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The musings of me

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Day 43

Day 43, April 17th   While working on Box 9, I came across three religious service books. It made me think about how important religion must have been to the soldiers who fought. It may not have been their personal beliefs, but they definitely had to consider religion as part of their daily lives. I wonder what it might have been like to have been an atheist in World War I- would one have even admitted to such a thing back then?

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methodwriter85

Ghost Hunting

I went on a ghost hunt at IUP this weekend, over at Keith and Leonard Hall. It was cool- last Halloween I went and nothing happened, but this time around, we had some experiences! Using a flashlight that would turn on and off by itself as well as a K2 meter, we had several ghosts communicate to us. One was named Danny- he had identified himself as a founding father of IUP, and had been around during the 1870's and 1880's, and died of an illness in March. I had literal chills going down my back w

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UD Wants to Start A Law School

My undergrad, University of Delaware, wants to start a law school by 2015. University of Delaware's Law School Aim     I can't tell you how bad of an idea I think this is. Delaware's a small state, and it already has a law school, Widner. Delaware's strength is based on the chemical engineering and business program, and I can't see how adding a law school would do anything to enhance the university. Programs are already getting cut- like the journalism major- and I imagine that will only

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Day 50, 51, 52

Day 50 -May 2nd   Finally finished Box 4. Just one more box to go.   There's a woman who keeps visiting the Historical Society with her kids. They like seeing the guns. It's great seeing the importance of the historical society as a free place for families to go and entertain their children.   I think hands-on activities would be great to add, like maybe teaching children how to make haversacks or marching.   Day 51- May 4th   Interestingly, I'm starting on Box 1 as my final box. Lucki

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Grad School Faux-Paus

I had a bit of a faux-paus today where I cracked some joke that I wouldn't let up on, and the professor took me aside and told me that I might not be picking up on the social cues that I was ticking off some of the kids in the class.   I felt pretty embarrassed, although it reiterated to me what a great professor I have. It just reminded me that social cues and graces just are never going to be second-nature to me, and that I really have to remember when I should let my guard down and just fre

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Not Just The Man In The Van By Daniel Norris

I thought with the start of baseball season going, the baseball fans here might get a kick out of an article that Detroit Tigers player Daniel Norris wrote, about what the sport means to him. He's best known as the guy who lives in his van during his off-season.   "More Than Just the Man in the Van" by Daniel Norris   I'm a sucker for free spirits who don't really go for the conventional life, and I really like this guy. I'm not a baseball fan, but he's a pretty cool guy. And so self-assure

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14-Year Old Girl Stands Up for Reproductive Rights

There's this awesome article I just read, written by a 14-year old girl who took part in the protests against the Texas State legislature for the restrictive abortion laws that were passed. She held up a sign with her father saying, "Jesus Isn't A Vagina So Keep Him Out of My Vagina" :       This is the article she wrote in response to internet trolls who've called her a slut:   I'm The 14-Year-Old Who Wrote The "Jesus Isn't A Dick So Keep Him Out of My Vagina" Sign In Texas And Was Lab

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Random Cute Guy- Anthony Ingruber

Did anyone else catch the movie The Age of Adaline? (It's a movie where Gossip Girl's Blake Lively is a woman who has been stuck as a 29-year old for almost 80 years after getting struck by lightning.) This newcomer named Anthony Ingruber did a VERY credible portrayal of a young version of Harrison Ford's character, and he looked cute as hell doing it:     He runs a YouTube channel where he posted his celebrity impressions, and h attracted the interest of the casting directors for the mo

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Girl Takes Calculator To Prom

So, I was at dinner tonight with my family, and we were talking about my 18-year old niece's senior prom. They then talked about a schoolmate named Regina Reynolds who took a calculator to the prom. Apparently, the guy who was going to ask this girl decided to ask my niece instead. So Regina decided to say, "What the hell", and went to prom with a calculator that she dressed up in a little tux while drawing a flower on the screen. Her Tumblr post about the whole deal went viral, to the point whe

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Day 40, Day 41, Day 42

Day 40, April 11th   I finished work on Box 2. Finally.   Day 41, April 13th   I started work on Box 9. It doesn't look as if it'll take as long as Box 2 did. Hopefully.   I gave one of the other grad students a tour of the military exhibit at the society. He's into military history, so I pretty much let him lead the tour. I imagine that something like that will come up when gving tours, running into people who know more about the exhibit(or at least believe they do) than you do. I kept

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When Parents Take Over Their Deceased Child's Facebook Page

I got the heebie jeebies the other day when I was playing the game Farmville yesterday, and I got a notification that B.P. had done something to help my farm.   B.P. died back around August, an apparent suicide. He was only 22. After that, his father took over the page, giving us updates on stuff like the funeral. Then he started sending us stories about Brian. Now he's apparently using his son's facebook page regularly enough that he's playing Farmville under the name of his dead son

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Leaving Graduate School

I talked to my advisor today, and told her that I was planning on dropping out of graduate school.   Going back over my blog, all I ever do is worry about school, and how hard it is, and how much I need to get my grades up. And for what? To service some future self? Become chained to the hell that is academia for another year of my life? I've been in school since 1991. Maybe it's time to finally say good-bye to it all?   I was watching an episode of this show called Greek, and the character

