Let it Snow

Hi All,

So, I hinted yesterday at a thing I was doing, and here I am!

I am in Washington D.C. It's quite different here. Besides there just being snow everywhere right now, the residents have a very different, and less dazzled view of the nation's Capital.

I'm staying with the Hall's, a family with a daughter in BASIS D.C. in their beautiful brick home. I have the a gorgeous view from my room, facing west, so I can see the sunset in my room everyday.

They've been wonderful already! They have a dog and two black cats, both of which have decided to sleep on my bed. Here's one of them:

It's been a long day of travel. I had to connect through Chicago, and almost got lost. Luckily, there were maps!

I can't wait to explore the city more. Here's a snapshot of the snow for everyone back home. This is Jane, with a huge icicle. (I've never seen icicles before)

Ciao!

Sense and Sensibility

Hi All,

I think I must be getting better at this thing, because my posts are getting progressively less - atrociously long. Although, that may be because I haven't had too much to say.

Last Thursday, I met with Professor Susan Crane, and had a really amazing conversation with her. After I finally managed to kind of explain my project to her (basically put words into a sentence that made sense and meant what I needed to say. Have I mentioned that stringing words together is hard?) we talked about how I was going to incorporate World War I, the Holocaust and World War II into my project. This led to some discussion about the differences in time between events and their commemoration in stone, buildings, and museums, etc. and the differences in, specifically, Holocaust survivor memoirs soon after and further from the event itself.

We also talked a little about the Cold War and how that's memorialized, so perhaps expect some kind of discussion about how most of our parents, who grew up during the Cold War, have that experience incorporated into their behavior now, but that kids don't necessarily understand that. Maybe. I'm not entirely sure I want to try psychoanalyzing my parents (love you Mom and Dad).

(Also, I found out that what I'm doing can kind of be categorized under Collective Memory Studies)

After the meeting, I went and saw an encore showing of a very recent production of Shakespeare's Coriolanus, which was originally broadcast by National Theatre Live back at the end of January. It was striking, to say the least. I don't want to spoil anything for those of you who want to see it though, so I won't go into any detail right now about how the Donmar Warehouse pulled off it's version of the tragedy. I will say though, that it was well done, and the actors made the language quite accessible, so it's worth going to, as long as you're not too averse to blood, because there's a lot of it. (The main character, Gaius Marcius, emerges at some point literally dripping with it *shivers*)

There are actually a lot of subtle little positioning, and set things that are done that I'm really looking forward to writing about (and maybe talking about). I love little, subtle sort of things though, so we'll have to see if I get the vibe that discussing them going to go over well, or just go over people's heads and make them bored.

I spent Saturday with the Science Bowl team, competing in Glendale. So, congratulate Team 1 for a job well done. They took 4th overall.

I felt like a bit of a sore thumb today. I went to the Library to get my books, and ended up with two grocery bags full of them. The only problem with that is that I'm pretty sure I'm the only one on campus that does that. It makes me feel so self-conscious, although I honestly don't know why. I'm pretty sure most people are too busy doing their thing to really care about what I'm carrying.

Oscars were this Sunday. I didn't watch them, but pretty much go the highlights from clips and gifs. Kudos to Ellen for being one of my favorite Oscar hosts yet. Pizza, and the The Selfie That Crashed Twitter. So, if any of you saw that cute little screen where the birds are carrying a whale in a net (I think they still use that) it was her fault. Good job. Oh, and This One, because I that really is her motto. She's amazing.

Anyways, the play and the conversation with Professor Crane put me into a thinking kind of a mood. So this week's song is People Help the People by Birdy, who's been playing with Christina Perri's tour. I think she's really good, and I hope this song makes whoever listens to it think just a little more about what the world's like outside of their own little bubble. I'll probably be posting a lot more soon. Some of you might already know why, and therefore why I'm really scared, and excited, and going to be wearing coats instead of 3/4 sleeves again real soon.

Until next time, keep smiling, dancing, and singing (or whatever it is you do in your 'free time').

Ciao!

Rodeo Week

Hi All,

Sorry for being a little behind on my posts. I'm starting to question exactly what there is for me to say since I'm just reading books.

I did get some kind of cold this week, so I hope the rest of you are staying healthy and well. Soup and blankets are definitely still in order, no matter how hot it's been lately.

I am still having great meetings with Dr. Williams and Professor Futrell. Although, it does seem like every time I talk to someone about my project, I put another book on my pile of stuff that I have to skim through.

I sat in on a class with Jennifer on Friday. The class was discussing Nero that day. Overall though, I think that course is examining how other cultures outside of Rome viewed the Roman state. It was a good lecture. The only thing was that the Professor let the class out early because it was Friday, so I've had to wait until today to hear the rest of it. I'm looking forward to this afternoon.

I think that's all for now. Still reading, still writing...

Oh! I finished watching Grave of the Fireflies and... it was a hard movie to watch. I've started writing some things on it, and even though it's a difficult and deep movie, I would recommend it if you're looking to watch something good on World War II from a somewhat different perspective.

This week's song is Think of You by Ms Mr. I like them. This is the BBC version, which I prefer because of the lack of curse words. Just a personal preference and a warning should you look up any other version of this song.

Also, Something to think on as you consider how you spend your time and money and what we can each do for someone else. I know it's kind of out of the season right now, but there's never a wrong time to help someone out.

I promise the posts will be caught up soon!

Ciao!

Comedy, Tragedy, and Brick Walls

Hi all!

Sorry my title isn't as pithy as the last one, I'm working on it.

