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methodwriter85

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  1. methodwriter85

    Day 15

    By methodwriter85,

    Day 15, Feburary 10th
     
    I continued working on Box 5. One interesting find was a pamplet on what soldiers should do if they find a Boche gun, aka a German machine gun. I suppose that must have been quite a boon for Allied soldiers, as the pamplet seemed to suggest that finding a German machine gun was something desirable. I wonder if that means that they were state-of-the-art at the time.
     
    Someone from a local newspaper came in today to take pictures of the clothing and items from a 1960's Girl Scout collection. They were doing it because of the 100th anniversary of the Girls Scouts is coming out this year. It was great to see the different uses that people can have for the archives.
  2. methodwriter85

    Day 13, Day 14

    By methodwriter85,

    Day 13, February 7th
     
    Today I finally finished sorting out Box 10. Finally. 111 items in that box and done.
     
    Day 14, February 8th
     
    I started on Box 5. There are a lot of manuals.
  3. methodwriter85
    Day 10- February 2nd
     
    I found a letter from the War Department of the United States, dating from 1917 or 1918, which gave a list of desirable books for which to start a camp library. That would explain so much about why George Watson had so many different books, and often in duplicate.
     
    I also found a manual on physical training. It was interesting to see what the physical training standards were for the army in the 1910's- it seemed to be mostly focused on calistenics, swimming, and gymnastics. No real mention of running, or weight-lifting. I had some friends who did PT, and man it seemed completely different from what this manual described.
     
    Day 11- February 3rd
     
    Today we had two people come in that renewed their memberships at the historical society. One bought two maps, which was nice. Another guy came out all the way from California to renew his membership, which was cool.
     
    I really like that I get to interact more with the public here. There's something gratifying in knowing that you're helping people with their quest to learn more about their personal history.
     
    Day 12- February 4th
     
    One of the volunteers, who is an Vietnam War veteran, gave a tour to another Vietnam War vet and his wife. We looked at the second floor displays dedicated to war veterans, and there was strong emotional feel that came off of both men when it came to talking about people who didn't come back from the various wars. It reminded me of the responsibility that you have as a historian- you can tell a story, but you have to treat lightly on certain subjects. There was a part of the tour where the guide opened up a book to show pictures from the Vietnam War, and when they got to pictures of dead soldiers both the guide and the other Vietnam War Vet quickly skipped over that part.
     
    With World War II vets quickly dying off, Vietnam War Vets will(if they don't already) compose the greatest bulk of the American vet population. I'm wondering if that means that there will be an increase in attempts to exhibit the Vietnam War history in the coming decades, especially when Baby Boomers start hitting their 70's and 80's.
  4. methodwriter85
    Day 7 January 27th
     
    I finished sorting through Box 8. Now I'm working on Box 10.
     
    Day 8 January 31st
     
    Going through Box 10, I found a manual for young officers. It was from 1907. I know that George Watson was born in 1881, which means he would have been about 26 years old when he got that manual, and presumably became an officer in the army. It was interesting to think about that- I'm 26 years old, and I just can't even imagine what it would be like to have that kind of responsibility at my age.
     
    As part of the advice for the new officers, I found two quotes I thought were interesting:
     
    "DON'T, if you are well off, perpetually boast about the largeness of your purchases. Nothing is more offensively vulgar than telling people "what you gave" for this or that, and the chances are that you are only advertising your own folly or guillibility."
     
    "DON'T set undervalue on pedigree or family connections. NOBLESSE OBLIGE should be your patrician motto. Remember Lord St. Leonards' answer to the snob who reminded him that his father was a barber. "Had your father been a barber," was the rejoinder, "you would have been a barber too." There is no need to declare yourself a born gentlemen, if you behave as such."
     
    I wonder if that means that officers at this time in history were often from well-off, rich families. Nowadays, people don't really associate the social elite with the army, so it's interesting to consider that at one point this was a popular career path for American blue bloods.
     