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A Father's Love for His Son

I came this article in the News Journal today. It's about the sentencing of a former UD student, who got put in jail for 10 years for his assault on a WVU student named Ryan Diviney. The article focuses on Ryan's dad, Ken, who has devoted his life to taking care of his now-comatose son.Former UD student gets 10 years in VA assualt.   I thought I'd post this up and all that because I was just reading it, and I was so incredibly moved by the father. He's put aside his entire life- everyt

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Day 16, Day 17

Day 16, February 14th   I continued working on Box 5. I found a couple of pamplets that discussed gas warfare, as well as trench warefare. Those were the two big hallmarks of the Great War, because they were such new ways to fight in a way that still believed in the Romantic Napoleonic way of fighting. I wonder what it must have been like for the soldiers who read these pamplets to get a sense of what they were going to face.   I looked up the online orbituary of Colonel Richard W. Wa

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More University of Delaware Stupidity

Just when I thought UD couldn't come up with even more inane ideas...they proved me wrong.....   UD Wants to Close Academy Street   See, I get the principle of what they're trying to do- they're trying to create a more closed, Ivy-League like campus(like say, UPenn), and what they have to do to achieve that is to get rid of throroughfares.   Still, Academy Street is just way too critical north-south route to close like, especially when you consider the fire station

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The First Semester of Grad School, Finito

I got 2 A's and a B. That brings my grad school GPA to a 3.66. (IUP does not do A- or B+ grades like UD, so there's a little less inflation here.) I was really hoping I could pull off a 4.0, but eh...I'll live. I have some mixed emotions here- I really did work my ass off in all the classes. I really was hoping for a 4.0. And the B kills it, and makes it impossible for me to ever have a 4.0 accumulative in grad school. I'm pretty disapointed, but I also know that I really did all I could do.  

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Grad School Begins, Part II

Sometimes the best thing to do is face your fear head-on. I've been reading online a bit, about people who are or have failed out of graduate school. What I realize is that I'm not alone at all about feeling scared about failing, or realizing that I went into this process completely blind and uncomprehending about the pitfalls and troubles I could face. There's this interesting site by a woman who left her PhD program four years in. I thought it was pretty interesting:   Straight Talk

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5 Years Gone- Dan Kincaid

This week marks the 5th anniversary of the passing of a very lovely online friend and member of the community, author Dan Kincaid/Sam. (He died, I believe, on either October 25th of 2008, or October 26th.) I only had the privilege of corresponding with him for a few months before he died, but I'm really glad we did. Back in those days, Adam and I were...well, let's just say that we had somewhat of a personality clash going on, and Sam was really good at being a mediator.   He was a very swe

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ASB 2012

I just got back from a week in Tennessee, helping to build new paths for the Cumberland Trail. We stayed at a lodge in a small hole-in-the-wall called Soddy Daisy, with kids from schools all around the East Coast and Mid-West.   I can't put into words just how wonderful that experience was. I came into the trip expecting that we'd be putting down gravel and trimming weeds for some biking/cross-country trails. I had never hiked a day in my life, unless you count walking around flat Delaware

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Day 53

Day 53, May 8   I'm nearing the end of Box 1 and therefore the end of processing this collection.   I found one book that was in french, and depicted how the various planes in various countries looked. That was pretty interesting, since World War I was the first war that was really fought in the air as well as on the ground.   I also found a 1902 calendar, which was cool, but didn't really fit in the scope of the collection. I talked to my adviser about that, and she agreed. It was put in

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The Jason Mraz Dilemna

Okay, so I'm starting school over in western PA at this school called IUP, which is 5 hours away from home. It's pretty far out. I'm not taking my car, so it's not going to be the easiest thing to get a ride to and back.   I recently found out that close to my hometown, and at my undergrad school, UD, there are plans to have Jason Mraz perform on September 28th, which is Tuesday. If I skip out on Monday and Tuesday classes, I could prolly swing going to the concert.   So herei

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Habitat for Humanity

I'll be working for Habitat for Humanity for spring break '11 in Winter Haven, Florida. We get a pit stop in Atlanta, and we also get that Friday off to go to Daytona Beach.   No alcohol, which is a bummer, but overall I'm really excited. And this should go great on my CV.   I have never been to Florida in my life, so I'm really excited!

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Italian.

So I just got chewed out in Italian today. And it was my fault- I didn't do the work. And it hasn't exactly been the first time this semester that this has happened, and I think the professor finally just got fed up.   I'm not really offering any excuses. I know it's all on me. And I know that I've got to turn it around. I also know that while there is still time to turn it around, that time ends soon. So. I give Mark Arbour and Adam Phillips full permission to slap the shit out of m

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Family. Ugh.

My whole family is bitching at me right now because I'm applying to this school called Millersville Univeristy, which is, at an hour and a half away, 'too far' for me to go, and 'isn't a good school'. They keep bitching at me to apply to a closer school in the area, and look at closer area schools, which I have! They are either too good for me to get into, or they don't have my program. Then they bitch about me about how I need to take educational courses if I'm going to be a community col

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Day 33, Day 34, Day 35, Day 36

Day 33- March 27th   Continued working on Box 2.   Day 34-March 28th   Someone showed me a diploma from the Indiana State Normal School, from 1910. (That was IUP's name when it was a teacher's college.) It was interesting to read it, because the diploma listed all of the subjects that the person was able to teach. It was a quite a list as well- everything ranging from politics to geometry. Nowadays, a person needs a master's in education just to teach elementary school, it seems.   I had

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