field research

Just got back from a few days traveling to Tennessee and the Smokey Mountains... Took a couple quality photos of public bathrooms (and endured a couple supremely awkward moments because I was taking photos in public bathrooms.) Also finally started reading The Humanure Handbook in earnest. Expect more here starting in the next week, when school is back in session and the thesis really starts in earnest.

don't forget about the business end

My friend Alicia drew this for me while I was presenting my thesis proposal last week. I guess I used the term 'business end' at some point and she thought it was pretty funny. It's a good reminder to watch what you say, but also keep a sense of humor.

Its been really interesting to talk to people about going to the bathroom because many people are very candid, but some people are very uncomfortable. Almost everyone makes some sort of potty humor joke. Is that just to hide our cultural unease about this topic? In the long run, I am hoping that the subject matter of my thesis will catch people's interest and then entice them to realize there really are better options than what is out there right now.

thesis proposal

This past Friday (yesterday) we presented our senior thesis (aka capstone) project proposals. I worked hard and long on mine, and you can see it in its entirety here.

The presentation presented an interesting (and common) challenge because we were given ten minutes (total, including questions and feedback) to pitch our projects and present our research findings to this point. That means you have to really boil down your information and share it in a quick and easy (to understand) way. We have worked on a lot of proposals this quarter, and I think each one is difficult but also a valuable learning opportunity.

So, please... take a look, and let me know what you think. One week from yesterday we have a written proposal due, and after that the faculty will let us know if our proposal has been accepted. Then... we just have to do it!

its a hard thing to define

I am working on putting together my proposal presentation for this Friday. Here the first draft of one of my slides (you are going to have to click and enlarge it if you want to read anything...) There is already a lot of information to convey, and it is definitely a challenge to work out how to concisely and persuasively get across everything that needs to be communicated.