Back to Reality...

As lovely as a trip to Europe in the middle of Fall can be, I have had to return to the harsh reality of graduating and finding a j-o-b! I think that I have been unconsciously delaying the significance of graduation for many years... as many years as one can continue signing up for school until one comes to the end of degrees to pursue. As much as would like to follow in the footsteps of our beloved Sisterlock Diva Brunsli, I can't imagine beginning a law degree after finishing this PhD. So apart from a real desire to go to 'beauty school,' (later I will share my vision of 'Helga's House of Beaute'), I've got to accept that I am graduating in June.

To that end, I dove head first into the job application process the day I arrived home from Spain. Actually, I did some work while away, writing syllabi on trains and re-formulating my letter of application, CV, and dissertation abstract. Judging from the poll results on Brunsli's blog about what people want to read about, I will keep my comments about the job search to a minimum ;-) Suffice it to say that I sent out 30 applications and several more for postdoctoral fellowships (I guess that is one way to extend the researcher/student phase).

So, oddly enough, the process of having to present myself for assessment (albeit on paper) to schools all over the country made me want a makeover.
I am in my 16th month of wearing sisterlocks and I hate to admit that I too want more length...today! Now, my sister (I won't say which) laments what may be the overfocus on growing long hair that some Black women can be obsessed with. Please, I do not want to debate this, my point is simply to mention the perpetual dissatisfaction that Black women are socialized to have about their appearance and especially their hair.

Having said that... I want longer hair! Ya, I said it.

As stated above, the whole graduation/job search process has certainly brought some (understandable) nervousness to the surface, and I think my first response was to figure out a way to hide behind hair, of all things. I think that this may be what drove a 14-year marathon of wearing braid extensions, and gave me some 'false courage' to do all sorts of challenging, adventurous, scary, new things during that time. Does hair give a sistah courage, I doubt it, but I certainly spent a grip of money buying hair to put on my head as if it did!


So the reality of graduating and being a junior scholar, of having my work and my personality judged for compatibility on a new college campus have a lot to do with my 'hair journey' (if people still use the expression). I know that if I am dissatisfied at this stage, I will be dissatisfied at the next one too, that is the great irony of dissatisfaction (which is actually ingratitude). All this 'being in the moment' talk is starting to make sense...and it is cheaper than buying hair and less frustrating than trying to will hair to grow overnight ;-)

We Also Saw A Lot of Cool Stuff Too! Part Dos

Yes, that is one final view of Granada's 'white towns.' I also got to stand in the middle, which is a lesson in being photographed that I learned from Beyonce (when whe was one of Destiny's children)!



The previous photo is in front of the famous Roman aquaduct in Segovia. We had to ask a lot of questions to figure out how that thing worked. Basically, it brought water to Segovia from the mountains, and remains today as an example of the Romans' amazing engineering skills (I don't think that mortar was even used to hold the aquaduct together, just the precise positioning and cut of the stones. Pretty cool).


And finally, a view of Toledo from Greco's house (yes, the same as the painting... actually, the painting is a copy of this view ;-)



So after such a fabulous trip to Spain, the only thing I can think about is how much it will cost me to buy an apartment in Madrid sigh.