Another Day...

It's Sunday, yet again. I'm at the library, yet again. I've had some productive days in the last two weeks, of which I'm very proud. Granted, I'm not really writing anything yet, but I'm gathering all of my data. Here's the tally thus far...

The ladies of interest in my dissertation include Condoleezza Rice (whose name, it turns out is a reference to musical score), Hillary Clinton, and Nancy Pelosi. I'm interested in coverage post-September 11, but I started looking in 2000 since Clinton was elected that year and Rice was appointed that year. Not surprisingly, Rice is winning in coverage about war. But, I'm on the year 2005 right now and I think it's going to be a big couple of years coming up for the ladies. Rice is appointed to the Secretary of State position in 2005 and in 2006 Pelosi is named the first female Speaker of the House, and Clinton starts exploring a bid for the White House in 2008. Yes, a busy couple of years indeed. I haven't really read through any of the stories, so there are no interesting tidbits I can provide.

However, I had a moment of brilliance last week as I was mulling over my introduction chapter. I was in a version of the play Lysistrata when I was in high school. The play is about women in ancient Greece withholding sex from their husbands until the men agree to stop the war. It's much more complicated than that, but you get my drift. I thought: "How brilliant! This says so much about how gender is constructed during wartime - even in ancient Greece!" It's a perfect way to tie everything together. Well, it turns out that it's not so obscure. Peace activists have been putting on plays within the Lysistrata theme for years. I'm still going to use the reference, but it may not be given such prominence.

So, that's the story of my weekend. I've had a good one. Productivity with a bit of drinking, birthday celebrations, babysitting, and napping mixed in. All in all, much better than last Sunday!