I'm Back!
Hi Everyone- sorry to be so long between posts. With the holidays and all, things were a bit frenetic. My 16 year old car (which I've had for the last 13 years- most of my driving life) finally gave up the ghost, so there were many logistical things that needed to be taken care of right then.
The chapter (which seems at times almost eternal) is finally well under way; yesterday's work foray to the coffee shop yielded pages 36-38. Given that I still have lots to cover, I have a feeling it's going to be mammoth- probably about 70 pages. I've been going back and forth about what that means for completion next year (I will, I WILL graduate in May of '08), whether with chapters that long I can cut the two middle ones. But, I'm a little ways off from deciding that (after all, I have to write the other three before I need to decide), and have yet to talk to my advisor about it.
My job progresses- although it was sold to me that I'd be able to work on the dissertation while I'm there, that hasn't happened much yet. Instead, I've been doing fun data-entry type things like inventorying files (my own damn fault). It's been a good job, though, in the sense that I've realized how much I enjoy teaching. A few days ago a student came in to ask for advice on a research project, and I had more fun at work in that 30 minutes than I had for the past two weeks put together. I didn't get hired by the department for teaching during the summer, and I'll probably stick with advising for next year (if I don't get a fellowship- cross your collective fingers!), so it'll be a while before I teach again. To counter that (and for several other reasons), I'm auditing a class this semester, which I'm really looking forward to. It meets later in the semester, so I'll be sure to let you know how it goes.
In the mean time, I'll leave you with a quote from the section of the chapter which talks about communications networks between the national office of the YW in New York and the Foreign Secretaries. I particularly focus on the Director of the Foreign Division, Sarah Lyon, who wrote what she calls "pastoral letters" to the Secretaries abroad. She usually ended with a brief talk about the current fashions. Since it's been so cold outside everywhere (the Oranges in California! Ice in Oklahoma! Dangerous wind chills in Illinois!) I thought we could all use a reminder that one day, it will be warm.
"New York in summer is quite different from former days for, taking a leaf out of Europe’s book, almost every hotel and restaurant sets up an outdoor café made attractive by green trees and bright awnings. Were you to drop in, you might wear your popular boucle sport dress, which of course you knitted yourself. Or if that is too warm, put on one of the patriotic cottons in aqua or lettuce shades. Wear flowers at your jugular or your sternum! Any one of a variety of hat will do, but many are wearing very shallow crowns- sometimes I think the shallower the brain the shallower the crown atop it! An elastic is supposed to serve as mooring, but I’ve never seen so many hats flying down the street with populace in mad pursuit as this spring. I asked ‘K.K.’ what to tell you about styles, and her contribution was a laconic, ‘You might tell ‘em shorts are getting shorter.’ Since it is true, I add the item, though you may prefer the latest sport toggery on your holiday, namely culottes."
(Sunday, May 31, 1936).
The chapter (which seems at times almost eternal) is finally well under way; yesterday's work foray to the coffee shop yielded pages 36-38. Given that I still have lots to cover, I have a feeling it's going to be mammoth- probably about 70 pages. I've been going back and forth about what that means for completion next year (I will, I WILL graduate in May of '08), whether with chapters that long I can cut the two middle ones. But, I'm a little ways off from deciding that (after all, I have to write the other three before I need to decide), and have yet to talk to my advisor about it.
My job progresses- although it was sold to me that I'd be able to work on the dissertation while I'm there, that hasn't happened much yet. Instead, I've been doing fun data-entry type things like inventorying files (my own damn fault). It's been a good job, though, in the sense that I've realized how much I enjoy teaching. A few days ago a student came in to ask for advice on a research project, and I had more fun at work in that 30 minutes than I had for the past two weeks put together. I didn't get hired by the department for teaching during the summer, and I'll probably stick with advising for next year (if I don't get a fellowship- cross your collective fingers!), so it'll be a while before I teach again. To counter that (and for several other reasons), I'm auditing a class this semester, which I'm really looking forward to. It meets later in the semester, so I'll be sure to let you know how it goes.
In the mean time, I'll leave you with a quote from the section of the chapter which talks about communications networks between the national office of the YW in New York and the Foreign Secretaries. I particularly focus on the Director of the Foreign Division, Sarah Lyon, who wrote what she calls "pastoral letters" to the Secretaries abroad. She usually ended with a brief talk about the current fashions. Since it's been so cold outside everywhere (the Oranges in California! Ice in Oklahoma! Dangerous wind chills in Illinois!) I thought we could all use a reminder that one day, it will be warm.
"New York in summer is quite different from former days for, taking a leaf out of Europe’s book, almost every hotel and restaurant sets up an outdoor café made attractive by green trees and bright awnings. Were you to drop in, you might wear your popular boucle sport dress, which of course you knitted yourself. Or if that is too warm, put on one of the patriotic cottons in aqua or lettuce shades. Wear flowers at your jugular or your sternum! Any one of a variety of hat will do, but many are wearing very shallow crowns- sometimes I think the shallower the brain the shallower the crown atop it! An elastic is supposed to serve as mooring, but I’ve never seen so many hats flying down the street with populace in mad pursuit as this spring. I asked ‘K.K.’ what to tell you about styles, and her contribution was a laconic, ‘You might tell ‘em shorts are getting shorter.’ Since it is true, I add the item, though you may prefer the latest sport toggery on your holiday, namely culottes."
(Sunday, May 31, 1936).
posted by Karen at
9:10 AM
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