final work

Well, now that my presentation is over and done with, it's time to really buckle down and work on the final draft. I've been working on it a lot in my spare time, but I've also had a lot of other papers and finals to prepare for.

I've taken a lot of Micalee's comments for my final draft and added a lot of new information that I found about patriotism, which I tried to touch on in my presentation. Hopefully all I have left to do with my final is cleaning up the language and making sure that it flows right.

I was really impressed with all the presentations in class.  I think everyone did a great job and I learned a lot about some things I knew nothing about. Great Job Everyone!

As this is most likely my last blog post I just wanted to say that I really enjoyed this class (even though I might have had some attendance issues).  It really helped me figure out a path of life that I just wasn't meant to go down, I was previously a history major but this class helped me figure out that I just wasn't cut out for it, my mind just doesn't think like a historian. However, I'm still glad to have taken the class and enjoyed learning about labor history.

New Stuff!

wow am I even gladder that I didn't present on Thursday than I was before, I presented it to myself and it was a lot shorter than I thought it would be. about 5 minutes shorter. I looked on youtube to look for a clip from Gone With The Wind because it was the only movie I could think of that portrayed wealthy southern white women in the way that I think of them. So I added that on there with a little more information about the confederate women spies during the war. Hopefully, I'll keep everyone entertained tomorrow.

a little nervous...

well i was very nervous today that I would have to present and I'd forget everything that I wanted to say when I was up there (this happened to me in speech class in high school a few times).  Luckily, I wasn't called on to present today, although I was ready and had everything written out I'm really glad that I have an extra few days to rehearse. 

Everyone's presentations were great today! at 8:30 in the morning I usually have trouble getting out of bed let alone paying attention but everyone had my attention and really put their all into their presentations.  I really enjoyed Sean's lesson plan and activity (I was really beginning to become impressed with my face drawing on those pumpkins!)

Good Job to everyone who went today and Good Luck to everyone who has yet to go.

well i awoke this morning with a case of the flu, so much for that flu shot i got a month ago.

hopefully this won't interrupt my work on my presentation this week. i've been working really hard on trying to find interesting facts, pictures, letters and other works of writing that will make my presentation as interesting as it can be.  Hopefully i won't bore everyone to sleep with my powerpoint.

some late night thoughts.

finished up my book review tonight. feeling alright about it. wrote it on TGAOA. i really liked the orphan story, not so much the rest of  the book though.

thinking of ideas for my final presentation, probably going to be a powerpoint because it's the only thing i'm decent at making.

going to try my best to take my final paper in a slightly different direction after my talk with Micalee about my rough draft. need to go way more in depth and find some more primary sources. i had a lot of trouble finding those but since it's based off the civil war there should be tons. still got a ton of work ahead of me.

on the plus side, i get to go home tomorrow for thanksgiving and i've never been happier. thanksgiving's definitely my favorite holiday and i've been really missing my family and friends from back home.

finally done

just finished my rough draft and i have to say that i'm felling rather strange about it.  i can't tell if i'm glad to be done, or if i'm worried that it wasn't done good enough.  good thing it's only a rough draft right? now i'm just sitting down to proof read it and then i'll send it to the printer.

i came to a final conclusion on defining "community" for my conclusion paragraph. i really like how it ended up and am hoping that it fits the assignment well.

so i've been writing my life away on this rough draft and i've gained a new perspective i thought would be interesting to add in.  Comparing the communities of the southern domestic woman to those of domestic women today. i thought tying the old to the new might be a good perspective and a new direction to really give my paper some life. i'm going to work on that a little and get back to you with how it's going.

and it's been awhile...

So I completely forgot about blogging for a few weeks and that's no good.  It's been a very busy semester for me so far and I've been just barely treading water.  With football games, papers, tests, ungodly amounts of IAH readings, weddings, dance club and choir rehearsals, I would say I've been a little overextended. A lot of things have calmed down I'll finally have time to really put all my focus into this class again. 

Now I'm about to sit down and read The Great Arizona Orphan Abduction.  See everybody in class tomorrow.

lacking sources

So as I'm going through my sources I'm realizing that I'm lacking primary sources.  Maybe I'm struggling finding good sources for domesticity in the south because there just aren't any?  But that doesn't seem likely, all those women had time to do was write letters and in journals.  Well, maybe that's not true, but they defiantly did have time to write.  I'll keep looking but I'm worried I won't find them by Thursday for the bibliography with the proposal.  Any ideas?

...

Everyday I realize just a little bit more that I am really slacking for this class.  Especially with these blogs.  I think I don't write much because I don't like admitting that I'm really far behind on this research.  Also, because I'm changing my major from History to Dietetics, I realized I don't need this class anymore but I realized it too late to just drop the class, and without it I wouldn't be a full time student anymore.  So, in the class I will remain and trying to do my best is my goal because my GPA could really use a boost.

So far I have a topic. I also have some background information stored in my brain about southern women during the Civil War from HST 304 that I took last year.  And there's the books that I found on the library's online catalog that I want to check out but I'm afraid to admit that I don't actually know how to find them at the library because I've never gone to the library before.  I've got some online sources too and a decent idea of what I want to define a community as for my proposal. 

I guess the moral of this blog is that I'm feeling guilty for slacking and I'm just not prepared for this class yet.  Hopefully I get my act together by Thursday.

And so the research journey begins...

Last time I blogged I was completely lost.  I had no direction towards my topic and no idea where to even begin.  Since then I decided it was time to get help and I talked to Micalee and she helped me come up with what seems to be the "perfect" topic.

Domesticity during the Civil War time period.  Now if you're wondering how domesticity is related to being a labor community then you're just going to have to wait to find out because that's what i'm going to be spending most of my time figuring out right now. The women in the south during the Civil War were all about domesticity and they worked pretty hard.  When you think of labor I'm sure that being a "housewife" isn't what you typically think of.  But it is a form of labor and it was the typical job for many women during the Civil War time period.  These women all form a community within themselves and what that community is is exactly what I'm planning to find out. 

I've been reading The Maya of Morganton as was assigned, and it really did start out to be the most boring book that I have ever read.  But, it's starting to pick up the pace a little bit and reading this second section didn't want to make me claw my eyes out, so I'd say it's on it's way to being an okay book.

See ya in class tomorrow.

Help!

I imagined I would have a topic for this class by now.  However, I know absolutely nothing about communities centered around one thing.  I have no idea what to pick for a topic and am having the hardest time with this topic.  This isn't really around my area of interests so I'm trying to search for something based around a war (civil or revolutionary) because those are my primary history topics of interest, but I'm worried I'm not going to find a topic with a lot of information I can research about.

Speaking of research, I was actually impressed with Craft of Research.  It actually kept me interested and I read the whole assignment, and that's impressive.  I think I actually will be able to research better now. So, at least that part I'm confident about...

Now I just need to find a topic.

Intro Blog

The time period that I'm most interested in is the revolutionary era in America and the subjects that I'm most interested in are the American wars.  This is including the Revolutionary War and the Civil War for the most part.  These are the most interesting to me because they are about what I find very intriguing.

As of right now, my major is No Preference.  I'm planning on declaring History as my major, I just haven't gotten around to it yet.  I am currently a sophomore this year.  My previous experience with history is college courses, I have previously taken HST 202 and HST 304. Also, I have experience from high school and reading many history related books.  My favorite channel is the History Channel.