Irish History PhD

Chapter 5 in the can

2009-05-20T15:27:00.002-05:00

I've realized why I don't write too much on this blog - well aside from the fact that I'm really not that interesting and don't have a lot to say unless prompted. I've been busting my ass on this dissertation since I got back from Ireland last summer. And it seems as though all my hard work has paid off. I finished the first draft of chapter 5 today. That is the final chapter of my dissertation. I still need to write the introduction and conclusion, but I already know what I need to do for the former and the latter won't be written until, well, I'm done (or very close to it). All told, I've written 193 pages since September. Now I don't want to toot my own horn, but I think that's pretty impressive. Granted everything is still pretty rough and they're only first drafts of everything, but I now have a really solid base to work off of during the coming school year. Since I'll be making my first foray into teaching in the fall it's probably pretty good that I've got the bulk of this done now.

Go Wings

2009-05-14T11:39:00.001-05:00

Game 7 and I have to work. I think that's ok. I'm kind of scared to watch the game anyway. I just hope we get an Original Six Western Conference Finals with both Detroit and Chicago.

The beat goes on

2009-04-28T17:39:00.002-05:00

I've made some good progress on Chapter 5 this so far this week. I've got about 8 pages already in about 2.5 days of work. Not too bad if I do say so myself. It's amazing how helpful a little outlining can be.

The most challenging thing as of late is trying to find some work for the summer. I managed to find a gig for the first 3 weeks of May proctoring law school exams at John Marshall and Loyola. Once that's done I've got contacts at two different temp agencies so hopefully one of those will provide something for the remainder of the summer. One of the agencies set up the proctoring gig and the other was a contact through one of my buddies.

The most important development of late has been, of course, the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Wings made short work of Columbus in the first round, but every series has been good so far. The Caps/Rangers series has been amazing. I'm looking forward to game 7 tonight. After Ovechkin's goal in game 5 I'm hoping for some more Russian fireworks. Out west the Ducks/Sharks series was a real surprise, simply because the Sharks were so terrible. The Ducks' forecheck and backcheck were too much for the Sharks to handle. I'm a little worried about facing Jonas Hiller in the next round, but at the same time the Ducks have been playing at such a high level for about 6 weeks now I don't know how long they can keep up that pace - especially with only 2-3 days rest between series. I'm looking forward to the next round and hoping that Lord Stanley makes its way back to hockeytown.

Chapter 4... redux

2009-04-15T14:42:00.004-05:00

I just wrapped up my first draft of chapter four. It's by far the most disconnected draft I've written thus far, but at the same time it's a complex time in the chronology of my dissertation. One element of commemoration is on the decline and is being replaced by another, different type. At this point I think it's best to set it aside for a while and come back to it with fresh eyes in a few months. That means I only have one more body chapter to draft out, chapter five, which covers the time period 1987-present. Things to discuss in chapter 5:

The Enniskillen bombing in 1987 as a watershed
The revival of interest in the Great War in Ireland as it pertains to:
Government involvement - especially the refurbishment and opening of Islandbridge
Local advocacy groups
Wrap up the ISSLT stuff (quickly)
Easing of North/South relations, e.g. Sinn Fein mayor of Belfast and R.D. ceremonies
Opening of the Somme Centre in the North
Rise of historical scholarship on the subject
Relative "boom" in using the Great War in Irish literature

Now that I write all of that out, perhaps chapter 5 will be just as disjointed as chapter 4 when I finish the first draft. I guess that's all part of the process. Nevertheless, it's nice to be moving on and I'm even keeping to my original timetable for completion (for the most part). After I get these 5 body drafts done I think I'll write the introduction, which I have yet to do, but I pretty much know everything that's going to go in there.

Two nights of DTB = heaven

2009-04-10T00:21:00.004-05:00

The Derek Trucks Band played two nights at the Park West this week. I was able to go to both shows. I sent out setlists and reviews to the Derek email listserv which I'll also post here.

Park West, Chicago, IL
4/8/09

Down In The Flood
Down Don't Bother Me
Days Is Almost Gone
Rastaman Chant
Get What You Deserve
I'll Find My Way
Meet Me At The Bottom
Already Free
Leavin' Trunk
Afro Blue
Get Out Of My Life >
Who Knows >
Get Out Of My Life
Up Above My Head

