I had one of those moments where you are suddenly so seized by an idea that you must Stop Immediately and write it down. Luckily, I was walking home along a mostly deserted street with my bookbag, which actually contained pen and paper.
Diane has suggested that it's a good idea to just be alone with your data and your head sometimes, without *trying* to analyze it. In my personal life, living in my head has often gotten me into emotional trouble, but professionally it's rather freeing. I would like to fancy myself one of those researchers who is given to Fits of Eccentricity and Brilliance (and random capitalization). Maybe I only stopped to write the idea down for effect...
But no, I think it was a breakthrough. It related to my study of the discourse of human rights agencies' annual reports (comparing Amnesty International, Freedom House, and Human Rights Watch). Suddenly this framework started to spring from the void. I managed to find good descriptive words for the trends I had noticed, lurking but undefined: romantic, historical, and journalistic, respectively. I think I'm even going to be able to legitimately use the word Kafkaesque in my writeup (which will be posted here Friday, provided I actually finish on time).
So the Mojo is returning a bit.
Posted on December 03, 2002 at 03:15 PM
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