Bavarder...

Jobs and applications

2010-11-28T13:34:00.004-05:00

I am in the unenviable position of applying for academic jobs in a persistently abysmal market. The period of applications is almost over and the waiting for a call has begun.

There are definitely more jobs this year than last, but the major difference I've noticed this year is that most places are requiring - or are willing to accept - electronic applications. Some want them sent via e-mail, but a lot have set up the process through their university's HR department. Some of these work o.k. (I can upload my cover letter, c.v., and extra materials) but some treat my application like all other applications to the university which, I find is uselessly time-consuming and redundant (since all of my employment history is spelled out in my c.v. anyway).

A few weeks ago I applied for a job the day before the deadline through an HR website application (so I could wait until the last day). So, I was surprised to find, the next afternoon, a "condolence" message in my e-mail thanking me for my application and informing me that the department was looking elsewhere. There was no way they could have reviewed all those applications in less than 24 hours. They hadn't. I received another automated message later that day apologizing for the message that was sent in error. It wasn't just sent to me but to the entire applicant pool.

But this saga doesn't end here. Two days later I received the same message, which still seemed fast but was more plausible. And two days after that, a formal message from the Search Chair apologizing for the second "condolence" message and spelling out the timeline for the hire. The system had rejected the entire candidate pool not once, but twice.

A deep and abiding mysogeny

2010-09-25T00:18:00.003-05:00

Truth be told, I became the parent of a tiny little baby a couple of months ago. My little one is of the xx persuasion and I have a not-so-little one of the xx persuasion as well. They are both awesome. They are darling and smart and make me laugh; I love them dearly. I am so pleased that my sweetie and I decided to bring them into our lives. So, I've been really annoyed by how many people don't share our joy because there isn't a y chromosome among the two of them.

To wit: when the banker, who was admiring the little one, found out the older one is also a girl, she demanded "are you going to try for a boy?"

Part two: well-meaning fellow who keeps our rental in running order explained that he loves his sweet daughters, but really wants a son. Then explained that a medical service will, for a fee, increase the change of getting the desired gender.

My sweetie has to remind me that not everyone understands gender is not limiting and parents can do everything that they want to with any child (from lizard hunts to dress ups).

I'm still annoyed, though, by these people who insinuate that I should be dissatisfied.

In Memorium

2010-08-22T13:05:00.005-05:00

From the UO History Depatment website:

Peggy Pascoe was the Beekman Professor of Northwest and Pacific History and Professor of Ethnic Studies at the University of Oregon. With family and friends at her side, she died from ovarian cancer on July 23, 2010, at home in Eugene, Oregon. She was 55. Peggy is survived by her life-partner of 30 years, Linda Long, and their two daughters, Ellie and Joie Pascoe-Long. She will be profoundly missed by her colleagues and the many scholars and students who were deeply influenced by her pioneering research and teaching on the history of race, gender, and sexuality.

Peggy Pascoe’s book, What Comes Naturally: Miscegenation Law and the Making of Race in America (Oxford University Press, 2009), won five major national awards: the Ellis W. Hawley Prize (for the best book-length historical study of the political economy, politics, or institutions of the United States) and the Lawrence W. Levine Prize (for the best book in American cultural history) from the Organization of American Historians; the John H. Dunning Prize (for best book in United States history) and the Joan Kelley Memorial Prize in Women's History from the American Historical Association; and the J. Willard Hurst Prize from the Law and Society Association for best book in socioloegal history. Pascoe was also the author of Relations of Rescue: The Search for Female Moral Authority in the American West, 1874-1939 (Oxford University Press, 1990). All of her work explored themes related to the multicultural past, especially but not only in the U.S. West, and women’s complex place in that past. Her prize-winning book on miscegenation law posed challenging questions about why and how relations of race, gender, and sexuality in marriage had been historically structured as questions of self-evident nature rather than social power.

Peggy was a consummate professional who gave unstintingly of her time and talent to such organizations as the American Studies Association, the American Historical Association, the Organization of American Historians, the Western History Association, and the Berkshire Conference of Women Historians. She served as co-president of the Coordinating Council for Women in History from 1997 to 2000. She was a co-editor of the American Crossroads series at the University of California Press from 1996 until her death. In 2009, she was awarded the Martin Luther King, Jr. Award for fostering diversity at the University of Oregon. She took particular pride in promoting the work of graduate students and mentoring junior faculty members and she took every opportunity to do both. The encouragement she offered to young scholars was legendary, and her ability to go to the heart of every problem, with diplomatic skill and calm, will be sorely missed by her university and professional colleagues.

Born in Butte, Montana, Pascoe said that the remarkable past of this struggling mining town spurred her interest in the history of the U.S. West. She graduated from Montana State University with a B.A. in history in 1977 and earned her M.A. in Women’s History at Sarah Lawrence College in 1980 and a Ph.D. in American history at Stanford University in 1986. She taught at the University of Utah for ten years before moving to the University of Oregon in 1996.

A fund in Peggy’s honor has been established through the University of Oregon Foundation to support graduate student research in the UO Department of History. Contributions can be made to the UO Foundation: University of Oregon Foundation, 360 E. 10th Avenue, Suite 202, Eugene, OR 97401-3273 or online at https://supportuo.uofoundation.org/ with a note designating gift to the Peggy Pascoe Graduate Student Fund in History.

Peggy was my adviser. She will be missed by me and the many, many other scholars whose work and thinking she influenced during her very distinguished career.

On job aps and caffeine

2010-04-23T11:55:00.006-05:00

My long silence has, in fact, been a moment of significant transition. I have finished writing the dissertation and graduated - by the skin of my teeth (and thanks to the magic of my advisor). Normally, I would begin adjunct teaching the fall, but I live in the educational wasteland of California where economic conservatism is winning the battle to eradicate public education. As a result, I've cast my net wide and applied for a government job last week. This was comparatively easier than the academic job applications I completed over the past several months. The ad asked only for a resume, transcripts, and on-line responses to about 80 questions, which, themselves, consisted of "have you ever completed a long-term project that required consistent focus and work outside of the normal work day?" Oh yes, I have.

I am not entirely optimistic about this one - the pool of applicants will, necessarily, be larger. But I do know that I am eminently qualified, which may work in my favor.

As I seek to broaden my job-seeking net, I am simultaneously struggling with my affection for caffeinated beverages. Long ago, my doctor warned me to stay off of them, so I gave up coffee and adopted a less-perilous tea affinity. Since completing my "long-term project," I've tried to wean myself entirely from caffeine (though not from soothing hot beverages, sweetened with milk and honey). Quite a challenge. Surprisingly, I've found that I miss coffee all the more.

My mate is a dedicated coffee-drinker, so we have plenty of this delightful nectar. And I allowed myself a small cup this morning, much to my delight. It was, indeed, just as magical and marvelous as I remembered.

oh my

2010-04-16T21:57:00.003-05:00

My Spring Break last week included a visit to Knott's Berry farm where I did not go on Toyota's "Supreme Scream."

This ride takes on such a different connotation. I wonder if that is a Prius?

my overdue AHA comment...

2010-01-26T16:43:00.004-05:00

I attended the annual AHA meeting several weeks ago in lovely San Diego and have been mulling my thoughts about it during my brief moments of down time. (I am furiously revising in the hope of finishing in March even though Advisor still wants three rounds of revisions. Sigh.)

The AHA was good overall. I ran into friends I hadn't seen in a while and met some new cool people right from the start. Also, it was sunny and warm. This was my first AHA, but veterans tell me that usually the meeting is dreary and tense. Their near-universal approval of this one seems to boil down to changes: 1) a horrible job market which kept all of the job-seekers - and their conference-infiltrating panic - away, and 2) the southern California sun. Precedent indicates that next year's conference in Boston will be much less pleasant because all Boston can offer is grey skies and snow.

The job market was, indeed, as bad as all the rumors made it out to be. I applied for 20 jobs and got one interview, which, as I discovered, was a small miracle (since I'm ABD and don't attend a top-tier school). I think this speaks to the strength of my project(s) and breadth of training (in public and world history as well as US). Anyway, the interview went fine but not well and I walked away from our very pleasant conversation know that I would not have a campus interview. I'm ok with that. I also applied for only one job through the job registry. This list was sickeningly short. There were less than twenty jobs posted and only a couple in U.S. (and these wanted someone who could teach every aspect of world and US history and supervise interns and teach public history - basically everything). I'll be heading to Boston next year, so I comment then on whether there is any improvement or not.

The boycott was... disappointing. I knew that HERE planned to coordinate a boycott long before the conference and I supported the issues that motivated it. I also thought that the AHA took appropriate steps to use the Manchester hotel as a forum to discuss LGBT issues and the controversies over same-sex marriage. The hotel is not unionized and HERE (smartly) wouldn't say that they were trying to unionize workers there (let's hope so; they deserve union representation). This is why I didn't accept the unsolicited offer by one AHA member to reschedule my session for me in a different hotel. I also didn't feel remorse when I walked past the 3-4 person picket line rallied outside the Manchester on Friday.

Boycotting the Manchester turned out to be easy. I spent some time there but no money; that hotel was way beyond the means of graduate students, new faculty, and even some tenured faculty. The rooms were over-priced and so was all the food (in table-service only restaurants). I had to walk next door to the Marriott to find food at the Starbucks, which ran out by 1 PM because 60% of attendees also went for breakfast and lunch.

What I saw of the conference sessions were predicable, some good papers, some good comments. I didn't attend many because the AHA is exhausting and I needed down time. So, this is what I got from my AHA: meet up with friends, try to attend sessions, avoid the job registry, eat good food, and remember to relax.

something to chew on...

2010-01-07T22:05:00.003-05:00

I'm off to the AHA, under a particularly grim cloud that hangs over the profession. Here's the AHA's guru on the state of the profession, Robert Townsend's take on the job market.

If you're brave enough to read the above article then be sure to follow that up with the insightful questions Brainstorm asks of demand- and supply-side factors in the history job "market."

hunting

2009-12-15T16:37:00.004-05:00

I just submitted my twentieth job application. I have only a few more to go. This effort has paid off; I have an interview, which was my highest expectation heading into the process the academic job hunt.

I've noticed that as the job hunting season heads into its twilight the application requirements are becoming more and more strange. The earliest applications were straight-forward and predictable: letter, CV, writing sample, maybe a teaching statement. Now, I encounter requests for a statement of scholarly philosophy, employment forms, and on-line applications (not to mention proof of membership in the Lutheran Sanhedrin - I couldn't apply for that one). The forms and on-line application are particularly tedious since they appear designed for the hiring of staff ("list your employment history for the past ten years") and the CV I submit with my applications is always more detailed than I could be in the form/ap.

But only a few more weeks of unusual requests, (*sigh*) for this year.

insanity by degrees

2009-11-13T16:52:00.002-05:00

1000 words.

That is what I still need to cut from my article manuscript in order to meet the miserly guidelines of the review committee. And don't think that these are reasonable guidelines. I am supposed to submit a 7000 word essay (including footnotes)!! Who writes journal articles like that?! 7000 words is graduate-seminar essay length; it begins to tell a story but can't do it justice. Still, I think if the reviewers read the beginning of my story, they will be so enthralled that they'll want to read the full 13,000 word version. Let's hope so! Cross your fingers for me.

(This must be driving me nuts because it prompted me to update my blog!)

meeting the standards

2009-10-09T23:07:00.004-05:00

California grade-schoolers work all year in preparation to pass the state standards exam. Here's a sample worksheet that is supposed to help them meet those standards.* Click on the image for a better view.

*and it passes on the tradition of ethno-racial stereotyping

Blend

2009-09-27T17:47:00.003-05:00

"Blend." That's the new word in trend-setting California for locating a new low in public education.

Last week, during the third week of instruction, one of the second-grade classes at Local Elementary School was "blended" with a third-grade class. Now, second and third grade students share the same classroom, instructor, and instructional time even though they are both held to two different sets of standards. Everyone I know who teaches at post-secondary institutions is familiar with the general notion of a "blended" classroom. We get a diverse array of students with different backgrounds, abilities, and experiences, who respond at different rates to the material that everyone gets in class. We meet them and their needs and work to expand their skills and knowledge.

Based on my limited observation, this is also the case in a traditional grade school class. Every classroom has kids who read or crunch numbers beyond or behind their peers; others have stayed up late playing video games, and others just daydream. Because of No Child Left Behind and its implementation through State Standards Tests, the grade-school teachers that I know work to get each student to some abstract grade level that is presumably measured by those tests but they also work to expand the skills and imagination of students in ways that can't be measured by tests.

"Blended" classes are not these traditional classes that unite students approximately based on age and ability. In fact, "blends" are not new to California but there are a lot more of them this year because state-lawmakers have proved themselves totally unable to comprehend fiscal and social responsibility. Thus, my local second-grade became a 2/3 blend a couple of weeks after the school-year had started. And, to clarify further, a blended class does not track each child individually, mapping their progress and teaching them how to self-motivate and take charge of daily and weekly assignments. This is not a Montessori-style of blended classroom. Instead, one teacher is responsible for teaching two different, state-approved, grade-level curricula to two different sets of students in one class every single day (until they take their State Standards Test in the Spring). In other words, "blending" is a great business model; when measured in raw numbers we California residents get more grade-schoolers through our public institutions while we spend less educating them. But, as we're all well-aware, business should never be allowed near education.

We learned last week, after nearly a full week of "blending," that the 2/3 teacher is "excited" by the coming year. She will scurry between second and third graders throughout the day, shift the third grade to another classroom for social studies, and get the windfall of having an "aid" (read: part-time, no benefits, minimum wage). She will now have students in her class who range in age from 6 to 9 years old. And she has a bigger class too. Twenty-four second graders this year and six third-graders (she had a total of 17 second-graders last year) . But she is still held to the grade-standards set years ago for smaller classes. This "excited" second-third grade teacher offered the very telling explanation that (degree-carrying and certified) teachers "are a luxury" in California's public education system.

