About Ampersand

Back when I was an impoverished grad student, I once spent $300 on a set of cassettes to learn Turkish — a language that had nothing whatsoever to do with my research or my heritage. It just seemed interesting. And fun.

Having seen me pursue, well, let’s just say a few of these flights of fancy, my roommate at the time dubbed these wacky projects of mine “plans du jour” and said “We don’t say dilettante, we say renaissance woman.”

I just prefer to think of myself as an omnivore.

By day, I’m an administrator for an interdisciplinary postdoc fellowship program at a hotshot university — an ideal job for an omnivore. I get the chance to meet fascinating researchers, not to mention free access to the library of my dreams and a huge discount on courses.

As I write this, with only two entries posted, I’m thinking of this blog as a place to memorialize all the crumbs in my omnivorous banquet — all the momentary fascinations that don’t make up a full-fledged meal.