Traveling + School

Sometimes in grad school, we decide it might be a good idea to take some time off, go out of town, and have a good time.* Then the weekend ends and the inevitable stress and denial come crashing down: you have two books to read and a critique to write.

Okay, not you, me.

Did I bring my books with me? Of course I did. Did I have every intention of getting a slough of homework done in the evenings over the weekend? You bet I did. Did that actually happen? Hell no.

Going out of town in grad school is like a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, you get some much-needed time off and destressification. (I made up that word. Awesome, no?) On the other, there's a great possibly that you won't get anything done. Well, at least I didn't.

Lesson learned! I spent all last night skimming (or "gutting" as I heard a cohort say), all of today skimming, and writing a critique. For those of you who haven't heard the term "gutting," it basically means that you just read the first sentence of every paragraph and move on. This helps you fly through books while still g

etting the gist of the main idea. It's a last resort tactic and I do not condone it, but sometimes it just has to happen.

I will not be going out of town for any more weekends during the semester. However, there will be a Disneyland day next month. But the best part about a one-day deal is that it's really easy to account for.

Daily Advice: Be diligent if you travel or else it will bite you in the ass.

*I went up north over the weekend to the Northern California Renaissance Faire. It was awesome, ridiculously hot, and oh-so worth it.

Throwing knives!

My first visual!

I meant to post this a long time ago. Here's a visual of the reading I have to do this semester. This is actually my DVD-shelf (courtesy of my step-sister) but below my actual DVDs you can a tiny selection of my books. The entire top row (books) is completely dedicated to my academic endeavors this semester. 34 books total.

A Thesis: This requires a lot of bolding.

Tonight at a school function for a lovely program that I am proud to be a part of, I found myself amidst a very brief but fiery "discussion" about writing history.

The opposing argument was that history gets too philosophical and should not need a thesis since the subject is just a synthesis of facts.

My dear readers, I wholeheartedly disagree, especially since this is not the first time I have heard this argument. When I was an undergrad, a classmate of mine got into an argument with one of my professors, Dr. K. She was planning to write a research paper about Mary Tudor (Henry VIII's daughter, not his sister for those of you who know Tudor lineage) and she said she did not need a thesis because she was going to research the "facts" and just write about "facts."

Friends, there are no facts when it comes to history. None! History is a synthesis of ideas and interpretations that historians have pieced together over the years based on collected documents from the past. (This is my own definition; feel free to disagree.) Since we cannot know for sure which documents ended up being doctored, skewed, copied, mistranslated, etc., all we can do is compile the pieces together and create our own educated guess about what happened during the event/era/place we've decided to research on. This is called The Thesis. Without your Thesis, you are simply making a list of things that may or may not have happened.

History is not done by historians alone. We rely on our brethren: the archaeologists, anthropologists, sociologists, economists, and geographers. For the sake of postmodernism, without these fine people history as we know it could not exist!

At the very least, it's basic middle-school English: When writing a proper essay (in any subject!) you must have a thesis and you must be able to defend it. This is especially true for all historians and those who aspire to be them.

Daily advice:

Do not forget your thesis, topic sentence, and/or proper grammar or else the results will be disastrous.

A(n) (Unorthodox?) Debate

To handwrite your notes or type your notes? That is the question.

As an undergraduate, I handwrote all of my notes for every single class I ever took. I remembered things better, I was able to jot down extra notes in the margins, draw arrows where needed to make things more organized, and list things properly. (Not to mention, it's quite nice to just doodle when the lecture gets boring.)

Now that I am well into my second year of graduate school, I have come to realize that handwriting my notes has become not only a bit of a waste of time, but also a waste of paper. For one thing, my classes consist of discussion, not lecture.* As a result, I have my notebook out, but I rarely write anything down at all. We're discussing the book, not taking notes so we have things to memorize for the midterms and finals that we do not take.

Another factor against handwriting my notes is my paper organization. My Atlantic History professor, Dr. M, suggested to me to gather notes pertaining to my paper topic from each book we read into a word document so I can easily access them later in the semester when the time comes to get writing. He said this is the easiest way to do it and so far, I'm pretty sold on this method.

This leads me to my next question: Are pen and paper dead or dying? I find that question to be somewhat discomforting and I'm afraid that the answer will frighten me. It's scary enough that the Amazon Kindle could very well replace books at some point in the near future. Should I contribute to the death of pen and paper and jump onto the technology bandwagon? Should I just say "Screw technology!" and continue with notebooks as always? Or should I start typing things and think of it as a noble effort to save trees and stop wasting all the untouched paper in my notebook? Please tell me your thoughts!

* Except for the classes I TA. Those are lecture-based courses so I take notes like an undergrad.

A Good Day

Friends, today I feel accomplished. In grad school, that is one of the best feelings you can have. Why do I feel accomplished? It's simple things really, but here are the top three reasons. (Okay, the only three reasons.)

3. I have picked and arranged the day I will give a lecture for the lovely class I TA.

2. I have picked my final paper topic for my Atlantic History course. A tricky but doable topic.

And....

.....

Are you ready?

........

1. I bit the bullet, presented my thesis topic idea to my advisor, and he likes it! And he enthusiastic about it!

This is probably the biggest weight off of my shoulders. I have been stressing over the topic for months and I was unsure if it would be considered doable. But my fears were laid to rest!

Now for a small list of things to do relating to my thesis:

1. Have Graduate Coordinator sign off on my Classified Status.*

2. Organize a thesis committee.

3. Turn in thesis proposal.

*I came into the program as an "Unclassified Student" because my undergraduate education was done at a private university where I did not have to take the

state-approved writing exam. My lovely State University said I had to take the Undergraduate Upper Division Writing Exam because it's required of all state

students, even if they're graduate students. In spring 2008 I gritted my teeth, took the exam, and got a perfect score. Boo-yah! Now that I have over 12 units

completed, I can finally get my status signed off on.

Daily Advice:

Take risks and go with your gut. Any topic is doable. You just need to find your voice.

Ideas and Inspiration

Today was the first official class discussion in Atlantic History, which made for some marvelous times...as marvelous as a seminar can be, at least.

Let me recap you:

Thanks to ye glorious budget cuts, there are less graduate classes available and since Dr. A got a lovely research grant he cancelled his world history class. The result: those grad students needing a world history credit are overflowing the Atlantic History class. Cap is over by two! This means that it is harder to contribute to the discussion as there are more people to compete with. Ugh.

As someone who has always been a tad bit on the shy side of class participation, I was rather put out at times when I would have my hand raised multiple times to say something and not get called on. That sounds so elementary, I know. Why didn't I just call out and say it? Because Dr. M expects a certain level of decorum and wants us to act like the grown-ups we are.

There was one comment that I was desperate to rebuttal and never got the chance! One student, N, said something along the lines of this: You cannot look at Boston in Colonial America without treating it like European history because it's ONLY European history because it's inhabitants were all from Europe. Readers, I disagree! While, yes, inhabitants of Colonial Boston were either early generation Colonists or directly from Europe, I believe that once they crossed the Atlantic, entered, and formed communities in the "New World," they created new collective identities and therefor you cannot treat Colonial Boston (or America) as European history.

Well, since I never got to say it in class, I have been inspired to make this my class paper topic. Changing identities in the Atlantic World!

Daily Advice:

If you have a grand idea in class that you do not articulate for whatever reason, keep it in mind because it can turn into a nifty paper topic for your advantage.