Miami Day 1: Inspired.

So today was day 1 of the AP-LS Conference.

I'm completely overwhelmed at what I've just been through. I loved every second of it!

My roommates and I got up at 6 a.m. to get ready, eat our free hotel breakfast and get a cab to the Miami Regency Hyatt by 8 a.m. for the first workshop of the day. One of our professors is working with the National Science Foundation (NSF) for the next couple of years and he's here at AP-LS and presented some information about grant writing and being what's known as an "Early Career Professional" which is someone with their Ph.D., usually on tenure track at a University but is still in the early stages of their career, or before they become an associate professor. But it's beneficial for us to know this stuff because they also fund graduate student research, dissertations, all the things we need to do what we do and continue to eat. And it was good to see him. I've only met him a few times and now that he's working out of Washington we never see him at UTEP but he's a very smart man and it was a fun way to start the day.

Here's how the conference works: there's a ton of workshops happening all at once. There are big things that everyone should go to, such as the keynote speaker or a main talk where nothing else is scheduled. But everything else overlaps and you pick which one sounds more like you. I pick based on the research I am doing because seeing what other people are doing in my area gives me insight into areas I haven't thought to explore or they've found something I can use in my papers. Each seminar takes about an hour and within each 3-5 papers may be presented by a group or multiple authors.

I picked something from every time slot. I paid the money, and I'm here. Why shouldn't I do as much as possible?

Sometimes in a time slot, there's nothing happening that I want to see so I'll pick something similar or just something interesting. It's good to be broad in your interests even if you only research a tiny section of psych and law.

So, immediately following the grant writing talk was the keynote speaker, a lawyer from Alabama, gave a talk on reevaluating juvenile culpability and evolving standards of decency. He was brilliant! I loved his talk and it was such an impressive beginning. He told some stories that had me teared up and I don't know how I stopped myself from crying. And while I believe my emotional response to these topics is a benefit to me and my career, I don't want to break down crying in the middle of a professional conference. But the day I don't tear up at a story about a 10-year-old boy who is charged as an adult and sent to an adult prison with no protection is the day I check myself into a hospital because something's wrong with me. It was moving. It was.

And I know me. I'm very easily inspired. And while I have a very discerning nature and critical eye, I view life as a call to arms. I hear something and immediately react. But that's my passion for my field. And I'm glad it's there.

Bryan Stevenson. He's doing great work and I am so impressed by him. I'm so grateful I was here for him.

Immediately after was a conference on Human Trafficking. There was only 1 paper submitted. Of the 900ish people registered. 1 paper. They invited a journalist to speak and she was good--I've seen her show, "Invisible Chains." It's powerful. Dr. Mary Anne Layden presented a paper on sexual exploitation and I thought it was great--she's very very passionate about this topic, about victimization of women in general and I like her. Some of the things she presented were really dated, but I think it's valid. And also a call to research for the rest of us. It's disgraceful that this is not a priority for our field.

Not yet anyway.

After that was a lunch break, and I was so glad to get away from the chairs in the ballroom. My tail bone went numb. I can't imagine the next 2 days on those chairs, but I'll make it...maybe.

I went to a seminar on Risk Assessment which I don't care for, but it will most likely come into play in my own research. It certainly is a factor in the research I do with Jennifer now. I'm also taking a class on consulting and I've chosen Risk Assessment as my topic of expertise so I thought it would be helpful. And it was. I actually liked it! The different topics got me thinking about ways to think differently about my research and how I could incorporate some of those assessment tools, specifically, to my population.

I didn't expect it. But I'm glad it worked out.

Then I went to a presentation of a survey of AP-LS members from 2010 and they presented it from various perspectives including age, gender, and geography. The conference this year is international so our American AP-LS is joined with European and Australian colleagues which is exciting! and David Cooke from the UK spoke to similar issues as he sees it in European Psychology. It was different than I thought, but I liked it.

Then I went to a seminar on Interpersonal Violence, only one paper had a real impact on what I'm currently doing so I'm excited to start communicating with that author and, hopefully, share resources because I really really liked her study. She looked at victimization and perpetration among pregnant women in IPV situations and found that women who engaged in Substance abuse were more likely to perpetrate violence while pregnant although it's lower in severity. So interesting.

And last, I went to a student section meeting on how to get the most out of the conference. Which was exactly what I thought it would be, but it was nice to hear it even though I already knew most of what was coming. But they give you ideas as far as how to get more involved which I need to do. And I'm glad to have those resources.

And that was it! That was day 1!! After that there was a reception before the people who paid for it went on the booze cruise...and I met a bunch of people just by talking to a professor at UTEP and all his friends came over and they're all important and was introduced to them...it was insane!

I also met some of Jennifer's friends from University of California, Irvine and now I get to go to a different talk tomorrow to support someone I know! And it's on what I like, sort of. He's done a study on female offenders, yay, adolescents, ick. But I'm happy to support someone else's research and if it's awesome maybe we'll work together in the future!!

But after the reception we decided to go out and got together with a few of our colleagues from UTEP and went to Bayside where we had some dinner at a restaurant right on the water and then went to a Daiquiri Bar (right?!) and walked around and shopped. It was super fun! And I'm so glad we went out. I'm feeling a bit granny because I'm tired and sore, but I had a blasty!

And tomorrow's day 2! Conference, going out again, and general nerdy Psychology awesome-ness!!!

If I ever had a doubt about who I am and what I wanted from life, this would knock the sense back into me because I'm so happy right in this moment.

This is right where I'm supposed to be.