Encore:
Done Got Over
We're A Winner
Sweet Inspiration

The band came on just after 8:45pm and played one long set finishing up at about 10:45pm. The venue was pretty full for a Wednesday night (I saw Tea Leaf Green at Park West a few weeks ago and the crowd was quite paltry) and it might have even been a sell out - I know tomorrow's show is sold out. The band played with a horn section at tonight's show, which added some nice touches to most of the songs. I'm not a huge fan of horns in "rock" music, but a nice horn triad can add a lot when not over used - tonight's show was a great example of that. The sax player took some nice solos at a few points during the night as well. As per usual, the band played a really solid set. It was evident when they hit their groove though. From Leavin' Trunk through the rest of the show the band was in 5th gear. The version of Leavin' Trunk was one of the best I've heard. Furthermore, not only did the play Rastaman, which was a treat and a surprise, but they played the one song I was really jonesing for - Afro Blue. Suffice it to say the band didn't let me down. Kofi and Derek were on fire, as per usual. I was really struck by Derek's straight playing during Afro Blue tonight. The Count and the sax player took a nice solo each in the song as well. The only disappoint was that I did not see any tapers (again, for a city the size of Chicago with so many tapers not one?). I sincerely hope that I'm wrong because the band was ON and people need to hear this version of Afro Blue. I'll be at tomorrow night's show and report back to the list.

Park West, Chicago, IL
4/9/09

I Know
Get What You Deserve
Sailing On
Miss Me When I'm Gone
Rastaman Chant
Key To The Highway
Days Is Almost Gone
Leavin' Trunk
Already Free
Get Out Of My Life Woman >
Who Knows >
Get Out Of My Life Woman
My Favorite Things
Any Day

Encore:
Down In The Flood
Sweet Inspiration*

*with Billy Branch on harmonica

To me, the mark of a good live band is when their performance transcends time; when you look at your watch and realize, "holy shit, it's been an hour and fifteen minutes already." Fortunately, this happens virtually every time I see the DTB and tonight was no exception. The band took the stage at about 8:50pm tonight and played another solid two hour set. (I love how the band eschews the whole rock and roll ethos in their own attitudes and mannerisms as well as a band. They respect their fans and go on when they should, which allows us fans to get home and to bed for work the next day. Now that's class.) The horn section from the previous night was back and they all seemed a bit more comfortable with the tunes this time around. "Sailing On" stood out early in the set. The horns sounded great and there was an incredible upbeat, funky vibe to the song that really got the crowd moving. Kofi was on all night and Todd did a really nice job of holding the down the bottom end while still adding flourishes of color (as a bass player I notice his playing more than most, probably). Surprisingly, or perhaps not, given the previous night's performance, "Leavin' Trunk" really cooked. The whole band was on - Derek and Kofi doing their thing as per usual and an extended jamming period that saw solos from the trombone player, Kofi's clavinet, the sax player, and the Count. They brought it down a bit with "Already Free" but there was still plenty of tasteful playing. I think "Already Free" is one of my favorite on the new album (that and "Something To Make You Happy" - what can I say, I can't get enough Paul Pena) and what the band does with it live simply builds on an already great song. The band stepped the funk back up with "Get Out Of My Life Woman." Several times during the night I looked over at Bobby Tis at the board and he had a big SEG (shit eating grin) on his face. You know the band is hitting their stride when you see that kind of reaction from the crew. "My Favorite Things" stuck out tonight as well. Having followed this band almost religiously for the better part of a decade, Derek's slide fireworks come as no surprise (that's not to diminish his chops though) but what I really paid attention to tonight (and a bit last night) was Derek's straight playing. He didn't even touch the slide during "My Favorite Things" and just blew me away with some of his work on the fretboard. Throughout the night I tried to focus on his rhythm work as well, which I think is very under-rated. He manages to add a lot of color to his rhythm parts and keep the song moving and interesting while staying true to the arrangement. One thing I noticed during "Down In The Flood" - the guitar change between Derek and Bobby is so fluid it's almost one swift motion. For the "Sweet Inspiration" encore, Billy Branch from the opening band came out and blew some harp. I must say that the combination of the DTB, the horn section, and the harp may have just resulted in the best version of that song yet. The major surprise for me was that I didn't see any taping rigs again tonight. Perhaps I missed them again, but I'm kind of shocked that they weren't more apparent if they were there. Both of these shows were so good it would be a shame not to have them available to the whole community. Who knows, perhaps Marty and company were pulling multi-track tonight (do they do that every night?) for a future release. Trust me, there were enough highlights from both nights to have a pretty amazing live album (of course I'd love it if they released both nights in their entirety, but hey, that's me). One other little funny moment, during the intros Derek introduced Mike as being from Northwestern (when he really went to Harvard) and both night's the Count was introduced as being from Gary, Indiana. I was listening to the House of Blues tape from 4/2/09 and they introduced the Count as being from a town in MA, so I assumed they're just messing around, which I found humorous. I made sure to give Marty a thumbs up and a "good work tonight" on the way out of the building. Everyone earned their paycheck at the Park West gigs this week. It's nice that the DTB finally did more than one night in Chicago, and I hope it's a trend that will continue in the future.

