About the fiddling sociologist

Photo by Todd Paris 2010

I like to claim that I am Alaska’s fiddling sociologist. I borrowed the idea from Ken Waldman, who is indisputably Alaska’s fiddling poet. He fiddles while he cites his own original poetry in a delicious combination of words and music. I appreciate his fiddle playing–he’s got that raw old time sound that satisfies my deep hunger for authentic music made by the people for the people’s enrichment instead of for corporate enrichment. But beyond that, I appreciate how he fiddles with ideas and words. Sociology is a wondrous discipline. What I mean is that sociology inspires to wonderment as well as having wonderful insights and tools of analysis. I love my discipline, but I also like to fiddle with it, to explore the edges of sociology, to peek under overturned rocks, to poke at established sociological facts. I welcome you to read (and to comment) as I experiment with sociological ideas and ways of thinking. Sociologically fiddling, one might say.