Finished, a semester and a book.
I finished class for a month. So far I have one grade in for Preventive Conservation and it is an A+. I am excited for the others to come in. Overall, I feel confident. I should have at least an A if not an A+ in collections management and I am expecting an A or an A- in Data Management but it’s hard to say as I have no way to figure out how Mei grades exactly. It seems, to me… and the rest of us, that she grades based somewhat on how she feels the rest of the class did but I have yet to grasp what exactly she expects out of our writing. I think she just likes everything to be articulated very clearly which is an important skill in data management and so I think that she’ll give us a good grade because our manual is very detailed. Also, i was able to figure some things out about Filemaker Pro that can be implemented in the ethnology database and I think she’ll look fondly upon that. It’s somewhat hard to say though. I have As on all the other assignments but this is a huge part of our grade.
I’m also satisfied with our collections management plan for collections management. I think our recommendations were apt and well-explained. The test we had on Tuesday in that class was totally random as there was not a whole lot of material to test us on. Usually, we have four sections, Multiple Choice/True False/Fill-in-the-Blank, Short Answer, Lists, and Essay. This time, we had every section except short answer was somewhat in the first section and somewhat in the lists section. There was less extra-credit available because there were less sections. Generally, we answer 20 of 25 in the first section with the extra five worth 1 point each, 3 of 6 in the second with two points available for the each of the other three, 3 of 5 in the third section for two points and then the essay. Instead, we answered 25 of 32 in the first section, 3 of 5 in the second section and the essay. It should be fine, though. I feel like I did well even though a lot of the true/false were crazy specific and not anything we had covered in class or the lab, or much in the readings for that matter.
I also finished The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova today. My review from Goodreads.com:
Overall I thought the book was a little too campy. It was about what I was expecting and I was looking for a bit of a break from graduate school and it was enjoyable and a quick read, even at 642 pages. I’m willing to be a little lenient on it because I don’t think I was quite the target demographic and i wasn’t looking for something incredibly heavy or incredibly well-written. I wanted a book that was captivating and The Historian was certainly that.
Still, I find myself unable to get over certain aspects of the story. For one, I think the author fails to create a standalone voice for each story-teller in the book. I can attribute some of this to the preface which explains the narration is not meant to be from more than one perspective but the narrator is citing or quoting from four sources other than her own recall—her father’s stories and writing, Professor Rossi’s writing, and the Chronicle of Zacharias and accompanying explanation. Her father’s story is likely to fall into the voice of the narrator upon recall but the other sources should largely establish their own voice which does not even seem to be attempted. Stylistically, the author could have just not cited them as independent texts as she does, going so far as to dedicate an independent chapter to both the Chronicle and the letters from Professor Rossi. The failure to clearly define a voice for each independent narrator decreased the dynamism of each character.
Pseudo-spoiler begins here: Also, I thought the actual appearance of the character of Dracula diverged from the historical accounts of the man and merged with common folklore. I understand the importance of folklore in the construction of Dracula but felt Kostova had appropriately taken the character in the direction of the historical accounts of Vlad the Impaler. Her effort was largely undone by the appearance of Dracula in the end of the text, no longer the cruel military and political strategist who died in 1477 but instead a kind of protected academic serene and satisfied with his library and secret order of the dragon.
Today we are watching football and enjoying a little bit of being married without the pressure of grad school looming over us. Mostly, though, we are watching football.
Devon has also been in town this week. It’s been pretty awesome. I miss having my brother around and I’m happy that he gets a chance to relax and enjoy Lubbock. It’s funny how little he stresses us out, being here. It’s mostly just great to have him around and get to spend some time with him. I’m really glad my parents ultimately let him come back with us after Thanksgiving.