Before the current school year California was ranked 51st in the nation for its spending on public education (behind all other states and Puerto Rico). We thought California had hit the bottom before we discovered that the bottom had fallen out of the state economy. Now, California is probing the depths beyond paucity as it "funds" public education, and teachers, we discovered, have become a "luxury."

I can't help but worry over where this is headed: how will California continue to secure federal funding when its students fail to meet federal standards because the students simply cannot pass the tests? How many times will those students who stick with it have to repeat grades? Will all California public school graduates be 22 or older when they finally finish? Where can these "kids" go to college (at similarly strickened California Universities)? And what kind of professions could they possibly enter? Has K-12 education in California become something that only the rich can afford (through private schools)?

Grade-school teachers are a luxury that California has to force itself to indulge.

hiatus

2009-09-03T15:00:00.006-05:00

Taking a hiatus is nice, but it's a difficult thing to come back from.

I took a blogging hiatus this summer. I took hiatus from a lot of my routine. The four weeks I had planned to spend in Montana grew to six. This was a hiatus from home, not from work. And, as it turns out, I accomplished a lot. I finished a chapter that I had been struggling to complete for months. It became monstrous - in terms of size, not content. Now, Adviser tells me that it is two, not one chapter. Which means one more chapter - the denouement - will suffice for a dissertation. (This, despite the fact that I have grand visions for an additional chapter. It can wait.) I am enjoying a few brief days of levity; it's as if an incredible weight I've been carrying feels a bit lighter. No doubt, I will grow weary under its weight again as I turn to revisions and to the introduction, but I plan to remember this fleeting levity which I'm enjoying at the end of my hiatus.

plugging away

2009-06-16T22:06:00.004-05:00

I'm still writing. Always writing....

Here's a maze game I found amid my research documents that I though I would share with anyone who happens by my blog. It's from the Daily Worker (November 1934) and was published under the "Our Young Readers" section. Can you help the angry worker find his nemesis, "Mr. Boss."

And in other news, I get to visit New York next week (for work, unfortunately, so no time to sight-see).

fluency

2009-05-22T12:57:00.007-05:00

Years ago, when I began to learn a foreign language, I recall hearing that one of the milestones of language acquisition would come to me in my dreams. That is, when I started dreaming in French (for example), then I was really getting somewhere. The premise, I think, is that the sounds and symbols and concepts would become so familiar that I could use them even in my sleep. I used to dream in French; I don't anymore. Now, I dream in dissertation. I wouldn't say that all aspects of the stories I have learned and retell are absolutely, crystal clear to me (just like a foreign-language learner can never shed her accent). But I do think I've achieved some sort of fluency in my dissertation. The strange thing is that now I have no one to talk to.

One of the clearest signs of my emerging fluency is dreaming. But what I welcomed in language learning, I dread with the dissertation process. I don't want to work out the issues I'm struggling with - like state versus federal forms of colonial citizenship - while I sleep because doing so keeps me from sleeping. So, I've been looking for ways to cut the stream of thought and leave my dissertation only to waking hours. I've been lucky to find not one, but two great histories that I can read before going to sleep that allow me to leave everything behind while resting. They're so good they're worth recommending because both are histories that tell engaging stories. Peggy Pascoe and Glenda Gilmore use different styles to tell their tales but they provide enough personal and contextual detail to make for a very engaging read. I like how What Comes Naturally connects the seemingly simple and personal process of getting married to the policing of racial, gender, sexual, and economic boundaries that shored up white supremacy. Laws, lawmakers, and administrators worked hard to make the racial order seem so effortless. Defying Dixie is equally as fascinating because Gilmore connects a vast web of revolutionaries throughout the South to the rest of the U.S. and beyond. Then, she connects that to the modern CRM and shows how it was made possible but also stymied by a radical past. How could I not enjoy reading about a hushed-up revolution? I will take months more to finish these great histories but I am not hesitant to add to my list. I welcome all recommendations for other ways to temper my burgeoning fluency.

mind-read

2009-05-05T22:40:00.005-05:00

Mind-reading can be a good thing. Like most gifts, it should be assessed on the "Fabulous-to-Frightening" scale. This time, I'm going with Fabulous.

How amazing is this: two University of Wisconsin professors read my mind and wrote a book for me. Actually, it's a collection of essay, but, again, I'm sure they did it for me after reading my mind when I was thinking "there is no concise monograph on the different incarnations of aggressive U.S. imperialism and its impact on the state." (Fortunately, they weren't reading my mind when I was thinking 'what can I do with leftover Pho?'") Wasn't this publication nice of them?

untitled

2009-04-23T12:23:00.004-05:00

I've started several posts that I couldn't finish over the past few weeks. My brain power is ebbing and I have deadlines to meet - so whatever I have must go to the chapters. In my flurry of writing and reading, though, I've met with some wonderfully snarky comments. So, with the hope of reading updates on all my far-flung colleagues, I offer this measly post. (Appropriately, Marx gets the last word.)

"There is no justification for sentimentality about the Insular Cases. They were designed for the convenience of the conqueror[s]." ~Gerald Neuman

"Mainland Americans can be divided into two groups: those that know that 2,100,000 American citizens reside in Puerto Rico; and those - perhaps the majority - who remain unaware of this fact fifty years after the war with Spain." ~Carey McWilliams (1946)

"The tradition of all the dead generations weighs like a nightmare on the brain of the living." ~Karl Marx

flying home

2009-03-29T12:39:00.004-05:00

I'm back from Seattle and a wonderful conference. I got to see advisor, B., and Cabiria and meet S. Together, we had a great panel. One (exceptional) audience member commented "Your panel was beautifully organized, your papers were beautifully written, and it was a pleasure to listen to them." How's that for encouragement!?

I also met established and up-and-coming scholars and saw some good sessions - one was even great. And the only malady I suffered from was fatigue (which, I discovered, was getting off easy). There were just a few talks that I painfully regret missing but thanks to the magic of the internet, I will get to listen to Mary Ryan's talk on the future of women's history (and I look forward to the day when more sessions are on-line like this).

This visit to Seattle was bittersweet, too. Seattle was my home ten years ago; that is where I met R and where we first became a family. I love that city and its many nooks and crannies that remind me of a time that seem like another life. Such reminiscences, though, made me look forward to my return home, a place where awaits six-year old balloon games and a computer with chapters aching to be written.

education on a shoe-string

2009-03-20T15:50:00.006-05:00

I peruse the "help wanted" sections of h-net and other academic job markets from time to time. Even though I'm not officially "on" the job market, the prospect of applying for a job is exciting. Actually, I should say, the prospect of there being a job that I can apply for is exciting - particularly since I live in mightily-bankrupt state (as opposed to the newly-bankrupt states). I wondered how deeply the new state "budget" would effect the job market for higher education and then I saw an ad for CSU Northridge. It can't be that bad if Northridge has posted an ad, right? Then I read the ad. The generic search for adjuncts ends by saying:

Given the condition of the California budget for the CSU system this year and the current entitlements of part-time instructors, it is very likely that we will have few if any openings. We are, however, required to advertise.

Puzzling. They have to advertise for positions that, in all likelihood, they don't have.

Well, if I'm not going to adjunct then I will put that energy into my dissertation. So, I head on over to the library website for my neighborhood California university to see if it can help me find that obscure study, only...
If the state university systems are a public service, then the outlook for California, over the next generation, looks pretty bleak.

ruminations on government, money, and work

2009-02-24T01:43:00.010-05:00

In the past week I finished our taxes and, technically, I made the most money per hour that I've ever made in my life. Amid the glee I felt over our expected refund were pangs of concern: can the government really afford to give me back this money? While I ponder this question, I won't hesitate to take it.

My bankrupt state also passed a budget last week - in record time (they have tended to straggle over the finish line in late-September), and today I saw city work crews out en force. Coincidence? No. I need to remember these men and women in a few months when I begin to kvetch about the state's cutbacks. At least someone is at work. Sadly, this may not include the lunch lady, librarian, or recess attendants at young S's school. Rumors have it that in order to met the "budget" in my bankrupt state, these positions along with school lunch programs and busing will be eliminated. And while shaking my head at the extreme short-sightedness of nearly eliminating funding for public education, I will remind myself of directions the state has not gone yet. We dodged a bullet by picking the California job over the Georgia one. Georgia's state assembly is debating how to suspend funding for faculty who do "unnecessary research." How does tenure work again when you have no paycheck?

My final scrape with government and work in this past week was as that of spectator to the particularly vicious sport of immigrant labor. My neighbor - International Academic - moved to the US in the OC last fall to begin a tenure-track position at Nearby College. Now that Dr. IA and famille are settled, Nearby College dropped the bombshell: "you need to get your green card right now so we can continue to employ you, it costs $7000, oh, and by the way, we canceled all your summer teaching because we have no money - our state is bankrupt." Dr. I.A. is fresh out of grad school, so the fees associated with buying a U.S. job are staggering. Dr. I.A.'s Mrs I.A. has waded into a similar morass. She got a special work permit that will allow her to take the job she was offered and work in the U.S. for one year. The only catch is that she can't leave the country during that time. The family and research of both Dr. I.A. and Mrs. Dr. I.A. are all located outside the U.S. The obstructions this country has established between non-citizens and "legal" domestic work are draconian. This is nativism enshrined in government.

[deep exhale]

2009-02-13T23:52:00.003-05:00

I recently finished (and sent off) my third chapter. I am please, but not as pleased as I expected to be. It took me months longer than I scheduled to finish it and I'm still tired (though relieved).

Grossly missing my deadline isn't the only thing I didn't anticipate. I wrote a lot more than I expected, 54 pages before I trimmed it back to 43 (but before I added the spacing). More important, though, the story didn't turn out as I expected. It is still really top-down, which makes it oppressive and disheartening. Discussing citizenship for a minority (and subject people) requires top-down analysis, but one of the contributions I'm still claiming is bottom-up. So, this is my target when I get to revisions (provided Advisor agrees to such targets).

Ah, I can't wait for the revisions stage, when the whole thing is drafted. Completing this chapter gets me just over the half-way point. And I did have a lot to say. I'm also excited to get to the next chapter (oh, good stories there). So, I should be able to muster up some excitement to carry me through a couple of conference papers and into the drafting of chapter four. (Of course, I welcome all external means of excitement mustering!)

depressing

2009-02-10T00:10:00.003-05:00

Last week I did a bit of review in preparation for a class I joined on the New Deal. In light of recent events, I have to say, I was astounded by the similarities. I know, I know, every commentator that can get your ear has been making the same points, but they don't offer details like this. What really surprised me was in the details. Here's some of what I read (courtesy of one of my favorite historians, Eric Foner) with the addition of my commentary (just what you wanted, I know).

"The stock market crash [or credit crisis] did not, by itself, cause the Depression. Even before 1929 [September 2008], signs of economic trouble had become evident. Southern California [Nevada,] and Florida experienced frenzied real-estate speculation [check] and then spectacular busts, with banks failing, land remaining undeveloped and mortgages foreclosed [check, check, and check]. The highly unequal distribution of income [check] and the prolonged depression in farm regions [ok, no parallel here] reduced American purchasing power. Sales of new autos and household consumer goods stagnated after 1926 [October 2008]. ... A fall in the bloated stock market, driven even higher during the 1920s [early 2000s] by speculators, was inevitable. But it came with such severity that it destroyed many of the investment companies that had been created to buy and sell stock [AIG, Bear Sterns, Lehman Brothers, etc.], wiping out thousands of investors, and it greatly reduced business and consumer confidence. Around 26,000 businesses failed in 1930. Those that survived cut back on further investment and began laying off workers [over a half million just in first six months from September 2008 to February 2009]. The global financial system, which was based on the gold standard [or a market of pure credit], was ill-equipped [had no clue how] to deal with the downturn. ... Millions of families lost their life savings [retirement accounts]."

But wait, there's more: "Between 1929 and 1932, the price of a share of U.S. Steel fell from $262 to $22, and General Motors from $73 to $8. [or a "high" of $13 in September, 2008, to a low of $2.50 today] ... William C. Durant, one of the founders of General Motors, lost all his money and ended up running a bowling alley in Flint, Michigan. [fat chance now - tax-sheltered, off-shore accounts mitigate against such "adversity" for the obscenely wealthy] ... congressional investigations revealed massive irregularities committed by bankers and stockbrokers. [yes, and?]... Richard Whitney, the president of the New York Stock Exchange, was convicted of stealing funds from customers, including from a fund to aid widows and orphans. He ended up in jail. [we should be so lucky, instead they're relabeling their bonus system to make it seem like legitimate pay or maybe this is Madoff...]"*

In the class, we did not discuss such details, but there was significant discussion of the similarities and differences between then and now. Someone complained that we no longer "produce" things in this country, but, I would say, that the consumer economy is our economy and it can crack just like an industrial one can. One thing students noted was that no one has lost all of their savings (thanks, New Deal!) but that everyone's retirement was in jeopardy.** But having retirement savings to worry about is a something that the New Deal helped make standard.

And one last comparison that I have to make myself. After the class, I spent the week reading the Daily Worker which offered very clear criticisms of the markets, employment, wealth disparity, and global economy that created this crisis. Therein lies the biggest difference between now and then. No one is questioning the big picture just the details and these criticism of lending or extravagant spending is aimed at fixing the problems within the framework of a broken system. There doesn't seem to be any thinking beyond it.

