09.14.05
Posted in at 11:03 pm by Stephanie
Late last night, I sat down at my little tv tray table in my room and got my book and notebook out and tried again with Jordanova. I am happy to say that I got much more out of it this time, including some wonderful quotes about the study of history being chaotic and often overwhelming to those whose passion is history.
You see, history is not concrete or discrete like science or math. Doing history is a constant dialogue; between the past and the present as we wend our way through available materials trying to put the puzzle together. Historical archives and documents were rarely written with history in mind and are, therefore, not very organized or in places where we would expect to find them. Some were burned, thrown out and otherwise disposed of because at the time no one thought they were important enough to keep. Finding, and defining, material to help tell the ‘true’ story of history is difficult. So, doing history is messy and chaotic, even in the best of circumstances. Even for the professionals. What a relief to know that even those who have been studying history for long periods of time still get it wrong (because with history one can never really get it completely right) and still feel overwhelmed. I think I’m in good company!
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09.12.05
Posted in at 11:56 pm by Stephanie
Today, I had every intention of taking myself to the library to do homework. Car had other ideas; she needed a new battery. So after work, we toddled off to Wheel Works and I sat, and sat, and waited for them to repower her electricity and rotate her tires. The guy behind the counter was from Buffalo, NY and talked really fast when he answered the phone. Very nice, with a habit of looking you Right In The Eye when he talked, several discoloured teeth displayed when he smiled.
There were a few other people that came and went out of the waiting room that had horrible stained red couches and chairs, a soda machine and a television. I sat on the floor for a while and tried to study. It sorta worked, except I couldn’t get comfortable and there was no hard surface for me to put my books on.
One guy left after bragging to the real estate lady across the room that he had gone to high school with Teri Hatcher.
Real Estate Lady kept making phone calls while her high performance car was getting the tires worked on, she sorta had this air of not completely understanding nor trusting what she was being told about her tires. That sort of sales person attitude that will tell you anything to close the sale. Plus, she was a real estate agent, they have their very own special attitude too.
When Teri Hatcher Went to High School With Me guy left, I heaved myself off the floor and sat in his chair, which was next to the small coffee table. It was better for support and some comfort, but still hard to study from.
Guiding Light had finished. Then, there’s the premiere episode of Martha Stewart’s new television show. She actually made a joke about not having her ankle bracelet anymore but that the producers had decided knowing where everyone was at any given time was a great idea so they had goldish ankle bracelets made for all her staff members. The cameras moved around as they showed staffers modelling their very fashionable ankle bracelets. Some more stuff about whatever it is that Martha is loved and adored for. Plugs that David Spade (oh, how I can not stand that guy) is going to be on tomorrow’s show. Pictures of him in a poncho and a Martha Stewart wig doing an impression of her. blah blah blah
Really, trying to ignore the whole thing and read. We are supposed to be learning about Materialist history and the Marxist theory of history this week. Interesting excerpt from Jared Diamond’s Guns, Germs & Steel. I keep getting swept away in the details of the Moriroi (or something like that) and the Maori and how, even though they started from the same Polynesian roots, developed into two completely different tribes.
One, peaceful with no knowledge of warfare and only wanting enough to supply each person’s needs. The other, the Maori, became warlike with a huge beauracracy and an appetite for attacking other peoples.
One day, the Maori just arrived on the island the Moriroi (I should get off my lazy butt and look that up) occupy and attack them, “according to our customs.” The Maori just arrived and killed everyone, taking over their island. Basically because they could, and believed they should.
Diamond’s main thesis is that history is determined by the physical geography of the place. If there are many resources for food, water and shelter; a large bureaucratic society evolves because there is time to devote to other things besides keeping the community fed and sheltered. If there aren’t many resources, society is more communal because the focus is on keeping the community taken care of.
(Hmm … maybe I will cut and paste that into the discussion forum because that was one of the questions we are supposed to answer: What is Diamond’s thesis?)
Martha is over and now Ellen is on. She is dancing with someone from the audience who winds up in the guest chair and they make a phone call to the guest’s parents about something. I’m not sure.
I’m trying to read Ludmilla Jordanova and not succeeding very well. Our textbook is History in Practice and we are supposed to read Chapter 2. She seems to be spelling out all these different ways of approaching history; all these theories and the like and I start hyperventilating.
“Can I do this?”, I keep asking myself. “It all sounds so … intellectual and … theoretical and … oh dear Clio, what if I can’t do this? What if I turn out to be one of those people who just really likes history and really likes reading it and writing about it in a non-intellectual manner but I can’t do it professionally?” Inside I am having a panic attack. I get like this sometimes when I read a journal and the articles are so academic and intellectual and hard to read. I wonder if there is something I’m not getting or if I’m really cut out for the life of an historian, whatever that may be.
As I’m trying to just get myself calmed down enough to behave like a “normal” human being who isn’t going through a crisis of faith in herself and her chosen major, Guy Behind the Counter comes into the waiting room to tell me Car is ready to whisk me home. Thank goodness.
