This year is the final year of my coursework, which is quite exciting. Each semester I have become better equipped to do the grad student thing (in all that it entails), gaining skills and insights both from what worked well and could have been better. Overall, classes went smoothly last term. This semester, I am taking two independent studies instead of formal courses. I have enjoyed independent studies since my undergrad days. I find them such a refreshing alternative to taking class after class — no forced conversations, flexible meeting times, and perhaps most of all, the ability to create my own reading list. I have had some very good classes at the various universities I have attended. Yet, there has been times in my life as a student in which some classes seemed, both to myself and my professor, like a bureaucratic hoop and to-do item to check off. While there is an extra level of responsibility with independent studies (no classmates to cover me), the added workload is worth it.

This winter, I  was sick for a solid month with a very horrible stomach virus. It was the first time ever that I cancelled my teaching responsibilities because I was sick. I was unable to do any work for about three weeks in March, a notoriously busy time of the term as I start prepping for final research papers. Once I started feeling better, I found that my outlook on the semester had shifted. I was so excited to be feeling better that I was happy to be back doing my thing when usually at this point I’m tired and the ongoing gray weather starts to take its toil.  I had a new sense of energy and focus, and major appreciation for my health. Secondly, it forced me to prioritize and start working immediately — I simply couldn’t blow anything off. I had to start and finish large tasks much more quickly and efficiently than usual. Instead of spending a few weeks figuring out my topic and reading list for final papers, I dived in and churned both out in a both a week.

So, onward and upward. I have final historiography essays to write, grading during finals week, and the semester will be over in May. Then — comp exams. More to come.

To check out my review and the other excellent articles in the current issue, visit http://www.interfacejournal.net/ 

From the Rockford Register Star (Rockford, IL):

“The Study of Sport is topic of unique symposium…”

Proper Pub Lunch in Newcastle

Last week I attended an excellent conference titled Moving Dangerously: Women and Travel, 1850-1950 at Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. The conference was full of interesting papers by students and scholars primarily in history and literature from the US, Canada, UK and Europe. It is not often that I am in a room full of people interested in the same things I am, and this diverse group did not disappoint. Presenters spoke to many of the themes that so intrigue me about this period: the body in public spaces, popular images of women’s resistance, international feminism and women navigating terrain independently of men (or “manless climbing” as one scholar of mountaineering so poignantly phrased it). The keynote speakers also left me with a lot of new questions to ask about my reading and research: How do we study geographies of rhythm, emotion and flow? Is travel during eras of imperialism always an imperialist project? How do we position the home and femininity within scholarship of travel?

As a student of U.S. history, I am frequently reminded of the importance of exploring American experiences in a transnational lens. From my experience, the move towards transnationalism often seems phrased as a necessary push, a trend we must follow to stay relevant regardless of whether it actually furthers our own research projects. I have sensed an undercurrent that for Americanists, transnationalism is a burden more than an opportunity. Studying women’s travel provides fresh ways to think about transnationalism more broadly as a lens that recognizes crossing borders of all kinds. At this conference, the projects were not transnational for the sake of it, but showed the rich source material and engaging questions that arise when we conceptualize borders as dynamic and imbedded with meaning. Simply, it didn’t necessarily make the work harder, but it did make it better (and definitely more interesting). The second keynote address on locating the home within a transnational context reaffirmed the possibilities for such an approach. Even the spaces that seem most removed from the rest of the world (like our living rooms) are in fact best understood as part of the public, the (trans)national and the global.

One of the great benefits of going to conferences is what you get to do once the conference ends. I was able to spend some time exploring Newcastle, and it was a blast. The pubs were awesome and Newcastle has a great art museum. The fun of traveling and being in a new place greatly added to the experience of the conference. The fact that the conference occurred in the last month of the semester has made this week and the next quite hellish for me, but it was actually a great time to go. The change of scenery and the new ideas from the conference has definitely helped me get through the final sprint of the semester. I hope I get more opportunities like this one as I work my way through the PhD. The opportunity to rethink my own work, ask new questions, meet likeminded scholars, and visit a new place is grad school at its best.

My task was to do something I find myself frequently doing as a grad student: reading and writing. I read everything I could find on a topic (in this case, two people) and tried to pull all of it together by writing something about it that coherently summed up my reading. Yet, this assignment had some unique benefits compared to the usual stuff I do:

1. I like having projects that are not connected to my coursework, regardless of who sets the deadlines or how much control I have over the process. It gives my workload more variety. It also helps me keep my mind on the bigger picture, beyond readings and assignments for classes.

2. I knew nothing about the two women I was assigned to write on. As I read more, and eventually everything the library could get me, I realized I had hit the jackpot: these two women were really interesting and this made them easy to write about. It didn’t feel like a chore.

3. I didn’t have the choice of who or what to write about. So, this forced me to go beyond the topics I’m usually working on and do something quite different. Understandably, this is not necessarily something that we want to sign up for and staying in our comfort zones has its benefits. But, expanding our horizons is good once and while, especially for a smaller project.

4. Being planted into new readings, biographies, primary sources, etc. definitely spurred my creativity. I am now in the planning stages of an article that was inspired by some of my readings for this project.

5. The audience for the publication is quite different that the scholarly audience I’m used to. I was forced to rethink some of my taken for granted ways of writing to ensure that the information would be useful to a high school or undergrad audience. Also, I had a pretty short word count, which also forced me to plan strategically about word choice, sentence length, and organization.

This was definitely I project I would take on again. Contributing to an encyclopedia is a really worthwhile undertaking, and it makes for a interesting yet manageable mid-semester side project.

I’ll be blogging about what excites and inspires me, particularly academics, bicycling, and feminism and gender studies. Here’s my plan for the blog:

1. I’ll post a new blog entry each week.

2. I’ll blog about a combination of academics and fun stuff. Most of the things I spend time on fit somewhere in between the two.

3. I’ll do my best at promoting this damn thing. The Internet tells me people don’t mind that too much.

4. I’ll try not to be a perfectionist about it.

Thanks everyone for your encouragement as I embark on a new, entrepreneurial approach to grad school.

Christine