09.29.05
Posted in UIS at 12:58 am by Stephanie
I gotta say, this class scares the willies out of me. I’m enjoying the conversations in the forums, my classmates are my kinda people. But the work itself just scares me. I’m never sure if what I’m turning in is what’s expected. This class stuns my brain right into cryogenic mode.
“I’m supposed to turn in a 600-word summary of a 25-page essay on the sexual economy of prostitution in the Roman Empire? An essay that I still don’t understand after 2 readings? Ack!!!!!!”
It’s a good class. DrN asks questions that dig deep and I do that whole cryogenic thing. I realized, finally, last week that maybe I just think she wants us to dig to the center of the Earth when all she’s asking is that we dig a few feet deeper than we’re used to going.
The work has been about exposure to theories: materialist, marxist (yes, with a little ‘m’), gender … with more to come. It’s also about how to take the information we gather and put it together in a well-written, properly cited work.
The questions have been about what we think of the theories, how we think the theories apply to the material assigned for that week, what we find when we read and think about them.
For instance, last week’s assignment was reading (pardon the Turabian, it’s a direct cut and past from my paper):
Flemming, Rebecca. “Quae Corpore Quaestum Facit: The Sexual Economy of Female Prostitution in the Roman Empire.” The Journal of Roman Studies 89 (1999): 38-61.
We were asked to read this essay, write a 600-word summary of it and then discuss questions such as “Was the comparison of prostitution in the Roman Empire and slavery in the American South valid?” and, “What is Flemming’s main thesis?” There was also a question about whose voices were missing from the essay and what we, as historians, should be careful of concerning sources.
In a fit of desperation, I chained myself to the office chair in front of my computer, set the timer and began to write; anything that came to mind. I put the essay on my bookholder, the reading guide and the lecture next to it and went from text editor to text and back. Within my self-imposed time limit, I had written 779 words (including the citation at the beginning) and turned it in. (Turned it on the wrong screen but fortunately, our TA caught it and put it in the correct place.)
I had no idea if what I had done was even close. Basically, I wrote a paragraph or 2 that recapped the first few paragraphs of each section and then I scanned the rest of the section to see if there was anything that needed to be included. If not, I moved on.
DrN adds comments to our original papers, so we can see exactly what she is talking about. I was so nervous; heart pounding and all that. “Don’t open it! Don’t open it! You don’t really want to know,” my adrenaline kept screaming.
But! I opened it and got a better score on this assignment than the last one. There were some pointers about citations, a grammar check and correction on a point that I misinterpreted. I was so relieved! Relaxation and breathing returned and research on my paper for the Latin America class commenced with more enthusiasm.
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09.25.05
Posted in TiH at 11:46 am by Stephanie
On Sept. 25, 1957, with 300 United States Army troops standing guard, nine black children were escorted to Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, days after unruly white crowds had forced them to withdraw.
Source: New York Times - On This Day
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Posted in UIS at 11:38 am by Stephanie
Sometimes, I actually write like I know what I’m talking about!
“Keen and Haynes note that when neoliberal orthodoxy took precedence in the early 1980’s, Latin America subsidized wealthy nations. ‘Wealth redistribution’ meant forcing Latin American countries into deeper debt while trying to keep up on debt service. ‘Mexico alone has paid almost $300 billion in foreign debt service on an original loan of $100 billion.’ (p. x)
“They also note that poverty and inequality have either remained very high or grown. Even the World Bank, staunch supporter of the neoliberal paradigm, has begun to realize that its programs are not helping those in most need. (Perhaps they should turn to lessons learned in Africa in terms of micro-finance.)
“Latin America is now more dependent on foreign investors than ever before. The export-driven model has forced dependence upon a very few resources (agricultural and mineral), without providing for expansion of resources.
“Unemployment, underemployment and ‘informal sector’ employment are all increasing making it very difficult for anyone, especially families to survive on just one income. Women are especially hard hit, being forced into jobs that take them away from their families with salaries that are lower than comparable men’s wages.
“Then, disillusionment among the population of Latin America has led to political violence as governments are overthrown or riots disrupt cities. Support for democracy has fallen in every country, except Mexico due to the popularity of president Vincente Fox.
“All this happened not during an economic recession, but in a boom which illustrated the large disparity between rich and poor. Drug trafficking has increased as has the immigration of illegal workers into the US seeking better jobs with which to support their families.
“The damage done to Latin America due to other countries’ (Europe and the US) greed cannot be easily undone and needs a paradigm different from the neoliberal that put the region in this perilous economic mess.”