*E. Foner, Give Me Liberty: An American History (Norton, 2005), 800-802.
**Maybe, I should note that these were "lifelong learning" students; they were all currently living on their retirement savings.

new year

2009-01-20T16:44:00.004-05:00

I'm finally ready to start the new year. I tried to hold off because my albatross of a chapter is still not (yet) written (and my self-imposed deadline was Jan 1), but I can't hold back any longer. The chapter will get done regardless of the date. This realization offers me a new beginning (in that, I can't write a dissertation by force of will; I have to do it patiently and consistently). I'm also not-really trying not to watch the inauguration and parade. Having a new president - and this one, in particular - is a great new beginning. (Did anyone else exhale when the chopper finally took GW away from the Capitol for the last time? We made it.)

And the new year - of the ox - begins on Monday. The ox is supposed to prosper through quiet (perhaps isolated?) and persistent hard work. So, I've decided that the year of the ox will be good for me. My year to wrap things up and move on. And it will lead up to great things during the up-coming year - my year - the Tiger. So, I'm ready now for the year to begin.

falling off the horse

2008-12-30T18:51:00.006-05:00

The drive north and the delay caused by snow abetted my fall from my horse: I stopped writing and have neglected my chapter for an entire week. The fall had been surprisingly easy and I've only half-heartedly tried to climb back up. I'm still a bit soar as a result of my fall - in the shoulders - but this is more a result of rediscovering my skills with a snow shovel. All in all, we've had a great time here with siblings, parents, and dogs. (S, in particular, loves the dogs as well as the snow.) We were all awakened at 6:20 on Christmas morn by the youngest family member. We've since been enjoying hot drinks, holiday treats, and new books by the fire. And I have to admit that snow is good for creating a reason to cuddle down by the fire. I hope you all have enjoyed - and continue to enjoy - a great holiday!

into the cold of winter

2008-12-20T02:10:00.006-05:00

We're all packed up and ready to head to the wintry North. Recent weather conditions have not been in our favor, but the I-15 has reopened and made our journey possible. We head from the flooded desert to the high and frigid desert to the snow-dusted foothills, around the icy lake and into the dense and snowy mountains. We've got snacks, blankets, and chains. Now all we need is your best wishes for a quick and uneventful trip!

Trip reporter: Orange County; elevation: 50 feet; daytime high: 60; miles traveled: 0.

UPDATE (12/20): Cedar City (land of the Utes); elevation: 5000 feet; daytime high: 35; miles traveled: 424.

UPDATE (12/21): Pocatello; elevation: 4500 feet; daytime high: 22; miles traveled: 836.

UPDATE (12/22): Butte, U.S.A.; elevation: 5549; daytime high: 9; miles traveled: 1090. Snowing steadily and with gusto. (This was supposed to be the day we finished driving.)

sources and technology

2008-12-17T19:49:00.009-05:00

I made it through my paragraph crawl, but the road ahead doesn't look to be an easy one. The positive part of this struggle is that I have a lot to say; my problem has been figuring out how to put it in order. When I get stumped by this chapter, I daydream about how great it will be to move on to the next one (I had similar fantasies about how much easier the current chapter would be when I was writing the last one.) So, when I dream, I head on over the Congressional Record - on-line.

I think I've mentioned before how I love the hein database and I love it even more since I discovered that it contains an expanded version of the Congressional Record - the complete set! And I've been weighing the relative merits of the CR in its pdf, microfilm, and paper versions. The microfilm version is my least favorite. In fact, I hate it. A minimum of three reels per session. So, I have to scroll, scroll, scroll through one reel to find my pages; then, rewind, switch reels and scroll to each non sequential page where I try to decipher the poor copy on an ancient machine that no longer can zoom in and focus. Have I mentioned that microfilm makes me seasick? The on-line version wins for convenience, something that works well with my whimsy. But the paper version wins for ease of use. Flip to index, find term, select new volume and voilà - page, page, and page. And it is always easy to read and it takes me away from my computer which is good (we've become too close over the past year or so). I am overjoyed with the technological advances that have brought me the CR on-line, yet this version can't top the paper version. But since the paper version is hard to come by, my desktop window-to-the-world will continue to hook me up on-line!

In other recent developments - our desert here is flooding.

paragraph crawl

2008-12-10T17:35:00.006-05:00

I've spent the last three days revising - and re-revising - the first section of my chapter. This section makes important and rather sweeping claims (about racialization and citizenship in work) that are essential to what develops in the last half of the chapter. These points all make sense in my head but are coming out kind of clunky. So, I re-read and cut and move and rework the narrative, again and again. This process feels like what I imagine a pub crawl feels like. I started out enthusiastic and I enjoyed myself. Then, I continued because I was only going to do one more. I've come under a haze. And now, just when I think I can't possibly rework that paragraph again, I dive back in for another go. It's my paragraph crawl.

And it's gotten to the point of being ridiculous. I'm giving myself to the end of the day to work it out. Then, I'm going to sleep it off and move on.

what's more infamous - remembering or forgetting?

2008-12-07T23:40:00.005-05:00

Did anyone else hear several references today to "the day that will live in infamy"? I guess if you want everyone to remember some event, uttering a phrase like this will make it stick. (It's a kind of self-fulfilling prophesy.) I wouldn't have remembered the historic significance of today if not for those reminders from my radio. But my concept of these events has changed considerably over the years, so I waited hoping that the commentators had made similar discoveries and would expand their reminiscences beyond Pearl Harbor. It never came. So, I've decided to take up that burden.

The impression I have from the media (who suggest that they're channeling FDR) is that Pearl Harbor should be remembered as an unprovoked attack on the United States. I will, for now, leave aside the antagonistic relationship that developed between the U.S. and Japan throughout the 1930s. The attack itself was specifically against the U.S. military in Hawai'i - a place that was not a state but a territory (with distinct colonial attributes). So, this was less a personal attack (against civilians residing in the United States) than a strategic one (against soldiers in a place that the U.S. claimed and backed up that claim with military might). But the aspect of this story that I find most interesting - and the one that prompted my post - is that this was not an isolated event. It was multi-pronged. It included attacks on Wake Island and Guam and, one day later, the Philippines. Indeed, by December 10th, Japanese troops were landing in the northern Philippine Islands. So, the land invasion that Pacific Coast residents were preparing for happened in America-the-colony. U.S. imperialism was a startlingly significant aspect of the "infamous" American entry into the Second World War.

FDR's catchy quote - and the subsequent rituals of remembrance - have helped to cover over the key role that U.S. imperial expansion played in bringing Americans into this war. Just as significant, such memories also neglect the role that imperialism played in the pursuit of that war. Here, I refer to the mobilization (and drafting) of colonial subjects - like Filipinos, Guamanians, and Samoans - in defense of the imperial power. Though Americans in the mainstream have apparently forgotten this aspect of their past, Filipino war veterans haven't. Their experiences being denied veterans' status demand the question: what is more infamous?

Wishes

2008-11-27T17:57:00.002-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

We've already been to the grocery store twice today and we're not even making the turkey. Our feast will be enjoyed with our "new" neighbors. And I have to admit that I've been snacking in anticipation of stuffing/dressing. Oh, I can't wait! I hope you enjoy your favorite dish and have a great holiday!

turkeys; lots of turkeys

2008-11-25T21:42:00.011-05:00

Today we enjoyed our premier grade-school Thanksgiving show. Four classes of first-graders sang and performed and recited their way through a robust T-day dinner. This part was fun. The best song was certainly "Burt the Turkey."
(Now that I've updated the picture, I should add that those are Turkey hats worn backwards. You can image what they're meant to resemble.)

Unfortunately, the performance did not end with visions of dinner. We had Pilgrims and (you knew it was coming) "Indians." These were the stereotypical variety. The cringe-factor escalated from the song "If I were an Indian boy" to a performance of the "evening song" (which you can replicate by singing a monotone and flapping your hand over your mouth). As if this wasn't bad enough, our creative teachers made up the material. And in this room of 130 adults, only R seemed similarly shocked and nauseated. Racial essentialism is alive and kicking in Orange County.* Be sure to duck.

So, my question is how do we get an antiquated Thanksgiving to fade into the past the way that Columbus Day did? My idea is to push for the use of "Wampanoags" over "Indian." After all, first-graders are aware enough to know that "Pilgrims" were a group of people who lived in the "past." The same could work for the Natives of the first Thanksgiving, right? The problem with this plan is that it leaves Wampanoags in the same ambiguously "historical" place from which "Indians" have long been trying to escape.

*along with enforcement of dominant gender roles. The permission slip which allowed students to participate in the school's Halloween "parade of costumes" included the rule: costumes "may not cross gender roles (i.e. boys wearing dresses, etc.)." But you know this rule didn't apply to girls costumed as cowboys or Jedi.

all clear

2008-11-18T01:19:00.009-05:00

We're still coping with smoke and ash, but the fire danger has passed. It came pretty close though - to the end of the block. Saturday afternoon, the winds whipped the fire around us and we spent the afternoon listening to LA County Fire helicopters. They zoomed just overhead every five minutes as they struggled (successfully) to save the high school. We watched most of our neighbors voluntarily evacuate, but we packed our bags and stayed here waiting for the knock on the door. (I preferred this, since it provided the most up-to-date information on how close the fire was.)

Here are my before and after pictures (about four hours apart):

By the time I took the latter photo, though, the most dangerous moment had passed. About 29,000 acres burned, including almost 200 residences; over 3700 people were involved in putting it out - along with 555 trucks and dozens of aircraft. Wow. I really wish the local - libertarian - newspaper would run stories about fire fighting heroics under the headline "YOUR TAX DOLLARS DO GOOD WORK!" The memory of this disaster will too quickly wear off among most of my not-my-tax-responsibility neighbors. Sigh.

Ash fallout on my plants:
Red sun in the afternoon:

where there's smoke...

2008-11-15T15:48:00.003-05:00

From our street.

Apparently what you do, when waiting to see if you'll be evacuated, is update your blog.

Wow!

2008-11-05T12:08:00.003-05:00

Are you as ebullient today as we are? So many things make the election outcome great news - including the fact that there was not, apparently, wide-spread efforts to prevent voting. We even got to hear the victory speech on election day, early enough, in fact, that young S got to hear it before going to bed!

Today I've been listening to lots of "unprecedented" and "historic moment" stories - most accented with "I never thought this would happen in my lifetime." I have to admit I'm really enjoying the shared national (and international) enthusiasm (my favorite so far is news of the spontaneous celebration in front of the White House last night.)

In their enthusiasm, I think these stories have missed another significant first. So far as I can tell (and I'm still on this case), Obama is also the first, first-generation American to be elected president. Given that we tend to favor wealthy dynasties in high office, it's probably not surprising that no previous president (so far as I have found) has been the child of an immigrant. So, one of the collateral benefits of our action yesterday is we get a boost in national standing among Kenyans - not to mention among residents of much of the rest of the world. (And here, I can't help but think of the newly added closing scenes in the re-released version of Return of the Jedi.)

Yeah for us!

gentle reminder

2008-11-03T14:26:00.009-05:00

We're all very excited about tomorrow. Here's a cross-post from the S blog:

A much younger Young S hopes you'll keep her in mind when you vote tomorrow (on the 4th)!

Halloween Tree

2008-10-29T11:21:00.004-05:00

Even though Fall is almost unrecognizable here in summerland, it does have the best Halloween tree.

They grow big, and you only see the thorns upon close inspection. The entire tree is covered in them and they are intimidatingly sharp.
Happy Halloween!

(I just have to draw your attention to this website. Someone has invested a lot of time into disliking the VP candidate - much to my delight.)

Fall - the new summer

2008-10-15T22:32:00.011-05:00

Here in the land-of-endless-summer we've entered the season of heat, dust, desert winds, and fires. What fun. There are some hidden advantages to a 12-month summer (ok, it only really lasts about 11 months and one week). We get flowers and vegetables at the same time. Funny, everywhere else we've lived the flowering was done by the end of the growing season. But the land-of-endless-summer defies the laws of nature (which goes a long way toward explaining a lot of things around here). So, about a week ago, S. and I headed to the Fullerton Arboretum; it was in full bloom and it was a delight.
The Arboretum is only a few acres but was planned as a vast parking lot.

It features many strange flowers. Sea anemone?
I have no idea what this is but I find it fascinating

(I'm not the only one).

Gourd tunnel
And, to bring us back from a summer daydream, there's a little corner of Fall on display.

3654

2008-10-08T23:03:00.004-05:00

Count back this many days. That was the day that R and I met! A big group of us new grads got together to meet one another under the pretense of celebrating R's birthday. (He later divulged that he had secretly contrived to make sure that I attended.) This was about 3654 days ago which works out to about ten years. Cheers to us!

Meetings, relationships, and birthdays - October is such a great month!

artificial light

2008-10-01T15:35:00.007-05:00

I'm almost done with my chapter draft and the weight is lifting. (Thank you for the encouragement.) I can now see light at the end of my tunnel - but only if I don't look past this chapter to the four others waiting for me (my light will surely dim).

