Frequently Asked Questions

1.Who are you?
1a. OK, that's nice, but who is Nenie?
1aI. Ummm, Yeah.
2. Where are you from?
2. Where is that?
3. Married, eh?
3a. Details?
4.Can we get any information about Nena?
4a. OK, does she blog?
5. So, you're in graduate school, eh? What kind of degree? Where else have you been?
5a. Wow, math and science; how did you end up in the humanities?
5aI. Does the state of Illinois feel as though they've wasted their money on you?
5b. What is the larger point of your research?
6. Why KU?
7. Where do you go from here?
7a. Start with short term
7b. Long term?<
7bI. Cute story, but what about a job?
8.What's the dream?
9.What's the hardest part of being a Chicago sports fan?
9a. OK, but what's the hardest part?
9b. Bitter much?
9c. How about that Jeff George signing?
10. Why the disdain between Latinos and Spaniards?
11. What color is my underwear?
12. Why can't I post a comment?

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1. Who are you?
I'm a married, 25 year old graduate student in American studies at the University of Kansas.

1a. OK, that's nice, but who is Nenie?
What? You want a name or something?

1aI. Ummmm, yeah.
Nice try buddy, but you're not going to get that kind of information here. The internet's a strange place, yo. I will tell you that Nenie has been known by a few other aliases over the years; Nevarro being his oldest screenname. Nenie's also DJed under the name DJ Span and currently spins as DJ Slim Mochachino in and around the Lawrence area.

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2. Where are you from?
I'm originally from suburban Chicago, the greater Woodfield Commerce-o-Plex to be exact.

2a.Where is that?
Somewhere between Schaumburg and Elgin.

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3. Married, eh?
Yeah.

3a. Details?
I met Nena while we were both undergrads at Carleton College. No, we haven't been together since college. For a number of reasons, we didn't date when we lived a few blocks away from each other. Instead, because neither of us likes doing things the easy way- we started dating after graduation, when distance was measured in hours.

So yeah, we got together a few years after graduation and were married in August of 2004. Originally, this website was meant to be chronicle of my last year as a bachelor, now. . .it's just about a family in Kansas trying to make things work as best we can.

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4. Can we get more information about Nena?
You'll have to ask her for that. There are rules as to what I can and cannot say about Nena here.

4a. OK, does she blog?
Not yet. There's been talk of getting her a LJ account, but Nena is already taken there. It's currently taken by some strange Vegan sorority chica at Emory.

No, I'm not a stalker, I'm just efficient.

She may someday be given some space here at nenie.net since nena.net is being cybersquatted. But that's TBD

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5. So you're in graduate school, eh? What kind of degree? Where else have you been?
I'm currently working on an M.A. in American studies. The eventual goal is to stay here at KU and finish out my Ph.D in American studies as well.

Before KU I picked up a B.A. in American studies and Media studies at Carleton College and went to high school at the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy; a public, boarding magnet school for kids who are good at one or both of the disciplines mentioned in the name of the school.

5a. Wow, math and science; how did you end up in the humanities?
Because I find it much, much more interesting than math and science, and I guess I'm better at it too. I mean, I dig math and science a lot and having attempted that career path I have nothing but love for those who can walk it. It just wasn't for me.

5aI. Does the state of Illinois feel as though they've wasted their money on you, seeing as how you left Illinois immediately after graduation and never majored in math, science or a related field?
Probably,but whatcha gonna do? I feel as though I'm benefiting humanity in some pretty solid ways, and I'm a much better citizen for having gone to IMSA.

I've seriously tried to return to Illinois, but I can never find a job. What do they want me to do? Move there and be unemployed? Screw that, yo.

5b. What is the larger point of your research?
Right, I take it you've heard that I do the bulk of my research on professional wrestling. Well, I do. All of my conference presentations and major papers have been about some aspect of professional wrestling. But I'm not like the line in PCU, "It's college, you can major in Gameboy if you know how to bullshit"

The larger point of my research is to interrogate popular culture as a site of knowledge production. In our modern world, a not too insignificant amount of the knowledge we carry around in our heads was produced by popular amusements. I mean, I just framed my research using knowledge produced by a freakin'; Jeremy Piven movie. Yeah, a Jeremy Piven movie, not a John Cusack movie that featured Jeremy Piven, but a movie made in that nanosecond when they gave Piven the ball and told him to run with it, without Cusack's lead-blocking skills.

I think what amuses us and the knowledges we allow to be produced by our amusements tells us a great deal about who we are and what we believe in. If we accept that Britney Spears or Vince McMahon produce American narratives, why can we not study them and see what they say about that bounded space of Americans that choose to take part in these sites in the same way we can look
at Moby Dick?
So that's what I do.

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6. Why KU?
That's a question I find myself asking on an almost daily basis. But there are a number of reasons I'm here that don't have to do with student section
season tickets to Jayhawk basketball.

