Playlisting Sociology

(Day a Googol) I am, among other things, currently involved in putting together a reading list for a newly revamped Sociology100 course. As a course that covers a range of sociological topic, you get a fair sampling of each of the major themes of sociology (i.e. economy, culture, gender, race, etc). The benefit of a course like this is, of course, that you get a little bit of everything; you see a larger part of the puzzle. The detriment of this type of course is that you think you know a lot about a lot of things, when in fact you know a little about very little...although some of my students have proven they know nothing about everything.

The reading list for a course of this nature must be as high impact in each area as possible. Each article/chapter must be the seminal work in its area. Sometimes it is hard to make the decision between one or the other. It is in this way that I sort of had to look at putting this reading list together as a playlist. It needs good flow; ideally you want each work to build on the next. It is nice to include something familiar, something that they might have heard of before. Thinking of the work in this way made the whole process go so much quicker. Once you have a theme and a start, it all just comes right together.

What is something about a playlist that doesn't come right together? Answer: a thesis! haha. Funny sad, and very true. I have been avoiding my thesis like the Canadians avoid majority governments. This is not totally true though, I am reading and thinking about the thesis. The thinking is a big part, I have an idea of how I am going to do what needs to be done and what it will require of me. The trouble of course, is providing what is needed between life, job, athletics, and sleep. It will come though, in time.

The 'you must be a truly devoted fan to be reading this' song of the day: Patience - Guns N Roses (who have a new album coming out soon I hear. crazy?!)