Posts tagged ‘alternative spring break’

February 23rd, 2010

A little bit of everything

I’m thankful for our fireplace – today is one of those cloudy, damp days where the chills seeps in. There’s nothing like a fire to warm me up [& to get rid of that pile of junk mail & cardboard!]

Joel shared this quote with me the other day & I really like it:

“These are not books, lumps of lifeless paper, but minds alive on the shelves.” -Gilbert Highet

I’ve posted before about the Let’s Save Michigan campaign, a fantastic local organizations. Together with the DIA, they are hosting a poster contest and finalists were announced today. There are 60 posters & you can vote for multiple posters, but only  once a day for each poster. All of the entries are inspiring & wonderful, but these are my favorites:

Today and Sunday I spent some time at local thrift stores. As I get ready to head to DC next week to work at the National Library of Medicine, it’s become clear that the “business casual” part of my wardrobe is sorely lacking. Luckily, people in Ann Arbor give away really nice clothes and I was able to pick up some great pants & shirts. Also, I’ve been on the lookout for clothing that would be good to take with me to Egypt this summer. It’s a very conservative country, so I’ll be wearing a lot of long skirts, loose tops and keeping my shoulders to myself. [65 days!!!!]

I enjoyed this article from the Boston Globe titled, In the Digital Age, Librarians are Pioneers, a review of Marilyn Johnson’s book This Book Is Overdue. Not only does the book show librarians to be the daring & innovative crew that they are, but she calls archivists the “unsung heros of the library.” Additionally, we are “magicians that deftly distinguish between detritus and artifact, capturing history before it disappears because of a broken link or outdated software.” A wonderful statement [even if it might be up for debate in my appraisal of archives class]!!

Oh!! I just got an email that the University of Michigan is hosting their own TED conference next year. How exciting – I’ll definitely be there!! That is, if I’m selected – attendance is through application & invitation only.

This Flickr group, Looking Into the Past, is a creative way to use photos. By aligning an old photo within it’s modern day setting, the passage of time is clearly visible. I’d love to do this around Ypsilanti! Here are some of my favorites:

Now: homework!

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February 9th, 2010

A snow day & a deadly plant

The snow has come as promised! Joel’s work has already closed for tomorrow & I’ll be taking the day off work [since everyone else probably will], which means SNOW DAY!! So exciting!

Today at work I came across the oldest plant I’ve seen so far, from 1870:

1870 1870

According to the annotation tag, it’s hyoscyamus niger & was collected in nearby, in Detroit. Not familiar with the plant, I looked it up & this is what I learned [& it's really interesting!!]:

Henbane (Hyoscyamus niger), also known as stinking nightshade, is a plant of the family Solanaceae that originated in Eurasia, though it is now globally distributed.

It was historically used in combination with other plants, such as mandrake, deadly nightshade, and datura as an anaesthetic potion, as well as for its psychoactive properties in “magic brews.” These psychoactive properties include visual hallucinations and a sensation of flight.

It was sometimes one of the ingredients in grut, traditionally used in beers as a flavouring, until replaced by hops in the 11th to 16th centuries.

Henbane is thought to have been the “hebenon” poured into the ear of Hamlet’s father.

I’m also working on another project at work where I’m putting bryophyte  specimens [non-vascular plants, like moss] from Greenland into new packets & gluing the labels onto the front. These specimens were collected in the 1950s.

Plans are settled for the ASB/conference conflict – I’ll work at half day at the National Library of Medicine on Friday, fly out of Washington National at 4pm, land in Indy at 6pm & drive to Bloomington where we’ll spend the night & I’ll present the next day. I bought the plane ticket & booked the hotel room & it feels great to have those crossed off my list.

Lately, my thoughts frequently drift to the fertile crescent & this beautiful library.
It’s only about 4 months away, Insha’Allah…

While I’ve been writing this, Gwen has come & perched herself on my shoulder. She’s adorable.
Gwen, being adorable

Time to do homework & watch the snowflakes fall.

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February 6th, 2010

I’m on my way to becoming a professional

Last week I submitted my paper “The Destruction of Archives as Cultural Genocide” to the Society of American Archivists student chapter conference at Indiana University called “Change and Continuity: A Conference for Students and Beginning Professionals on Archives, Rare Books, and Special Collections.” Today I found it was accepted! I’m very excited & very, very nervous.

Unfortunately this presents a small problem – the conference is on Saturday, March 6th & the week leading up to that I will be in DC for spring break. It’s a 10 hour drive from DC to Bloomington, so it wouldn’t be very feasible for me to rent a car & drive myself there. At the moment I think I’m going to take a flight Friday night out of Washington National, Joel will meet me in Indianapolis, we’ll drive to Bloomington, spend the night & I’ll present at the conference in the morning.

