09.10.05

Keeping Up

Posted in at 9:59 am by Stephanie

I stayed at the Mountain View library until it closed last night. Which was not a hard thing to do since municipal libraries now close at 6PM. I really like this library, it is close to work and home and has nice carrels that are big enough for a student to spread out all her books and notes. Lately, I have been studying in the newspaper room because the tables are next to the windows, so the sun streams in and there are overhead light fixtures on each table. I can usually get a set next to the window and have floor space for my bags and table space for my books.

I’m a couple of days behind in one class. Something I’m not very happy about and am trying to figure out where my week went and why I’m behind already. It’s only the 3rd week of class! Fortunately, because it is only the 3rd week I can easily catch up.

Somewhere in the 1st 2 chapters of A Short Guide to Writing About History written by Richard Marius and Melvin E. Page is a reference to Watergate and Deep Throat, and how no one knows who Deep Throat is. This is the 5th edition of the book and was published in 2005, obviously before Mark Felt’s revelation that he was Woodward’s and Bernstein’s anonymous source.

Sometimes history moves fast, too fast to keep up with and this is the result. It’s not a bad thing but it does keep an historian on her toes. It also goes to prove that historians must be vigilant about their sources and corroborate them every step of the way. That this book would not be used as a source for anything except how to write history properly, does not negate the point but rather reinforces it.

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