Several other developments are providing me with artificial levity and have improved my general outlook. Last Monday was the first day of fall. Like someone else I know, I love fall. It is my favorite season. We don't get much in the form of "seasons" around these parts, but I remember well what fall looks like and I'm enjoying my seasonal reminisce. Assisting me in this endeavor is my neat, new gizmo. We cashed in all our chips (i.e. credit card rewards) and got a sweet new computer. I'm told it can make a good toy, but I haven't had time to explore this yet. I have, though, found the appropriate wallpaper (below). Finally, my artificial buoyancy is also partially attributable to my rediscovery of our store of adult beverages. This really helped take the edge off my anxiety. In fact, I decompressed enough to sing to my chapter as I worked (you know the song,... barenaked ladies, "...I love you more than I did the week before I discovered alcohol...). I can't believe I didn't hit upon this solution sooner.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to tomorrow evening. I plan to settle in, relax, and watch Gwen Ifill make the vp's squirm. I have long admired a Ifill, but I think I became a fan four years ago when she stuck it to Edwards/Cheney with a question about what their candidates would do to counter the recent rise in HIV infections. Their cram sessions didn't include this one; both of them were completely stumped. After the debate fun, I may even try out the civilization game that R keeps trying to tempt me with.

cere bellum

2008-09-26T13:59:00.004-05:00

My brain is staging a revolt. When I sit to write, I feel overwhelmingly tired and I'm having trouble creating coherent ideas. This isn't caused just by sleeplessness; it is also mental fatigue. But I need my brain to put off the revolution for just a bit longer. I think I'm close to wrapping up my chapter. (which is very different from achieving the sense that the chapter is acceptable to send off without apologies. I've realized that I have to give up on such a luxury.) A break from this grind is a great idea, but it won't work until I have some closure. It is always on my mind (to the point that S has begun to disparage by abilities as a lizard-catching assistant). So, a true 'break' has to come with a release from the weight of this albatross. O.k. heading back to the task now (which includes corralling my wayward mind).

foggy

2008-09-22T21:04:00.005-05:00

These past three weeks I've been in a hazy writing fog. I've taken these weeks to "finish" my chapter and the days I've slunk beyond my deadline continue to pile up. I have increased my work routine: I haven't done any new research and I've been staying up late writing (which I don't do on regular work days when I comb sources because after 9 o'clock my analytic skills are at their ebb). Now, I've achieved a sleep-deprived state of mind: easily distracted and agonizing over just finishing the chapter. My days tick off with anxious anticipation, frantic work, discouragement, then I repeat. While I have put together various parts and found great evidence for my points, it still is not done. This is a very discouraging situation.

new/old danger rooted out

2008-09-14T22:54:00.008-05:00

So, this post is a sign that I should stop reading the local rag and just write my dissertation, because I keep getting side-tracked (or, perhaps, blind-sided) by the things people around here do.

I recently learned that long hair on boys is distracting to eight-year olds and prevents them from learning third-grade things. No news yet on how long hair on eight-year old girls distracts fellow students and prevents them from learning, but I'm on the case and will file an update as soon as that news flash comes across my wire.

Fortunately, the OC Register uncovered this haircut or I never would have known what trouble follows the long-haired. (Perhaps you long-haired readers have tales to tell?!) If you go to the link and scroll through the pictures, you can see for yourself the physical transformation a haircut wrought in young Nipa. (My favorite is the pre-cut "halo" picture.) If you're wondering how Nipa's hair got so menacingly long, it was his parents (and their parents and theirs, going back generations). Curiously, Tonga is not like the United States (IMAGINE!); there long hair is admired and, apparently, not indicative of soon-to-come disorderliness. But Nipa's parents decided that Nipa - the only one of their boys to keep his hair long because, in his words, "I just like it" - should follow the school rules and get his hair cut.* Doing so, the Tuitahi family earned the uproarious applause of OCR readers (scroll down through the comments at your own peril). These readers must know too, that rule-breaking and long-hair are sure signs of criminality. Out of no concern for the rest of us, though, OC'ers are keeping mum about these secrets to an honest life. And I know they're tight-lipped because we students were not made aware of such deviance when I was in high school (in Montana). Several of my Sioux and Crow classmates (who were male) kept their hair long! They even defied rules dictating young athletes' short hair length, citing some flimsy rationale of "tradition." Fortunately OC'ers have vice-principal Dan Moyer who has found the solution to long-haired males and to the southwest's diversity more generally: "if we make an exception for one we'd have to make exceptions for others." So, breath a sigh of relief! The OC possesses the solution to rid the country of those long-haired deviants and it is equality! After all, being uniformly insensitive to all cultures** is the essence of modern equality (much like language conformity. Wait! I see a pattern emerging....)

*Bear in mind that this is a private, Lutheran grade school.
**Except that ONE culture; you know which one I mean.

the profession and pro bono

2008-09-08T11:44:00.005-05:00

A few weeks ago, R received an interesting request from a New-York based ad agency/PR firm. The agency/firm asked him - in his capacity as a historian of the American West and of tourism - to contribute to their new project for Rosewood Resorts. Apparently, this highly-exclusive hotel chain had just renovated their Rancho San Ysidro Resort.* And the resort wanted to expand the (mythic) Californio experience for their guests. According to the agency/firm, R could contribute to this by compiling a list of recommended readings - fiction and non-fiction historical - for guests to imbibe while lounging at San Ysidro. R considered it (he figured this crowd would probably go for Ramona over Factories in the Field), and he replied to ad agency rep saying that he would be happy to compile a list. He told her he charged $100/hour and the project would take between 2 and 3 hours.

Imagine his surprise when ad agency rep replied that big NY ad agency (which advertises for, among other companies, Porsche) had not allocated a budget line for this particular aspect of the Rosewood account. In other words, she expected him to do this for free. I think R was annoyed; I certainly was. In what world do professional historians - who have spent years professionalizing and refining their skills (and this, just to get to the job market) - give away their specialized training? And to a for-profit ad agency developing promotional materials for an overpriced, for-profit luxury resort? Moreover, what does this say about the impression that ad agency rep has of historians? (She could have been a recent graduate who thinks that history professors just teach - and do all this "other stuff" without getting paid. She could be a seasoned rep who considers the work that historians do peripheral to her world of multi-million dollar advertising accounts.) Perhaps the most disturbing part of this story is that ad agency rep will probably happen upon some beleaguered person with a PhD in history who will do this work for free.**

So, I hope that if you're a scholar (or a scholar-in-the-making), you never do something so professionally demeaning. And if you happen to work in advertising, remember that my colleagues and I expect to paid for the work that we do!

*Nightly rates at San Ysidro begin at $650/night and go up to $6000. Did I mention that the resorts were highly-exclusive?
**Despite the title of my post, this work is NOT pro bono as it contributes nothing to the greater good. (I support historians who do actual pro bono work from time to time.)

first day

2008-09-02T23:49:00.001-05:00

My dear girl started back to school today. I recalled all of my first days - the excitement and fear. Best wishes to everyone else on your first days (in and beyond the classroom)!

punditry

2008-08-30T23:00:00.009-05:00

O.k. I admit it. I watched the whole convention last week. And I caught the R's introductory press conference on Friday. And, of course, I have my own opinions about all of it, but just a couple that I feel compelled to offer as discussion points.
First, the Palin selection. Initially, I saw this move as just another Harriet Miers - selected for the double xx chromosomes rather than skill and ability. But she does have a few years of experience and a couple of attractive qualifications, such as, pushing for political reform and a spouse who was/is(?) a union member. Still, her limited experiences (like lowering property taxes) are not as impressive as Obama's. Also, she may be a woman, but biology doesn't make her an advocate for women. (And someone should tell her that she is running for vice-president; that was a little unclear in her speech last Friday. When referring to Clinton's "18 million cracks," she inferred that her nomination would finally break the glass ceiling which it won't - even if the ticket is elected and even if she becomes president. She would have to be elected president to break that one.)

Speaking of elections that break with the past brings me to my second point: the Obama nomination. I'm suffering from "history" fatigue, especially of the "never in my lifetime" variety. While I am pleased by the results, I don't find myself dazed and over-joyed at this (admittedly) historic moment. How surprising is it that he got the nomination? Consider the mythic proportions that King and CRM have acquired in our popular imaginations. And the affiliations that white Americans - and white Democrats, in particular - envision between themselves and that movement/person. Is it really all that surprising? The event that would really bowl me over is having him win. Electing him president would, to my mind, represent a significant break with the past and a real, monumental achievement. I am bit concerned that Dem's are settling for this (comparatively) lesser achievement rather than the big one out of an unexpressed fear that they'll lose another general election. And this is a frightening possibility. In fact, I'm so concerned that I am going to do something that I've never done before - encourage all my friends in blue states* to squeeze your budget and donate to his campaign.

*'Cause if you're in a purple state, you could go out and campaign in person!

seeing-red county

2008-08-24T22:50:00.007-05:00

With our one-year anniversary behind us, I'm beginning to feel like we can settle into living in Orange County. We've met some great people (indeed, recently, some more moved in practically next door). I should remember, though, not to get too comfortable here in Red County.* Moved by misunderstanding, fear, or bigotry, some locals do the craziest things.

To wit, a parent recently upbraided the San Juan Capistrano School District for allowing its principal and teachers to run Marco Forster Middle School like (in her words) a "Mexican public school." A majority of students have Latino backgrounds and many can speak Spanish. They do so at school (in-between classes) which letter-writer McCarthy says ostracizes monolingual students - like her children - and also breaks California law mandating "English only" in the state's flailing schools. Her concern even extends to "Hispanic children" themselves. She notes that allowing students to speak Spanish insulates them from mainstream American culture by preventing them from, in her words again, "assimilating." Here, of course, is the buzzword heralded by nativists for more than a century. "They" are not turning into "us". So, while McCarthy says "the English language has become second and not as important;" she thinks "I am threatened by the unfamiliar" therefore it must (at least outwardly) conform to my sense of me. There is no compromise or accommodation in this world view.

Significantly, Marco Forster students are quite familiar with mainstream American culture of the variety McCarthy references. The school mural that elicited her contempt for featuring a Mexican flag (along with the U.S. flag) is the product of student endeavor. In 1994, after nativists left offensive fliers in the lockers of 12-14 year old kids (!), students created this mural - featuring Benito Juarez - as a tribute to human rights but also as a positive symbol of Mexican-American blending. It is telling that McCarthy chose to attack precisely this image. When seeing red, she could see little else.

This incident prompts me to wonder if it is possible to communicate with such a seemingly-intractable mind-set? Can someone like this see examples of cultural (and social and linguistic) convergence as anything but a threat? Do I need to set my sights - and expectations - lower? If so, this might make settling in here more difficult.

*Orange County has the distinction of being home to the largest, per capita, population of registered Republicans. (This can make one pine for the days when being "red" meant something quite different.)

short list*

2008-08-14T18:11:00.007-05:00

I'm on week number two with my new, short haircut and I love it. Some reasons why it is so great:
-no more blanket on my shoulders in the summer heat,
-I have achieved the 5-minute shower,
-use less shampoo (lots less),
-my hair no longer falls down in front of my face (I used to hate that),
-it better suits my mood**: when I'm struggling with a particular section, I can work my hair up straight on end.

Drawbacks:
-it can stick straight out when I don't want it to,
-more frequent cuts which means this haircut will hold out as long as my budget does.

*This is my take on KFR's list suggestion (from a while back).
**My dad approvingly commented that this cut is a little more "energetic" than the previous version. (That's the effect I had in mind.)

New view:

'sleigh bells ring'

2008-08-10T00:17:00.004-05:00

I finally have my conference (and paper) behind me and not a deadline until March. (The conference was brief but great for me; I got to hear SJ give a wonderful paper!)

I can see the months stretch out in front of me and I've mapped out the next deadlines. On our way to Montana, we stopped in TrackTown where we had the rare treat of seeing people that we get to see not often enough. I also met with Adviser - so I could check in on that last chapter I gave her (ahem, the first chapter). Anyway, I came away a bit crest-fallen. My plan of draft, revise, defend, and graduate by June is a brilliant scheme that she doesn't share. She advised me to shoot for next June to have the full draft in and then spend the next year revising. (Math calculator: That is a finish date of June 2010 - or 20010, for that matter.) I was also advised that the process will take three or four rounds of revisions - three or four rounds! Instead of crazy busy for the next ten months, I saw crazy busy for twenty-two. Ugh.

So, I've decided to see what I can do to speed things up. My goal: full draft by Christmas. That would be the best Christmas present I have ever given myself. Do you hear the Christmas music? Me neither, which is fine by me because I need all the time I can get.

cake, sweet

2008-08-01T23:07:00.004-05:00

I happened upon this website - Cake Wrecks - last night and must recommend it. I laughed so hard, I had tears in my eyes. The cakes were funny (see 6/27 and 6/24) and then I started reading the commentary. This is entertaining too (both posts for 7/4, for example). (I'm so curious about the wedding that went with the cake from 6/24 - look at it close-up.) Maybe I should note that I am a huge cake fan - they all look good (except the one from 6/16, that was too much even for me). What a great use for a blog.

Guess who has a half-written conference paper in her lap and absolutely no motivation?

news roll...

2008-07-31T20:01:00.003-05:00

I can't decide if I'm glad we weren't at home for Tuesday's earthquake or not. It was the biggest quake since 1994, so I'm pleased to have avoided the experience. But now I wish I were home for the clean-up. I have visions of disaster awaiting us at the end of our long drive (perhaps made worse by its want for attention).

On a more light-hearted side, I received this link today. (These innovative young entrepreneurs are relatives of mine.) Who knew hell's angels were kool-aid junkies?

sojourn

2008-07-29T13:58:00.008-05:00

We are almost at the end of our Montana sojourn. In a few short days, we'll reluctantly head back to the land-of-endless-summer. In my book, this month has been the best of our summer.

Young S has enjoyed countless days with her grandparents and her aunt - as well as their dog (who may have been the highlight of her stay). R and I retreated to our temporary office to work. And I learned how to write for a straight eight hours. (well, I did stop for lunch.)

Funny, I longed to get away from this place when I was a teen. But I've discovered that Hometown has some redeeming qualities (apart from the presence of family). Not the least of these is the "knowledge factor" - I seem to know someone wherever I go. This is particularly comforting when it comes to young S. Here, I was able to find great kid things for her to do on her summer vacation. She went to two camps, had swimming lessons and was in two parades in the past month, among other things. And I knew a "someone" (usually, more than one) in charge of each of those events. We'll all have to readjust to more limited activities, limited work time, a smaller social pool, no backyard, no pets, and no grandparents as the remainder of summer dwindles away. Regardless, our summer sojourn was well worth it.

aaah

2008-07-10T18:36:00.006-05:00

We made it to Montana! It took four days of driving but was well worth it.

Here's the view from the front door (with kiddie pool and tipi):
(The OC has nothing on this.)