    Day 9- February 1st
     
    I continued working on Box 10. While there, I had a conversation with Colleen Camp, and the other intern, Amanda Peters, about historic preservation. The Clark House, which is where part of the historical society is located, has been under the threat of demolition quite often. It made me think of my own experience of being from suburban Delaware, where historic preservation for everything not belonging to the du Ponts is an uphill battle. Newark, Delaware constantly tears down older buildings to make way for the new, or they "preserve" buildings by gutting the interior and leaving only the facade. It's one thing I really like about Indiana, PA- you can see all these older buildings.
  6. methodwriter85

    Internship Day 6

    By methodwriter85,

    Day 6- January 25th
     
    I continued working on Box 8.
     
    Someone came in to donate items that her father had left to her when she had died. I got to see how the museum accepts a gift, and the form that needs to get filmed out. Her collection included family genealogoies of the Buterbaugh family in Pennyslvania, as well as yearbooks from Homer City, P.A. It was neat to compare the 1970 yearbook photo of the senior class, to the class of 1980. In 1970, the teenagers were dressed so much more formally, especially the girls. The girls of 1970 all seemed to be dress in plaid skirts and the like, while the girls of 1980 were all dressed in jeans, many of them with Farrah Fawcett bangs. Interesting how fashions can change so much in ten years. I have a friend who graduated high school in 1980/1981, and it made me think, "Oh wow, that's how he and his contemporaries dressed back in the early 1980's." I really do enjoy looking at old yearbooks from a by-gone era.
     
    The other volunteers and I had an interesting discussion about funding. It's a pretty challenging time right now for museums. A visitor brought up how they should put up advertisements for the historical society at the Jimmy Stewart museum, so we can get reverbation off of the visitation from that museum. It reminded me of how much collaboration is stressed at other museums I've worked at to try and survive together.
  7. methodwriter85

    Internship Day 3

    By methodwriter85,

    Day 3- January 20th
     
    Today I continued working on the Watson Collection. I worked on Box 6. I found a book commeorating the 50th Annivesary of the Battle of Gettysburg. It wasn't in great shape, but it was still pretty nice. I also found this book that was a 1879 report of schools for the orphans of soldiers. It had a doodle of two faces on it in the front, which was pretty cool. I liked those personal touches.
     
    There was a couple who were looking up information about a woman from their family who had a gravestone listing her as being dead in 1898, yet she's still present in the 1900 census. Neat mystery- it wasn't solved by the time they left, but it was great seeing how this couple was getting helped by the volunteer archivists.
  8. methodwriter85
    http://www.udreview.com/udpd-steps-up-tailgate-regulation-1.2641368
     
    I love reading about how my alma matter has turned into a fascist police state where no students are allowed to have fun. J-walkers and tailgaters get punished, yet that same weekend three students were robbed by gun point and the UD police didn't give a damn because they don't make money off of them like they do fining students over ridiculous reasons.
     
    University of Delaware was once a great school, with lots of uniqe and great things about it. But in the school's singleminded attempt to kill off the party scene so that UD will be seen as a serious Public Ivy academic school, they've curtailed the freedom of their young adults to explore their boundaries, create fun memories that they'll laugh about when they're middle-aged and sitting in an office, and meet people in situations that they might otherwise never have met.
     
    College tailgating is a time-honored tradition, and gives people a chance to mingle and meet new friends. These freshmen will grow up, become alumni, and when they come back for Homecoming with their own kids while pumped full of nostalgia for their own glory days, their kids just might be persuaded to come here. It's an ingredient in creating a successful football team, healthy alumni giving, and the next generation of students. By making it so that your students are fearful of tailgating, you have essentially cut your nose to spite your face. Especially when you consider that UD has been talking for such a long time about how they want to move up a football division(with a planned stadium expansion to 30k). Guess what? Big-time football universities also have big-time tailgating. You can't have one without the other, and the fact that UD football attendence is down to 1998 levels pretty much speaks for itself.
     