(Source: Keen & Haynes. A History of Latin America. pp. x-xi)
Post reply”
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09.24.05
Posted in Current History at 11:08 am by Stephanie
The man whose life work of tracking down Nazis and bringing them to justice died this week at the age of 96. After surviving the Mauthausen death camp, Simon Wiesenthal went on to track down 1,100 Nazis including Adolf Eichmann. Wiesenthal’s work against anti-semitism and intolerance must not go unnoticed or end with his death. It is important work.
Lots of great links and more information at
BBC News
For more on the death camps, I highly recommend Hitler’s Death Camps written by a former teacher of mine, Dr. Konnilyn Feig.
Simon Wiesenthal Center
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09.18.05
Posted in Herodotus' Children at 10:33 am by Stephanie
(Note: Originally written 7 Nov, 2003)
There’s Supposed to be an Earthshattering Kaboom!
Guy Fawkes plot ‘was devastating’. uhm … duh? If Fawkes had blown Parliament to pieces like he had planned the face of London would be very different.
As a bit of fun to mark Bonfire Night, the Institute of Physics asked researchers at the University of Wales to work out the size of blast Fawkes might have made.
Don’t hurt yourselves there okay?
(Editor’s Note: Upon re-reading this, my thought was “Father (Herodotus), what have you wrought?”)
Google:
Guy Fawkes
Google Print:
Guy Fawkes
Google Scholar:
Guy Fawkes + England
Google Image:
Guy Fawkes
Google News:
Guy Fawkes + England
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Posted in TiH at 10:23 am by Stephanie
Nov 15 1763, Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon began surveying the Mason-Dixon line to establish the bounds between Maryland and Pennsylvania. By 1802 all states North of this line except New Jersey will have passed anti-slavery laws.
(c)Copyright 1992-2003 by Robert Heckendorn, All Rights Reserved.
Google:
Charles Mason & Jeremiah Dixon
Google Print:
Charles Mason & Jeremiah Dixon
Google Scholar:
Charles Mason & Jeremiah Dixon
Google Images:
Charles Mason & Jeremiah Dixon
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Posted in Doing History at 10:17 am by Stephanie
(Note: Originally written 26 Feb, 05)
Today I broke my date with Alexander Kerensky. This 1917 Russian Revolutionary figure is the topic for my next paper in History of Russia and I was going to spend my time tweaking lunisea.com and reading about his life.
SisterR had other ideas. So I broke my date and SisterR and I drove to San Juan Bautista for a school field trip and a terrific lunch at Felipe’s on 3rd St. The mission itself was … old, decrepit, small, full of history yet not completely fascinating. I wish I could say I was completely swept away in the history and the mystery of the place, but I wasn’t. All I could keep thinking about was how the Spanish and the Mexican missionaries came to this place and started imposing their will upon the local natives.
There were a few moments when I went, “wow!” And, maybe, a few moments is all that’s necessary.
There’s a room full of priest’s vestments, all beautiful. Some were French tapestry material and looked as if, with a little cleaning, they could be worn at the next mass celebrated. I said to SisterR, “200 years ago, some priest was wearing that and celebrating mass.”
In the kitchen, they made their own communion wafers. The description for the display explained how they had been made. “They made their own wafers!”
SisterR looked at me with one of her patented “you goof” looks and said, “well, where did you think they came from? They had to come from some place.”
I had just never thought about it. When I was an Episcopalian, the wafers were commercially bought. Perfect in their machine made symmetry. Then I joined the unwashed heathen masses and didn’t think about it anymore. But to read about and see the place where the wafers for a Catholic communion mass were made, sorta stopped me in my tracks.
This is what history is about for me. Those little details that jump up at me and make the past more human.
The church itself was peaceful. We sat and enjoyed that. The cemetery out back was small but to think that it covered so many soldiers, natives and missionaries really sort of took my breath way.
Behind the mission itself, down a bit of an embankment was an unimpressive dirt road. Unimpressive, that is, until I realized that I was standing above the original El Camino Real. The long, noisy main thoroughfare that goes from San Diego, through Los Angeles and up to San Francisco was once a dirt road. A one lane wide enough for a couple of horses dirt road. Priests in Franciscan robes and sandals walked this dirt road.
So, we spent some time perusing one of Father Junipero Serra’s 21 missions and I thought about what I was seeing, trying to put it in context with what I had been learning this quarter.
Then we walked a couple of blocks and happened upon Felipe’s where we had an excellent lunch of chili verde, chili relleno (great fluffy eggs on the outside) with beans and rice.
Monsieur Kerensky and I will have to pick up tomorrow, and only until it’s time for Oscar .
And I just finished tweaking the website, so I’m pretty happy with that.