Honeymoon - recap and reflections

2009-04-02T09:27:00.001-05:00

Tuesday, March 17th
Fortunately, Katie was forward thinking and scheduled a car to pick us up and drive us to the airport. Our flight was at 5:35am and we got picked up at 3am. Needless to say it was a long day. We landed in Houston, and since our plane got in a little late, we had less than our scheduled 45 min lay-over. By the time we got to the gate for our next flight, I realized I had left my coat on the other plane at the other end of the airport. To make a long story short, the airline did nothing to help me out and I lost my coat before we even got out of the country.

We landed in San Jose and met up with our driver. It took about 90 minutes to get to our first stop of the trip - Hotel Villa Blanca in the Los Angeles Cloud Forest just north of San Ramon. We had our own little "casita" - basically a stand-alone apartment - at the hotel. We had a great view of the surrounding mountains and the hotel's grounds from our terrace. We made sure to take in happy hour our first night there and had a really nice dinner.

Wednesday, March 18th
The next day we woke up early and had breakfast. The hotel had a working dairy farm on the premises and guests were able to milk the cows. The two milk cows were named Britney and Madonna. I had the opportunity to milk Madonna (somehow I have a feeling I'm not the first person to make such a claim), which Katie found very entertaining since I don't like cows (except to eat) and had never milked one before.

We spent the morning walking around the hotel's grounds, relaxing, and reading. In the afternoon we had a couple's massage at the hotel's spa. I think it goes without saying that it was pretty awesome. After basking in post-massage glow for a while we had another nice dinner. Since the hotel was in the middle of no-where there wasn't a whole lot to do in the evening, although there was a game room with a pool table, cards, and other stuff, as well as a movie theater there. Our goal was to take it easy and relax, which is exactly what we did. The hotel offered a wide variety of tours, either half or full day, and if we get the opportunity to go back I would definitely do some of those.

Thursday, March 19th
Another great breakfast at Villa Blanca. Then we just bummed around until our driver picked us up at 1pm. This was when we met Randall, the coolest driver we had on the entire trip. He was a very friendly and personable guy. He pointed out all kinds of neat stuff during our driver to Arenal and even stopped at the grocery store so that we could buy some beer! Score for Randall!

We got to our next stop, the Arenal Observatory Lodge, in the late afternoon. We were staying there for 3 nights, but because of other reservations were were in one room for 2 nights and then we had to move to another room for one night. Both rooms had great views of the volcano and we even saw a bit of lava on our first night. The hotel was a bit "rustic" and they had some hiking trails as well as a pool and jacuzzi. We had a mediocre dinner and then retired to drink some of our beer before it got warm (the refrigerator in our room didn't work).

Friday, March 20th
We got up and had breakfast, and then we got ready for our excursion for the day, which was horseback riding. We got picked up and driven to the stable. After everyone had arrived and assembled, we mounted up and took to the fields. We rode our horses about 5 kilometers to the La Fortuna waterfall. My horse was a bit cranky, which made for an interesting ride, but by the time we came back I was a bit more comfortable. Anyway, we were able to spend about an hour swimming in the waterfall, which was really impressive and an amazing experience. Then we got back on our horses and rode back to the stables. Unfortunately, I apparently inadvertently washed off the sunblock I had put on my hands and both of them got pretty sunburned - especially my left since that was the one holding the reins.

By this time it was the afternoon and we went back to the hotel to find that our refrigerator had been replaced (yay! cold beer) and took a swim in the pool. After another bad dinner - the food there was way overpriced and reminded me of the food at a college dorm cafeteria - we took it easy for the remainder of the evening. At this point some of the allergens in the area started to bother Katie and she wasn't feeling well. To make matters worse our room was right next door to the kitchen so it was loud. Even worse, there was a back door to the kitchen that was left unlatched and when the wind blew the door would slam against its frame. This happened throughout the night and Katie didn't sleep very well, to say the least.

Saturday, March 21st
Since we had to switch rooms and Katie wasn't feeling well, we decided to stay close to the lodge and explore the hiking trails they had. We spent the morning on the trails, got caught out in the rain for a bit, and checked out another, smaller waterfall nearby. When we got back our new room was ready and fortunately, it was very far from the kitchen. In the afternoon we hit up the pool again and Katie started to teach me how to do flipturns. Apparently my wild flailing was humorous and I think she almost soiled herself laughing so hard.

