It reminded me of a reference I saw footnoted in something entirely different. For your consumption, here is that very reference ... .
Williams, Brett. 1984. Why Migrant Women Feed Their Husbands Tamales: Foodways as a Basis for a Revisionist View of Tejano Family Life. In Ethnic and Regional Foodways in the United States. Linda Keller Brown and Kay Mussell., eds. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press.113-126.
Ordinarily I don't get too excited either way about articles that appear in "scientific" journals, but there are times when something that gets published just grabs my ever-loving goat. This reference really gets me going. I mean really! Why do migrant women feed their husbands tamales? What kind of a question is that anyway? Why does anyone eat a tamale? Ever seen a Taco Bell commercial? Was this research funded with "Bridge to Nowhere" money? For Christ sakes, I can formulate a complete study of this question for ten bucks and have the answer back to you tomorrow afternoon ... if I phone in the order by 7 p.m. tonight! The whole study would look like this:
Thesis question: Why do migrant women feed their husbands tamales?
Breakthrough discovery: Because tamales taste good!
A very special Someone asked me last week why we should bother writing a scientific paper for publication in a technical journal. We should publish in the journals ... because it is just this easy.
Maybe it's me. Maybe I'm making mountains out of tamales, but if this is the standard ... how hard can be to get published anyway?
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15 comments:
ah, yes, the crazy things that people research and then some wise soul decides to put the results into news bulletins.
good to see a couple of new posts from you
cheers
As a doctoral student, this made me laugh so much. It is absolutely one for the ages. Lord, I hate academics...and I'm one! Fabulous post.
I agree. Ludicrous research topic. Public money is often spent recklessly on 'research' that any 9 year old knows!
By the way, reading this post made me hungry!
Crazy-yes. It's not about the research; it's about the hoops you must jump through to publicize the research. I HATED the stats and the hoops. Yuck. Good thing I didn't go past my Masters; I would have killed someone.
Well, sad to tell you I worked with gobs of Phd's. Yup. Had a blast. Saw all the stuff no one else sees. That's sorta scary. Knowing what goes on, but no one else does. Creepy. But fun! However, despite my experience with PhD's, I still have no idea how to eat a tamale. Seriously. I don't. It's in the corn husk thing-a-ma-jig, so then what? Do I eat the whole thing? Just bite into it? Do I eat only what's in the corn husk? What? Seriously, I don't know and it's frustrating. Can someone please direct me?
XO
Lavinia,
Love that photo of the birdbath because I love aqua. Stunning. Hi honey!
XO
Well, sad to tell you I worked with gobs of Phd's. Yup. Had a blast. Saw all the stuff no one else sees. That's sorta scary. Knowing what goes on, but no one else does. Creepy. But fun! However, despite my experience with PhD's, I still have no idea how to eat a tamale. Seriously. I don't. It's in the corn husk thing-a-ma-jig, so then what? Do I eat the whole thing? Just bite into it? Do I eat only what's in the corn husk? What? Seriously, I don't know and it's frustrating. Can someone please direct me?
XO
well.... I know I eat tamales because they taste good.
mmm, I have a few things I'd like to get published. lol
OMG you are killing me! DIETING SUCKS!!!!
Now I want tamales...gimme that dang number!
:) Terri
Wow, published that thing twice. Like how the ladies after me just egnored. That sort of thing always cracks me up. How do you egnore that!? You know me, that just kills me!
itz a crazy crazy world out there ;)
Skeeter!
How I have missed you friend! Sorry about the 'where did she go' act. But just alot to do with getting measured for rad.treatments (where computer measures you once and then every time you come in you are good to go with the treatment) and keeping myself happy and upbeat!
Just seeing life in a whole new light. Come by and see what I have been up too. It was a fantastic mystery trip! I had such a great time!
Missed you bunches!
Robyn
Thanks everybody :-)
Suzanne, dear, all you have to do is open up the corn husk thing-a-ma-jig, fish out the tasty masa/meat/spice mix in there and eat. When your done compost the husks if you can, or toss 'em if you can't. They're renewable.
There's a gal who brings tamales every other week. Sometimes the boss buys a round, sometimes you got to pony up yourself. Either way, I always get some.
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