Good Questions, Katie Couric

Ok, ProfessingMama has truly made her claim for being the next Katie Couric. Here are her five questions for me and they are goodies!

1. How did you know Dr J was "the one"? (I know you've blogged about him many times, but it's been awhile! :) )
To butter up her interview subject, ProfMama begins with what she knows is a softball question. {For the long versions of Dr. J and Dr. Mon--go here and here.}

From our very first conversation, I felt an instant and intimate connection with him. I can only describe it as the most intense deja vu I've ever experienced. There was this wonderfully frightening feeling of deep familiarity from day one. I am frequently the person that men tell "oh I feel so comfortable around you" or "oh I feel like I've known you forever." However, it is rare that I feel that same way about someone else. With Dr. J, it was truly instant. I believe I truly knew he was "the one" on our first lunch together. We spent a couple hours together that day, and I left feeling like the course of my entire life had been changed--or more importantly finally set on the right path. He is the first man I've ever kissed first--especially on a "first date" and I knew at that moment that he was my first first kiss and my last first kiss. After that, it was just a matter of confirmation. I was so overwhelmed by the fact that this incredible relationship was happening to me, that I was hesitant to trust what my heart and my head knew. Small things happened everyday that kept confirming--yes this is it--yes this is it--now don't mess it up. Up to that point, I had never been concerned about "messing up." With Dr. J, it was clear to me from the beginning that this was the relationship I should cherish the most and be the most careful with. By the end of that first month and our first extended weekend together, I knew I was in love (as did he) and we had a wonderful intimate conversation that really will be the basis for our wedding vows this time next year.

2. How has your sorority shaped you into the woman you are today?
I should really post on this one day. Short answer is that I have always admired the historically Black sorority tradition. I grew up around AKAs and Deltas, women ranging from ages 20-70+, and grew to respect the history of LIFETIME (not just four years) service and political activism of these organizations. While I'll save wrestling with critiques of the present state of our organizations for another day, I found that when I went to college, many of the women in NPHC organizations were still upholding these values. I was especially drawn to Sigma Gamma Rho because the chapter in my College City was extremely active--they were always doing programs--to such an extent that I heard about them on my campus even though we did not have a chapter their. After researching the organization, I learned that historically speaking, Sigma was very different from the other major NPHC sororities. Sigma was founded by seven schoolteachers at Butler University (the only of the major sororities not founded at Howard). Having always been in predominantly White institutions, I really identified with what the founder must of gone through. In any event, I digress, once I learned about Sigma, I knew if I ever joined a sorority, it would be that one. But I thought I would have to wait until after college, until I found that I could join the chapter on another campus. So to answer the question, the experience of joining Sigma--but especially at another school where I didn't know anyone--did WONDERS for my confidence. I couldn't be a wallflower anymore--I had to put myself out there and see what happened. And would happened was beautiful. I was embraced and surrounded by Black women like me--beautiful, education, involved, ambitious--suddenly I wasn't "the odd ball" or "the only one" anymore. Seeing positive reflections of Black women my age was great for my self-esteem and was a positive part of my college experience. It gave my a social life outside of the drinking and partying of my own institution and a creative outlet for activism. It kept me grounded, it exposed me to new ideas, and most importantly, it gave me a safe space to grow and learn without the fear of making mistakes. Often times as a Black woman in predominantly White institutions, I feel that I can't make mistakes--that the mistakes I make are assigned not just to me, but to my entire race (and gender). The sorority became a safe place to experiment with leadership, public speaking, mentoring, recruitment, financial planning, programming development for women and people of color, and a whole host of things. I'm extremely grateful to Sigma--especially for the leadership experiences it has afforded me and the women I have been connected to. This year is the first year I haven't been incredibly active, and it is hard--I feel like something is missing all the time and it is frustrating not to be able to give back to the organization that has given me so much.

3. What song takes you to "back in the day"?
While Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean” ranks high on the list of songs I loved as a kid, there was an entire era of (dare I say)—Black Boy Bands—that takes me back. That good ol’ era when all the guys were rocking those crazy Hi Top Fades instead of grills. My cousin was crazy about The Boys (who did have very fun videos), but I preferred the more “mature” sounds of Hi-Five. Here are two songs that take me back to the more positive days of my youth—my cousin’s birthday parties with our (oooh) public school friends. There was all types of swooning going on:


The Boys--"Crazy"--One of the cutest videos ever


Hi-Five--"Can't Wait Another Minute"--Don't Swoon




4. In the early days of your blog, you wrote that you considered going to law school instead of/in addition to grad school. What appealed to you about law school, and why did you decide against it?
A truly skilled investigative reporter, ProfMama has pointed to something that I don’t remember saying aloud but is indeed very true.
My first consideration of law school began in high school when I became obsessed with the series Law & Order. My closest friend from high school got me hooked--we'd watch reruns on A&E constantly, and he actually went to college as a prelaw student. We had fascinating conversations about the most minute points of the legal system reflecting what I think was just an infatuation. The second phase happened in college when I involved with a law student who was also pursuing his MBA. I was moving towards graduate school at that point, but wasn’t sold on the idea of being a “teacher” so I begin to investigate dual degree programs. Eventually my love of my independent research as an undergraduate just drowned out my second phase of interest in the law school idea. Law school has continued to resurface as an idea due to the increasingly political nature of my work. Initially as a graduate student, I was just interested in Black women’s activism in the 19th century. But as my research became more current to address Black women politicians, the issues of the law, politics, government, citizenship, race, rhetoric, and gender became more intertwined in my head. So once again I flirted with the idea of law school after my MA, and even early into my PhD program I would still think about it every now and then. Of course by the time I got to dissertating, I wanted nothing to do with being in school again. Now that I’ve finished and my work is so explicitly political, people ask me all the time if I am thinking about going into politics. That’s not my plan, but, if I were to do so, I’m sure the idea of going to law school would come up again.

5. In what ways has life as a professor surprised you/been what you expected?
Today was a good example of the expected. I had to stop being productive to have someone take my pictures to be in a newsletter. I expected constant interruptions and I expected to be a bit of a poster child. Neither has bothered me too much, but I am still working to get used to the starting and stopping of work when I am on campus. Poster child business just comes with the territory--but it is funny that since being here, I often hear reports from people in my Hometown that have seen me on some College advertisement or heard about me being here through the grapevine.

The biggest surprise has been the students. I growing up in this state, I knew that this school had a reputation for being a bit of a party school. But I've found that the students here are pretty sharp (even though they are being lazy this week) and I've been amazed at their eagerness to work with me outside of class. I've also been a bit surprised at the ease with which my schedule gets out of control and I'm still learning to negotiate that.


There you have it. In the spirit of the meme, if you want to play along, post a comment that says "I would like you to ask me questions even though you are not Katie Couric." I'll email you questions, you answer them on your blog, and then you offer to ask somebody else questions.