I am so happy that Car is happy that I drive home and do what every freaked out person should do; eat dinner and take a nap!
Do I feel better? A bit. Writing that last bit about Jordanova got me going again, but I know that I can find a quiet place and read it again and take notes. And maybe that will help. I won’t have the distraction of air guns, and bad tv, and loud people trying to impress each other while I try to read this chapter again. And I will keep telling myself that I must be doing something right because I have a very good GPA and have finished 99% of my General Ed requirements and got accepted into the program I wanted. I have to be doing something right.
Wheel Works is probably not the best place to be Doing History.
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09.10.05
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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09.07.05
Posted in at 8:24 pm by Stephanie
Sep 7 1533, Elizabeth I is born of Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII at Greenwich
Sep 7 1548, Catherine Parr, widow of Henry VIII, dies
((c)Copyright 1990-2005 by Robert Heckendorn, All Rights Reserved.)
Since I’m on another Elizabeth I kick, these seemed appropriate to write about. I think the fire has been fueled both by The Other Boleyn Girl, which I have already written about and the continuing discussion in class both about what history is and what is the difference between history and historical fiction.
For me the boundaries are fairly easy to see. In History: A Short Introduction, John Arnold states unequivocally that historians must never ever make something up. Our job is to ferret out the facts and try to make some sense of them. If we must guess because there is a gap in the evidence, then we must state we are doing so.
Philippa Gregory writes about things that could not have been documented; conversations in private chambers about the king’s favourite sexual acts and family meetings held to discuss which Boleyn girl was to do what in order to gain Henry’s favour.
Henry’s and England’s eagerness for a male heir led to Henry’s 6 wives (that and a few other factors). His only legitimate male heir, Edward, died without another male heir in place setting the stage for political struggles between half-sisters Mary and Elizabeth, which included a religious struggle between Protestants and Catholics. The more I read about this, the more taken in I get.
Part of Catherine Parr’s “job” as Queen was to reconcile Henry to his daughters. After Henry died, Catherine married Thomas Seymour (brother to Henry’s 3rd wife, Jane Seymour). Thomas is alleged to have at least tried to take sexual advantage of a teenaged Elizabeth, and even plotting to marry Elizabeth.
Catherine died 15 years after Elizabeth was born, ~18 months after Henry and a week after her only child, Mary, was born (who died shortly after her mother did).
I am beginning to understand why people become so obsessed with the royals.
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09.06.05
Posted in at 9:43 pm by Stephanie
(Note: Originally written 1 June, 2005)
It is the 21st Century, I am almost 46 years old and in those 46 years amazing things have happened of historic proportions. In the past 20 years, there have been a few that I have been able to consciously point to and say, “This. This is historic and will be written about and remembered.”
For instance; the fall of the Berlin Wall, Challenger and Columbia, the first free Democratic vote in Iraq and, just this week, the revelation of Mark Felt as Deep Throat.
In the winter of 1976, I was a senior in high school in a small town in Northern New Mexico. I went to the movies with a boy I had a serious crush on to see All the President’s Men. Our small New Mexican town only had one movie theatre with one screen, so if you wanted to go to the movies you went to see whatever one movie was playing at the time.
I remember parts of the movie, but what I remember most is a girl who was home on Christmas break and with whom we had both gone to high school leaning over the backs of our chairs and talking to us. When we all parted ways and got home that night, Sally called and asked if she had interrupted anything between Steve and I. I think I gave her some vague, “no, not at all” answer because at the time, I didn’t know how to say, “quite possibly.”
In 1976, I wasn’t aware of the historic proportions of the Watergate scandal and what a deep effect it would have on the American political psyche. I just knew it was a movie I went to with the boy I had a crush on.
In 1985(ish), I visited a friend who lived in Washington, DC within walking distance of the Supreme Court and Capitol Hill. During the week I was there, I would take mass transit or walk to the Mall and go to the museums and monuments. One tour I took was a shuttle that allowed you to get off and on as much as you liked. Our guide pointed out the Watergate Hotel as we drove past to stop at the Kennedy Center.
I’d like to be able to say that I felt this overwhelming thud of historic perspective as I recognized the name, but I didn’t. To me, it looked like any other building. Kinda plain and ordinary, nothing special. What did I expect? Until the break in, it was just an ordinary luxury office and apartment building in Washington DC.
Here then, was one of my first lessons about history. Extraordinary things take place in ordinary places, to ordinary people.
In 2005, I find myself driving Car and listening to NPR when the lead story is that Deep Throat has revealed himself. Somewhere between 1976 and now, I had gained some perspective and realized that movie I saw in high school had been about something deeply profound in American politics.
And, I was completely surprised that this wasn’t the main topic of discussion with the people I work with. One guy hadn’t even realized that this had been the leading story for two days now. It was everywhere and he completely missed it! I have so wanted to have this breathless discussion with somebody about this important revelation.