Sunday, March 22nd
Instead of driving from Arenal to our next destination, Manuel Antonio, which was a 5-7 hour drive depending on how many times you got lost, we elected to fly there. We had to take two puddle jumpers, one from La Fortuna to San Jose, and another from San Jose to Quepos. To say the La Fortuna "airport" was nothing more than a strip of pavement and an open air building would be true, but at least there was a bar as well. Since Katie doesn't like flying it was good to get a beer or two before the flight. These were definitely the smallest plane I've ever been on, 19 passenger jobbers. The flights were pretty uneventful. Upon landing in San Jose, they literally paraded us in one door, check our IDs, walked to the other side of the building (about 30 yards), got our IDs checked again, and walked right back out to the plane we had just gotten off of. The "airport" at Quepos was just as small as La Fortuna, if not smaller. The entire trip took about an hour, so we saved a lot of time by flying.

Manuel Antonio was on the Pacific Coast and it was really warm, a nice change from our previous two stops which were in the mountains and more temperate. Our hotel, Si Como No, was run by the same company that ran Villa Blanca, and had really nice rooms, great restaurants, two pools, and spectacular views. After we arrived we went straight to the adult pool and I was introduced to one of my favorite new things - the swim up bar. Over the next three nights we did plenty of business at the swim up bar. One of the other benefits of Si Como No was the return to good food. So we had a good dinner at one of the two restaurants on site.

Monday, March 23rd
Our outdoor adventure for the day was a canopy zip line tour. I must say that I hate heights, but I had a great time. It was pretty much an all day affair. We left the hotel a little after 10am and got back around 4pm. In that time we drove out to the zip line course, which was in the middle of nowhere. The guides at least made the ride interesting by pointing out different trees and things that Costa Rica produced. Once we got to the place we got a quick safety tutorial and started the hike up the mountain. There were 9 zip lines, 2 rappels, a tarzan swing, and a suspension bridge. The rappels were by far the most frightening for me. The first one was bad enough but at the second, which was the very last thing we did, the guide made me go down an alternative way than what they had showed us at the safety tutorial. Basically, the guy made me do a free fall, which scared the shit out of me. I was the first one in the group to go down and the guide gave everyone else the option of going down the original way or the free fall. Thanks buddy.

After we got back to the main camp, we were provided a typical Costa Rican meal. This consisted of chicken in some sort of delicious sauce, rice, black beans, tortillas, and, for me, plenty of tabasco. I had two heaping plates full of the stuff. It was awesome. When we got back to the hotel it was back to the adult pool and swim up bar (2 for 1 happy hour drinks!). After a dip we went to dinner at the fancy restaurant at the resort Claro Que Si. We both got seafood, since that was the specialty, and it was delicious - as was the dessert.

Tuesday, March 24th
Our outdoor activity for the day was kayaking, but it wasn't scheduled until the afternoon. So after breakfast we walked from the hotel down to the beach. Katie's a beach bum, so she went into the Pacific Ocean. I just waded in and took pictures. I'm a pool guy. Especially when there is a swim up bar involved. We went back to the hotel and went to the kid pool, which lacked kids at the time and familiarized ourselves with the water slide.

Around noon we got picked up for our kayaking tour. We originally thought we were going to go kayaking on the ocean, but realized that we were signed up for the other kayaking tour the company offered, which took place in a river estuary in a protected wetland. Apparently, there was no one else signed up for this particular tour that day so we had the guide all to ourselves. He spent the next few hours taking us around the river system and explaining the ecosystem and various flora and fauna to us. It wasn't what we were expecting, but it was a fun experience nonetheless. When we got back to the launch site, they provided us with fresh pineapple and green tea. The pineapple was SO good. I ate a ton of it. Despite putting on two coats of SPF 30 I still managed to get a bit of sunburn on my shoulders and upper back, but the burns weren't too bad so that was good, especially since I burn so easily.

Upon our return to the hotel, you guessed it, adult pool and swim up bar. Another dinner at the Rico Tico Bar and Grill followed and we packed out gear for our flight home the next day.

Wednesday, March 25th
The worst travel day ever. We flew from Quepos to San Jose on another little puddle jumper. The plane was late arriving at Quepos, but we got into San Jose alright. One of the airport workers told me that our driver had called to say he was running a bit late, but since we were late too it worked out fine. As we entered the little airport, again, who did we see was our driver? Randall! We were so pumped to see him that we were almost to the car when we remembered that we still needed to get our checked bags. Randall got us to the big airport in San Jose where you have to pay a departure tax. It's about $26 per person. Seriously? I have to pay to leave the country? That's bootleg. The airport was pretty small and there wasn't anything good to eat there. We settle for Cinnabon and waited several hours until our flight took off.

