I LOVE MY ADVISER!!!

It's only my first semester of my first year, so maybe by the time I get done (in like, forever six years), we might be ready to kill each other (I hope not!). But for now, I am so so so so grateful she is my adviser. Here's why:

- She persuaded the department to give me a bigger subsidy so that I could fly over on Visitation Day. I had been involved in a car accident a few weeks before, and the co-insurance had sucked up my savings. I explained this to her, and she promptly asked the Department if they could increase my subsidy, and the Department did! Talk about recruiting- very flattering!

- She is quirky. You have to meet her to understand. See here for her CV.

- She like to take off her shoes and put her feet up in her chair when in her office. Me too!

- I switched topics just 2 weeks ago - from conservative religions and women in 20th Century American South to 20th Century Mormon Women - and her reaction was,

"That is the perfect answer."

If I had known, I would have switched topics earlier. I was hesitant to do so because I really wanted to continue working with her, and I knew that Mormonism was not her area of expertise. When I took the plunge and asked her about it, she broke out in a "hooray" and told me that she had doubts about my initial topic for a while now and had been trying to nudge me toward a different direction. I wish she had been more explicit about it earlier. Oh well.

- Her reaction when I told her I wanted to focus on 20th Century Mormon Women, and feminism and cross-cultural examinations of Mormon women:

"Yes, and let's move beyond the issue of polygamy." 

Yes! Mormon Woman's History is ≠ Polygamy, especially in the 20th Century.

So grateful. Now I'm super "stoked" to begin my research.