More to come....

my bankrupt state

2008-06-21T00:27:00.003-05:00

Summer has begun - not the season, the domestic arrangement. Young S finished her first year of school and is officially a first-grader (oh my!). While the end of the school year completely up-ends my work expectations, this is nothing compared to the hundreds of California teachers who now find themselves without a job. They're not jobless because thousands of schoolkids have disappeared but because my state is bankrupt.

A $16 billion shortfall means that all "social services" get cut. The misnomer "services" refers to the essentials of life: publicly-supported health care, infrastructure, and public education. Somewhere around 24,000 teachers and school staff will be/have been cut. In a couple of months I'll have to report back on what this means for my grade school where young S was in a class of 32 kindergartners. California will certainly retain its distinctive education rating: 51st out of 51 states and the Territory of Puerto Rico in student-to-teacher ratios.

Coincidentally, this very month marks the 30th anniversary of the passage of Proposition 13. That "popular revolt" against increasing residential property taxes deserves much of the credit for struggling, underfunded schools - and schoolkids - in California. And while I sympathize with the currents that brought this about - a state legislature that shifted its revenue source from corporations to individuals - Proposition 13 was a harbinger of the current fiasco (which includes the Governor's zany schemes to fund education with a Wall-Street backed lottery). Californians then and now don't want to pay for the comforts they enjoy (chief among these is the well-regulated interstate system) and they're sadly reluctant to make California industry contribute its part. Too many Californians are focused on the "minutiae of me" and see budget cuts to life's essentials as acceptable so long as it doesn't touch them.*

In this the state's current fiscal woes are indicative of a deeper, moral bankruptcy of toxic individualism. In this fantasy state-of-mind, everyone (also read as "every nuclear family") does her own thing separate from everyone else for her own personal enjoyment/fulfillment, etc. I could cite those lovely hours I have spent on the freeway dodging wild-eyed drivers as evidence of the mentality-of-one (and, of course, the highways are proof of this of themselves - why can't I take the train to get where I want to go? The train doesn't go there.)** Instead, I will offer proof through comparison. I am a fan of public libraries. The last two cities I lived in (in semi-urban Oregon and rural Ohio) both opened grand, new public libraries recently. These impressive edifices house their expanding collections and accommodate an increasing number of patrons. Here in my corner of OC, the public library is tiny - pinned between the Chamber of Commerce and school district offices. Its selection of books is slim, but can be termed solid if I overlook the baby-boomer era children's books which should be removed to an archive. What is more likely, however, is that one of the librarians will be removed; another casualty of budget cuts. This person can join California educators who have also lost their jobs. All these professionals - in whom the state invested so much by educating them - is watching them take their skills and experience to other states less plagued by bankruptcy.

*Note I didn't say all Californians; just too many.
**I can't give this one up that easily. Last week, LA Metro ridership hit an all-time high at 50,000 passengers a day (credited to high gas prices). News bites failed to note that the average daily ridership 70 years ago (before all the track was torn out and paved over) was 200,000.

simple delights

2008-06-17T13:10:00.006-05:00

My sweetie and I marked our fifth anniversary last weekend. We both took the afternoon off so we could celebrate with lunch for two at an imposing French restaurant down the road. (I had the unexpected and unusual experience of feeling relaxed and carefree for a whole afternoon, undoubtedly helped along by the deceptively rich food and wine.) It was so simple and such a perfect way to celebrate. Realizing this served as a gentle reminded not only of the many simple delights we've shared but of the simple joy of sharing them with my sweet heart!

spring blue

2008-06-10T11:44:00.006-05:00

June already?

Even though I'm not teaching (and I'm no where near my home department), I'm experiencing the late spring-term blues. That desire to close the books, get outside and spend, say, a few precious hours thinking about something less demanding and less draining. Maybe this is sympathy, or maybe it's cyclical - spring is always a low energy point. (Though I suspect, it's not just spring - feeling exhausted and behind and occasionally morose is a trade standard.) The trouble is that I have no break to look forward to. The process just goes on and on and on. (In a particularly wicked twist, I set my own deadlines.) This serves to deepen the blue. All is not lost though. My "spring" will come to a close in July when I get a much-needed change of scenery rather than a true end-of-the-term. We're planning on motoring up to see the fam in Montana. This doesn't constitute a true vacation since we're bartering grandchild-time for a regular work week. But it is as close as I'm going get this summer, so I'll take it.

In the meantime, I'll try to reinvigorate that late-term holding pattern that got me through so many a spring term. Amazingly, the weather in southern Cal seems to be on board with my spring blues. It has offered up a week of cloudy mornings. So unseasonable. And so distasteful to the locals. Ah. Nothing improves the blues like sharing them.

surpises

2008-05-22T23:35:00.004-05:00

We got some unexpected rain today. I loved it. It was cool and drippy all afternoon with no puddles. Then we got some thunder and lightning (even more of a rarity). And - in the next county just over the hills - tornadoes.

I think I figured out how to open my chapter. I believe I hit upon the way to bring all the movements together to get to the really cool and interesting stuff. (I was stuck on the interweaving of labor migration, an imperial political economy, and citizenship - and Glenn and Lowe weren't quite doing enough for me.) I did this on scant sleep (S had a bad dream last night). Small surprises are good.

Yesterday my former "home state" allocated their party votes to Obama. I fondly recalled when I used to vote-by-mail. What an easy, convenient system. Interestingly, the next big primary is in Puerto Rico - roughly the size of the two states that voted yesterday (63 delegates to Oregon's 65 and Kentucky's 60). Funny though, these will be the only votes Puerto Ricans get to cast for president (unless they all hop on over to the mainland and register in time - could they swing Florida?) I can't help but note the eerie similarities between Puerto Rican's current federal "citizenship" and their colonial subjecthood from one hundred years prior (ditto to Guamanians - 9 delegates - and Virgin Islanders - also 9). My point? Some things just aren't surprising.

on sources and such

2008-05-13T22:30:00.006-05:00

Still mucking my way through sources. In my assessment, I'm in them way beyond the elbows; up the the armpits definitely. In fact, I have had to turn my head to the side – to avoid drowning in my sources. As a result, I have developed a crimp in my neck. And my fingers are getting pruney.

Most recently, I've been reading stories covering anti-Filipino race riots (circa 1930). The U.S. Filipino papers describe the perpetrators as "flaming youths." My referent for this adjective is very contemporary and linked to discussions of sexuality. But the OED tells me that 1920's usage referred to the "unrestrained behavior" of the young. I wish the newspaper editors had intended another twenties' meaning - the profane epithet. Then again, language is slippery and surely I can slip this meaning in too.

I plan to scurry back to my mucking thanks to Perspectives (and RT) which informs me that the average time to a history PhD is ten years!! More surprising, over half of doctoral students never complete their degrees. I plan to join the ranks of the completed (where my degree and a dollar will get me a cuppa).

Before closing, I wanted to share this pic. Several weeks ago S and I went to USC to do some paid research. (Well, I did the research, S sat in high-back leather chair at a huge, polished research table and watched a movie). Anyway, I found some wonderful images that basked in the light of day and refused to go back into their folders.
This is M. Monks, defiant in the face of police inspectors who wanted to extradite her to San Diego (for allegedly writing bad checks; she moved on to greater notoriety).

Happy digging to my fellow dissertators - and congrats to one in particular!

occupational hazards

2008-05-05T21:39:00.004-05:00

I am tapped. I had to wind down (my admittedly short) workday early today. I was all out of pluck. I tried shifting from reading, reading, reading to writing and I stared at the screen for half an hour. I've been reading newspapers - ten years worth of newspapers - and the last two years are killing me. I'm overwhelmed with information. My head is literally spinning - that is, as I sit here typing my head feels like a top wobbling on my neck right before it topples to the side.

I won't go into the psychosis I'm developing as a result of my isolated and focused occupation, but I should mention that I think I'm developing a vulture neck. I bow my head to read books, photocopies, and my laptop; I rarely look straight ahead. I can feel this in the base of my neck. Beware. I'll look different when next you see me.*

I'm also developing a condition I call "dissertator's elbow." Most of the day, my left elbow sits on the desk or is pinned under my forearm which supports my chin (as I amble on to something or other). It is becoming nicely red and inflamed.

While I think I was prepared for this phase of professionalization, I didn't anticipate the injuries that go along with it.

*yeah, that's the neck.

TOTALLY UNRELATED ADDENDUM: Have you been following the Democratic primary? Check out this great story by Betsy Reed (at The Nation).

desiccating

2008-04-27T23:05:00.006-05:00

Whew! We just weathered our second 100-degree weekend in April. Those infamous Santa Ana winds that caused Malibu - and some other places - to burn last October are back. Actually, they never went away. I was totally unprepared for the persistence of the wind, the heat and the desert climate. It is uncomfortably hot and dry here. (Something that is not conductive to hours of mental work.)

In this weather, I prefer to sit in front of a fan eating soft service ice cream, but have had no such luck. Some advantages to such weather in this region is easy access to the beach and nighttime temperatures below 60. We all took to the beach on Saturday. I decided I prefer 100 degrees of dry California to 90 degrees of humid Ohio. I don't want to imply that I prefer 100 degrees of dry Californians, because they are simply wacky. I noticed that in this weather they do a lot of leaving family members (like spouses, youngish children) in their running cars. Not just for a minute, but for half an hour or more while they get groceries or shop. I just can't believe that this saves fuel (as in, don't have to cool off the car again); I think they do it because it makes Driver more comfortable to run from fully air-conditioned store to fully air-conditioned car. While I could wax on about wimpishness or self-conceit, I will chose another high road which is to point out that gas is averaging 3.86 per gallon.

Ok, I'm going to crawl back to my jigsaw puzzle and sweat it out.

crackerjack!

2008-04-18T17:53:00.010-05:00

I just finished drafting my "chapter one"! Ye-ha!

I can't do a crackerjack (others label it, uninterestingly, a 'heel click'), but I will have to learn how because now is a perfect time to execute one. (This is something I'm sure E can do; perhaps she will teach me how?) I made myself wrap it up today a few days beyond the deadline I imposed on myself weeks ago. And you know, the deadline worked for me; it is good to be done with stuff.

I can't say that this draft is the pristine, complete version I want to go into the final dissertation. (And I have to admit that I continue to struggle with the desire to fuss and modify it.) But it is in a condition that I would present to Advisor - a prospect that fills me with some anxiety even though she is a most generous critic. I would say that the chapter, as it currently stands, contributes the point that colonial citizenship did exist in the U.S. and that it has a long, distinguished career.

While I'm at it, I really must acknowledge Cabiria who confirmed my suspicion that two MajorPoints was too much for one chapter to contain. (Thanks!) I split them up which now allows me to claim that one is complete. I should also acknowledge Lindt chocolates for giving me that extra boost in the evenings (after little S had gone to bed) when I didn't think I could go on. :)

Overall, this last haul made my brain numb and made me tense enough to keep away sleep (nothing new there). I hope to rest up a bit over the next month and a half or so. My next deadline is the first of June.

The crakerjack king:

thoughts from the grind

2008-04-12T23:38:00.006-05:00

I recently received my “decline to fund” letter from BigHumanitiesFellowship; it was brief and to the point. It included the stock points: lots of applicants to chose from, tough decision, best of luck, etc. I am not disappointed by the outcome. It was a long shot and I got a lot out of the process of putting together a chapter and staking my future to the overall ‘contribution.’*

The only real disappointment was the letter itself. Considering how much time we all put into this I would have like more than unremarkable stock phrases. Left to my druthers, I wanted something like “your application made it to X round and we thought it needed to be stronger in [stating the contribution/identifying sources/explaining the methodology/relevance to our foundation’s mission].” Or even “we thought this was really promising and in a pinch we chose another project because we just liked it better.” I can sympathize with this position; sometimes these things just come down to personal preference.**

This line of thinking led me to consider the dark underbelly of these competitions. Where available, I’ve looked over the projects (and people) FellowshipFoundations have funded and I couldn’t help but notice that, well, they really love themselves an academic pedigree. A clear majority of FellowshipWinners get degrees from BigEasternSchools – IVs, even. There is generally a BigSouthern or BigWestern school in the mix. Overall, such prizes tend to stay in the already well-off “family.” I don’t imply that BigEasternSchools aren’t worthy of BigHumanitiesFellowships, but considering the interconnection between FellowshipFoundations, BigEasternSchools, and money, I can’t help but wonder if, in a pinch, the committees just turn to what they know – a familiar pedigree.*** Looking at the process from this angle (that of the dark underbelly), it has the grotesque scars of bias written all over it. This would be quite disappointing.

With these considerations in mind, I’ve decided to go with the first theory rather than the gloomy one. And to plug along at the quickest pace I can muster.

*This seems to have already paid off with a recommendation from someone I don’t know to participate in a conference I should go to.

**though how anyone could not prefer my project is inconceivable. :)

***this supposition was reinforce to me last week when one DissertatingBuddy said she was glad she was a historian (and working with BigNameAdvisor) because other disciplines – she has heard – generally evaluate prospective hires based on their university while historians look to who you worked with. (And, I would add, what you’ve done.)

another new discovery & liquid gold

2008-04-07T20:52:00.003-05:00

I think I might be emerging from technological vacuum because I made yet another cool discovery recently. A few days ago, while I was planning my trip to the Huntington, I tried tracking my route on google maps. Have you all discovered the "street view" function? Well, I just caught up. It is fabulous for this car-culture region. I could see what my destination looked like. Ok. So go to google maps and type in "Orlando Rd and S. Allen Ave, San Marino, Ca." Click on street view. Then, make sure to turn your virtual self all the way around. Can you get into the Huntington?

Ok, so at the same time that I think this is awesome for driving (and for walking), I did find it a bit creepy. Do I really want just anyone who can access my address to know exactly where I live - and oh, maybe, what I look like as I sit in my front window? Not at all.

