Yesterday I had lunch with four other dynamic, intelligent, witty women. I am fortunate enough to work with these women and I was reminded of that during our foray into sushi.

At one point, we began discussing Harry Potter. I’m not sure why or how it came up but we all were in the fray and discovered that all of us have read all of the books, seen some of the movies (some of us have seen all of the movies and even, ahem, own them (plus all of the books)). That’s not the cool thing, though.

What was cool is that the discussion of Harry Potter turned into a theoretical discussion with connections between political, social, and rhetorical theories. We discussed the use of lies, manipulation, and influence to overcome and / or coerce others. We discussed the rise of “the one.”

We realized how geeky we are but also how much we really do have in common when it comes down to it. Some of these women are *much* more outgoing than I am but they also classify themselves as introverted and reticent to be a part of large crowds. They are able to put on a better face, I think, than I do, but it was nice to know I’m not alone. And it was wonderful to get so deep into an intellectual discussion about something silly and fun.

It still makes me chuckle when I think about the way we all looked and how our voices rose as we got excited and wanted to share our own theories on the topic.

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I have been acknowledged and / or quoted in no less than three books this year. That’s more than any other time in my life.

The first, and most important book, is my brother’s dissertation. He acknowledges all of his family for the supportive roles we played in his journey. I know all of the work behind that book and it makes me proud to be mentioned in its pages.

The second is a book by my adviser, Laura Gray-Rosendale, Pop Perspectives: Readings to Critique Contemporary Culture. She mentions me by name (and a few of my colleagues) for our assistance with her online course, which is the basis for this book. The book is interesting and insightful and if you’re interested in the language of pop culture, it is a must-have.

The third book I was mentioned in is Naked on the Internet: Hookups, Downloads, and Cashing in on Internet Sexploration by Audacia Ray. I was interviewed for this book and will be doing a book review of it on June 27th.

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I live on a dirt road that, when I bought my house, was not heavily traveled. However, in the past year or so, a few out-of-staters (read: Californians) have moved into our neighborhood. With them, they brought high-speed driving. In an arid climate with dirt roads, this means high dust levels. It also means torn-up roads. It also means danger for children and pets.

To combat this, my neighbor across the street put in a speed bump. I had been thinking about doing the very same thing and was glad to see him do it. The speeds had become dangerous even for us as adults, let alone the neighborhood kids. The first person to cross over it told us that were were putting in an illegal obstruction to the road. She said that in New York, where she was from, this was illegal. Lance and I chuckled. Here in Arizona, in our specific neighborhood, we own the road. I own half and he owns half. We can do whatever we want with it as long as it still allows access.

Most of our neighbors have been great, support it, and are talking about creating their own to slow down the traffic. The Californians, however, are hopping mad. Or maybe they are burn-out mad. They will speed (and I mean 60+mph speed) up to the bump, drive over it, then try to spin out on it to tear it up. Two nights ago, at 2am, they kept doing it over and over again, trying to get rid of it, making a lot of noise.

I don’t quite understand this behavior. Instead of supporting the issue of needing slower traffic for safety, they are causing more danger — repeatedly. It’s kind of scary. I wonder how they’d be when confronted with something even more irritating.

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