Foreign Language Requirements & Fall 2009 Grades

I managed to pull out straight As for the fall term - yay me! It's kind of cool when your teenager gives you a hug and says, "That's really cool mom!" I hope that somewhere inside him I am sowing the seed for a good example.

While the rest of the academic world is resting on its laurels, I am fighting my way through my last foreign language credit of my undergraduate career. All of my work needs to be done by the end of January and my January will be swamped, so I am working on it now - ick. I love foreign language, really I do, but doing it because I want to learn it and be able to communicate with my friend from Panama is something entirely different from doing it for a grade.

I wish this were the last time I had to work on a foreign language for credit, alas, it's not. Typically there are foreign language requirements for graduate programs in history - Spanish, we shall meet again. At one point, I was considering graduate work in religion (religion is my minor) and the program I would have likely applied to required fluency in German as a graduation requirement. Sorry. It was enough to scare me out of going further with religious studies.

So, I guess I'll be working on Spanish over the summer as well and hopefully be able to knock out the foreign language requirement for grad school in the fall. Yeah, we'll see how *that* works out.

**Miss Clio

Joining professional organizations

I admit it.  I have commitment issues.  My inner desire to "belong" is seriously trumped by my aversion to feeling "trapped" and by my resistance to conformity.  To "belong" one needs to conform and once conformed, one is trapped by expectations and obligations that make me want to scream hysterically and run in the other direction.

These issues came into play when deciding, and procrastinating, whether or not to join the myriad of professional organizations for historians.  I have been told multiple times that "it looks great on a vitae" and "if you want the job, you've got to play the part" etc...but...(prepare for litany of excuses) there is the money that I could be spending on other things; and I'm an undergrad, so they don't care about me anyway; and I don't know which one to join; and, and, and...I finally decided it was time to pony up and join.  Here are a few reasons why:

• Most organization publish journals or newsletters that allow you to keep abreast of the current scholarship in your area; this could potentially show employers/grad schools that you are a serious student and that keeping tabs on what's new is important to you; it give you the heads-up with regards to trends so that you can capitalize on them
• This guarantees that I will get something in the mailbox besides bills
  
• Said journals and newsletters allow you to identify key players, organizations, and publications within your field
• If I have my own copy of these journals, I can write in the margins.  Oddly enough, librarians frown on marginalia in borrowed journals - who knew?
  
• Professional organizations often sponsor conferences, events, seminars, and workshops; these are great places to network and learn cool new things
• Students often get a reduced membership rate and membership often affords reduced rates at the aforementioned conferences, events, seminars, and workshops, as well as publications and possibly even insurance
  
• Membership looks good on your vitae
• Volunteer opportunities abound within these sorts of organizations.  If you get involved, think how many folks you can meet and think of that warm fuzzy feeling that can only come with giving unselfishly of your time
• All the cool kids are doing it.  Okay, I made that one up.

So I joined three professional organizations - two national and one regional.  I got student rates on all of them and am anxiously awaiting the first treasure in my mailbox. One of them even emailed me an immediate password to access the "Members Only" area of the site, so, now, I have a backstage pass to history and that's kinda cool.

**Miss Clio

Nothin' New...

Trying to cram science homework for me and science projects for the Mini-Me in before the holiday break.

**Miss Clio & the Mini-Me

Shaking Hands, Kissing Babies and Killing Turkeys; a Governor's Work is Never Done.

Today's historic image comes to us from the Alabama Department of Archives and History.  This fetching lady is Lurleen Burns Wallace; she was the first female governor of Alabama and wife of Former Governor George Wallace. (Yes, they were both governors, and accusations abound regarding Lurleen acting simply as George's puppet.)  George's name may sound familiar because he was staunchly against desegregation, but mellowed with age.

I am so capitaved by this photo.  I think it's because she is saddling both sides of the gender fence.  She is doing something typically male-oriented, yet, her hair is clearly done and not a lock out of place, save the adorable curl in the forehead - love that Aqua Net.  Awesome.

**Miss Clio

Book Analysis

I received back my first book analysis today. I was pleased with the grade I earned, especially considering that it was such an uncomfortable assignment to complete. Former Dr. S always quipped that "outside your comfort zone is where you grow" so I guess I was growing and that was why I was uncomfortable.


For the uninitiated, a book analysis evaluates a book by assessing the strengths and weaknesses of its arguments, assessing the author's methodologies and sources, as well as looking at the book's value within the broader scholarship and historiography. As I understand it these are pretty common in graduate school, so I had better get it together and work out my misgivings.

Those misgivings stem from several things. Firstly, who am I to review this scholar's work? I am a neophyte historian and I sort of cringe because I feel like "historian" is a title I haven't yet earned. Secondly, my knowledge base regarding the subject pales in comparison to the author. He/She/They know all the ins and outs. I, on the other hand, am only familiar with broad overarching themes and have a framework of cursory knowledge to help contextualize. Current Dr. S assured me that I was entitled to my opinion and that I could effectively evaluate whether or not the author produced enough evidence to prove her thesis, whether or not I agreed with said thesis and what additions or deletions I would like to see. So, that's what I did and it felt very odd, but I received high marks, so apparently I am on the right track. The third hurdle is the page limit. There is so much to write, it is sometimes difficult to sift through and sort the most important/pertinent information with a 2 pg limit. Unfortunately, I'm almost always over and at some point, I'm going to run into a prof that doesn't appreciate my verbiage.

Dr. S gives amazing feedback on graded papers. She is very open about my strengths and weaknesses and that is a good thing. I struggle with writing killer topic sentences (former professor scared me so much that now I just freeze up) and it's good to know that they are getting stronger and I am feeling more confident in writing them. It's so good to see progress!

After handing in this analysis, I have committed myself to write mini-analyses of each chapter or page grouping of assigned reading. I have found this to be an extremely fruitful exercise and, surprisingly, I have found it changes the way I read.

No more official book analyses due this semester, but I'll keep trying to hone those skills so next time won't be so worrisome

PS - H-Net maintains a great stockpile of electronic reviews at
http://www.h-net.org/reviews/home.php

**Miss Clio

(Sources: http://www.ibiblio.org/uncpress/pics/jackets/g/gilmore_gender_afloat.jpg)

Virgin Post

As part of an independent study I am doing next semester, I proposed keeping a blog. That way, Dr. P. can check up on my progress whenever it's convenient for him. I also think that technology is important and I want to inocorporate technology into my teaching strategies, so I had better walk the walk, so to speak.

I also suspect that there may be other students out there on the interwebz that, like me, are in an undergraduate program but already know that they want to follow through to a PhD. Maybe it would be worthwhile to blog about those adventures. Here goes it...

**Miss Clio