Also, I was interested to see that cities like Portland and Spokane have "street view" but Seattle doesn't? What's up with that?

And, as my totally random closing, I did make my way to the Huntington, but before I could get home I had to purchase some of the most precious liquid gold I've ever burned in my internal-combustion engine. It was $3.80 a gallon! (Ok, it was actually $3.799/gallon.) More important, can anyone beat that? This is an omen, isn't it? The end must surely be in sight.

belated observance

2008-04-05T23:49:00.002-05:00

"All labor has dignity.... You are reminding, not only Memphis, but you are reminding the nation that it is a crime for people to live in this rich nation and receive starvation wages. And I need not remind you that this is our plight as a people all over America."

I offer this contribution to the iconography of his memory in order to alter the icon and revive the message.

our break

2008-04-02T00:08:00.004-05:00

My little Pixie had Spring Break last week. I didn't; she did. She also didn't want to go to daycare so we compromised - she went in the morning (which gave me two golden hours to work) and was home by lunch. Overall, "our break" was good.

The highlights included haircuts for both of us - her first in professional hands. Her hair looked wonderful and I realized that I should have given up hair-cutting responsibilities some time ago. We washed the car. We "had lunch" with Shamu whose likeness came to OC for a visit - along with some penguins, ibex, and a sea otter. We also visited the arboretum and shopped for tap shoes. I think it was these last things that broke me. Spring Break was going great until I heaped animals-at-lunch, sun, and shopping upon the child in a single afternoon. Never again.

Happily most of our outings (and non-outings) were accompanied by music. S has been watching the movie Annie over and over and the songs are sinking in. My favorite was catching little snippets of her rendition of "it's a hard-knock life."

And here she is with a friend.

Break over.

my new discovery

2008-03-30T22:20:00.003-05:00

Just a quick note on how fabulous YouTube is: some of the talks, sessions, and this keynote address (by President Nell Irvine Painter) at last week's OAH are on the Tube. (For my pocketbook, this is the next best thing to being there.)

basketweaving

2008-03-18T20:17:00.006-05:00

In my museum days, I got to work with lots of cool, old stuff. Like Pacific Northwest baskets:
I developed an appreciation for this art - plant fibers, natural dyes, and an impressive amount of skill, memorization, and practice to pull one off. Some were paper thin. Others were woven so tight, they could hold water!

Over the past week (or more) as I've been tapping away at my computer, I've been thinking about weaving - stories rather than baskets. But the analogy is spot on. Actually, I've been agonizing about stories, their meanings, their narration, and how to weave them together. This dissertation-writing thing is a daunting process. (I have a better understanding of why so many people stop at this point.) Nevertheless, I'm still very happy with my topic; in fact, it gets better the more I work on it. Sometimes I marvel that I have stumbled upon such fascinating (and poignant) stories. This quickly leads me to feeling completely unequal to the task of writing them. I often wonder if these events, these people, and their stories are too important to be left in my inexperienced hands. Such thoughts dissipate with the arrival of my tuition bill, and I return to the complicated process of weaving. I would say that what I have created (up to now) has the shape and substance that this type of weaving project should. The shape is recognizable; the weave is BIG, as are some of the gaps. My weaving is coming together even if it can't yet hold water and even if it doesn't yet have any attractive patters like these*:

Unlike the Quinault (woman) who wove this basket from the bottom up, I can go back and rework any section I want. This is a consoling reminder as I struggle through the delights and disappointments of weaving.

*(I can't help but point out that, if you look at the top picture, you'll see that the pattern on the outside is invisible inside the basket!)

mind-wander

2008-03-13T11:20:00.004-05:00

I may be suffering from over-fatigue, but I'm inclined to think that my inability to wrap my mind around recent developments is not a problem on my part. I'm having trouble understanding:

why a NY governor, with aspirations to be US attn gen., would spend $80,000 to purchase sex and think that this would have no bearing on his political career. And, then, why he would come out and say "I'm really bummed I got caught" and "I really wish that I hadn't gotten caught; getting caught messes up all my grand plans." (At least, that's all I heard.)
why the Wife of the cowed and disgraced stands silently "by his side" during the I-wish-I-hadn't-gotten-caught speech. This must be performative, but I just can't understand the larger value. (We should organize a press conference just for her.)
why a presidential candidate (who presents herself as the "anti-Republican") goes along with the fantasy of "reverse racism" and allows her supporter to present an opponent as a token candidate. (Under this logic aren't she and her supporter also merely tokens?)
why the same candidate would label as "fair" a primary election where her opponent did not appear on the ballot. Such an assessment diminishes the credibility of said candidate as an international leader who will purportedly "protect" democratic rights (until, apparently, the abrogation of such rights works in her political favor. Huh?)
why this same presidential candidate has decided to squander all the good will I harbored for her through the two preceding developments (something that has tipped my scales from "slightly-more support" for the opponent to "full and unwavering").
why reporters insist on pecking at the same candidate's qualifications in foreign policy. My favorite are the questions about peace in Northern Ireland which go something like this: "Let me get this right: you were part of the peace process as a Wife?" "Wives of presidents don't really have any political viability - especially in the important work of international peace. [and then to make it a question:] Isn't that diplomats' [men's] work?" "You really didn't matter in the peace talks because you were a women-, I mean, a Wife, did you?" And if they really pushy, they ask "you're just a Wife, who the hell do you think you are?"

The fact that I'm mulling these things over is definitely a sign of fatigue and the mind-wandering that comes with it.

So here's something that I do understand. I've had enough of the music I listen to over and over while I work. I need some new tunes. I listen to music without words or with words that I cannot understand (this helps stave off the mind-wandering). For example, I've been listening to movie soundtracks, classical, 'new age,' Brazilian, and Cuban. They're wonderful but they're also getting tired out and I need to add something new to the mix. So, what have you got for me?*

*(I'm willing to take samples over e-mail.)

on academica & mendicancy

2008-03-11T22:52:00.002-05:00

"Please, sir, my I have some funding?"

That 'bout sums it up.

Best of luck to my fellow mendicants.

law of belligerent occupation

2008-03-05T00:20:00.004-05:00

In general, I avoid gut-wrenching posts. But this document I ran across begged me to be released from its binding and set out into the world (again). I offer it to Mukasey for (further) consideration and to you as evidence of a dishearteningly long trend in U.S. history. (In fairness, I should note that descriptions like this soured Americans on war in Southeast Asia - a least for a few decades.)

What follows is a description of the "water cure" for Philippine independence (a "malady" that had produced a Philippine Constitution and a Republic that lived for two short years):

“the water cure is plain hell. The native is thrown upon the ground, and, while his legs and arms are pinioned, his head is raised partially so as to make pouring in the water an easier matter. An attempt to keep the mouth closed is of no avail; a bamboo stick or a pinching of the nose will produce the desired effect. And now the water is poured in, and swallow the poor wretch must or strangle. A gallon of water is much, but it is followed by a second and a third. By this time the victim is certain his body is about to burst. But he is mistaken, for a fourth or even a fifth gallon are poured in. By this time the body becomes an object frightful to contemplate: and the pain agony.[*] While in this condition, speech is impossible; and so the water must be squeezed out of him. This is sometimes allowed to occur naturally but is sometimes hastened by pressure, and ‘sometimes we jump on them to get it out quick,’ said a young solider to me with a smile…. Does it seem possible that cruelty could further go? And what must we think of the fortitude of the native when we learn that many times the ‘cure’ is twice given ere the native yields? I heard of one who took it three times, and died.”
*generally the stomachs of victims became grossly distended by these gallons of water.

From Recto, The Law of Belligerent Occupation (1946), 344-5.

recap

2008-02-26T01:14:00.004-05:00

I got to see a lot of my extended family over the last weekend. And the weekend overall turned out to be very nice. These people inspire in me loyalty, love, astonishment, and fear. By-passing all that, here are the top three comments directed at me over the weekend:
-"How do you like living in Orange County?" (Delivered along with tense smile which intoned "is is possible to live in Orange County?")
-"Are you going to have another baby?" (I get this one all the time and as of yet they don't find my reply satisfying - which is that my dissertation is the 'child' I'm currently nurturing.)
-"That bar was amazing!"

That's right. I grew up within striking distance of a bar that GQ magazine* rated as the best bar in the world!??
*(who cares what GQ thinks; I say it is remarkable.)

If you're ever on I-90 headed across Montana then you have to stop at the Sip n Dip.** It is a totally random 'tiki' bar in the middle of the mid-West (in a town that is mid-western in every sense of the word).
**(You will need to stop because there's not a lot on I-90 between Fargo and Seattle.)

Here's the pics. This place appears to be an inferno waiting to happen (lights strung through 40-year old raffia). Pat plays a vicious piano bar (we heard "Ring of Fire"). They serve fish bowl mixed drinks and employ a mermaid to swim around behind the bar. Simply - Amazing.

last salute

2008-02-20T00:26:00.006-05:00

Little S and I are heading out tomorrow for my parent's house and I can't wait. I've been there mentally since Saturday when they called to tell me that my grandmother was no more of this world. This wasn't a surprise, but still it is sad.

I wrote the obit over the weekend which was cathartic and annoying. Newspapers are so parsimonious; I struggled to reduce the breadth of ninety-four years into trite and dry lines of text. I can say, with a certain degree of glee, that I think I failed. I tried to turn a long life of experiences into "just the facts." Thus, she became "well-known" for gregariousness and ready laughter and even "renown" - among her grandchildren - for outsmarting their childish pranks. But I couldn't work in my favorite anecdote that I will regale you with (both of you). My great-uncle knew my grandma and all of her sisters well (there were nine altogether) and he said each of the Charvet girls was a general in her own right - smart, capable, and, most definitely, in charge. But, he added, out of all the girls, Henrietta, "she was the generalissimo."

So, if you're out over the weekend, I hope you'll tip a glass with me in memory of the generalissimo.

sighting

2008-02-12T00:28:00.000-05:00

I recently ventured out of my cave. Like any caged animal, I was cautious and timid and a bit unwilling to leave. I gradually re-called my frolicsome past and enjoyed my time in the sun - before becoming overwhelmed and exhausted by the outside world. Now, I have returned to the familiar security - and confines - of my cave.

Some observations derived from my time on the outside:
-Salt Lake City is quite lovely in the winter
-a one-hour time (zone) change is enough to induce sleep deprivation (likewise getting up for events at 8 AM). Sleep deprivation feels like a hangover.
-the big "P" always offers sound advice. P told me to get out of the cave and go to SLC. I went prepared for an experience similar to last year. But the people I met there were great. They talked about real problems (historic and current) and, for the most part, real solutions.
-I did not forget my social skills during my months in the cave, but I may over-compensate for my lack of interaction when on the outside. Be warned.
-Hailani-Kay Trask is a rock star. I heard her talk on colonialism, Hawai'ian liberation and political activism (while she noted that "post-modernity is just a [useless] magic show"). She was inspiring.
-Linda Tuhiwai Te Rena Smith - also a rock star.
-I am doing work that other people actually find interesting!
-the sick feeling I had during the week prior to my outing was not just the stomach flu (which I really did have thanks to 5-year old). It was - in part - anxiety. R tells me this doesn't go away until the defense. I can't live with it for that long. Take pity on this creature-in-the-cave and share with me your relaxation strategies. Please.

too soon to count down?

2008-01-20T23:08:00.000-05:00

I know it’s too early to celebrate - but how about to count down?

I’m not doing the snoopy dance. Not yet. I’m only envisioning myself doing the snoopy dance one year from today when the secret service escorts his lame ass* out of the white house forever. Can you see it? I can – and sometimes that image makes me smile.

*you know who I mean - the MADD magazine poster-boy.

mice

2008-01-19T01:24:00.000-05:00

Some of you may have noticed that the primary season has begun. It makes me go to extremes – either I am hooked to debates, repulsed by the bald-faced lies, or extremely disillusioned with the whole stinking process.

Among all the tidbits and tangential stories I’ve heard, the thing I'm most struck by – so far – is what a bunch of cowering mice so many Americans have become. Today, NPR ran this story on how residents of Lancaster County, South Carolina, are coping with the close of their largest employer. I was disheartened to hear how they responded to being fired with a couple of days notice (their former employer presently dismantled the machinery to ship off to Brazil). They sat back and took it. Many made references to a higher power and to faith. God, I guess, wants them to be unemployed? Admittedly, they have few options (although conflagration of the remaining distribution warehouse jumps to mind). But the option they chose lets the company off the hook and chalks this up to “no one’s fault.”

They're not alone. I’m also reading Ehrenreich on white-collar unemployment/underemployment (somewhere around 15% of the workforce) and she observes the same thing. People are so desperate to find a new job that they don’t care about the business (and economic and social) trends that got them there. What I want to know is what happened to their courage, their indignity? Why is there no roar of opposition? Did it dissipate along with post-war consumerism? Is the fact that we have no concerted counter to these trends due to three generations of (relatively) strong employment? Is this because of FDR? Did the New Deal – and aftermath – make us think that a strong executive wheeling the power of *GOVERNMENT* would protect us? What happened to these people? I don't (can't) believe they've always been like this.

(On a lighter note, view this ad for "new Bush coins.")

dicey

2008-01-15T13:45:00.000-05:00

I am in the middle of performing surgery. Operating on this patient is particularly agonizing because I created it from nothing. It began as an endlessly blank expanse on my computer screen. Over the past 24 months, I have given it shape and substance. Five months ago, it spoke for the first time.* I was reaching contentment with my creation. But surgeons with more skill than me pointed out ways to improve the circulation, the modus operandi, and, most important, the fecundity of my creature. So, with a cautious hand, I cut.

