long Arctic day

It was March 10 and I was coming down with a cold. I was reading one of the dissertations I downloaded when a thought struck me - "oh dear, I think the construct that I have been reading up on so far has a serious problem! Oh no, what have I gotten myself into?"

I think it could have been because of the cold but everything seemed pretty dark after that.

I felt a little depressed but told myself that I have got to get through this week's readings! ;-) Comfort can come from the strangest of places. My mood started to lighten up a bit as I began to read Paul Rock's chapter on Symbolic Interactionism and Ethnography. He pointed out certain challenges that ethnographers (and by my own extension, researchers) face, and did it with such humour that reminded me not to be too morose over the problem I encountered. I like what he wrote in the following passage:

"One must be prepared to live with uncertainty for long periods. One may have a dawning sense that things are becoming clear but the owl of Minerva, Hegel told us, flies at twilight. Resign oneself to living through a long Arctic day where nothing is clear and everything is distorted."

So, let's soldier on. I'm glad I have friends to walk the journey with.

:-)