author’s note
edited: 1/2/2007
My name is Cabell Gathman (”Cabell” rhymes with “Scrabble”), and this is the fifth version of my blog, not counting my LiveJournal (which I really wouldn’t call a “blog”). Previous versions include “mizuonna no atama” and “The Scorpio Papers,” the latter of which was actually on wickedqueen.net when I owned it the first time (there was an intermediary period during which it belonged to pornographers–this is why my mother still can’t get to it from the computer in her high school Spanish classroom).
I have a BA in religious studies from Truman State University and an MS in sociology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and I am currently pursuing my PhD in sociology at Madison. I used to write more poetry than I do now. I love karaoke and making mix CDs. I’ve been on the internet since 1991 and I’m kind of looking forward to eventually having some kind of jack put into my head. I have three cats: Bartimus, Pandora, and Legba (who had a pronounced limp as a kitten, but it’s gotten better). My parents live in southern Missouri, where I grew up; I have two younger sisters, one in St. Paul and one in Boston. My father also has a blog.
I did my masters on compliments following cognitive task completion in a survey interview; I’m interested more generally in local interaction and how people work to render phenomena mutually intelligible (ethnomethodology). I’ve done some work on slash fan fiction and the construction of gender and gendered relationships, mostly in content analysis mode. I’m very interested in interaction, relationship formation/maintenance, and identity online. (I actually originally wrote this bio page because I need one for a class I’m taking on persistent virtual worlds.) I own more than one domain. My cell phone has Hello Kitty stickers on it and plays the Buffy the Vampire Slayer theme.
I’m a Scorpio with an Aries rising and a Pisces moon. I have five ear piercings, one nose ring, and one tongue stud. I have three tattoos: a Celtic knotwork star on my lower back and kanji (for which I know the Japanese pronunciations/meanings) on my left breast and right shoulder: “morning tide” and “eldest daughter,” respectively. My hair has been many colors, but recently I’ve been sticking with Special Effects “Atomic Pink,” which has the advantage of being blacklight-reactive, and anyway, I’ve gotten to the point where I have several pairs of shoes that match it.
I started this blog because I’d recently regained ownership of wickedqueen.net and felt like I ought to do something with it, and several other members of the sociology department had public blogs. And I missed having a domain blog. This time I am trying to be at least semi-appropriate.