The first is that the American studies program has a number of relatively big names hanging out here. There are three big-time American studies scholars who are on phased retirement here at the moment and I came here to work directly with one of them. Even limited access to these guys is better than full access to just about anyone else. Yeah, they're not arena-quality rockstars, but show me any other program in this field that's going to have two arena-quality rockstars in it. I'll take Los Lobos, Elvis Costello and Jeff Tweedy over just Aerosmith any day. Unless it's Aerosmith opening for Zepplin, but that's just not going to happen, is it?

The second big thing about this program is how chill it is. There's no competition, or at the very least, very little competition amongst the folks in the program. We're here to be a community of scholars who share ideas and push each other to do better work through collaboration and inspiration, not confrontation and competition. When someone publishes here, or rocks a conference
talk, we're happy for each other, not jealous that it wasn't us. I really, really like that. We're a family and believe that quality of life is directly related to quality of scholarship. This is a special place and I feel lucky to be here.

The third reason is the retirement of those three guys I mentioned above. This is a solid department with a strong reputation in the field and they're retiring three rather important scholars. So, they're doing some new hires and bringing in some amazing people as a result. Fucking Sherrie Tucker has an office across the hall from me; she knows my name and has me over to watch the Oscars every year. And yeah, she reads my stuff and challenges me to be half as hardcore as her. How cool is that?

The fourth reason- in the words of my financial planners, The Wu-Tang Clan, dolla, dolla bill, y'all. I'm teaching, I've been teaching since my first day on campus here and I'm being paid (not well) to do so. Yeah, a flat out grant would have been much sexxxier to me, but what'cha gonna do? I'm in the humanities; full rides like mine in the humanities are rare as hell so I'll take the teaching load and the lowered GPA for the money. Plus, I want to teach when I get out of here. Teaching is much, much more important to me than research so teaching as much as I am here is helping me develop the skills I'm really into.

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7. Where do you go from here?
That's a good question. You mean long-term or short-term?

7a. Start with short-term
Ok, fair enough. Right now I'm working on my M.A. Originally I hadn't planned on stopping for the M.A. and shooting straight for the Ph.D. Then, I sat down and thought about it for a minute. Nena wants to get an M.Ed at some point, we want to have kids at some point. Maybe I need to take some time off from this grad school thing to make those things happen. If I have to take time off before I finish my Ph.D, it'd be really, really nice to have those initials after my name, because they mean more money from almost any potential employer.

I'm hoping to be done with the last of my graduation requirements by December of 2005 and then walk in May of 2006. . .cuz I like spring graduation better than winter; plus I'm not too sure that the grad school does winter graduation.

7b. Long-term, then?
A few kids, Nena to finish her M.Ed (or M.A. or M.S.) and getting my Ph.D. See, the degree is something I've wanted since I was 5 years old. When I was a kid, I wanted to be a doctor, but not a medical doctor. So I sought out the field in which I could live my dream of becoming Dr. Nenie while doing stuff I liked doing. That's how I ended up in American studies.

7bI. Cute story, but what about a job?
The job is secondary. When I was a kid, I wanted to have some kind of job where they'd pay me to know a whole lot of stuff. I envisioned this place where there were these long corridors with doors, behind which were people who knew a whole lot about different kinds of things. It wasn't until later in life that I realize that there was such a place, it was called college and the people on the other sides of those doors were called professors. I guess, then, I've always wanted to be one of those guys and now I'm getting a chance to become that guy.

Seriously, I'd be just as happy teaching HS as college. I like teaching, I like having students realize that the world around them is more interesting and complex than they realize. It's awesome.

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8. What's the dream?
I'm one of those people that's afflicted with being able to do whatever they want with their lives. You know the type?

Maybe it's you.

The kind of person that does well enough and enjoys doing a number of things and was told repeatedly when they were younger "you can do anything you want with your life." Yeah, so then the hard part is picking something you want to do with your life.

There are a number of dreams, only a few of which I'm comfortable enough to share here. Because, though it may seem like I put everything out there for public consumption, my life is something like T.S. Eliot's rules for cat names.

The first dream is being "The Guy" as seen on The West Wing. I'm not saying I want to be president, but I'd like to be an elected official like Bartlett, or as of late- Santos. Probably more like Santos since the more I think about Bartlett, the more I realize that the only things he's really ever been good at are; believing in things and economics.

I mean, he's really, really good at economics, but that's not the way I want to be.

So yeah, running for Senate would rock my pathetic little world- being a Senator would be even better.

Another dream would be to actually be a screenwriter. It's the dream I've worked least on, but it'd be a cool one. Writing movies, making movies, that'd be awesome; I've been happier than when I'm working on a film, but there isn't much that's made me as happy. Along those lines I'd totally love to be a late-night talk show host. Or maybe one of those radio drive-home guys on XRT or WGN.

That'd be freakin' cool as hell.

The third dream I'll talk about here is teaching. Maybe it's as a professor at a small liberal arts college that has really bright students and an administration devoted to teaching.

Maybe at a high school with only three Latino students and I'm the only Latino faculty member. Some place with really bright kids that scare the few Latinos that are there with their whiteness and their privilege. Some place where I can go to work every day, broaden some horizons and be there for those three Latin kids who see me and realize that they can do it, if they believe and learn to build a support system out of what they can find hanging around.

