All posts by Rachel

Thanks, ASPiRE Program!

philosophy

I’m grateful to share the good news that I have received a New Faculty Start Up Grant from the ASPiRE Program at Ball State University. Specifically, this $3,000 grant will enable me to travel to a couple of additional conferences in the coming year and buy some books to help me advance my research on collective moral responsibility.

The experience of writing my grant proposal was really valuable, in that it helped me reflect on my current research and do some long-term planning. Even more importantly, the success of the proposal means I’ll get additional institutional support as I move forward with my work. So thank you very much, Sponsored Projects Administration and ASPiRE Program, for helping me prepare my grant and for accepting my proposal!

Grandma (the movie)

movies

Talk about a movie that passes the Bechdel-Wallace test!

I’ve always loved the hilarious Lily Tomlin, and she does not disappoint in her latest movie,  Grandma; I recommend it for its combination of zingy one-liners and social commentary.

I’m lucky enough to have an amazingly smart, kind, and independent grandmother myself, and I wish there were more movies out there exploring the complex inter-generational relationships that can exist between folks who stick by their own commitments while loving and supporting people with rather different lives.

Poverty Simulation

justice

A couple of days ago, I participated in a Poverty Simulation on the Ball State Campus that was hosted by TEAMwork for Quality Living. What an amazing experience! I cannot recommend it highly enough.

When you arrive at the poverty simulation, you’ll be assigned a new identity for about the next 2 hours, and you’ll work together with the members of your family to try to meet all the challenges that come your way throughout the (simulated) month. All the families have to figure out how to arrange for transportation, buy food, and pay bills; depending on your specifics, you may have to deal with issues at work, health problems, legal trouble, and people in the community who *ahem* are not very kind.

No matter what your situation is in real life, I think this is an excellent way to learn about what other people go through, and to foster empathy for a wide range of folks. The post-simulation reflective discussion can be a real eye-opener!

Poverty simulations are offered regularly (TQL has done 80+ over the years), so check out their website to sign up for the next one!

Eliminating Poverty in Muncie

justice

On Thursday, I went to my first meeting of Teamwork for Quality Living, a group of folks in Muncie who have been working together to empower people in poverty toward self-sufficiency since the late 1990s. Teamwork uses a collaborative model to bring about positive changes in the community, and the Circles Campaign has been shown to be quite effective by various empirical studies.

I met a wonderful, demographically diverse group of people, learned a lot about the Muncie community, and shared a tasty dinner with the group! Now I am looking forward to next week’s meeting and the upcoming poverty simulation that I’m going to participate in. My challenge, moving forward, is to start figuring out the best ways for me to contribute to Teamwork’s mission.

First Day of School!

uncategorized

There is nothing quite like the first day of school. I often wonder what it must be like for people who “outgrow” the academic calendar and don’t get to have the predictable cycle of the academic year anymore.

On this first day teaching at Ball State, I’m looking forward to settling in to the routines of the classroom and getting to know my students after a very a busy summer. I gave a couple of presentations, moved nearly a thousand miles, and spent a month in Seattle working in the beautiful Suzzallo library and seeing old friends (while, of course, eating in all my favorite restaurants there).  And those are just a few of the bigger things! I also tried out a sensory deprivation tank, sampled a Culver’s concrete for the first time, and bought a shiny red bicycle.

To all the other students and teachers out there, merry new school year!

 

 

WOGAP tomorrow

philosophy

Tomorrow I’m going to be sharing some of my work at WOGAP, the workshop on gender and philosophy that is hosted at MIT. The topic of my paper, moral responsibility and its relation to one’s conceptual repertoire, is one that I have found very interesting and challenging over the past year and change, so I’m eagerly looking forward to the discussion.

I am also grateful for the opportunity to share my work with folks whose company and insights I have so enjoyed during all the other WOGAP sessions I’ve attended these past two years, and for the chance to thank them for the good times in person before I move away this summer.