Write It Down

When I write my papers, I ALWAYS manage to eff up the footnotes. So, in all my wisdom, I have devised a system (which all of you geniuses probably figured out when you were seven) of what I'll call "citation notation"

It goes a little somethin' like this:

I type all of my paper notes out in different colors, each color corresponding with a different source. When I write my paper and need to insert a footnote, I just put the page number in the color of the source that needs citing. For example, if "Are You My Mother?" is blue, and I need to cite page five of AYMM, I'll just write out my sentence and put 5 at the end. When I've finished writing and editing my paper, I go through and turn all the little colored numbers into proper footnotes. Tada!

Now, if I could have it my way, Word would have a tool that would make this ten hundred times faster. Like, I could tell Word, "Word, recognize that Terrence O'Neill's autobiography is green. Every time you see a green number, insert a citation for his autobiography!"

But of course that'd be far too easy.

I've figured out a way to narrow down my research topic and still write about what I want! I still have to run it by my professor, but he should be okay with it. (Last class a boy told him 'I'm going to write about Eamon De Valera.' and the prof (who has written an award winning book about the man) just nodded and asked him to expand a bit.) I'm going to write about the military development of the IRA, their tactics and strategies and just general means of getting things done, but to do it, I am going to look at the specific instance of the Soloheadbeg Ambush, which began the military revolution in 1919. Yes, that was a huge run on sentence. Whatevs.

I just signed up to proctor 6 exams at the law school. Each is at least 3 hours and I'll be paid $9/hr. So, I'll be gettin' some bank to start the summer off.

For once I feel particularly helpful here at work... a student just came in, freaking out about the 1098T form for her taxes. When everybody else stared blankly at her and "uhhhhmmmmm"ed, I was able to jump in and help her. Woo, go me. I'm not completely useless as a secretary-type!

In other news, I sort of like the way my paper is progressing. I'm writing about the link between the shift in the American Dream and the growth of the suburbs. It's a short paper, strict 1000 word limit, which I don't really like. I prefer a little room to ramble, get my thoughts out. It's probably better this way, though. More succinct.

This week is shaping up to be pretty action-packed. Essay due tomorrow, Paul Rusesabagina is giving a talk on Wednesday to which I would really like to go, I have a midterm on Friday... then all of the other things that take up time, like class, 10:02, Haley House, work... Oh well, I'd rather be busy than bored.

20 days until Ireland! I am so so so excited. We still haven't heard back about which placement we'll be at, but my first choice is this teen club place called Slí Eile (literally "Other Way"). The other placements are a preschool and a family center, with parenting classes, daycare and all that good stuff.

What with fundraising, Relay for Life, Haley House and just regular old school-y things, these next few weeks are going to be crazy...

Haley House yesterday morning was pretty good... it was SO cold on the way there, though. My little weather dashboard widget said it was -2 degrees when I left at 5:20 and boy did it feel like it. When I was walking through Copley Square on the way there, right by the train station, I saw a guy approach a man sleeping saying "You okay brother? You awake? Wake up, brother!" and it was kind of reassuring... it usually freaks me out to see the guys who come for breakfast sleeping on the streets, covered in a only few blankets and tarps.
I had my hair in french braids from the night before and everyone kept telling me they liked how my hair was "decorated," kind of a funny way to put it.

We talked in PULSE discussion about that article I posted the other day, about the Nazi doctor. We're supposed to be a collaborative class, so each discussion is decided on by a vote (how democratic) so I suggested we talk about redemption and forgiveness as related to this Dr. Death fellow. It was pretty interesting to hear what everyone had to say... I really love that class, there are a handful of us that are always talking and sharing, so the discussion can get pretty lively.

I'm supposed to be writing my FDR paper right now, but I'm about halfway finished so a little break is alright in my book. We're supposed to write about what we think of Roosevelt's presidency based on this book, Debating Franklin D. Roosevelt's Foreign Policies 1933-1945 by Justus Doenecke (what a name) & Mark Stoler. It was a good book, comprised of two essays, one arguing that he was messed up and his foreign policy reflected that, the other saying that sure, he made mistakes, but he was better than anyone else around at that time (Churchill, Stalin, Mussolini, Franco, etc).
The essay prompt asks "Was FDR a warmongering interventionalist? A hypocritical isolationist? A...?" and I'm taking up the third option, arguing that more than either interventionalist/isolationist, he was a "Rooseveltist" i.e. his reputation/public opinion of him/america's standing domestically &internationally were what drove most of his decision making.
I feel like I'm being a little risky here, especially because I really want to do well on this paper (new professor with seemingly impossibly high standards)... but as Kelsey pointed out to me, it isn't about regurgitating information. I'm feeling pretty confident about the way it's turning out so far, so hopefully it'll be okay. Also I plan on bringing it into the prof's office hours monday.

With all the paper writing I've been doing lately, I've been thinking about setting up a little peer review/writing circle group amongst my friends and classmates... I really found classmate feedback handy last semester in my creative nonfiction class, so maybe some people will be up for it.



In the meantime, I've become addicted to Pandora. I'm currently listening to "Oxford Comma Radio" based on, you guessed it, Vampire Weekend's Oxford Comma.

also, check out this youtube vid... Hilarious.

Okay, back to FDR.