As the title suggests, I'm heading to the American Sociological Association's Annual Conference -- this year it's in the amazing city of San Francisco. This will be my first time attending the conference, so I feel like I'm finally doing my duty as a grad student in sociology and making my pilgrimage.

I'm going to try my best to liveblog from the major events at the conference from the perspective of a very excited student who's quite new to the sociological scene. Out of respect for the participants, I will not be writing about the smaller events with student presentations, nor will I comment on unpublished work. I imagine this will mostly be excited ramblings along the lines of "OMG research idol!!!!" but hopefully a little more readable than that.

After reviewing the 200 page (oof!) conference schedule, I've narrowed my list down to the following events:

Saturday, August 8
- Sex at Work
- Ethnography/Ethnographic Studies
- Why Obama Won (and What That Says about Democracy and Change in America)
- Sexual Communities/Sexual Politics
- Ethnographies of Place

Sunday, August 9
- Sociology of Sexuality
- Through the Lens of Gender, Race, Sexuality and Class: The Obama Family and the American Dream (have to present through part of this, but hopefully I can catch the end)
- Masculinities: Class, Race and Embodiment
- Feminism(s) 2.0: Gender, Sexuality, Race, and Community
- Presidential Address by Patricia Collins

Monday, August 10
- Education: Whither the Common School?
- Transnational Feminism and the Politics of Community
- Bringing Communities Back In: Setting a New Policy Agenda
- Interdisciplinary Standards of Qualitative Research
- Beyond the Boycott: Labor Rights, Human Rights and Transnational Activism

Tuesday, August 11
- Altruistic Cooperation in Communities, Evolutionary and Contemporary
- Portable Communities
- Temporarily Yours: Intimacy, Authenticity and the Commerce of Sex
- Social Science Research in "Second Life"

Quite the itinerary, huh? This is going to be amazing. If there's anything particular you want me to be on the lookout for, let me know.