This surgery is a very delicate procedure involving the removal of a small (yet significant) part of the major contribution from the lower extremities and stitching it into the upper extremities - among the methodology and state-of-the-field - where there is, as of yet, no place for it. The challenges involved in this procedure is creating an opening big enough to fit in major contribution without disrupting the other major organs. Moreover, removing major contribution will leave a not insignificant gap - one that may impair necessary movement in the lower extremities. I'm planning to fill it with amended contribution. That will flow just as nicely into the concluding significance as major contribution did and allow my patient to engage in its former activities once again. And while no sign of the major surgery will be visible, I am, as of yet, uncertain if this altered creation will bear fruit. Keep your fingers crossed!

*Fortunately, it hasn't taken on a life of its own.

new is old

2008-01-07T14:33:00.000-05:00

I realized last week that I don't really like the new year. Something about the supposed "end" of the year seems too final to me. I wasn't ready for it to end. I have a mental list of things I wanted to do and the end of the year gives me the impression that the chance to do them has passed.

I also realized that I'm not looking forward to this year. I have this one, always-present goal (to finish the D) and that won't happen this year. My big plan - to finish by June '09 - seems like a reasonable amount of time for working this out, but the prospect of a full year of writing with no big huzzah during that time is a little discouraging. I need to devise a system of small rewards. Hummm.

I have to admit that returning to the unrelenting grind is difficult. (It relented while S was out of school; she returned today.) What I really want to do is lounge around and watch my new movie - Goonies! Fortunately, I pick up some new tea at TJ's and it packs a punch. So, Irish breakfast will lead me back to my computer and may even inspire the narrative turn that will win me a pat on the head from my department. Ugh. No wonder I lack motivation.

I'll leave you with this gem from Lewis Lapham introducing his editorial (in the Jan '08 issue of Harper's) - one I highly recommend reading:
"For politicians not only represent us.... They are, as a group, the hardest working professionals; they must continuously learn new masses of facts, make judgements, give help, and continue to please. It is this obligation, of course, that makes them look unprincipled. To please and do another's will is prostitution, but it remains the nub of the representative system." - Jaques Barzun

Enjoy the show!

feast

2007-12-17T13:12:00.000-05:00

Perhaps quite obviously, one of my favorite things about "the holidays" is good food. In my family, there were more cooks in the kitchen at this time of year because there were more and different things to prepare. Delicious standards (like garlic bread) and rare treats (eggnog pie) emerged from the commotion of the kitchen only to land at a table whose company was equally as bustling. I've recently realized that my fond memories of holiday feasts stemmed as much from the good company as the good eats.

S and I just returned from a visit to Oregon where we feasted on the delights of reconnecting with friends we hadn't seen in far too long. The phone and e-mail are good, but I really enjoy face-to-face conversation (and all the subtleties of expression that come with it). S and I have had the good fortune to come to know some pretty remarkable people. Seeing many of them in only a few days was like overeating at a wonderful, long holiday feast. At its end, we were contentedly exhausted and ready to return for more. (One of the few drawbacks to this trip was the absence of C and those Santa Cruz people.)

So, if you're going somewhere in the next week or so (and even if you're not), I wish all of you great feasts.

flicks

2007-12-08T23:13:00.000-05:00

I saw Sicko a few days ago and enjoyed it very much. I was appalled; I was saddened but it also made me laugh. I appreciate Moore's sarcasm, sense of irony and injustice, and his use of juxtaposition in telling this story. (The only beat he missed was when he explained how Western European countries developed nation-wide health care following World War II; he didn't explain that they did so on U.S. tax dollars thanks to the Marshall plan. This is an irony that I'm sure Moore have included if he had had it in hand.)

The best line from the movie came from a young couple taking their newborn home from a British hospital: "This isn't America" followed by laughter. It's brilliant; you can see it here.

My point is that I've seen a lot of good flicks, most of which were recommended by the lovely people whose blogs are here on the right. I enjoyed Atomic Cafe and Thank you for Smoking, and City of Men is in the queue. The holiday lull is fast approaching, so what other great flicks can you recommend to me?

my mom sent me this

2007-12-02T00:15:00.001-05:00

...to ease my mind.
And, so far, it has worked.

yum

2007-11-24T23:50:00.000-05:00

We are still enjoying our turkey-day feast- all three of us. When you make the whole Thanksgiving dinner for three, it lasts. But not as long as I thought. We're running low on stuffing/dressing and I admit that's my fault. I love stuffing. Year after year, it is the highlight of my Thanksgiving dinner and I always take seconds. It is such an odd food - admittedly, all parts of a Thanksgiving dinner are strange. How does stale bread, spices, butter, onions, and celery become such a wonderful treat? Anyway, during one of my post-stuffing carbohydrate-induced dazes, I wondered what you all think of dinner - what's your favorite part (if you can narrow it down to one)?

characters

2007-11-17T00:20:00.000-05:00

and. . . . done. Whew.

I finished my grant applications and I got them in. The grants I applied for were all on-line which made it easy to upload my stuff at the last minute (actually I had about 15) instead of finding a printer and then flying off to the post office. The one major drawback to the application process was that they limited my response to some questions by the character - including spaces! I spent far too much time searching for a shorter word, like "study" - or better yet "work" - instead of "dissertation."

One of the applications asked for a "personal narrative" which was pleasantly narcissistic for the first hour. Then, it just became tedious. How may different ways can I say I'm desperate for money - in 2000 characters?

Now that these ap's are in I should take a day off but I can't because I'm tired and when I'm tired I have a hard time managing my anxiety/sleeplessness. So, I still feel an urgency to plug away at another chapter. I hope this next week will break me of the stress/fatigue. There's turkey in store and we've installed window-darkening curtains in the kid's room (she decided that 5:45 - when the sun comes streaming in her window - was a good time to get up for the day, ugh).

history

2007-11-08T17:26:00.000-05:00

Many years ago I read this smart and innovative history - The Technology of Orgasm. The author - a historian of science - explained in the preface how her colleagues and academic presses would not take this work seriously and the struggles she went though to get it published. The book jacket listed her as a visiting professor - something I thought was all part of the flack associated with pursuing the study of a taboo topic (assuming, of course, that histories of women, sexuality, and sex were just not "serious" history of science).

I was please to find out I was wrong. I just read this article and discovered that not only was her book an academic success but it is now a documentary.

This is my inspiring, unexpected-victory story for the day.

halloween

2007-11-03T23:44:00.000-05:00

This holiday is so much fun with a kid to share it with. My little "Hermione" made all of our Halloween decorations including this skeleton.

She also planned out and executed the perfect face for this jack o'lantern.

And here's Hermione on the big day demonstrating the use of her wand.

I hope you all had a good holiday!

art, life, finis

2007-10-30T21:00:00.000-05:00

The local county sheriff was indicted today on charges of federal corruption (a classic case of "you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours"). Generally, I pay no particular attention to my county sheriff - in fact, I find it laughable that this place still has one.

Anyway, I noticed this news only because I had seen it before - recently, in fact, in TV land. I happened upon a series months ago about a young woman living in some unidentified - but completely obvious - southern California county inhabited by scads of slovenly rich people living side-by-side with the great masses who worked for them. I think this show was aimed at teens because the central figure was in high school, but the writers overshot their audience. I liked it not just because the central character is very clever and is an ass-kicker. I also liked it for being very dark and because every plot seemed to turn on the great disparity between the "haves" and the "have-nots." The former always preserved their unmerited advantages and the local, yokel sheriff backed them up. It was pleasantly unrelenting - which made me hope that it was a huge hit among its target audience. Alas, it wasn't. The show got the ax this season. I seem to always find entertainment at its final moments. I will have to find solace for my frustrations with this place by watching previous seasons on DVD.

(Oh, the show was Veronica Mars)

blows hard

2007-10-24T23:22:00.000-05:00

The Santa Ana winds make for an eerie October. At this time of year, I am used to winds with cool weather and falling leaves. But Santa Ana winds are incredibly dry, dusty, hot and, now, filled with soot and ash. They suck the moisture out of everything and have pushed temperatures into the upper 90s all week. There is a thin layer of grit everywhere in the house; there is ash in the air; and everyone is sick from the smoke and from breathing this dry, dry air.

Last weekend, weather reports foretold of the winds and the tinderbox they would whip up. And, lo, with the first gusts Sunday morning came news of canyon fires. In fact, all day on Sunday, every local news source delivered blow-by-blow accounts of the Malibu fire to the exclusion of all else. Over the course of the day I came to despise the media. Admittedly, it was awful that residents were evacuated and some even lost their homes. But the sympathy the media tried to extract for these "refugees" was obscene. It didn't work. These people aren't me; I can't identify. They live in multi-million dollar trophy homes that they decided to build out in some ocean-front canyon so they could live far, far from the rest of us. Reporters failed to mention these people wouldn't seek refuge in a public school gym, a church or the YMCA because they could flee to another multi-million dollar trophy home and arrange for their multi-million dollar insurance payout.

Malibu was the only fire any of us could get information on until Monday evening - when we discovered that a quarter of a million people had been evacuated from San Diego and there was a 13,000 acre fire 12 miles away! (This explains the thick smoke and ash hanging in the air all day.) Like everyone else in the region, we got ready to evacuate. Now that most of the danger has passed and reporters have discovered more worthy stories, I'm still annoyed. What faith I had is utterly destroyed. They're such pets of the wealthy.

check

2007-10-21T22:39:00.000-05:00

Being a graduate student at my advanced (though somewhat traditional) age gives me the sense of putting things on hold. Of course, I haven't put everything on hold (to which my family can attest). But this feeling of being on hold contributes to a general sense of urgency. I need to finish so that I can stop paying tuition, so I can find a job, so I can stop throwing money into the black hole that is rented housing. All of these are fine reasons for urgency. Yet, sometimes, I let the urgency to end the "holding" get out of hand. It grows to monstrous, all-consuming proportions.

I realized again today that the day-to-day is not "on hold." Everyone moves on whether I've written another page or not. So, I decided this Sunday to live in the moment (rather than the urgency). I didn't try to squeeze in the source that has momentarily stumped me. Instead, I cut S's hair and then we went out to look for her Halloween costume.*

This, my reality check, doesn't end the general sense urgency, but it contains it and reduces it to more realistic (and livable) proportions.

*After many weeks of consideration - and about a half dozen totally different ideas (ranging from a lizard to a princess to a "kissing snake"), S decided she wants to be Hermione (from HP). This evening, we found a Hogwarts robe and made a wand. (The wand has magic coming out the tip!)

destination

2007-10-14T23:00:00.000-05:00

After leaving Ohio three months ago, we finally arrived in Los Angeles today. And what an arrival it was. We headed straight to Union Station and the old Pueblo de Los Angeles. Along the (rejuvenated)* old Plaza runs Olvera Street where we happened upon an open-air market. Olvera was decked out for dia de los muertos and the market included vendors of appetizing plates, all manner of decoration, and dancers and live music. It had all the visual and aural elements that seduce an "urban-phile" like myself.

Since we were in a real downtown, we walked around a bit and wandered into Little Tokyo. This place fascinates me and I can't wait to return. (Among other little tidbits that will keep me coming back is a time-line embedded into the sidewalk documenting the commercial and domestic history of each building.)

Our experience made me think that there is a reason to live in/near Los Angeles; and one could find a rationale for remaining here for some time. There are aspects to this city (admittedly, historic aspects) that save it from becoming dully predictable and stale. I think I will survive life in my entirely unremarkable corner of Orange County with a downtown like this one close-by.

*This renewal occurred under questionable circumstances where certain (white) Angeleans decided to "celebrate" the Hispanic origins of the Pueblo over its Mexican roots.

(Even though I lack a reliable camera and the photographic genius of E, I had to share these 'urbvana' vistas of Union Station, from the plaza, and Olvera Street.)

fêtes

2007-10-10T11:48:00.000-05:00

We are in the eye of the birthday storm. Last week both my sweeties had birthdays. R was first then S turned five a couple of days ago. And mine is coming up next week. This gives us just enough time to finish the cakes from the first two before heading in for more treats. (Coincidentally, we're all Libras.)

Even though the big mouse is a mere 10 minutes away, we drove almost 30 miles to take S to the aquarium in Long Beach. This was her "special birthday trip," and she really enjoyed it. We did too. The aquarium is new, so it had everything a modern zoo or museum should - gift shop, cafe, programs (that ran one after another), and hands-on tanks. It reminded me of my classes in museum studies because it used every trendy new trick (exhibits are so 19th-century). Even though this place also trades in sensory overload, I am still pleased that we chose it over the mouse. We will, no doubt, be visiting him soon enough.

'never say never' and other ramblings

2007-09-28T12:46:00.000-05:00

Sometime during the weeks before we moved to so.Cal., I recall hearing the song "It Never Rains in Southern California." I thought that I could deal with this kind of weather after the severe winter and summer Ohio dealt us. I'm happy to report the cliché is wrong. Today is the second Friday in a row with rain - the kind that requires windshield wipers and umbrellas (a novelty most residents seem yet to discover). I really enjoy the rain. It completes the sense that I have finally returned to the West Coast.

On the general subject of weather, I must add that the variety of weather here is dee-lightful (that's the two word version of delightful). Afternoons are warm - almost hot - with a refreshing breeze from the coast; the mornings are cool; and the nights almost cold. Based on only two months observation, I can report a 153% improvement in the weather over our previous home.

Also improved is the food. I cannot completely describe the gastronomic pleasure that came about because of our cross-country move, but I can begin to describe it. The sheer variety of cuisines is matched only by their quality. (The improvement-in-food percentile runs in the range 350+.) Previously, when eating out, we had a lot of meat options, some with sauces, most with cheese (not the good variety). Salt was the most popular seasoning. Nothing was remarkable. Now, we have fresh, flavorful vegetables and spices whose mere fragrance can sustain the soul.* I love to eat and I love the variety of food here.

I feel like offering a toast - to the food and the weather.

