adventures in researching
8.30.2008
epilogue
so i obviously didn't write anything after ireland, but in short, my thesis was perfect.
¶ 2:03 PM 0 comments
8.11.2006
not dead
just back from ireland and meeting family with no new research updates. except that we'll have to see about finishing the syllabus. hmmmm.
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7.12.2006
little victories
the book i ordered from the library came today! and its 700 pages. hot.
and the motherland won the world cup. not mexico, but still good. ¶ 6:59 PM 0 comments
and the motherland won the world cup. not mexico, but still good. ¶ 6:59 PM 0 comments
7.09.2006
aaaaaarruugg a la charlie brown
because i still have not recieved the books i need from either the postal system or the library. i can't wait for the book i ordered a month ago to come though (they shipped it media mail the cheap jerks. amazon charges me for shipping already!) i'm relishing the thought of giving them a terrible review and rating them a ZERO. i may not be quite that harsh, but the thought is consoling. my super-productivity in tejas is now being overshadowed by how much i am behind on reading. boo.
in other news, i talked to my dad on the phone yesterday, and now am in possession of an irish calling card so i can call them next time. now all i need is a number. and a timezone conversion chart. ¶ 9:19 PM 0 comments
in other news, i talked to my dad on the phone yesterday, and now am in possession of an irish calling card so i can call them next time. now all i need is a number. and a timezone conversion chart. ¶ 9:19 PM 0 comments
7.03.2006
i'm alive!
and i have SO MANY SOURCES! OMG it is amazing how much more you can photocopy when you have a wonderful friend who travels with you. i found about 15 times more things than when i was at the bancroft, and a lot of those are newspapers from chiapas at the time of the revolution (which is good since most works on the revolution deal with villa in the north, mexico city, or zapata in morelos in that order). hottttttttt. yes, it needs that many t's. and the people were so much nicer in the benson - there were also windows which is probably the cause of that. and it was open from 9-5 instead of 1-5 which was so nice, not to mention that they are not under construction and i only had to wait 5 minutes for a box or folder from a collection as opposed to two days. i also got to look at (and photocopy from) a collection on the EZLN when they went on tour through mexico in 2001, AND that collection had six video tapes of the rallies they put on. i could only watch about 20 minutes of one because the cameraman was obviously in the crowd clapping (i got slightly seasick) but it was extremely interesting to watch, whether or not it was useful in the end. i am also now highly skilled with a microform, as i spent what probably adds up to one full day of research going through microfilms of newspapers. i wonder if i can put that on my resume? i'm sure that will be a useful skill somehow...
and most of the drive was nice. the trip from phoenix (where my friend's brother lives and where we crashed in the middle of our drive because he's fantastic and generally awesome) to austin turns out to be more like 18 hours, not the 15 mapquest says. yeah, big fat lie. and the time change wasn't in our favor going east. however, now i can say that i've driven through small town texas at 2 o'clock in the morning, and i wasn't even running from the sherrif. woot. the speed limit on the 10 through texas is 80 during the day and 65 at night, which is probably what slowed us down, along with traffic coming out of phoenix. not really a surprise since phoenix is los angeles without the beach. traffic is worse in l.a. though - they practically invented it.
texas, however, smells. several were so pungent we started making a list (along with a list of things the travel guides don't tell you about texas which will be posted at a later date). just to name a few: sulphur, onions, hay, beans, pie, and hot crayons. austin is full of tattoo shops. i think their motto is that you can't just get one tattoo because it will get lonely. i saw more people with tattoos in austin than i have anywhere else in the world, and i went to punk shows every weekend in high school. also there is orange everywhere you look, as it's one of the UT's colors. i didn't go into bars (tina, my friend who is the coolest person on the face of the planet and came with me, isn't 21) so i didn't have the chance to observe the local night life, but something tells me that since i'm only a recent beer drinker i'm not missing that much. perhaps another time.
unfortunately, due to the exhaustion from all the driving, i am sadly behind on my research. i'm still in the middle of the book i was supposed to have finished before i left, and the book i was supposed to have read this week hasn't come yet. ug. syllabus may have to be revamped a bit. maybe i'll shave a few things off... (i did give myself 12 weeks not including trips to archives). hopefully i'll have a lot of time to read in the next few days, but it's not looking like it. i'll probably end up staying up late reading and trying not to fall asleep. ¶ 4:24 PM 1 comments
and most of the drive was nice. the trip from phoenix (where my friend's brother lives and where we crashed in the middle of our drive because he's fantastic and generally awesome) to austin turns out to be more like 18 hours, not the 15 mapquest says. yeah, big fat lie. and the time change wasn't in our favor going east. however, now i can say that i've driven through small town texas at 2 o'clock in the morning, and i wasn't even running from the sherrif. woot. the speed limit on the 10 through texas is 80 during the day and 65 at night, which is probably what slowed us down, along with traffic coming out of phoenix. not really a surprise since phoenix is los angeles without the beach. traffic is worse in l.a. though - they practically invented it.