We landed in Houston on time, but we only had 65 minutes before our plane left. In that time we had to clear immigration, claim our bags, re-check them, clear security again, and get to our gate. Of course, the lines for everything were ridiculously long and people are idiots who don't know how to go through security. I ended up literally sprinting through the airport in order to make our flight on time. One of the gentlemen on the plane told us that they had even begun boarding early in the hopes of getting out earlier (bad weather was on its way into town). Well the cluster#()$ at the airport apparently affected the pilot who decided to keep the doors open until 7pm (we were scheduled to leave at 6:45). Had he followed through with his original plan we would have gotten out without a problem. By 7:30pm, the doors were still open and people were still boarding the plane. Long story short, again, we spent 3 hours on the run way, ended up going back to the gate so some people could get off, and finally, got back in the queue and out of Houston. We landed at O'Hare at about 12:45am, over 3 hours later than we were supposed to land. So the return travel day definitely left something to be desired (never fly Continental Airlines and avoid the Houston airport, one of their hubs, like the plague). Of course, I'm not easy to travel with in those conditions - tired, hungry, and grouchy. But Katie was a trooper and managed to survive the ordeal. It could have been worse though - my brother could have been there too. I can only imagine what he would have done. (I did write a lengthy letter of complaint to Continental Airlines upon my return.)

So those are the details of our honeymoon. It was a great time and we were really sad to see it end, but we were really glad we had the opportunity to go to Costa Rica. Hopefully we can get back there at some point and do more cool stuff, but that's probably way down the line. Fortunately we have plenty of pictures from our honeymoon to tide us over!

Railroad Earth

2009-04-01T21:19:00.002-05:00

I went to my first Railroad Earth show this past Saturday. I've listened to them a bit before but, as with most bands, the live show is the real litmus test. I think it's safe to say that these guys deliver live. Although the show was at the House of Blues, which starts every show way too late, the band brought the goods. Listen to it for yourself here: http://www.archive.org/details/rre2009-03-28.akgC34.flac16. Railroad Earth combines folk, Americana, and bluegrass with a hint of good old fashioned rock and roll. So give them a whirl, and pick up their records - all of which are now on my "to buy" list. If they come to your area definitely go see them.

My Wedding - A recap and reflections on a week-long event

2009-03-27T23:52:00.005-05:00

Tuesday, March 10th
Katie and I started off our week of wedding activities on Tuesday night. We went to Rose Angelis, our favorite restaurant, for dinner. This is the same place where I proposed. We both got the specials, Katie the chicken and the pasta for me, which were absolutely to die for. This was really the first night of glutenous eating, a trend that continued for the next two weeks until we returned from our honeymoon.

Wednesday, March 11th
After getting up and going to the gym in the morning, I made the bold decision to do some major grooming and went for a back wax for the first time ever. It really wasn't too bad of an experience, and since we were going to Costa Rica a few days later the entire process made the application of sunblock, which I need direly, much more efficient. This was the main reason for such voluntary torture.

My parents came into town on Wednesday afternoon and we went out to dinner with them, and two of my step-mother's siblings for dinner. Tom's wife opted for Prosecco down on Wells, a place Katie and I had eaten at a few weeks earlier and didn't really like, but there wasn't much we could do to change that. Honestly, the food there isn't very impressive and I find the entire restaurant kind of snooty. Oh well.

After dinner we went to meet up with some of Katie's siblings and the night improved. Katie's twin older brothers Tim and Matt as well as her younger sister Maggie met us at the Kerryman for a few drinks. We stayed out later than planned, but had a good time.

Thursday, March 12th
Most of the rest of Katie's family came in on Thursday. We started out the day by going downtown to Gino's East for lunch with the entire Schultz clan. This took a couple of hours because it took a while for everyone to assemble, get seated, order, and eat. Not to mention that the deep dish pizzas take about 30-40 minutes to cook in their own right.

After lunch everyone split up for an hour or so. I accompanied Katie to buy some new jeans, and then we waited for her older sister's family to get back from the Shedd Aquarium. Frankly, I don't understand the appeal of the Shedd. It's by far one of the worst museums/tourist attractions in Chicago, yet everyone always seems to want to go there. I don't get it. Fortunately, we didn't have to go. We met up with Mandy and her family and hung around with the Schultz clan a bit more downtown. A group of us then came back to our place because we had to take the dog out. They went back downtown and Katie and I relaxed until the evening's festivities began.

Thursday night Katie's parents organized a get-together for everyone who was in town. Although I had told my parents about it, they were under the impression it was a Schultz only thing - not so. I managed to impress upon my Dad and his wife that it would be really nice for them to show up (they planned to go out to dinner with Barb's brother again. Didn't they just do that the night before?) Regardless, thus started the obvious dis-interest of my parents in my wedding. They eventually showed up, but seemed somewhat stand-offish if you ask me. Probably not the best first impression, but there's not a whole lot I can do about it.

