Who I am
I should post in large size type since it helps me to read large size type.
Here is who I am -
I am on the cutting edge of the baby boomer generation, born in 1946, a few days short of nine months from when my father returned from the war in Europe. I graduated from high school in 1964. I went to a couple of years of junior college at a school related to my church and prepared for work as a support person in a congregation. I did that work for about four years, and then I got married -
I might have done other things - people told me I would do well in college - but getting married and having a family was what girls did then. I don't regret at all that I did that, but I always had it in the back of my mind that I would go back to school and maybe even get a degree. It took a long time, but I finally did that - after my son was grown and out of the house and some other obligations were met, I started college full time.
That was in 1998, and I was part of the Donaghey Scholars program at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. And I totally loved it! I had started taking classes part time a few years before, and the more time I spent in the classroom, the less content I was in my bookkeeping job.
There is a lot to say about the time I spent as a full time student, but mostly this is an overview, so I will keep it short. I studied the German language and minored in history and was fortunate enough to spend a semester in Graz, Austria. Going back to the German again (I had studied it in high school, and my family is German) was a high point for me, and I became determined, and still am determined, to become and remain bilingual. That was part of the way that my world view broadened while I was in school; the other part was becoming close friends with people from all over the world. I couldn't help but change in many ways.
I finished the Bachelors degree in 2002 with a major in German studies and a minor in history. I moved right into a Public History masters program at UALR - I thought about other things, but anything else that really interested me would have meant moving, and that didn't make sense financially and wouldn't have been fair to David, my husband.
And as it has worked out, the choice was a good one. I wrote my thesis about German immigration into Arkansas, which was a help toward my goal of keeping the language, since I used a lot of German sources. I finished the thesis last December and now have the masters diploma on my wall. I love doing historical research, and I like writing about what I find out. And I've had my name in the paper a couple of times for knowing about Germans in the state. And that brings me up to what I wrote in my first post.
Besides my job with the Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture, I am active in the newly formed Donaghey Scholars Alumni chapter, and I am on the Coleman Creek Greenway committee at UALR. Plus I am exploring other ways to continue doing research.
And that is who I am - well, it is a tiny bit about who I am - there is a lot more. But those are the things that are most on my mind right now. In a way, since I just finished college, I am having to try to figure out what I'm going to do now! What I'm going to do when I grow up, so to speak!
That's all for today -
Wednesday evening
I think blogging could become another addiction, like email is for me. I get to feel antsy if it has been very long since I checked my email. I don't want that to happen - for this to become something I obsess about. I hope at some point this will be more than just a journal, that it will be a place where people with similar interests and experiences talk to each other. Of course, that will be more likely to happen if I tell someone I'm doing it instead of just waiting for someone to come across it!
This week I started reading a book, one of Morris Arnold's books about territorial Arkansas. It's time for me to begin background reading for the book I want to write - or whatever it is that I write in order to get the Hübsch letters published. A book would be interesting, but a series of articles would be okay also. Anyway, my point is, Judge Arnold's book is good, and it feels good to be reading something academic again.
But I also noticed that I focus on it better when I'm not by the computer. When I'm by the computer, I'm usually online, and I'm distracted by checking email or thinking about playing a game or doing some search or other. There is something to be learned in there - signs that the addiction is already setting in perhaps.
Today I got an answer from Sister Joy Clough at the Sisters of Mercy in Chicago. She didn't give me a clear answer to my question about whether the person they would hire to write the history of the order had to live in Chicago, but she did give me more information about the position. She told me to look that over and then what I should do if I want to follow through. And I think I will - it will be challenging, but I have to do it. I have to do the cv, and not just the resume. I have a lot of notes for that, but haven't typed them up. And then I have to write a cover letter and choose writing samples to send.
I had lunch with Georgia today, and we talked a little about my job situation and about this opportunity. And she told me something Dominik has said before, but she really had good reasoning behind it, and a gentle way of saying it - (I'm really enjoying the way our friendship is developing, parallel to my friendship with him) - that I tend to sell myself short sometimes. And she talked about the idea of my freelancing - I think I could do that - define what I want to do, put up a website and advertise myself. I will do that.
Okay, that's all for today. It's time to check my email. :-)
What AM I doing?
I'm following the directions on starting a weblog (I really don't like the word "blog," so I'll stick with weblog), but I don't really know what I'm doing. Nor am I quite sure why. Although part of the "why" may be revealed in the title I chose. "Neuer Gedankengang" - a new train of thought, looking at things in a new way.
I am at a turning point - more a transition phase than a precise point in time, actually. Finally the thesis is finished, the diploma for the masters degree is in my hand. I am fortunate to have a full time job that is in the general field that both my bachelors and my masters degrees pointed to, but I am restless still.
I spent more than twenty years in work that was largely clerical (bookkeeping). While I don't have to worry about balancing reports or doing payroll in this job (thank goodness!), the work could in the next six months become largely clerical. But I still have questions to ask, things I want to learn, new tasks I want to accomplish.
A job (actually the money it brings in) is a necessity - so how can I find a way to continue to get paid for the research and the writing I love to do? And how can I do that work while maintaining my non-traditional, "the heck with the way it's always been done" attitude? That, I think, is what I'm trying to figure out.
I chose the color purple for this writing on purpose. I'm not a member of the red hat/purple dress group - they have made fashion out of what was intended to make the opposite point - to wear purple because it is what is not expected, to be free of doing what society around you expects of you and have the courage to do the unexpected. That is why I choose purple so much, to help me remember not to be bound by expectations. The challenge is to do that, and still to earn a living! :-)
