone in Ireland goes to lunch at the same time (1pm), we invited our classmates to eat with us. BUT - the conference was in a section of the dining hall that was blocked off from the rest of the public tables. So Serena and I sat down outside of the conference tables so that our friends could join - and the only thing was, it was the first lunch and Serena and I were some of the only faces people knew at the conference, so people started joining us outside the conference borders, too! and they kept coming... & coming... and we filled up a table of about 30-40ppl, which made me feel badly, but what could I do? so the banquet servers had to bring water pitchers and salt/pepper over to our table. oops! at least the lady knew me and I explained what happened and she just laughed.
regardless -- off topic! -- one of the ladies who sat down with us was a Senior Lecturer at Oxford Brookes University in England. She's an American and her name is Nicole Pohl. I had never seen her before, but I guess she recognised me or Serena, so she sat down across from me and we talked for a bit. I did not realise at the time that she was one of the keynote presenters - so I didn't really ask her about her research. I just asked her about her... and she did the same.
So then I get to her keynote 2 days later, and halfway through (b/c I had registration stuff to do), and turns out that her paper was on the Irish portion of MY thesis! lol! Well, not the whole presentation, but the part i heard for sure - and it was all about my chapter three, woot!
So I emailed her last week and asked her for a copy of her presentation so that I might use it in my thesis and told her what I am researching, and she asked me for a copy of my thesis to read when it's complete!
So yay! My stuff is not so overdone that people are disinterested!!! :)
Now I have to really write this thing. And pretty well, too, if world-renowned scholars are asking for copies... no pressure :)
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