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09.17.05
Posted in Those Amazing Women, Living History at 10:50 am by Stephanie
(Note: Originally written 25 Nov, 2003)
Just saw the Biography Channel’s “Dark Stars” episode on Janis Joplin. And now I have what I think is her best work ever cranked up. Big Brother and the Holding Company “Cheap Thrills”.
40 years ago, San Francisco was the stuff of legend. Haight and Ashbury was the place to be. People like Jefferson Airplane and Janis found their way to themselves in San Francisco. Some would argue that Janis never really found herself and that’s why she died of an overdose in an LA hotel room after finishing the recording for “Pearl.”
Tragic women have always been heroes to me for some reason. Billie Holiday, Janis Joplin. They had completely f*ed up lives and searched for happiness in drugs, alcohol and sex. But their legacy overshadows that somehow. We’ll never know if they would have gone from tragic hero to pathetic has-beens had they lived. And that’s sort of the beauty and the tragedy of their short lives. The way they lived, what they believed in and how they died leaves a romantic tinge. Both so talented, both tragically insecure and low on self-esteem running from one substance to another trying to shove the pain so far down, it’ll never come back.
The romance of the 60’s and the Summer of Love has left a romantic legend about the artists and the city that lived through it that just cannot be lived up to anymore. When I walked through the Tenderloin, that’s what I realized. San Francisco has this legend it’s desperately trying to live up to and just can’t. It seems like people are flocking there to capture something that just doesn’t exist anymore, which is sad for all of us.
All through her history, San Francisco has been brazen, going her own way with a “damned if I care” attitude and while still one of the most (thankfully) liberal cities in the US, the old girl isn’t what she used to be. And those seeing her as a mecca to recapture themselves may be disappointed. I think people expect to be mesmerized but aren’t and so try to make up for it by doing all the turista things which shoves the disappointment away for a while. It’s almost like you’re not allowed to say anything about San Francisco because you’ll spoil the mystique.
I love living in the Bay Area. I live in the “suburbs” of San Jose, which some people still try to think of as a suburb of San Francisco. I love the diverse cultures, the exposure to different thoughts, foods and ways of life. For the most part, I am accepted for who I am and have better luck finding people to talk to on a daily basis here than just about any other place I’ve been (with the possible exception of Vancouver).
But I don’t think San Francisco’s this big romantic jewel anymore. When NeiceJ and her family visited over the summer, she sat down next to me, took my hand and spoke with the wisdom of a 12-year-old. “I don’t like California.”
“What do you mean? I thought you wanted to come live with me. Does that mean I have to move?”
“No, you don’t have to move, I still want to live with you.”
“Oh, so you’re saying you don’t like San Francisco?”
“Yeah. It’s too crowded and it’s dirty.” Okay, we’re at Pier 39 in August when this conversation is going on. Tourists are all over the place searching for that romance they hear so much about and Pier 39 is beginning to show its age.
But this Girl Scout troop has been all over the City. Chinatown, the cable cars where the lines were so long they gave up, Ghiradelli Square and now, Pier 39. They have walked a lot and they have seen a lot. And when a kid from a small town comes to a big city and doesn’t walk away with one “wow” moment that doesn’t involve her Auntie, there’s something wrong. And I think that’s because San Francisco has lost her romance.
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Posted in Herodotus' Children at 10:39 am by Stephanie
(Note: Written originally 13 Dec, 2003)
5 Dec was Nikolaustag, in Germany. Leave your boots or socks outside of your bedroom door tonight and Santa will fill them with goodies.
(c)Copyright 1992-2003 by Robert Heckendorn, All Rights Reserved.
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Posted in Herodotus' Children at 10:31 am by Stephanie
(Note: Written originally 25 Dec, 2003)
The History Channel has a really good program on the origins of Christmas.
Details include:
- The ancient Norse tradition of the Yule log which burned for about 12 days during the celebration of the Winter Solstice, which was ~ 21 December every year.
- Upper class pagan Romans celebrated the birth of Mithra on 25 December, the god of the unconquerable sun.
Pagan Romans celebrated Saturnalia at this same time, in honour of Saturn the god of agriculture. They also celebrated Juvenalia in honour of the children.
- Christians eventually co-opted these celebrations, adding them to the Christian calendar, even though there is no mention in the bible of the date of Christ’s birth. Historians believe that Christ was probably born in January sometime.
- The Winter Solstice celebrations were bacchanalias, something the Separatists and the Puritans disapproved of. Oliver Cromwell led the movement to ban Christmas. The return of the monarchy in the form of Charles II also marked the return of Christmas.
- There was no Christmas as such in the US for nearly 200 years, partly because of the Separatists and Puritans who emigrated to the New World. Also partly because Christmas was seen as an English celebration and America was shedding its connections to England.
- Christmas was declared a federal holiday in 1870.
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