“Wow! Did you think that we would ever know who it was?”, and discussion at some level would follow. But noooooo, I listen to people talk about ordinary things and take orders over the phones and come home to Algebra. Maybe history occurs only to those willing to recognize what’s going on in the world around them.
And no, I didn’t think we’d ever know who Deep Throat was. I figured it would be one of those eternal political mysteries. Or, I figured if we ever did find out who it was, we would be sorely disappointed. I’m glad I was wrong on both counts.
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Posted in at 9:34 pm by Stephanie
Hurricane Katrina is still top of the news as the relief effort very slowly gets underway and the finger pointing goes into full tilt boogie. Both President Bush and Congress have vowed to investigate what went wrong. Meanwhile, water is now being pumped back into Lake Ponchatrain and people were bused out of New Orleans to Houston and are making do in the AstroDome while everyone tries to figure out how to get lives on any sort of track.
Kadhimiya - Meant to mention this last week when it happened but got too caught up in other things, real life and Katrina included. Nearly 1,000 Shi’a pilgrims were killed last week during a stampede started when someone yelled out there was a suicide bomber in the crowd. People were crushed, or drowned when they jumped over the bridge into the water without knowing how to swim. The pictures of the piles of shoes left behind by the pilgrims were grim reminders of the tension in the Middle East. Immediately after the death count started, fingers were being pointed at the Sunni.
William Rehnquist died over Labour Day weekend of thyroid cancer. This leaves not only the gap the Sandra Day O’Connor left when she resigned, but the Chief Justice’s spot as well. President Bush has made the unprecedented move of nominating John Roberts, who was already going through the process for Justice, to fill the Chief Justice’s spot.
Bush’s popularity is really low right now, the Republicans are embarrassed over the slowness of the Hurricane Katrina rescue efforts. The next few weeks will be devastatingly entertaining in the realm of US politics.
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09.04.05
Posted in at 8:04 pm by Stephanie
The latest edition of The Public Historian (27:2) (2005) is thematically based on Disability. There are several articles about how museums and public historians approach this topic. Honestly, I skimmed over most of them, because it’s not something I’m very interested in. But, 2 articles did catch my attention.
1. Abstract: Deaf People in Hitler’s Europe: Conducting Oral History Interviews With Deaf Holocaust Survivors in which Donna Ryan tackles the issue of conducting interviews with a very specific population. She outlines the issues facing a hearing person who wishes to interview deaf people who survived the Holocaust. Many of the hurdles she encountered were: being accepted into the deaf community, finding interpreters that spoke the right kind of sign language (like all languages, there are many different flavours that have sprung up around the world) as well as speaking the right language/s and being able to translate them into English, finding people who were willing to discuss their Holocaust experience in front of a video camera, as well as all the logistical questions of making sure the electronics worked on the right converter and getting where they needed to be.
In what must have been a very rewarding but time consuming and exhausting project, Ryan’s speaks to the difficulties any historian may encounter as well as those specific to her area of expertise. It’s interesting and amazing work.
2. Abstract:
The Local History Museum, So Near and Yet So Far, Catherine Kudlick’s experience as a vision impaired visitor to a museum whose staff, apparently, doesn’t care that Kudlick and her blind friend are unable to enjoy their visit. Kudlick not only describes how frustrating it is to visit museums who haven’t taken the handicapped into consideration but does decribe how museums can better serve this audience and gives the example of one museum who has done it well.
This 2 articles are worth reading if for no other reason than to explore niches in history that are overlooked but don’t need to be.
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09.03.05
Posted in at 8:23 pm by Stephanie
Mothers grieved, their anguish obvious. Victims’ families stayed in the bombed out school and the cemetery to honour those who died. A year after the attack on a school by terrorists; where 331 people died, 186 of them children, there are still few answers about happened that day a year ago.
What is clear is that the school was taken over by what have been called Chechen rebels and the Russian military was sent in. Negotiations broke down, shots were fired, bombs went off, more artillery was used, the ceiling of the school fell in and killed 331.
One hostage-taker is in custody and being tried. President Vladimir Putin has ordered an inquiry. The Beslan Mothers’ Committee was invited to Moscow to talk with Putin. As with many tragedies, the world may never know what really happened.
Sources:
BBC News: Grieving Beslan marks seige end
BBC News: Beslan seige still a mystery
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Posted in at 12:29 am by Stephanie
The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory
A fictional account of what life might have been like for the first Queen Elizabeth’s auntie, Mary Boleyn. Elizabeth’s mother was Anne; 2nd wife to Henry VIII, usurper of Queen Katherine of Aragon’s throne, oldest daughter in the scheming Boleyn/Howard family. Fascinating stuff to read and a really good story. Political intrigue, the overthrowing of two queens, the creation of a new religion to make divorce legal (yes, this is the foundation of the Anglican church), sex scandals, accusations of witchcraft and incest, hints of homosexuality. And all the pagentry that went with a royal court. Not to mention the true love story that is Mary’s love for her children and her husband, for whom she turns her back on it all and goes to live a quiet life on a farm.
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