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9. What is the hardest thing about being a Chicago sports fan?
I dunno, what's the worst thing about being lit on fire while walking in on your wife making love to your gay brother as your best friend's dog humps your leg more passionately than your wife your brother?

9a. OK, but really, what's the hardest part?
There are lots of hardest things, really. Maybe it's the Catch-22 of being a Chicago sports fan. We're loyal, loyal to a fault really. We will stand by our teams in good times and in bad, which leads ownership to seriously not care if the teams are competitive or not, because the same number of fans are going to buy tickets and jerseys and what have you no matter what. Chicago has the worst collection of owners of any city in the nation. Just terrible.

McCaskey has run Da Bears into the ground, only stopping long enough to railroad the city into renovating Soldier Field (after only 30 years of negotiations!).

The Tribune Corp has learned to market futility and choking better than they could an actually competitive Cubs squad.

Reinsdorf is an idiot. Not only does he manage to bilk Sox fans out of their hard-earned money, he's managed to make the Tribune Corp look competent leading to this bizarre Cubs/Sox hatred that I just don't understand.

OH, did I mention that this jackass also owns Da Bulls? Yeah, he does. He let Krause run Jackson and Jordan off, and has been dumb enough not to hire Jordan to work in the front office. Yeah, he's a shitty GM, but why the hell do you let your most marketable visage EVER schill for every team other than your own? Oh, and did I mention that we've been rebuilding in Chicago
since I was a soph at Carleton? This man has me half tempted to leave Da Bulls for the 'Wolves.

And now, Bill fucking Wirtz. Holy mother of shit, is this guy a jackass or what? He's a complete idiot who hasn't managed to put a winner on the ice since Hull wore a Hawks sweater (no, his dad). It's painful, really. You have a team with a really offensive name, young talent and a glass ceiling of expectations. Let's look at some of the folks who've worn a 'Hawks sweater in the past few years, shall we? Tony Amonte, Chris Chelios, Ed Belfour ... then how the hell do we not have a cup on the shelf? Because the owner really doesn't care; this guy is the worst case scenario of the Catch-22. He knows folks are going to pay no matter what, so why even try?

9b. Bitter much?
Yeah, I am, but it keeps me warm in the winter. Seriously, while ownership pisses me off, nothing pisses me off worse than bandwagoneers.

9bI. Bandwagoneers?
Yeah. Those folks who are new to this whole Chicago sports fan thing and pretend like they've been here the whole time. I have no issue with new fans, I welcome them, I think that Chicago has great fans and great teams and great players who appreciate the aforementioned greatness. But then there are these new kids who show up, drive the ticket prices up, and wear Cubs hats like they're
a status symbol.

Listen kid, if watching old Ron Santo footage doesn't make you choke up, if seeing Mr. Cub doesn't make you love baseball and say a prayer for his best-player-never-to-play-in-a-World-Series soul, then don't pretend like you've been there for the Cubs forever.

Don't pretend like you get my pain, you're like Jimmy Fallon in a Red Sox jersey, yo. Feel free to mourn 2003 and 2004, but you clearly weren't there for '98, '89, '84 and the days when my dad could get bleacher tix during the third inning of the second game of a double header.

9c. How 'bout that Jeff George signing?
Fuck you. This is what I'm talking about. Fucking management doesn't care. They're just a bunch of reactionary hacks. The fans wanted Jauron gone, so they fired him. That was their big improvement for the season. WTF?

OK, how about getting, I dunno an offensive weapon? A backup QB? Some help for Urlacher? How hard is it to go out and find two quality defensive linemen? Cody and I would make a better distraction from Urlacher than what they're sending out right now.

That said; I'm sad they didn't get George two years ago when they were playing in Champaign. That would have been hardcore; bringing him back to the only place he ever had success- College.

Makes me sick, this Jeff George in a Bears jersey, thing; I mean, was he the best backup you could find? I really, really don't think so. I just worry that he's going to get a snap or two and manage to fool someone into bringing him back next year, as the starter.

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10. Why the disdain between Spaniards and Latinos?
There is some? Seriously, I haven't really encountered or harbored such sentiments before. Most of the folks I know are really kinda proud of their Spanish heritage, even when it is four generations ago.

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11. What color is my underwear?
Hrmmmm, good question. I'm just going to guess that it's the same color as mine right now: invisible.

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12. Why can't I post a comment?
That's a really good question. There are a number of things that may keep you from being able to post a comment, and all of them have to do with my server thinking you're a spammer.

The first line of defense I have is a keyword blocker. If your post contains a sequence of words that has been added to my list of words common to SPAM URLs, your comment will be blocked. The cool thing about this is that the server will tell you what words are getting you blocked, so ... check that and fix it.

If there's something else that's blocking you, it's because your IP has been banned from commenting. I do this whenever I notice a pattern of abuse coming from a particular swath of IP addys. At the moment, no domestic IPs are banned. All the banned IPs belong to Asian or European (*cough*Dutch*cough*) ISPs.

If you are having trouble commenting, hop on over to LiveJournal and let me know.