After the get-together all of Katie's siblings, myself, and her Dad adjourned to another bar and stayed out for another couple of hours. Once again, a good time was had by all and we got home a little earlier than the previous evening.

Friday, March 13th
Friday was the day for me that could have been a little bit better. No time for the gym, I woke up and took Katie and Lindsay to the salon downtown for their pampering. I have no idea what all that includes, but whatever. All of the ladies were involved. Then, since my buddy Poz was in town, I went up to Rogers Park, picked him up and went back to my place to get some stuff done. We had a quick lunch at El Nuevo Buena Vista (NuBu), took the dog to the kennel, and loaded up the car with all the stuff for the wedding. Then we went downtown where I dropped off Poz and picked up Katie. Next, we went to pick up my buddy Bill who had flown in that afternoon. Originally, I was hoping to have my parents or my brother pick Bill up so that Katie and I wouldn't be rushed or anything, but instead of helping me out they all decided to spend the entire day with Barb's family out in the suburbs. (Those who know me know that I like Barb's siblings just fine, but come on this is MY wedding.)

Katie and I collected Bill and headed to the hotel. We checked in and then Bill and I head over to Buffalo Wild Wings to have a couple of drinks and unwind. We took about 3 steps in the door and were greeted by my step-sister, who was there with her husband and her brother. I was hoping to just sit and relax with Bill, but I managed to play nice for a while. Things improved as more folks from the wedding came in, including John, his fiancee, Katie's dad and her brother Dan, as well as her brother-in-law Jim. After a while I had to bail to go get stuff together for the rehearsal.

Everyone made it to the rehearsal alright (except my parents, of course, who I had actually told to come, but opted not to do so) and despite an initial lack of guidance from the staff there managed to organize our wedding ceremony. Thankfully, Katie's sister Mandy took charge and whipped us all into shape.

After the rehearsal we adjourned to the rehearsal dinner where representatives from both families were able to socialize, eat, drink, and be merry. I had asked my cousin Adam to record the wedding ceremony the next day, and he brought his video camera and went around collecting statements of well-wishes from everyone there. A very kind gesture; he definitely went above and beyond.

After the rehearsal dinner we took up residence in the hotel bar for a few hours. Once they closed we tapped into our own reserves of beer and were up until about 2:30am just chewing the fat. I crashed in a room with my buddies Bill, Ben, and Rich, and because of a snoring symphony I didn't get to sleep until about 3:30am.

Saturday, March 14th
Wedding day! I woke up at about 7am to the same cacophony of snoring that I experienced a few hours prior. I hopped in the shower to get cleaned up and then had a good straight razor shave. Then ventured downstairs to try to find some breakfast. At this point I found out that my brother and parents had gone to IHOP (FACT: I LOVE IHOP), but hadn't even tried to contact me. This was pretty much an omen for the rest of the day. Fortunately, my Aunt and Uncle were having breakfast with a couple of my cousins so I joined them for breakfast. After we were done my Dad showed up. Go figure. By this time it was probably 11:45 or so. Wishing aloud that I had a guitar, my uncle concurred, and I remembered there was a Guitar Center nearby so we took off, with my Aunt, too, to jam for a bit. We played for about an hour or so, trading songs and just hanging out. I got back to the hotel at about 1:15pm and started to get ready. I got a shoe-shine kit from my dad via Timmy Hogan, shined my shoes and got ready. At this point my brother showed up and finished getting ready with the rest of the groomsmen. My Dad was no where to be found, an ongoing theme for the week.

The groomsmen took the first shuttle over to the venue, figured out how to attach our flowers, managed to get a drink, and hung out in a little room until the ceremony began (Again, Dad never came by even to say hello). We proceeded through the ceremony, signed the marriage license, and, after a brief appearance by The Colonel, the cocktail hour began. While the guests enjoyed drinks and Irish music we took pictures. Lots of pictures. What else would one expect?

The reception was a lot of fun. Dinner was great. My brother John did a bang-up job with his speech as did Katie's sisters. All, however, were overshadowed by Katie's dad's toast, which absolutely brought the house down. Katie's brother Tim prepared a reading that was pretty funny, and the entire Schultz clan put together a song-and-dance skit that was very clever. I was in the middle of it, and just went along with it. Fortunately my cousin Adam got all of this on video. We did our first dance to Van Morrison's "Into The Mystic" and opened up the floor to everyone after Katie and her dad danced. I tended to eschew dancing for chatting with some of my friends who I hadn't seen in a long time. Katie's dad totally tore up the carpet dancing. He was a popular guy that evening. The most humor pairing was Dan with my brother's fiancee, who reminded many in the vicinity of Elaine from Seinfeld's dancing (I'm not familiar with the show, but based on what I saw, I can surely imagine). The night wound down and the venue closed the bar about 15-20 minutes early because people were getting a bit too drunk, and I think my buddy Scoop got into an argument with the bartender. At some point my parents left without so much as saying good-bye or congratulations to Katie or me. Nice.

