Tonight, I had drag my old college TV/VCR deal up from the basement to watch a video for school.  I CANNOT remember the last time I watched a video…oh wait, I did last year at my friend’s in Tucson.

I am surprised the TV still works.   I remember when this was cutting edge.  Having one of these in college was considered a must if you liked to watch movies.  Reception in the rooms sucked for the most part.  I could watch some soap operas on certain days depending on the time of day and full moon night before (Just kidding.)

I cannot tell you how many times I watched this movie on repeat during college, especially after getting in after a night out at the bars (legally of course!)

Or not really.

I. Am. Still. Doing. My. Summer. Work. School starts in a week and a half.  The only thing motivating to get my work done now is the fact that husband and I are taking a little vacation at the end of the week before the madness starts on Monday.  School doesn’t officially start until Wednesday the 2nd which is ridiculous because its not a full week and its RIGHT before labor day.  Why not wait until after Labor Day?

I’m so totally unready for the new school year.  I think its because its my second year and I am not as worried as I was last year.  I have no orientations to attend.  But being in denial is not so good sometimes.  I know I will have to prepare a syllabus in a week and a half. I will also have to start reading in a week.  I’ve been reading in a very hurried, hyper focused way all summer but without the benefit of class discussions to supplement my understanding.  I am looking forward to some class discussion but sometimes it can seem trivial like I’ve been through it already so why must we repeat ourselves?

My schedule is very full.  In addition to taking three classes, TA’ing and leading sections, I am sitting in on another undergrad class because it is a good idea. It really is.

Here we go…

OK, so I don’t live in a real big city anymore and it isn’t so warm here now.  Its been in the 60s here the past few days.  Um it should be warmer.  It should at least be in the low to mid 70s by now. But this isn’t a weather blog because that would be boring.

I survived my first year of grad school which makes me very happy.  It hasn’t been easy or perfect by any means.  This last semester has been particularly hard because I realized some things I DON’T want to focus my dissertation on.  The problem is that I need to figure out what I want to focus on.  Everyone keeps giving me advice which I appreciate, but sometimes I need less noise and more of own personal focus.  I tend to discover more through looking at the larger picture than focusing on a smaller strand. I am taking this summer to do a lot of reading in my areas of interest (under the guise of a directed reading/independent study.) My mind is opening up a lot more regarding possible project ideas.

My husband and I have been away for the last few weekends: in Illinois for a conference over Memorial Day and visiting family in Northern MI.  This weekend I return to NYC.  This will be my second time back after moving almost a year ago. Honestly, I’m surprised I haven’t been back more. I didn’t have a specific amount of trips I’d be taking back in my mind when I moved.  I’m sad that this may be my only time there this summer but perhaps I’ll be back more than I think.

I’m learning the hard way that summers in academia don’t mean “summers off.”  I knew this but I am not getting as much time as I had hopefully, originally anticipated.  In the future, I just need to take time for me and my husband for just us.

I have lofty goals for this summer like cleaning the bathroom–really cleaning it with bleach and staying on top of laundry.

oh and blogging more.

This “crisis” is premature, but I am currently dealing with a quandary regarding potential research ideas.  I have a the opportunity to apply for research/language funding through my department this summer which is great.  However, the language that I will choose to learn is deeply wrapped up with the research I will pursue.   I’m only required to learn one as an Americanist BUT I am not opposed to learning two.

Here is the further conundrum, I also have the opportunity to do research in the archives in lieue of a language.  I feel more comfortable with this choice but many people have told me that (1) its better to get the language out of the way and (2) archives can be daunting when you don’t know what you’re looking for.  My issue is that learning the language I am thinking of can be so specific that if I spend a summer doing that and don’t pursue that further  it would be a waste.  Whereas visiting an archival respository will be beneficial because it is good experience even if I walk away with material that I won’t use.  As one can tell, I am leading toward the archival option.  I want to be 100% sure I am learning a language that I will be using.  If I do go look at archives this summer, I will be mostly be looking at documents in English.

I’m glad I wrote this out… Of course, there is a WHOLE other side to this I am not writing about which mostly pertains to WHAT my dissertation topic will exactly be.

