Re-Learning Productivity

Things are beginning to click again. 

I've spent a good deal of the past two months... procrastinating.  That's really the only word for it.  Now, don't get me wrong, I've not been totally lazy: I've read Perdita and I'm a good deal of the way through The Lunar Men.  Plus, I've nearly finished Frankenstein, which falls within my period and might end up being useful.  I've also perused The Botanic Garden, an edited edition of the poems of Anna Laetitia Barbauld, and a few other articles from JSTOR.  But if I'm honest with myself, I've not really gotten invested in my thesis yet, not like I should have at this point.  Each week it seems to take shape more, but it feels like such slow going-- and that's partially my fault. 

But this past week, I feel myself sliding back into academic routines and habits.  I think the reason for this is two-fold: first, I started my new job on Wednesday.  I'm working in an archive/Special Collections as part of their manuscript unit, and I love it.  Currently, I'm reading some books on archival methods, history, and theory, and on Friday I got to go through some really cool correspondence from the 1950s, from which I've derived my new favorite phrase: "I'm busier than a bird dog in a sanctuary."  I really love my new job.  I've volunteered in Special Collections before, and I've spent a lot of time in research libraries for various jobs/projects in the past, and even in just my first few days I feel like I've come down where I belong.  I may have said this before about other things, but I don't think we're limited to just one place to 'belong.'  I think I belong wherever I can research, engage with scholarship, and communicate with a larger community of interested parties.  A place where my work might really matter to people.  Right now, it's here.  And, in addition to making me happy and giving me a place of productivity and pay, the job affords routine.  I've been sorely lacking in routine for months, and the accountability of a job forces me to think a bit more carefully about how I choose to spend my non-work hours. 

The second thing that's helped has been a couple of symposiums from various professors in my department.  A couple of weeks ago, a professor advised beginning a word document for each secondary source we read, citing it bibliographically at the top, then breaking down for ourselves the argument of the book, typing up quotes, and making notes.  I started this process this week, and wish I'd been doing this since my M.A. at William and Mary.  Word documents of all that I read in that program would be incredibly useful to my current project, especially from my American Revolution Historiography course.  I'm sure I still have that syllabus somewhere... right?  I've also made a list of all of the sources I have checked out from the library, downloaded from ECCO, or printed off from JSTOR, with notes on which chapters I think will be relevant.  Essentially, a very long self-made reading list.  But, it helps to see just what I need to read, and lessens the overwhelming-ness of all of those library books.

Finally, in our last session, a professor suggested 'working to a timer.'  This is something I've never done or thought of doing... but today I tried it.  And it REALLY works.  I set the timer for 25 minutes and told myself that I only had to read for 25 minutes before I got a break.  Knowing this helped me to keep my concentration on what I was reading and to enjoy the reading more.  Before I knew it, my timer went off!  I took a short break (five or so minutes), then set it for another 25 (and then another, and another) and in this way I made it through three chapters of a book!  I'm a huge fan of this method! 

I think if I keep up a productivity rate like I've had today, I can actually knock out this thesis in no time.  Or at least, the primary research for this thesis.  I'm sure the writing will come as another great challenge, but I finally feel up to the test.

Road Trip Weekend: Pennsylvania!

In a lovely turn of events, I spent the weekend road-tripping through Pennsylvania.  On Thursday my mom and I drove up to Mocanaqua, PA via Northumberland, PA.  In Northumberland, we saw Joseph Priestley's house-- so I decided to count that as my thesis research for the day.  Despite the fact that the home was officially closed (I misread their hours on their website), the tour guide just happened to be in the visitor's center due to a pre-arranged tour for a group from California that had ended just minutes prior to our arrival.  The tour guide very kindly agreed to stay and give us a tour, too.  I'm so glad he did!  Priestley's house was very nice-- clearly it doesn't get the kind of money that places like Mount Vernon and Monticello receive, but they've kept it up well.  Plus, they have Priestley's actual microscope, flute, chess set, and some telescopes!  They also have reproductions of his chemical apparatuses.  I loved seeing it all!  Moreover, our tour guide does re-enactments as Priestley, so we may go back later this autumn (or next spring) for a special event day to see him in character.