Since most of us were staying at the hotel I climbed on the 2nd to last shuttle to let folks know we'd continue to party at B-Dubs once we got back. Barb's sister Debbie said that they had a great time and that we should do it again in June, alluding to John and Maggie's wedding. A hammered Maggie then slurred, "NO! That's when my wedding is!" A very funny moment. Only minutes after I left both Maggie and my step-brother ended up throwing up on the shuttle. My buddy Ben was sandwiched in the seat between them. Poor Ben. By the time the last shuttle came back, there were only 4 people on it - me, Katie, her bridesmaid Lindsay, and Lindsay's boyfriend Josh. After a quick change of clothes we met folks over at B-dubs and stayed there until closing. An interesting thing happened as we left though. We were already outside the restaurant and the manager comes storming after us, mumbles some unpleasantries at us and accused us of stealing sauce. None of us took any thing and Katie's brother Dan started to get into an argument. Then Katie got involved, but fortunately everyone was peel away from the vindictive little man before anything bad happened. After such a long day we went back to the hotel and crashed.

Sunday, March 15th
Katie and I woke up around 8am and went down to breakfast. Her family was finishing their and mine was about halfway down so we joined my family as we ate. At this point we learned some of the previous night's events, many of which were pretty funny. Maggie had no idea she had danced with Katie's dad, and the look of horror on her face when we described the event to her was priceless. The rest of the morning was spent saying good-byes and cleaning out our car, which Katie's siblings had sufficiently graffitied and defaced.

All in all, I have to say that the wedding was a rousing success and we had a great time, as did our guests. It was great to see everyone and we were really happy so many people came. I was a bit disappointed that I couldn't have invited more old family friends, people who knew my Mom, but by the time we realized we had the space to do so it was too late. Another interesting development was our families. For much of the planning process Katie was less than pleased with her family because she felt she got little support or enthusiasm from them, where as my family was very supportive and helpful. However, when crunch-time came the roles were reversed and her family showed up with a bang while the Myers clan faded into obscurity. That's not to say I don't appreciate what my Dad and even Barb did for us for the wedding, but they certainly dropped the ball when it mattered. If I learned one thing in this regard, it's never to assume that everyone grasps the gravity of a given situation. Even in my family, where feelings and the like are not discussed, I assumed that it was implied that this was a pretty big deal. Hopefully, my brother will have a better experience in June.

I'll write a recap of the Honeymoon in the next few days while it's still fresh in my mind. Now that was a great time too!

Review: Tea Leaf Green, Park West, 3/5/09

2009-03-06T00:39:00.000-06:00

I went to go see Tea Leaf Green at the Park West tonight. I must say that the Park West is one of my favorite venues here in Chicago and I love it when bands play there. It's pretty close to my house too, which is an added bonus.

I got to the show a bit early and saw the opening act finishing up, a band called Outformation. They weren't terrible, but weren't great either. I wouldn't go out of my way to see them again, but as far as openers go I've seen much worse. As the crew was setting up TLG's gear I went and parked myself right in front of the stage, in front of the bass rig. Fortunately, I came prepared for standing that close and had ear plugs. The only disadvantage to ear plugs is that they cut out a lot of the higher frequencies, but they save your hearing and really help bring out the bass. And as a bass player by trade, that's what I pay attention to the most.

TLG's set was solid. Nothing spectacular, but it certainly wasn't terrible. Their bass player, Reed Mathis, has some real chops and was throwing in some cool riffs and ad-libs during the first set. However, as the show progressed the amount of bass fireworks really declined. For almost the entire second set he played just straight, chugging root notes the whole time. The other thing that annoyed me after a while was the lack of dynamics. It seems like the bassist wasn't even listening to the rest of the band. As the rest of the group shifted through various passages with different feels, Mathis just kept playing the same pulsing bassline. Now, a bassist should always be able to hold a solid groove and set the foundation, but for a group that claims to be a jam band, or at least is lumped into that genre, there was very little jamming on the bass. Honestly, it got to be really boring and repetitive. The rest of the band sounded great, they fed off of each other an seemed to push each other at various points. I'm not uber-familiar with their entire catalog, but they played a really enjoyable set. I'd probably go see them again, but I won't sit that close again. I'd rather get a wider range of the band's sound since the bass isn't doing much.