Oh the hassles of having so many great opportunities… :)

Now we’re headed to Grand Rapids for the show at Founders.
Here’s to a good weekend!

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January 27th, 2010

All sorts of interesting

I found out my alternative spring break project today! I’ll be going to the National Library of Medicine in DC [well, Bethesda, Maryland, but we'll be staying DC] & working on a rehousing plan to assess, organize, house, and label for archival purposes over 10 years worth of exhibition materials. It sounds really interesting & like great experience! More about my project here. I’m especially excited that I’ll be going to DC since I’ve spent very little time there. My only visit was for Peace Corps staging a couple years ago & my time was mostly spent in a hotel conference room or trying to asborb as much America as I could, but not visiting the important places. Now’s my chance!

My wonderful friend Victoria dedicated a blog post to me & it was about books, of course! Go check it out – there’s an interesting quote & some cool accessories, including an awesome faux-book computer cover.

Gloat: my trivia team got second place Monday night. That means we got a $10 gift certificate to come back & do it again next week!

winnings from our team You Can't Rush Genius

NewTactics.org is hosting an online discussion about the best ways to document human rights violations. Among the panelist are a number of archivists & I’m interested in learning more about what role these professionals [& myself] can play in the broader human rights movement.

I found [yet another] conference I want to go to. This one is hosted by Yale University & is titled “A2K4: Conference on Access to Knowledge and Human Rights.”

What the Fonds? is a hilarious blog featuring “funny, interesting and cool stuff from the holdings of the University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collections.” [Also, for you non-archivists, learn more about 'fonds.']

This is an incredible & slightly disturbing story about a stolen iphone & how one determined man tracked it, learned all sorts of personal information about the person who stole it [& the friends & family of the theif] & how he eventually convinced him to send it back. Oh the wonders & horrors of the internet.

Here’s a list of the 10 best songs about libraries and librarians. If only archivists had songs written about them!

Tonight I’m going to watch my friend perform in the play Denial. Written by Peter Sagal [of Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me...], it features my friend playing a Jewish lawyer assigned by the ACLU to defend the free-speech rights of a Holocaust denier. It sounds interesting & powerful, even more so because today is 65th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp. From a NY Times article today about marking the anniversary:

”My murdered brothers and sisters and brothers who survived the inferno, I came here today from Jerusalem to say to you we will never forget,” Netanyahu said. ”We will not allow Holocaust deniers and desecrators of grave stones to erase or distort the memory.”

I can’t wait to see the play.

And now I’m going to get ready – our whole group of friends is meeting up for dinner & then going to watch the play together. Have I mentioned I have the best friends in the world?

The Dress Looks Nice on You – …

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January 20th, 2010

Substitute sunlight & happy ramblings

I feel happy & relaxed. It’s nice.
A few months ago I signed up at Planet Fitness – I have unlimited tanning & access to a gym 24/7. For $20 a month, it’s a good deal. I chose the plan with the tanning thinking it might be something I’d want come winter. Well here we are, firm in Michigan’s wintry grasp & I’m feeling the urge to eat donuts, curl up under twenty blankets, turn off all the lights & sleep for three months. Unfortunately, that’s not possible.

So: in addition to my regular workouts, I’ve started tanning. I always feel guilty about it, knowing that I’m frying my skin & inviting all sorts of cancer, so I try to keep my trips infrequent & short – just enough time to get some precious rays. While I normally can’t trick myself into pretending I’m on a sun-soaked beach with waves & gulls, I’ve been using the ten minutes to practice meditation. The heat from the lamps, the whir of the fan, the chance to shut out everything & focus on myself – it’s a nice break from life.

Today, after a good workout & a relaxing tan, I came home happy, exhausted & relaxed. So relaxed, in fact, that I took a 45 minute nap – a rare thing for me. Now it’s finishing up my application for Alternative Spring Break, reading for class tomorrow night & finishing some codes [let me know if you need help calculating your overtime pay!].

I feel expansive & epic – I’m happy to be alive.

all is love

Things are slowly getting underway for our GROCS project. We have a Twitter account, a WordPress account, are in the process of finding wireless displays & contacting the local shelter about putting one up there. All these things are beta at the moment & won’t go live until around February 1st, but I’m getting excited.We have lots to work out still, but our rough ideas are exciting & hopefully anyone who comes across this blog will get involved too!

According to careerbuilder.com, archivists have one of the top 55 jobs with high growth projected for 2010!

Chile opened their Museum of Memory and Human Rights last week. It looks amazing & exactly like something I want to be involved in.

These posters are great:

I’m so wordy today. Rambling blogs & emails – a trademark of mine.
Time to finish watching Inglourious Basterds! [Those are Tarantino's misspellings, not mine, by the way]
<3

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