Religion Scholar and Single Girl - oxymoronic?

I have been a horrible blogger recently, but forgive me Olivia for my sins...
See what I did right there? Religion joke. Problem #1 for single and ready to mingle me.
I've noticed that being a religion scholar has a few drawbacks. (I did not choose to call myself a "religion scholar," but once your friend starts calling you a colleague, you are no longer allowed to deny it). I'm not referring to qualifying exams, comps, intense thinking/arguing sessions in classes, head-hurting philosophical and theoretical readings, trying to write an acceptable thesis, etc...
I'm talking about meeting people, romantically-speaking.
Take, for example, my experience last Friday at Starbucks. While working on my ethnographic research on an evangelical Christian theme park in Orlando, FL, I tend to live at Starbucks. I love my friends' apartment, but she doesn't have a desk for me to spread out my notebooks, camera, and recording devices. So Friday, an hour into an excruciatingly long transcription of an interview with a Roman Centurion (I kid you not), a cute guy comes and asks if he can share my table close to the electrical outlet. I say sure and continue with my work. I make a phone call to a consultant and leave a message. Apparently, my phone etiquette prompted this question from my table-mate: "are you in sales?"
No, I am not in sales.
"What do you do?"
I'm getting my masters in religion. I'm doing research here in Orlando.
"Oh"
Shocked silent and absolutely perplexed, he went back to his own work for a couple of minutes.
Then, the next, in a long line of questions: "So, are you like, really religious?"
No, I study religion, specifically American religious culture.
"Oh, so like history?"
Yes, but I focus on religion in history.
"So, do you have like a real job?"
Well, I'm a TA (teaching assistant) during the school year, but I'm here doing research.
"Oh, so do you party?"

And y'all thought he was confused... I understand the question needs to be asked because not everyone understands the study of religion as a humanities subject. And many people think I study theology (which I don't). But really?

Of course I party, I jokingly inform him that religion scholars need to drink more than others to be able to study it.
Small laugh.

So why does this happen? Why does my work effect conversation partners more than other jobs? Is it because we are told to never discuss religion, politics, or money and asking questions about my job breaks a cardinal conversation rule? Then why don't politicians or accountants have this problem?

Why do people assume that I am either horribly pious and thus live like a nun (any nun-like comparisons are not intentional on the part of the author)?
Why are men so perplexed by my career/field that they assume I'm going to become a clergy member?

These are just a few of the MANY questions I have concerning romantic/conversational stylings of the opposite sex. Someday, I hope to find answers.

Maybe next time, I'll tell him I'm in sales.

Just the facts...

This may sound hypocritical and unusual coming from a TA in a Comparative Religion department, but I just want the facts...
I am currently grading my REL101 midterms. The class is American Religious Encounters and on the midterm we covered Protestant Christianity, Catholicism, and Judaism from colonial period to the present.
We introduced the different traditions with background about the European origins of these religions and we also discussed the relevance of these traditions to contemporary life - clips from Doubt, discussions of the ordination of Gene Robinson as the first homosexual Episcopal Bishop, impressions of Mel Brooks by Peter Williams... We focused on the historical aspects and implications of these religions, how they have influenced and been influenced by America through various eras...
So why, when I ask them to write about 1 tradition from the colonial period to present, do I get an opinion paper about the downfall of Christian society due to the negative influences of American culture????
Please students, just write the facts...where is your evidence from the book for these statements? This is NOT AN OPINION PIECE. You are not a commentator for the New York Times or the Wall Street Journal, trust me, your writing is not that good.
Why don't you proofread? Why don't you spell check? I could handle these minute issues if you could clearly explain why you chose to support your discussion of the Scopes Trial with "Now I hear that many schools do not even allow their elementary students to sing the Pledge of Allegiance." WHY???

