Structure and soccer tacos

3 hours writing, 1 hour reading, 1 hour meeting, 0.5 hours emailing, page count = 142

This week's monitor is Matt Sumner, in Oakland. Matt is my wife Cathy's oldest brother, and he got married last month in San Francisco. We had a great time at the wedding. Matt's an interior designer, loves monkeys, and hates mushrooms. Welcome Matt!

Had lunch today with a former UC Berkeley classmate who's now a professor at NYU. We had a good conversation about strategies for completing the dissertation, life as an assistant professor, and his reseach on public opinion and party appeals on issues. Our class appears to have done pretty well on the job market, which is great to hear, and I have to say, not that surprising....

Today I started going back through the manuscript so far and identifying what needs to be pruned and where I need to look up additional cites. I also made two big structural changes: the chapter on the police is now about security forces more broadly, although the police continue to be featured prominently; and the section on Latin America-wide comparisons moved from Chapter 6 (Colombia in comparative perspective) to Chapter 2 (Research Design). I figure I need to give the big picture in Chapter 2, motivate the choice of Colombia as the case study, and then come back at the end to do comparative vignettes about a select number of other countries, based on the big picture. Which means the kernel of Chapter 6 that I previously had has now been absorbed into another chapter. Gulp! But I still know what countries I want to look at there, so there's at least a basic structure to build on.

Time for a status check on the overall structure:

• Introduction: Decent second draft in place


• Chapter 1: Understanding Security-Force Configurations: First draft was in LASA paper, making changes based on feedback to broaden focus from police systems to security-force configurations


• Chapter 2: Main Argument and Research Design: Close to a first draft, need to revise the piece about subnational comparisons (switch from Santander/Tolima to Antioquia) and accommodate the newly-moved piece about the Latin American big picture


• Chapter 3: Colombia 1819-86: Antecedents to the Critical Juncture: Most of a first draft in place; need to go through it once


• Chapter 4: Colombia 1886-1914: Configuring Security Forces: Accounts of two episodes drafted, they need a lot of fleshing out and contextualizing


• Chapter 5: Colombia 1946-66: Impact of Security-Force Configurations: First draft in place, needs fleshing out and editing


• Chapter 6: Colombia in Comparative Perspective: To be written, comparison countries chosen


• Chapter 7: Conclusion: To be written

This weekend, we went to the Red Hook Ball Fields, a wonderful street-food destination in the Red Hook neighborhood of Brooklyn. It's a 20-minute subway ride from our neighborhood, followed by a 10-minute walk through what can only be described as an industrial wasteland. But, then the ball fields come into view, and it's a whole 'nother story. For many years now, Latin American vendors have been setting up on weekends in the ball park, selling quesadilas, huaraches, sausages, tacos, pupusas, ceviche, and all kinds of south-of-the-border goodies. The winners. It's a great family atmosphere, with long lines, picnic tables, and local amateur teams playing soccer on the fields. There are about 10 stands offering a wide range of options; on this first trip, the winners were the spicy pork quesadilla, the cantaloupe agua fresca, and the fried yuca with fiery avocado dip. We didn't even get to the seafood or sausage! Definitely worth a return visit. But soon!