Interview Meme, from fleurdelis28

(Take 2, after try 1 somehow inverted itself to start at the right, which bothers me in reading English.)
1) What experiences prompted you to want to study the sociology of rabbis?
The rabbinate has been on my mind in some capacity for ages, since I've had a thing for Jewish learning since I was quite young, and as far as I knew then, being a rabbi was what one Did if that was what you liked learning about. It's an idea I still toy with, especially when I'm feeling pliable to unintentional peer pressure. And I like sociology type stuff: it's fun reading, it's fun figuring out, and people are just plain interesting. And well, I have this fascination with ritual, and I need a lens for it. And after Professor Fishman's course on Women in Jewish American Life freshman year, and the combination of reading Judith Hauptman's ReReading the Rabbis and discussing the pros and cons of the joining of being a rabbi and a mother, and reading a bunch of stuff about tekhines and mikvah, the combination has just kept on growing on me. What I would really love to do is compare how rabbinical sociological trends match or don't match with those of their congregants about how they think ritual should be used, and what it means, etc.

2) Do you really re-use Ziploc bags?
Of course. I brought mine from this school year home to continue their productive lives this summer. I still can't see how people would just throw them out after one use- it seems so wasteful. Even if they can be a bit of a pain to wash.

3) What are your feelings about kites/have you flown any recently?
I haven't flown a kite in ages. I have always, in fact, been really and truly lousy at kite flying. My father went through a phase of kite fascination when I was in the standard kite-flying age, but I gave up on kites rather quickly, I think.

4) Is there anything you are absolutely certain you would not name your kids?
I firmly intend to avoid names with sounds that aren't pronouncable in the main language my children will be raised in, or at least names that don't have acceptable forms in our primary language. I also hope to avoid names that are overused, or that have dreadfully tacky meanings. Much as I like a few of them when I hear them, I firmly intend to avoid the "Israeli Hippy Names". I tend to like names that have a tradition of being names. Just because I only realized that my nickname had a tradition of being a name years after mom and I came up with it doesn't stop me here- I was Far too young to have come up with name preferences at that point. And anyways, Maya turns out to be an established name in about a gizillion different traditions.

5) What trend/tendancy in fantasy fiction annoys you the most?
Copycatting without energy: I Hate the Tolkien-clones who clone the set up and completely lack energy, also the books that try to clone earlier books in their own series but lack energy or interesting characters. I really dislike uninteresting characters. Plots I can give or take- I mostly ignore them after the first read through anyways, but interesting characters that interact interestingly and/or pleasingly with their social and physical environments are a must. That said, I'm bad at identifying trends, and I rarely come across things until they're no longer new, and I'm bad at chronology, so... I can say that I do have a guilty fondness for urban fantasy and its sibling concepts.

And quotes of the day (or so) because I don't feel like turning on the other computer to put them on that list right now-
"Yay! Mentat school!" -doctor_nine
"As much as you can intuit being hit over the head with a bat" -ibid

And if you've managed to read this and want me to ask you questions, comment and I shall do my best to find good questions for you.

Interview Meme, from fleurdelis28

(Take 2, after try 1 somehow inverted itself to start at the right, which bothers me in reading English.)
1) What experiences prompted you to want to study the sociology of rabbis?
The rabbinate has been on my mind in some capacity for ages, since I've had a thing for Jewish learning since I was quite young, and as far as I knew then, being a rabbi was what one Did if that was what you liked learning about. It's an idea I still toy with, especially when I'm feeling pliable to unintentional peer pressure. And I like sociology type stuff: it's fun reading, it's fun figuring out, and people are just plain interesting. And well, I have this fascination with ritual, and I need a lens for it. And after Professor Fishman's course on Women in Jewish American Life freshman year, and the combination of reading Judith Hauptman's ReReading the Rabbis and discussing the pros and cons of the joining of being a rabbi and a mother, and reading a bunch of stuff about tekhines and mikvah, the combination has just kept on growing on me. What I would really love to do is compare how rabbinical sociological trends match or don't match with those of their congregants about how they think ritual should be used, and what it means, etc.

2) Do you really re-use Ziploc bags?
Of course. I brought mine from this school year home to continue their productive lives this summer. I still can't see how people would just throw them out after one use- it seems so wasteful. Even if they can be a bit of a pain to wash.

3) What are your feelings about kites/have you flown any recently?
I haven't flown a kite in ages. I have always, in fact, been really and truly lousy at kite flying. My father went through a phase of kite fascination when I was in the standard kite-flying age, but I gave up on kites rather quickly, I think.

4) Is there anything you are absolutely certain you would not name your kids?
I firmly intend to avoid names with sounds that aren't pronouncable in the main language my children will be raised in, or at least names that don't have acceptable forms in our primary language. I also hope to avoid names that are overused, or that have dreadfully tacky meanings. Much as I like a few of them when I hear them, I firmly intend to avoid the "Israeli Hippy Names". I tend to like names that have a tradition of being names. Just because I only realized that my nickname had a tradition of being a name years after mom and I came up with it doesn't stop me here- I was Far too young to have come up with name preferences at that point. And anyways, Maya turns out to be an established name in about a gizillion different traditions.

5) What trend/tendancy in fantasy fiction annoys you the most?
Copycatting without energy: I Hate the Tolkien-clones who clone the set up and completely lack energy, also the books that try to clone earlier books in their own series but lack energy or interesting characters. I really dislike uninteresting characters. Plots I can give or take- I mostly ignore them after the first read through anyways, but interesting characters that interact interestingly and/or pleasingly with their social and physical environments are a must. That said, I'm bad at identifying trends, and I rarely come across things until they're no longer new, and I'm bad at chronology, so... I can say that I do have a guilty fondness for urban fantasy and its sibling concepts.

And quotes of the day (or so) because I don't feel like turning on the other computer to put them on that list right now-
"Yay! Mentat school!" -doctor_nine
"As much as you can intuit being hit over the head with a bat" -ibid

And if you've managed to read this and want me to ask you questions, comment and I shall do my best to find good questions for you.