Unfortunately, I do not see this trend ending soon. With the Texas Board of Education "re-writing" history, I will only continue to read students' sentences like this: "Our nation was founded by great Christian men that wrote our Constitution based on the bible as there source, but in todays world no one focuses on every day God and religion and it becomes more absent from our lifes everyday."

I literally ran to my tissue box this morning reading this student's paper...what did I do wrong that my students cannot comprehend a historical analysis instead of an editorial?
I just want the facts...
This has made me even more sure that this is what I want to do...teach college students how to understand religion in America not just based in black and white opinions, but in the gray areas of real life.
*All of these quotes are exaggerations similar to actual students' papers...

Perhaps unrelated note: I'm running for Grad Student Association President - any thoughts?

a scholar? who? me?

Last weekend, I was VERY fortunate to travel to my home-away-from-home...TALLAHASSEE!

First and foremost, I have INCREDIBLE friends...Joanna, Beth, Mike, Ellyn, Julie, Liesl, Marie, Kellie, Amanda Ga, Britt, Mary, and Dr. K (to name a few)...you all made my visit amazing. I had/have been feeling so down lately and in the few moments we could all spend together, I remember what I loved about undergrad, FSU, and Tally...
You are all the best friends a girl could ask for (even if some of you had given up gossip for lent...a little less religion, please)!

The REAL reason I went to Tally was to attend/present a paper at the Religion Department Graduate Symposium. Earlier in the week, I had given my presentation on Purity Balls (call for details) to Liz Wilson's "The Question of Marriage" class. It had gone pretty well, but what do they know, they are Honors Freshies?!?!

Unfortunately however, they boosted my confidence. So I began my trip not nervous about my paper. Not being nervous made me nervous...was I too arrogant? Who the heck am I to be presenting here? These people were PhDs and I am a mere mortal - a first year masters student...
PLUS, the respondent to my panel was none other that Kathryn Lofton! For those of you who have not heard me mention her yet - here it is: SHE IS AWESOME...someday I wish to be academically just like her. Her upcoming book is about Oprah, she is funny, articulate, intelligent, and as I would find out, a genuinely kind individual.

Well, I put on my most adorable outfit and just did it...I was the final presenter on my panel (not a good sign for those who know me) but I managed to only be slightly intimidated by the brilliant people around me. My presentation did seem to get the most laughs, even though I spoke way too fast. In her response, Kathryn Lofton even called me a "theorist" and said that my approach - categorizing Purity Balls within the evangelical subculture - was bold and risky, but a risk that more scholars should take...


I'm not going to lie, I was SHOCKED...me, the girl who basically failed her qualifying exam, a theorist? (We can discuss the semantics of failure another time). I just assumed that everyone was going to be addressing those themes. I had no idea you could write anything differently...I'm not certain I want to be a theorist, but my CV will now have the line "Kathryn Lofton called me a theorist" at the bottom of the page.



The rest of the weekend flew by in a whirlwind of reconnections, schmoozing, and walks down memory lane. The weather was beautiful and 1 Fresh StirFry was just as I remembered it, but it wasn't the same.
It never will be again.
My only hope is to re-create something similar here, in OH or the next place I move.

Now is the time to make that happen...I am a scholar now, so I can do anything!

Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day... I have a new way of looking at this holiday from a religion scholar, interfaith-family-member perspective.

Valentine's Day is like Christmas for a Jewish daughter with a Catholic parent. I love the holiday, I love the decorations, the treats, the goodies, the sentiment, but it is not my holiday. I celebrate with others - those who are participants in the religion of "couple-dom." I get cards, I talk to loved ones, but it is not my holiday.

Here's the kicker, though - I want to convert. I have been knocking on the door to the temple of couple-dom for years and no answer. It's worse than Jews making you ask three times, it's as if the clergy of couple-dom know who I am and they are ignoring my calls.

Someday, hopefully soon, I will convert to couple-dom. But for now, I must wait it out, loving a holiday from afar.

And Single's Awareness Day - that is just as foreign and silly to me as Boxing Day is to non-Brits across the pond.