texas, however, smells. several were so pungent we started making a list (along with a list of things the travel guides don't tell you about texas which will be posted at a later date). just to name a few: sulphur, onions, hay, beans, pie, and hot crayons. austin is full of tattoo shops. i think their motto is that you can't just get one tattoo because it will get lonely. i saw more people with tattoos in austin than i have anywhere else in the world, and i went to punk shows every weekend in high school. also there is orange everywhere you look, as it's one of the UT's colors. i didn't go into bars (tina, my friend who is the coolest person on the face of the planet and came with me, isn't 21) so i didn't have the chance to observe the local night life, but something tells me that since i'm only a recent beer drinker i'm not missing that much. perhaps another time.
unfortunately, due to the exhaustion from all the driving, i am sadly behind on my research. i'm still in the middle of the book i was supposed to have finished before i left, and the book i was supposed to have read this week hasn't come yet. ug. syllabus may have to be revamped a bit. maybe i'll shave a few things off... (i did give myself 12 weeks not including trips to archives). hopefully i'll have a lot of time to read in the next few days, but it's not looking like it. i'll probably end up staying up late reading and trying not to fall asleep. ¶ 4:24 PM 1 comments
6.22.2006
boo to roadblocks
so my whole family was sick this week. from the day i got home from berkeley to yesterday at least one person was sick every day with the stomach flu. ick. needless to say, since i was only sick the first day, i was doing more baby-sitting and less researching than i would have liked. now i have 300ish pages to read for this week and i started, basically, today. bother. thankfully this research is internally driven and i am feeling fairly generous given the extenuating circumstances. i also managed to make $80 babysitting this week which is pretty sweet.
texas is also still in the final planning stages due to illness and lack of internet access since mom has a lot of work for this weekend (she organizes a big holistic festival thingy four times a year, and one is this sunday)(yeah, did i mention i was raised a big hippie?) its looking like i'll only have three full days in the archives though, due to evil national holidays giving librarians excuses not to be open all the time just to serve my needs! *sigh* life is so hard sometimes... fortunately, this archive is open 9-5 instead of 1-5 and since i know whats up with archival research i'm not so worried about it. also this one shouldn't be under construction which means i won't have to wait 2 days just to see things they didn't feel like bringing with them. and, more importantly, i will be home and away from texas by the dreaded national fireworks day alleviating some serious anxiety about being anywhere near stetsons and cowboy boots on the 4th. yes i am a coastal liberal snob, but i might as well embrace it since i can't seem to change it. oh well.
in general, though, life is good. the fire that is burning 14,000 acres is about an hour (and a half maybe) north of me and moving the other direction (though its been raininig little pieces of ash which makes sunset really pretty), and even though they have moved away from predicting "the big one" for norcal and are now predicting "the big one" for the san andreas fault we don't live directly on the fault line so i'm not too worried. also they predict "the big one" every few years and so far so good. oh, and i spoke to my father and three sisters for the first time ever on the phone yesterday, which was sweet. i'm seriously considering a made-for-tv-movie... maybe i'll write it in my spare time next year (ha). ¶ 6:13 PM 0 comments
texas is also still in the final planning stages due to illness and lack of internet access since mom has a lot of work for this weekend (she organizes a big holistic festival thingy four times a year, and one is this sunday)(yeah, did i mention i was raised a big hippie?) its looking like i'll only have three full days in the archives though, due to evil national holidays giving librarians excuses not to be open all the time just to serve my needs! *sigh* life is so hard sometimes... fortunately, this archive is open 9-5 instead of 1-5 and since i know whats up with archival research i'm not so worried about it. also this one shouldn't be under construction which means i won't have to wait 2 days just to see things they didn't feel like bringing with them. and, more importantly, i will be home and away from texas by the dreaded national fireworks day alleviating some serious anxiety about being anywhere near stetsons and cowboy boots on the 4th. yes i am a coastal liberal snob, but i might as well embrace it since i can't seem to change it. oh well.
in general, though, life is good. the fire that is burning 14,000 acres is about an hour (and a half maybe) north of me and moving the other direction (though its been raininig little pieces of ash which makes sunset really pretty), and even though they have moved away from predicting "the big one" for norcal and are now predicting "the big one" for the san andreas fault we don't live directly on the fault line so i'm not too worried. also they predict "the big one" every few years and so far so good. oh, and i spoke to my father and three sisters for the first time ever on the phone yesterday, which was sweet. i'm seriously considering a made-for-tv-movie... maybe i'll write it in my spare time next year (ha). ¶ 6:13 PM 0 comments
6.16.2006
one down
made it home safely. the best thing during research was probably getting to hold/read/have photocopied letters zapata and his secretaries wrote from 1914. also not dying during my very long commutes in and around the bay area. the most amusing thing was probably walking down the street in berkeley looking for a lunch place (i was starving) and having a 13-15 year old hit on me using "damn girl, you got a body like a black girl! thats a compliment!" and then walking away. craziness. overall it was a good trip and now i get to finish planning for texas which keeps getting pushed back since my ruby-sitting skills are needed here... bargle. i'm going to take a visit to the ucsb archives at some point too since they're here and apparently pretty decent.
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