November 30, 2001

Talking With Strangers: a Researcher's Tale

By WENDY SIMONDS

I became a sociologist largely because I wanted to overcome my fear of talking to strangers. That impetus for my professional life was not always apparent to me; in fact, only recently, when I was putting together my tenure dossier, did I come to understand my own motives. Originally, I thought I had pursued a scholarly life because I would be able to sleep late and would get paid to read and write books (which is how one of my college mentors had advertised academe).

I really had no