    UD can give prize giveaways all it wants, but until students feel like they can tailgate without an arrest, the kids are going to stay away from the games.
  9. methodwriter85

    Civic Pride

    By methodwriter85,

    Okay, maybe I'm a dork, but I'm feeling particularly full of civic pride right now. I ran across the bid video for my college town, which won the 2011 Great American Main Street Reward.
     
    Here's the video:
     

     
    I like to call present-day Newark a Disney Town, USA. LOL. It's gotta a lot more generic over the years, but the tradeoff is that it's doing pretty well. (Thinks about Tet and that lovely little college town he has.)
     
    Any people got some nice tourism videos to share of their own hometowns? (I grew up in Bear, which makes me more of a reservist townie than a townie proper. LOL.)
  10. methodwriter85
    So, I make a joke about how I'm used to Black and Mild cigars as opposed to the chocolate cigars they were handing out to celebrate Sister 2's twins arriving, and now Sister 1 and Sister 3 are convinced I'm a cigar smoker who secretly goes out to get my fix. They really do want to believe I'm just some liar who hides what he does from everyone and is into all kinds of crazy shit. I absolutely lost it in front of my mother. God, they piss me off. It of course makes sense that the first time in a long while that I've gotten this pissed off, it'd have something to do with Sister 3. God, what a bitch.
     
    I need to just ignore it, but god. I make a 4.0 this semester and I land an internship, but because I don't have a paying job that makes me some kind of cigar-addicted leech. I am so sick of the way my sister treats me. Of the three sisters, I can only really get along with the one who just had twins, but since she's pretty much occupied...there's not much support I'm getting.
     
    Starting the internship and getting out of the house will be nice. Really nice. God, I'm going to need it to get through this summer.
     
     
  11. methodwriter85

    APRIL FOOLS!

    By methodwriter85,

    Ha. Now that was fun. No, I'm not leaving graduate school. Not until I have that degree in my hand.
     
    I told my real-life friend Seth that I was getting kicked out of school, and he believed me. It was a great April Fool's day. LOL.
  12. methodwriter85
    University of Delaware lost the Division I title game last night at Pizza Hut Park in Frisco. We gave up a second-half 19 point lead for Eastern Washington to come back with 20 points.
     
    I'm pretty bummed. It would have been great to see UD get a championship. On the bright side, it was great to see the Blue Hens there, and it WAS a great season for UD. But since our quarterback is a senior, it looks like next year's going to be a rebuilding year.
  13. methodwriter85
    It was pretty great. The sun could have been better- it was slightly
    overcast, but the humidity was low for a 92 degree weather day, which was nice.
    I spent at least a good two hours crisping in the sun. I don't have to worry
    about sunblock because I'm Filipino. We're genetically engineered to be
    sunburn-proof. I've never gotten a sunburn in my life.
     
    And it was just nice to see the various gay couples throughout Rehoboth. I
    counted four couples holding hands, which just made me smile- especially when it
    was these two teenage guys holding hands while walking with a crowd of their
    male and female friends.
     
    There's this section of Rehoboth Beach that's considered the "Gay Beach"-
    it's known colloquially as Poodle Beach. I was struck not just because it had a
    high amount of gays on the beach, but also because you saw kids and straight
    couples there as well- that there wasn't some imaginary segregated barrier. Gay
    and straight, mixing together in an ordinary way...but really amazing when you
    think about.
     
    You ever see one of those little moments that just reinforce your faith
    in humanity? I had that today. I was at the Gay Beach, and there was this
    adorable black gay couple. They taking pictures of each other with a camera
    phone. A straight couple were walking by, and the woman stopped. She went over
    to the gay couple, and asked to take a picture of them with their phone. She
    snapped the picture of the couple standing together, smiled at them, and then
    went on her way.
     