(The 'back' of Priestley's House.  Not my own photo; image found here)

After our tour, we drove up to see Mocanaqua, where my grandpa grew up and where my mom spent all of her summer vacations as a child.  It's a very, very tiny place.  Everything looked beautiful, though!  We saw the house my great-grandmother lived in, and the cemetery where she and my great-grandpa are buried.  There's a large church in the center of the town with church bells that play hymns on the hour, and two restaurants: a pizza delivery place and a sit-down place.  I didn't see any shops, but my mom said that one building used to be a little store that sold candy, and she would walk down the hill in the summers to buy little candy treats, then play by the creek behind her grandmother's house.  After a quick dinner in the area, we drove the two hours down to Hershey, PA, got a hotel, and then the next day, headed to Chocolate World!

Chocolate World was quite the experience!  We rode their 'Factory Tour' ride, which involved singing cows and a catchy tune.  It reminded me of a cross between Disney's Living with the Land and Journey Into the Imagination with Figment rides.  We then participated in a chocolate tasting, where we got a brief history of chocolate at "Hershey University."  After that, we viewed a '4-D' show.  I absolutely loved the show, and one of the characters, 'Hershey' (guess what kind of chocolate bar he was!) talked directly to the audience and responded to our responses (a bit like Turtle Talk with Crush in The Living Seas)!  The show was fun for the kids and hilarious for the adults.  After the show, we grabbed a quick bite in the food court before going to Create Your Own Chocolate Bar!  This experience was amazing!  We got to create a bar using a touchscreen, then watch as the bar went down the factory assembly line.  Then we designed a wrapper for our bar, and got to take our bar home as a souvenir in a beautiful silver tin box.  It even says "Created by [Your Name Here]" on it!  I love having a chocolate bar that I created!  We finished up making our bars, bought a few souvenirs (including a Reese's Cup hat for Zan), and then took a "Trolley Ride" around the town of Hershey.

(I liked the Hershey Kiss hats.)

After our trolley ride, we headed to the Hershey Museum, but it was late afternoon so we didn't get tickets to the exhibits (I hope to go back when I have a bit more of an idea of what I'd like to get out of the experience; maybe I'll read/re-read some books on public history and museum curatorship before we go back, because I think it would be a fascinating museum to analyze, based on what I've seen).  Instead, we went to the cafe for a taste-testing of Drinking Chocolates from Around the World.  Venezuela and Tanzania were particularly wonderful.

(Our delicious Drinking Chocolates and a bit about their provenances.)

Overall, an excellent Pennsylvania Road Trip!

Pumpkin Spice

I caved.  I bought my first 2014 Pumpkin Spice Latte this morning.  I woke up early this morning for church.  The morning felt crisp and cool and exactly like every perfect fall morning ever.  I actually needed a jacket.  It made me want to become a morning person.  Well, more of a morning person.  I already like mornings best, but I like when my mornings start with a cup of tea around 8:30, rather than a brisk walk shortly after sunrise.  Except, this morning made me want to start out with those brisk walks shortly after sunrise.  I started picturing myself in Missouri in the autumn (Missouri autumns really are stunning), and how lovely it might be if I could make a kind of freelance writing business or a successful etsy shop.  I might wake up, grab a tea or a coffee, then go for a hike around the Runge Center or on the Katy Trail.  Then I could grab some of those amazing home-made chips at Lutz's BBQ if I were in Jefferson City, or some Shakespeare's Pizza in Columbia.  And housing costs would be so low compared to here that I might actually be able to afford a place to live...and I could spend my afternoon working diligently on my writing projects or my etsy shop items.  It was such a nice fantasy.  Mostly I want a place to live that I can call my very own, with lots of sunshine, and a tiny yard or a balcony where I can grow a few plants...

Anyway, I went to church, and after church as I walked back to my apartment, I passed Starbuck's.  And the weather was just perfect for a Pumpkin Spice Latte.  So, I stopped in.  And what wonderful goodness it was indeed.  Not quite the perfection that accompanies a Peppermint Mocha as Christmas draws near, but pretty close.  And with this cool, autumnal day--and many more cool, autumnal days in the five-day forecast--I think I can safely say that fall is arriving in Virginia.


P.S.-- I heard it was supposed to snow here at the end of October.  SNOW.  In OCTOBER.  I think we're in for a much colder winter than I would like to even imagine.