This week has been busy. I've finally got enough source material under my belt to be able to draw connections between my sources. So yay!

After my meeting with Dr. Williams this Monday, I felt like I had kind of been given license to use source material other than just non-fictional reports written by other people. So, I've started digging into some stuff I hadn't thought to use before this week. Namely cinematic and theatrical works.

Right now, I'm in the middle of watching an older animated Japanese film entitled Grave of the Fireflies directed by Isao Takahata. Just the title already makes this film sound slightly melancholy. It is all well rendered, but yeah, it's kind of melancholy.

I've been digging into some older plays as well. This past week, it's been Lysistrata by Aristophanes and Shakespeare's The Tragedy of Coriolanus. Lysistrata examines a women's perspective on the Peloponnesian War and what might happen to those who are left behind during a conflict. Coriolanus deals more with what happens when a war hero comes home and tries to reintegrate into 'normal' society in a big way. Professor Futrell also gave my translations of Livy's histories pertaining to the real, historical Coriolanus.

I got a lot of cool books on Friday, and I'm getting really excited to go more into my topic. I can feel it focusing and clarifying as I go, but that also tends to give me miniature panic attacks when I realize how much needs to be done. (You know, those times where everything tumbles into knots and you're just like 'Oh my goodness. I am never going to finish this, and it's going to be terrible, and I have to much to do!' ? Yeah, those).

I've been spending time, literally, in a hole in the wall at the bookstore. Okay, it's not really a hole, but I found this little niche with a plug next to it that I decided to claim for most of this week while I was at U of A. The one downside seems to be that whoever was in charge of the radio somewhere nearby has changed from who it was last week.

There has been a constant stream of country music coming from somewhere in the ceiling or the nearby Cafe. For those of you who like country, I'm not criticizing exactly. I don't mind a little country once in a while, but constant Country seems a little extreme to me.

So, here's something a little different. This week's song is Daft Punk by Pentatonix. If you haven't heard of Pentatonix before, they're pretty good.

Ciao!

Lost in Translation Week 1

 So, I just spent the last hour or so, typing up an awesome post, and then, because Google has issues and belongs in a pit of flames right not, nothing got saved, and the... (takes deep breaths). The point being, Google has issues and someone needs to fix them. Now. Okay, on with the real information, what you actually came here to read, not my ramblings about Google mismanagement (grumbles).

So, about my project: I'm working on an exploration of memory and trauma in individuals and societies. My end results is projected right now to answer some kind of question about why PTSD, and other trauma-related mental disorders, to an extent,  seem to be so much more prevalent in today's society, compared with the ancient world. So, I get to take a glance through some primary source documents written in the original Latin, trying to find any mention of some kind of war exhaustion or reaction to conflict and traumatic events that could be grounds for modern diagnosis for PTSD.

And here is where I start worrying about translation, because Latin is hard and words are hard, so yeah...

My BASIS advisor is the amazing Dr. Williams. If you haven't met him yet, you should. He's really knowledgeable and cool and I would be totally lost without him helping me on this project.

My off-campus advisor is University of Arizona Professor Alison Futrell. She has already been a great help to me, and I want to thank her for her encouragement and mentorship. Thanks to Dr. Williams with helping me get in touch with her.

Professor Futrell is having me help her find evidence of women warriors in Latin texts and how they were portrayed, so I am looking forward to learning more about that at the same time I'm looking through the sources for evidence of war trauma.

I've been spending a good portion of my time reading and looking for books in the University of Arizona library. I have found so many good books, I felt embarrassed when I took them to the front desk to reserve them, it looked almost superfluous...

I was in wing 3A and was looking for a book, and guess what... I got to use the automated shelves! It took me a while to figure it out, but once I did, I felt really special pushing all those buttons that make those beeping noises. The system basically turns the lights on in the isle you are in once it's open and active and moves the shelves for you so you can get to the books.

This was basically me when I was using the shelves, except I was a little more frustrated because it was kind of dark and spooky there, and the lights weren't turning on, and there was this one shelf that wouldn't move because, surprise, it was the one non-automated shelf in that row... but no worries! I got the book and even figure out the library numbering system, which is really organized and surprisingly useful once you figure out that numbers with two places come before, not in the middle of, numbers that have three places.

I also am optimistic that I will stop getting lost in the Library and when I'm walking in the Union building, because for the first few days, I kept ending up in exactly the place I started from, when I was sure I was going the right direction. Maybe the trick is to stop walking like you have some kind of purpose, and just try not to look lost, because that's what seems to be starting to work.

I've been reading my source material a lot this week, as I said previously, but I have to give a shout out to Ms. Connolly. I have already come across discussion relating, by name, to works by Austen, Foucault, Freud, and Lacan, so I've been really excited because I still kind of get to do critical theory. I am really interested in the book titled Cultural Trauma and Collective Identity, which is the one that refers to Austen and Lacan at least a few times so far.

Since I have been spending a lot of time on campus though, the first thing that struck me was that the stereotype of white girls wearing leggings and baggy sweatshirts and buying Starbucks is pretty true, and call me judgmental, but I think it's amusing to watch people walk by and just kind of go Oh, look. Another one...

Last thing, the U of A has these comfy chairs everywhere, so to sum it up, I've basically been curling up on cushy armchairs and couches reading... bliss. Today's recommended song is Dance of the Spirits of Earth by Gustav Holst from the music he wrote for the ballet 'The Perfect Fool.' It's evocative, to say the least, even if orchestral music isn't really your cup of tea.

Good luck to all my fellow seniors, hoping you enjoyed your first week as much as I did. Ciao