*Those scenes from Ratatouille come to mind - where they depict how food-flavor combinations affect the brain/psyche. It's like that.

observations on beginning writing

2007-09-21T11:19:00.001-05:00

This week I officially started writing! (Yeah!) I decided to begin with chapter two rather than at the beginning, the material in chapter two I find more interesting at the moment.

I appreciate now why so many PhD students stop at this point. I have an incredible amount of information to manage and then to puzzle through. It isn't just linking it together that is challenging (which is fun) but also figuring out why it is important (other than, it just interests me) and what new things all this evidence says about - and, at this point, there is a grab bag of ideas (indicative of my point in the process) - citizenship, US imperialism, class, race and society, race and economy, or any mixture of the above. And I would say that I've only read (ahem, had random contact with) about 50% of the evidence available. I probably won't see up to 20% of it. Nevertheless, I've read enough to distinguish patterns and so I begin to write.

Writing is not smooth, however. It becomes difficult, especially in two areas. One is when I start to describe something that I think is dull but a necessary part of the story (as in, thousands migrated to the US to find work). I try to spice it up by deciphering the reasons why I think I must write about something that I find dull (and that other scholars have already established). And this leads me into my other roadblock. I re-frame migration as a product of imperialism (and the political economy that the US produced in the Pacific) and "looking for work" as a process of integration into the racial socio-economic order already established in the US. All of this sounds more interesting to me, but it runs me smack into another unwieldy amount of evidence - the secondary works. Explaining these events with support from the theoretical works I've read (as well as the secondary historical scholarship) means I have to slow down and comb through this mountain of books, looking for just the place where they say exactly what I need them to say.*

All I want to do is sit and type. I want the words, pages, and chapters to magically flow from my fingertips onto the screen. I am definitely not there - not yet.

*Here is where the difference between the junior scholar and the established scholar is most stark.

By the way, if you haven't seen this new blog, then you've waited long enough.

discoveries

2007-09-14T10:55:00.000-05:00

Cool things I learned this week:

Orange and Los Angeles Counties have a mass transit train network (unfortunately the closest stop to UCLA is 9 miles away).

The County of LA Public Library has a huge untapped store of Asian American newspapers from the 1880s to the present (they haven't even cataloged them). I will tap it.

An immersion blender can make nearly-perfect whipped-cream in about 3.1 minutes.

Hein Online has it all (and just became my favorite source for legal info). It has not only all major law journals but also a complete run of Federal Statutes - all of them, forever. (Previously I had to hunt for a really big law library that had these in print, then drive and drive and drive to get there.)

Other stuff I learned (that wasn't cool):

the up-and-coming scholar in the general field of my dissertation did some oral histories some years back. But she won't be sharing those.

a full week of kindergarten makes four-year olds very tired (and grumpy).

fourmis... or what I did on a Friday night

2007-09-07T22:19:00.000-05:00

Every place I've lived where the winters are mild attract bugs (where the winters are severe, its rodents). Now that we're back on the west coast, we've been visited by weekly invasions of tiny sugar ants. Unfortunately, we're used to this and slip easily into the role of exterminators. We trap, block the entry, and then scorch the earth.

I realized we are too practiced at this when our four-year-old took a piece of masking tape and, emulating her parents, began to clean up the bugs running frantically for cover. (The smushed ants, you see, stick to the masking tape which is so much more tidy than leaving carcasses all over the floor, table, or counter.) With tape in hand, she noted, "they're easy to get when they [are confused and] stand still." Then added, "Ha! I got it!"

Now, we await Tuesday when Raymond the Exterminator (we're on a first-name basis) will come and finalize the scorching of earth. Until then, I will suffer with the feeling - from time to time - that there is an ant (a fourmi) crawling on me. Now I fully appreciate the notion I learned in France of having "les fourmi." It was a common enough phrase that my neighbors used to refer to someone who was twitchy or jumpy, someone who acted strange and could not sit still. But I am not "coo-coo" (again, their phrase, not mine), I really do have ants. I also have a large roll of masking tape. And the night is yet young.

Ode to H.I.

2007-08-31T18:54:00.001-05:00

It occurred to me that I haven't posted any updates on my blog recently. I haven't yet settled into a routine. And I am definitely still trying to adjust to my new surroundings. Towards that end, I was pondering the differences between the place where I lived in June and now. Also, I am a huge fan of Harper's Index, so here's my observations in Index form.

Population density of my county in Ohio: 115,000
(Persons per square mile: 205)
Population density of Orange County: 2,988,000
(Persons per square mile: 3785)
Median family income of my-little-corner-of-Ohio: $41,500
(Median income for men: $33,900)
(Median income for women: $23,200)
Per capita income: $18,500;
Median family income of Orange County: $62,500
(Median income for men: $49,000)
(Median income for women: $34,000)
Per capita income: $25,800

Statistical diversity (Ohio): 2% Black, 97% white, 1% Asian American, Native American, Latino, etc.
Statistical diversity (OC): 2% Black, 30% Latino, 1% Native American, 51% white,14% Asian American.

Percentage of population living in poverty (Ohio): 8%
Percentage of population living in poverty (OC): 8.8%

Student population of the college in Ohio: 1819
Student population at the University here in California: 30,606
Annual tuition rates for the college in Ohio: $40,022 [ ! ]
Annual tuition rates for the University in California: $3302 in-state; $13,472 out-of-state

Cause of region-wide public noise in Ohio: Tornado siren (source: municipal building; frequency: once-a-year test)
Cause of region-wide public noise in OC: percussion of fireworks (source: Disneyland; frequency: daily)

any comments?

2007-08-18T23:47:00.000-05:00

Have any of you heard of - or better yet - used Zotero? It is a Mozilla program geared toward academics. I'm curious about it.

landed

2007-08-13T23:52:00.000-05:00

We did make it to O.C. and are settling in. (This includes trying to find a good beach.) I promise to offer updates within a week, or so. For now, I'm working on sending out our new address and phone number over e-mail. So, if you don't hear from me then I don't have a current e-mail address for you and you should send me one!

Up and away

2007-07-12T17:47:00.000-05:00

Oklahoma - we're half-way through the road trip. I was surprised (and impressed) that the mapquest map of our move has to use almost the entire continent in order to get it all in. Oh look, there's Santo Domingo; and look, there's Prince Rupert; and, oh, there's our route in the middle.

The distance between points A and D is about 2390 miles - with requisite stops at points B and C for good food (Oklahoma is not one of these stops). Apparently the average American moves every 5.2 years. My average is 12 months. I don't know how far the average American moves but I move an average of 1532 miles.

The stop in Oklahoma (where I said "hi" for E) was in a small town where all the local restaurants served calf fries (where I come from, we call these Rocky Mountain oysters). I was surprised by their popularity but passed on sampling them. We did dine at the Old Glory Cafe which was advertised as "not health food. This food sticks to your ribs and other places." I really enjoy exploring local establishments and our fried catfish was good. I couldn't help but marvel at the menu; it was heavy and fatty (even the salad was piled with cheese). This reveals a lot about middle America.

**I want to extend my congratulations to Cabiria who is now Professor C!

tasks

2007-07-06T20:10:00.000-05:00

Over the past week, I have realized how much I hate to move. This process is slow, inconvenient, and exhausting. It has made me temporarily homeless, and I am developing an aversion to restaurant food.

Here's the requested picture of boxes for E.

Before we could get to this point, though, we had to get past the backhoe. At the last possible moment, the city decided to dig up the street in front of our house (because of a broken water main).
So, the moving cubes/pods we arranged to have delivered had to go down the street a bit.
This last minute change of plans didn't stop us. Everything is now packed and on its way. Half of this unenviable task is done.

returned

2007-06-24T21:11:00.000-05:00

Boston was a blast. Good friends, good food, good fun. It was a true vacation - I didn't do a lick of work (at least in my mind I didn't). I took lots of photos, but no flicker for me. Here are a couple.

My apologies - my traveling companion wanted to make sure her tongue got into all the photos. (I'm still debating whether or not to include this in future slide lectures.)
(This is companion with a gi-normous snapping turtle.)

school's out

2007-06-12T14:49:00.000-05:00

Day 10 of S's summer vacation is underway. What kind of school closes at the end of May!?!

This is my first summer without childcare. We're embarking on a new adventure. And, so far, we've kept ourselves entertained.

We caught ladybug larvae on the first day of vacation and kept them at home. They pupated after a few days in captivity and, five days later, they hatched. (The pupae shell is on the left and one of our ladybugs on the right.)

"We" also started swimming lessons. Because of the impending move, S couldn't get in on any of the scheduled swim classes, so I decided to teach her how to swim. I would like to take credit for her amazing success, but the kid's a natural. In three "lessons," she's figured out how to kick herself around the pool (with a float) and how to abandon the float to swim underwater. She thinks she's ready for the diving board. I disagree.

The biggest drawback to my first summer vacation is the weather. (Yeah, I know I complain a lot about the weather. File this one away as complain no. 4382.) We've had 90 degree weather which is worse than it seems because it comes with thunderstorms. Ninety degrees and rain is breath-taking -- breath-taking in terms of suffocation. I've never experienced this kind of humidity.

As a result, we're getting out of here. S and I are off for Boston in the AM.

hiatus

2007-05-23T12:05:00.001-05:00

I returned from a short, but well-deserved, vacation last week. Some reasons why it was great include:

babysitters available 24/7
leaving Middleofnowhere
grandparents (S's, not mine)
new sights (like the Arch, above, and Plaza, below)
forgetting momentarily that I don't know how to sleep and sleeping-in on three consecutive mornings (accomplished using the first point above)
new and unusual spectacles (like a pre-Vatican II Mass. That was a trip in itself.)
going out with R sans child
staying out - past midnight - with good friends

One of the more remarkable sights was this one of the Plaza in Kansas City. The historian in me can't help but note that this was the first shopping district planned for automobile traffic. The admirer-of-arts in me enjoys both the Spanish/Moorish-influenced architecture and the notion of planning urban spaces - no box stores here and everyone has to get out of their cars and - gasp! - walk. I enjoyed strolling around the Plaza.

(note the blue-clad child doing some illegal fountain wading.)

The only draw-back to my vacation, now that it is over, is I have only five remaining days to work. School ends for the summer next week and I transition to full-time parenting.

disoriented

2007-05-07T08:27:00.000-05:00

What is it called when you have so much to do that you loose the inclination to do it? You know, that point where the sheer number of tasks makes you freeze like a deer in the headlights?

I thought I had been doing well recently. I burned through a few of books on my things-I-should-have-read-long-ago list (turns out those skills developed while preparing for comps are useful after the exam). My major discovery from this effort is that the American Crossroads Series is fantastic - most of this is cutting edge stuff. Also worth mentioning is Von Eschen's Race Against Empire, one I recommend to anyone thinking about 20th-century world history. (She shows how McCarthyism re-calibrated both the Civil Rights Movement and anti-imperialism in Africa so that neither could offer critiques of or alternatives to capitalism. It is a great pair with Dudziak.) Nevertheless, reading these books just made me realize that I need to read others; my stack didn't get any smaller.

So, I turned to writing my first chapter and I started wading through sources. I've found many interesting and useful tidbits of evidence. Also, a lot of what I've read is insanely boring. Some of the crap that was printed as "news" 70 years ago was just as inane as what gets passed off as "news" today. I realize that reading through all of this stuff is how the dissertation process works, a sort of needle-in-the-haystack hazing ritual. I wish that I could sleep on my stacks of photocopied newspapers and just have the information seep into my brain the easy way.

This sense of getting nothing accomplished made it easy for me to do very little this weekend (it also helped that R finished teaching on Friday - yeah! - and became my enabler). We explored some hiking trails on Saturday and discovered the local go-cart/mini-golf place on Sunday. The latter also has batting cages. I had never gone into a batting cage before. It was fun. (I wish I had discovered this contraption long ago. I think it would have been great for working off stress.) But the weekend is over and my enabler is gone. Now, I will reluctantly return to rearranging my imposing piles of un-completed work.

funny Vowell

2007-04-20T12:12:00.000-05:00

I'm ready to come clean and admit it. I lead a clandestine life where I read books for pleasure. This causes me some small degree of guilt - even in my clandestine life - because I know I could be "making progress" with other, more rigorous readings.

Recently, I've been reading Sarah Vowell's Partly Cloudy Patriot and it is so good that I have to recommend it to other clandestine - and non-clandestine - readers. (If you've ever listed to two or more shows of This American Life, then you've already heard Vowell in action.) It is a collection of short, humorous essays that are insightful, witty, and very funny. Most of the essays - like Vowell - have a historical bent, as this observation from her trip to Salem, Massachusettes, demonstrates.

"Twenty innocent people were executed in Salem during the witchcraft hysteria of 1692. Which is horrifying, yet manages to make for a surprisingly nice weekend getaway."

She explains how Gore could have won the 2000 election by taking a lesson from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Elsewhere, she offers the following insight into cultural fetishes:

"A person keen on all things French is called a Francophile. One who has a thing for England is called an Anglophile. An admirer of Germany in the 1930s and '40s is called Pat Buchanan."

I think the reason that I appreciate this book so much is because Vowell is an unapologetic history nerd. So, her wry comments are intermixed with historical interpretations for which I have much sympathy:

"The more history I learn, the more the world fills up with stories. Just the other day, I was in my neighborhood Starbucks, waiting for the post office to open. I was enjoying a chocolatey caffe mocha when it occurred to me that to drink a mocha is to gulp down the entire history of the New World. From the Spanish exportation of Aztec cacao, and the Dutch invention of the chemical process for making cocoa, on down to the capitalist empire of Hershey, PA, and the lifestyle marketing of Seattle's Starbucks, the modern mocha is a bittersweet concoction of imperialism, genocide, invention, and consumerism served with whipped cream on top."

With this recommendation, I wish you happy reading!

(Google's blog spell-checker contains the word "Anglophile" but not the word "Francophile." Hummm.)