I haven’t updated in over a month, mostly because when I attempt to update I am unsure of what to say.  How do I explain a month long absence beside gradschool, gradschool, gradschool.

Things are moving along swimmingly this semester. Some of my plans are to

- do a quick research trip over spring break
- apply to a grad student conference
- and maybe attend another conference

I have a new dissertation idea every 5 minutes but it all fits in the realm of my larger research topics of gender, religion, migration and US history.

And, of course, the house is NEVER clean enough.

What have you been up to?

My work is turned in.  I still have some grading to do. Or a lot of grading.  I need to coherently bring my thoughts on this semester together and write about it.  However, knowing me and my attention span that won’t happen for awhile.

I have some thoughts on teaching too that I feel isn’t appropriate to share in such a public place. However, I will say this: it many ways it was a real joy toward the end to be teaching something I knew so well.  Whether or not my students felt the same way is a different case altogether.

I also am hesitant to write about my overall experience in great detail as well.  I will wrote more effectively about it soon enough.  But I do know this I was challenged in brand news ways and that was great.  I’m very excited to be pursuing this line of work

I’d love to sleep for more than five hours though sometimes this week!

Via

On Nov. 18, Bernstein was discussing the conditions under which African captives were taken to America in slave ships. She bound the two students’ hands and feet with tape and had them crawl under a desk to simulate the experience, Monahan and Shand said. Monahan said the girls were not the only blacks in the class.

Gabrielle Shand burst into tears at home, her mother said.

“There are other ways to demonstrate slavery,” Christine Shand said Friday. “It doesn’t matter the color of the kids, it’s just not right to tie them up. My daughter is still upset, still embarrassed. She didn’t go to school today.”

Wow. I can understand why these children’s parents would be upset!  There is nothing wrong with the usual just lecturing about slavery…clearly.

This Friday marks the end of Week Four of graduate school. It’s been a full month since I had TA training.  Phew!

Life is good. If not hectic and crazy. Some general observations: Since I have an MA, my initial gut reaction is to compare my two experiences. However, I realize they don’t compare. Sure the seminar experience is similar. But in a way with my MA I jumped into research very fast. I had a research paper to write almost immediately. Then, of course, we were writing our theses our second year then done. Here, I am not supposed to ponder the dissertation until after the comprehensive exams. Of course, we all know that doesn’t happen.  I’m talking about dissertation ideas all of the time with possible advisors and other students.

I also keep having this odd feeling of being unsettled. I am in a unique situation where I may have two advisors. I am drawn to writing about religion in the 19th and 20th centuries. Part of me feels like I should write about the 19th century. However, I am some ideas that would include both. SOme of my other peers already have advisors. Some don’t. I need to realize its ok. It’s been good that I have been meeting with several professors. I will have it figured out soon enough. I just need to “follow my heart.”

Work-discipline. Ahhh I have been getting the work done. But I’ve learned some hard lesson about the me four years ago and the me now. I need sleep. I know there will be sleepless nights in the future but when I can sleep I am sleeping. I have never been the type of person to get up and get to work. Um I have to now. This means reading by 10 AM on the mornings I don’t have anywhere else to be. I will be shooting for earlier as the semester rolls on. yeah and this means going to bed earlier…:(

I have banned myself from facebook. I have signed onto it on my blackberry but you can’t navigate it well. I don’t have facebook application for blackberries which is good. I have also cut myself off of other bloggingish sites that eat up time. I do visit my bloglines staples. It turns out I don’t need facebook to waste time on the web. When i find myself downloading music for my cats, we know I need to point my attention elsewhere. HA!

The teaching. I won’t talk about that in depth on this open forum. But it is a LOT OF WORK. So far I have taught sixteen section in all. Four a week for four weeks. I have to say one of my groups is pretty talkative and into the material which makes for a fast and fun session.

OK back to writing about the Puritans!

this friday evening.  I have a short essay to write on an excellent book, but I keep putting off the writing. Hmmm.

So I’m researching dissertation ideas. Not so good at focusing on the present, am I?

Must be why I like the past. Oh I’m so hilarious!