I've been reading (read: wasting time with) blogs for a while now, and although I've found many interesting in one way or another, none of them have spoken directly to me. Lately I've been focusing on academic and feminist blogs, which isn't surprising considering I'm in grad school in the physical sciences, and I have boobs. There, I said it. Actually, I've been a budding feminist since undergrad (thanks, Professor West!), and I maintain the "budding" part because I'm not sure I've realized my potential in that respect.
I've decided to be open about my field because it's different from other physical sciences in some interesting ways. First of all, it is rarely it's own department, usually part of physics or grouped with space sciences. Secondly, although physics tends to have the lowest percentage of women (at all levels) than the rest of the physical sciences, astronomy tends to have much more women. Finally, astronomy (usually) doesn't involve lab or field work - observing is really it's own animal.
And a final important aspect of this blog is that I'm in what will hopefully be one of my last years in grad school (okay, probably third-to-last, but who's counting?), and I want to start figuring out what career path I want to pursue. In general it will be somewhere in a continuum between entirely teaching and entirely doing research, but there are a lot of levels within that continuum as well.
Well, here goes nothing.
