Two quick things

[raven]

I am well. A little frazzled, a little lonely, but generally doing okay. In a minute I need to go and do some actual work for a class, omg, etc. I have lots of thoughts about how weird the US legal system is from my perspective, but they can wait, possibly forever.

Two things, quickly. Firstly, a rec:

Five Things Rosie Weasley Misses During Her First Year At Hogwarts, by deathbyshinies.
A Melbourne girl goes to Hogwarts. This is so, so, so lovely. It's a nuanced, thoughtful rendering of one particular postcolonial experience, and it's done with such a light, clever touch. I love the splashes of colour in it - snowball fights, international Floo - and I love its warmth. Everyone needs to read it, like, now; it's something we need more of in fandom.

(Also, it was a going-away present for me. <3, honey.)

Secondly, I need some advice, or some help, or something. I have met quite a few people on my course now, and they seem nice. They are nice: nice, staid, copyright-law-abiding types. Which is so far so hoopy and I'm sure I will make friends, yes, etc.

But, well, I have made some preliminary enquiries, and it seems Cornell doesn't have the tradition Oxford does of societies for, well, everything. I was variously a member of Docsoc, Taruithorn and the late great ou3fs, and in the end I made very few friends who weren't in some way peripherally connected to them. Societies here are Serious - you know, the Cornell Student Lawyers and Cornell Democrats and the Indian Students' Association, that sort of thing, and not what I'm after. There must be geeks and fannish people at Cornell - but how do I find them?

(Before anyone mentions it: yes, there is an LGBT society here, and I may check out their events, I may not. I'm just kind of reluctant about that, seeing as I am the stereotype of the queer-woman-in-relationship-with-man, and you don't know in advance how welcoming people are going to be to that.)

Any advice much appreciated, yes.

Comments

[icepixie]

Hmm. Could you arrange a showing of Doctor Who or something similarly geeky (either at your apartment or somewhere on campus) and put up a flyer in your departmental mailroom or computer lab announcing it (or e-mail it to your departmental listserve)? Assuming you have any or all of these things, of course, though I can't think of a grad program at UT that didn't. That was how social activities got organized among likeminded types in my grad department. People also used Facebook to organize events, but that would depend on how connected you are to people on there.

From such an event, in theory, would come conversation and geeky friendships. I'm assuming also that the law program you're in is big enough to harbor a critical mass of geeks who maybe just haven't shown themselves. If you're looking to find friends outside your department...well, we were pretty balkanized at UT, and I think it's the same in many places, so I lack suggestions there. :(

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

Oh, wow, that's something I hadn't thought of. I am too much of an introvert to do something like it - if I could only find one other likeminded person, or maybe two, I'd dare to do something like that! Thank you for the idea, I shall stored it for when I'm feeling brave.

[icepixie]

You're welcome. If it helps, you might think of it as "I only have to do this once. Just once, then never again!" Maybe this would help? Sometimes I find it a useful sort of...not reverse psychology, but the term I want is escaping me. Fooling myself, basically.

Another suggestion is hanging out in the department computer lab with geeky things up on the screen in hopes of spurring conversation, but I'm not sure how successful that would be.