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Had a meeting with my PhD supervisor this morning in which I had to admit that I haven't done any work for the last couple of months (with good reasons, but still). She was great and really supportive about it, and actually managed to make me feel motivated again (I got turned down for funding again, which killed any motivation to work on it, as I'm not sure I've the time or the money to carry on next year).
Also, I've been rewatching The West Wing lately. I started with season five, so towards the end of their run, and when I got to the end, went back to the start of season one. The contrast between the two halves (Aaron Sorkin years v John Wells years) is incredibly jarring like this, and I have to admit, I think the end is better than the beginning because:
1. CJ Cregg: it becomes more and more her story as we get to the end and I love that. I love that she's in control and brilliant but not perfect, and I love that people stop treating her (and she stops being written) as though she's slightly hopeless, and that people stop saying things like ambition being a bad thing for a woman to have
2. Donna Moss: I love that she takes control of her future. She leaves Josh, she joins Russell's campaign, she's respected and promoted and recruited later on, and then she becomes the First Lady's Chief of Staff. And she takes the lead in her relationship with Josh, sets her boundaries, and enforces them. By the end of season 7, I swear she's my favourite character.
3. Santos' campaign team: women! Lots of them! And they're different, and have different skills and different roles, and they're all good at what they do. And respected for it. And we sometimes see them talk to each other. (Honestly, early TWW, how many non-assistant/wife women did we see? Two? Very poor, show!)
4. Women: working together. Talking. Having friendships. Amy comes back. Kate Harper appears and sticks around. Margaret. Joey Lucas (and how much do I love that the two of them are pregnant and there's never any mention of the man and it's not big deal?) Ellie, Zoey, Liz.
5. Also, because it doesn't have the things I hated about the early seasons: no magically disappearing apparently forgotten Mandy (though I'd have loved for her to come back). No Ainsley Hayes (loved the idea of her, hated how they executed it and made her not just anti-feminist but an idiot about it: women didn't need the ERA because they're covered by the constitution? Now, sure, but then? No. That she never recognised that makes her look stupid).
Although I gotta say: I wish Vinick had won. At least he was pro-choice for real, not like Santos, who pretended to be in order to win. And also that they hadn't thrown in Ellie being totally straight, no for real, we swear and ps thank God she is. What was that about?
Still, can't have everything, I suppose.
Also, I've been rewatching The West Wing lately. I started with season five, so towards the end of their run, and when I got to the end, went back to the start of season one. The contrast between the two halves (Aaron Sorkin years v John Wells years) is incredibly jarring like this, and I have to admit, I think the end is better than the beginning because:
1. CJ Cregg: it becomes more and more her story as we get to the end and I love that. I love that she's in control and brilliant but not perfect, and I love that people stop treating her (and she stops being written) as though she's slightly hopeless, and that people stop saying things like ambition being a bad thing for a woman to have
2. Donna Moss: I love that she takes control of her future. She leaves Josh, she joins Russell's campaign, she's respected and promoted and recruited later on, and then she becomes the First Lady's Chief of Staff. And she takes the lead in her relationship with Josh, sets her boundaries, and enforces them. By the end of season 7, I swear she's my favourite character.
3. Santos' campaign team: women! Lots of them! And they're different, and have different skills and different roles, and they're all good at what they do. And respected for it. And we sometimes see them talk to each other. (Honestly, early TWW, how many non-assistant/wife women did we see? Two? Very poor, show!)
4. Women: working together. Talking. Having friendships. Amy comes back. Kate Harper appears and sticks around. Margaret. Joey Lucas (and how much do I love that the two of them are pregnant and there's never any mention of the man and it's not big deal?) Ellie, Zoey, Liz.
5. Also, because it doesn't have the things I hated about the early seasons: no magically disappearing apparently forgotten Mandy (though I'd have loved for her to come back). No Ainsley Hayes (loved the idea of her, hated how they executed it and made her not just anti-feminist but an idiot about it: women didn't need the ERA because they're covered by the constitution? Now, sure, but then? No. That she never recognised that makes her look stupid).
Although I gotta say: I wish Vinick had won. At least he was pro-choice for real, not like Santos, who pretended to be in order to win. And also that they hadn't thrown in Ellie being totally straight, no for real, we swear and ps thank God she is. What was that about?
Still, can't have everything, I suppose.
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West Wing!
It just occurred to me about Joey and Margaret's pregnancies. I've always just assumed that Joey has a male partner and they've decided that they want a baby and it's all very expected heterosexuality, but with Margaret I have no idea. Does she have a partner? if she does, I assume the partner's female. Have they been trying for a while to have a baby? has the partner tried getting pregnant and failed? do they know the sperm donor? is she a surrogate for a sister or friend? I love that there are two sentences in the whole show about it and they are about our lack of information (and therefore about the way in which more than the fact of Margaret's pregnancy is of no relevance).
Yay CJ! and totally with you on Ellie.
Sorkin is great at writing Republicans that liberals can like, so I liked Vinick. Apparently they were going to have him win until John Spencer died and they decided that they couldn't do that.
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