    Moments like THAT, and moments like two teenaged boys holding hands on
    the boardwalk like any other summer lovin' teenaged couple...that makes me feel
    hopeful that no matter what laws get passed or what bans get upheld, the side
    that wants gays to disappear back in the closet like they were pre-1969 have
    already lost.
     
     
     
     
     
  14. methodwriter85
    So right now, I'm at this glass-half-full deal when it comes to school. I'm a history major. I'm taking two 300-level history classes. They're both going really good- I'm earning an A in one, and an A- in the other.
     
    The problem is that my foreign language class, I'm pulling somewhere around a D, and in my geology class, I majorly bombed the second exam, which was worth 25 percent. Luckily, I did fine on the first exam, and the final is worth 50 percent, so I can probably do well.
     
    Still, it's a lot of pressure to deal with. I want to end the semester with over a 2.5 in an acculmulative GPA, and I'm not sure anymore if that will happen. So that's stressful.
     
    I guess I'll just have to remember my buddy Steve, and how he told me he will kick my ass if I don't graduate with him in the spring.
  15. methodwriter85
    You meet someone and you're awestruck by them. Here's how I think it can go- the first is that you meet the person, and you think they "hang the moon", to use one of Adam's phrases. You're blinded to their faults in that initial rush of attraction, but as you get to know them, you realize that something's off, and they're not as perfect for you as you thought they were. It could turn out they're downright horrible people with an initial charm (aka Neal in ISWB), or it could just turn out they are just not-so-good guys who's faults outweigh their positives, and thus aren't good for you, aka Kevin for John in Frat Memoirs. The second way it can go is that you meet the person, you like them alot, and you get on really good with each other. The initial attraction works well- and you find many good qualities about the person that keeps you into it. But then that spark fades- and you realize you've made a really good friend, but not a lover, aka Bryan in It Started with Brian. Then the third one- everything aligns right...you click with that person on a deep level, and you're aware of their faults but love them anyway- and you feel a passion for them...then that is the sort of real, deep love that can happen from an intitial infatuated attraction, aka Alex and Zach. There's this tv sitcom, How I Met Your Mother, that details the courting game that we all go through during our 20's(although now Ted's in his early 30's). There was this great episode where the protagonist realizes that he dated this one girl on a blind date seven years ago, and they spend the night recreating their past date to figure out why they didn't work out. They have a lot of fun, and think, "Wow, we should've just gotten together then...would have saved us all this dating." But then they realize that while they like each other a lot- it just wouldn't have worked...because she's a cat lover who loves to talk about her cats, and he's a resturant snob who loves to make fun of the menus. And it's those flaws they each admit to possessing- it's those flaws that they want their future partner in life not to just tolerate, but to actually...like. And find endearing.
     
    That's something I want for myself. I want a guy who will actually like the random and crazy stuff that I always say- not just roll his eyes and go, "Oh, god, Jeremy's talking about the Eighties again!", but go, "Aww, Jeremy and his crazy fetish for the 80's. How cute." I want a guy who will like me the way I am, and not expect me to change or be "better" for him. To me, and what seemed to be the point of this episode- is that so many people in an effort to "hook" someone censor the less-desirable and somewhat annoying quirks they have wind up in relationships that are wrong for them, because their partner doesn't really know all of them because they hide part of themselves to look more attractive.
     
    To be able to love someone- ALL of that someone, flaws and all- is an element of real love, and what separates it from initial infatuation. Because when you're infatuated, as Jack is saying, you're sorta blind to the flaws the other person possesses. But that infatuation can give way and grow into love when you get to know the person, get to know their qualities as well as their flaws...and basically be able to go, "So what? You're still my guy." But that will never happen if you just sit around and pine for the guy from afar, and have him on this pedestal.
     
    I've had a lot of crushes in my life, and unfortunately, none of them have turned into a boyfriend for me. I remain hopeful, though. And I've made some good friends along the way as well. I feel like as I keep sight of what I want and need in a relationship...then...when it does happen, I'll be ready and won't screw it up.
     
     
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