April 27, 2005

Hi Everybody!
by Jeff Langstraat

Hi Dr. Jeff!

Well, it’s not Dr. Jeff yet. Still another year until I get that title. (Please, God (or my committee), let it only be one more year.) Since I’m going to be guest blogging here for a while, testing out the relationship and all that, I thought it might be nice to let y’all know who I am, or at least a bit about me, and maybe a little of what to expect.

First off, I’d like to thank Liza for inviting me, and Lorraine for bringing us together. It’s an honor to be invited to be a guest blogger here at Culture Kitchen. I’m particularly humbled, as a guy, to be asked to write for such an explicitly feminist site. I have a bit of a background in feminist organizing (I worked at a domestic violence program for a time in my pre-academic life), and feminist thought (of a variety of stripes) deeply influences my academic work. I also appreciate the attempt to bridge racial/cultural/ethnic/gender/sexual….divides. As these systems interact in more complex ways, each of us exists at more and more intersections and potential margins. We’re each pulled in different directions, compelled by competing loyalties that needn’t compete. It’s life at these interstices that centers my work.

A bit about me: I’m an academic sociologist who came to the field after a career as a mediocre organizer. I’m a pretty damned good teacher. I have a foul mouth and I probably use it far too often. I’m a gay man who loves dance clubs but doesn’t care a whit for Will and Grace and can’t dress to save his life (Nothing fits!). AbFab, though? You’ll never get AbFab away from me; Patsy is my role model, and there’s an AbFAb quote for every situation in life. There’s nothing better than an evening with Ben and Jerry’s Chocolate Therapy ice cream and a cheesy High School movie. I’m a bitter romantic and playful cynic. I got teary-eyed at the end of Amelie. Ask me tomorrow and I’ll be someone else. Except for AbFab; that’s a constant. The Simpsons, too.

My mind wanders a lot, and that’s made me a better sociologist and worse academic. I see things in relational and interactive terms, and when my mind decides to wander down some unexplored path, I like to see where it takes me. The main point, the path I was taking, can be lost along the way. It’s a crappy way to be a specialist, but great for a generalist. It affects what I’ll be writing here because I never know what I’m going to produce when I sit at the keyboard. I ask your indulgence. Pull me back to the point, wander along with me, or choose another point of departure and go with it. “Sometimes the roundabout way is the shortest path from A to B.” (It’s a line I love, and am probably mangling in some way, from Ann Fadiman’s powerful book, The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down..)

So, that’s a bit about me. More will come out, I’m sure, so I’m not too worried about giving a complete picture. (And, I do need to maintain some sense of mystery, after all.) Thanks again for the opportunity.
j

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