Beginning a Thesis

I have started a Thesis Log, separately from this blog (and just for me).  My professor for my thesis research methods seminar recommended writing for 25 minutes a day-- and by writing she also meant reading/thinking/note-taking.  But I like the idea of writing and reflecting on my reading for (at least) 25 minutes a day.  I'm approaching it a bit like The Secret Diary of Lizzie Bennet, so my Thesis Log includes bits and pieces of my life, too, and personal thoughts and reflections.  I'm hoping that, like Lizzie, I may be able to look back over my Log and discover how my thoughts were shaped, what it is that I enjoy about what I'm doing, and that these discoveries will help me both with my writing and with my future career goals.  I loved getting the backstory on Lizzie's thesis-- why the videos were relevant to a thesis topic and not just a girl with a camera-- and even though my thesis has nothing to do with video blogging, I think writing about it for 25 minutes a day will help my ideas.  At the very least, it might make good reading material for me once this whole thing is over.

As of right now, I've been doing the reading/thinking/note-taking recommended, but I still feel a bit panicky over it all.  I am trying to remind myself that when I started out my history masters I still hadn't read the book that would end up informing the 'thesis' part of it.  I didn't really think about the stakes of a thesis then: I just knew that I had to compare two things (it was a comparative history degree).  I found a colonial American theater company and knew a bit about London theatricals, and thought, "Well, this seems perfect!  I can just compare what shows they put on and their staging.  Done!  And they all speak English!  No need for a translator!"  And, at the time, that seemed like enough-- as if a thesis were nothing more than a glorified research paper.  Of course, over the ensuing year and a half I learned quite a lot-- both about 18th-century theater and the purpose of graduate school-- and perhaps I just got lucky that I found a way to say something new in the field.  My thesis chunk that I turned in at the beginning of my second semester (comparable to the one I will have to turn in at the end of this semester) certainly didn't say anything new at all.  But I worked with it, and found my angle.

The thing is, it's easy now to look back and see exactly what I wanted to say in my history thesis, and it's hard for me-- in this program-- not to feel like I'm behind because I can't find the 'intervention' that I want to make in the first week or so.  I mean, I've read a biography and a book of poetry and the (long) introductions to two critical editions, why don't I have an angle?  See, when I say it like that it seems pretty silly to expect to have a grandiose plan at this point.  I have a topic.  I am interested in female Romantic writers.  I am focusing on Mary Robinson and Anna Laetitia Barbauld at this point, letting their works wash over me, and seeing where I might take them.  Maybe I'll find someone else entirely-- a few new names have cropped up in the last few days of reading.  And I need to know that that's okay.  That my history thesis didn't come to me fully-formed.  That I hadn't even read The Marketplace of Revolution when I discovered the Hallams and the London Company of Comedians. 

So, the point of the Log is, then, to provide me with a map, so that I can see where I've been and, perhaps, to point me towards where I'm going.  Here's the journey!

Last First Day of Classes...?

I've made the claim to have attended my last first day of classes at least once before now, so I'm hesitant to say so again with certainty.  But, at least for the foreseeable future, yesterday was my last first day of classes!  Last first day of classes that I'm taking, and not teaching, anyway.  See?  Very little may be said with confidence when it comes to last first days of classes.

The day started a bit rough, for no discernible reason, but ended on a very nice note.  For months now, we thesis-writers have been panicking a bit about our first day of thesis class.  Our professor asked us to speak on our topic for 5-7 minutes, and few of us felt prepared to do so.  The day before yesterday Cara and I had lunch together to prep what we might say.  The lunch made me feel less panicky, but not entirely settled.  So, yesterday I woke up, drank my tea, and read a few 'beads' in Eat Pray Love (it's good practice for me to have a book from which I read a small amount per day and really reflect on what I've read, especially this book with its religious and self-knowledge themes).  After an early lunch, I caught the bus to campus.  I worked on booking flights for a wedding I'm attending next month, then stood up too quickly and hit my side hard on a handrail.  It really hurt.  I plunged into a dark mood.  To try to cheer up, I purchased a clementine flavored soda and a Snickers bar, then dedicated the remaining hour or so until class to reading Heavens to Betsy.  I've needed this sojourn to Deep Valley.

Then class started, and I absolutely love our professor.  She's warm and friendly and guided us through our initial presentations with ease.  I even ceased to feel nervous!  After class, I briefly discussed with her an idea I've been having for a new direction, and wondered if she thought it too late to switch things up a bit.  The talk made me feel an inkling more excited about my thesis and definitely put me in a better mood.  Then I checked my e-mail, and I got the job at the library!  I'm thrilled!!!  I really, really think this might just be the start of something good.  And thus the day ended with a pint with some friends from my program, and the prospect of good things to come!