Data collection delayed again

Right now I should be in St. Paul finally conducting interviews but alas another delay. Unfortunately, the executive director of the association I am working with fell and is out of commission so she asked if we could push the interviews back three weeks. “Of course” I said and while I’m very sympathetic (these things do happen), I guess I’m just a little frazzled with the time it takes to complete a dissertation. I realize that not all dissertations take 5 or more years to complete, but many of them do so I shouldn't be so hard on myself. However, it has been 4 years now of serious working and I’m just ready to move on. It seems like it has been one thing after another, first it took me 2 years just to find a topic, then another 6 months to put together a proposal, then the hardest part was putting together a committee, which took about a year and ½, then finding study participants (another 6 months), getting committee members to allow me to hold a proposal hearing and advance to candidacy (another 6 months). Ugh! Will it ever end! I’m venting but staying focused. I think this has been more than anything else, an endurance test. I just keep thinking and hoping that once I complete all the interviews and start analyzing the data the rest will be smooth sailing.

So now I leave for St. Paul on February 17th. I will be interviewing Hmong women who have been born in this country and those who have been here less than a year. I am truly excited to meet these women and listen to their stories. For those of you less familiar with Hmong people, their culture has recently been minimally showcased in the new Clint Eastwood movie “Gran Torino”. Hubby and I saw this movie on New Years Eve and Clint was absolutely spectacular. I also loved the fact that he did not hire professional established actors but instead looked to the Hmong community for aspiring actors. Well, the next time you hear from me writing about my dissertation it should be after my data has been collected. Until then...

The gift of voice

So I'm wondering how in the world a child can talk for so long and not have a sore throat, be hoarse or lose their voice. Fourteen months ago, I would never had believed that I had a chatterbox on my hands. I mean today our little Maya just doesn't stop talking. From the moment she wakes up till she goes to bed at night it is constant talking; mommy this... and mommy that... ALL DAY LONG! For those of you who don't know, Maya was a late talker, barley said a word before the age of three. We were very concerned and turned to family, friends and eventually the "experts". Friends and family would often try to comfort us telling us that it would come and that we had to just be patient. But between the ages of 2 and 3 1/2 we were baffled and couldn't understand why her "voice" hadn't developed. The "experts" were also very concerned. One particular specialist suggested that Maya was "on the autism spectrum scale". This of course not only terrified us but confused us as well for Maya showed no signs of autism. Well if that specialist could only see Maya now! Not only is she talking all the time, she is doing incredibly well in school. I met with Maya's teachers last week for her mid-year conference and they said that she was performing above average and they boasted about the 100% she got on her phonics work. We are so very proud of her. So even though there are times that my head feels like it is about to explode from the constant questions and statements, we have truly embraced her voice as the wonderful gift that it is.