Welcome this is a poor house

2009-03-03T19:13:00.003-06:00

This past weekend I got a letter in the mail from Loyola. I knew what it was when it arrived and had a pretty good idea what it contained. It was a rejection letter for the Schmitt Fellowship. The Schmitt is a fellowship for ABDs that is essentially the same thing as the fellowship I currently hold; it pays you to do nothing but work on your dissertation. One of the best parts of either scholarship is that they cover all school expenses in addition to having a stipend. Therefore, this means that next year I am basically F'd. The History department actually got 3 Schmitt fellowships, which makes it even more frustrating. It's pretty ridiculous that these sorts of things pit colleagues against each other, but oh well. What can you do, right? I saw two of the winners at the Dissertation Writing Group meeting last night and at least those two went to folks that I know and respect (the other winner is a nice enough person, but has been fully funded with no teaching obligations for four years. I mean come on. Spread the wealth a little bit!)

All of this means that now I'm going to be headed back in to the wonderful world of student loans. I threw my name in the hat to pick up a class at Loyola, but I'm sure it's no easy chore for a first time teacher to get one. Even one or two classes per semester would be a huge boon and pretty much keep me on, or close to, my current fiscal situation. More to the point though I'd really like (and need) the teaching experience. If I can't even manage that I'll probably be forced to either take a HUGE loan (which I don't want to do) and/or try to find a part-time job in this current shit economy we find ourselves in.

If I do manage to get a class or two, I have a pretty good feeling that I will get really close to finishing my dissertation in the next year. The only other thing to figure out is when I can get back overseas for a few weeks to fill some research gaps, but I think it's feasible. I spent a few days last week going through some research material, and I think the burn out is starting to fade a little bit. So when I get back from the honeymoon at the end of the month I think I'll be ready to crank out some more writing. I was able to get a page or so written today, which was good.

Burn out continues and the problem with interlibrary loan

2009-02-23T10:16:00.002-06:00

The goal was a chapter draft per month, and using those standards I should have a draft of chapter four completed by the end of this month. That's not going to happen. I've got about 45-50% of it done, but I'm struggling with the motivation to really dive into it. This week that is compounded because I'm sick. I also need to spend some time on the microfilm reader at school, but I don't think I could be too productive at present. This summer when I was in Ireland oftentimes I spent upwards of 7-8 hours per day going through microfilm. Last Thursday I went up to school and went through 5 reels in 3 hours and was totally bleary-eyed. I have no idea how I managed such feats during the summer.

One of the other annoyances deterring me from making greater progress is a lack of secondary material. I'm waiting for a specific book from Interlibrary Loan and who knows how long that will take. I had the book via ILL last semester and now I need it again, but a second request such as this is sure to take longer because, I believe, that the previous lending library is not obligated to fill the same request a second time within such a short time span. Normally I would just pony up the money for the book, but with a wedding in 3 weeks that's probably not the best idea.

Ambling along

2009-02-11T22:38:00.004-06:00

Chapter four is coming together a bit better now. I kind of had an epiphany the other day. I was struggling over how to structure this chapter because I've spent the previous three charting the establishment of the culture of commemoration surrounding WWI in Ireland and this chapter covers almost fifty years and looks at the fragmentation and decline of that culture. One of the problems was that a number of the lenses that I used for the first three chapters changed and no longer carried the same weight that they did in the interwar period. This means that I have to switch my focus to the new media and cultural forms that replace them. But before getting there I figured it would be prudent to bring the subjects from chapters 1-3 up to speed as quickly as possible. So right now I'm trying to compile a condensed chronology for chapters 1-3 in the period 1939-1986. Once I complete that I think it should be a bit easier to get into some of the newer cultural forms relating to the memory of WWI in Ireland. We'll see how it goes.

I've also realized that I'm running a bit thin on sources for this section so I'm going to need to remedy that situation at some point.

Finally, I got the new issue of Perspectives today (the monthly publication of the American Historical Association) and there was an interesting article about the commodification of history PhDs. Today when people ask me/assume that I'm going to teach with my degree I tell them that that is the ideal, but probably won't happen. The article does a good example of explaining why. One of the most salient problems is that universities operate on a business model that isn't really conducive toward retaining permanant full-time faculty. The serious over-supply of history PhDs is only part of the problem. So while a teaching job is still the ideal and I'll try my darnest to get one, I'll be realistic, not hold my breath, and actively pursue employment outside of the academy as well.

Bachelor Party

2009-02-03T22:20:00.002-06:00

So this past weekend was my bachelor party. I must say that I had a good time and I even remember about 90% of it, which is pretty good for me. We spent the day Saturday in Grand Rapids, but me and a couple of my friends left Friday evening, stopping in Kalamazoo to take in the grandeur that is Bell's. We crashed at my buddy Adam's house near K-zoo so we were able to sleep in a bit before meeting everyone else at the hotel in GR since it was only about 30-40 minutes of driving by that time.

We all met at the Courtyard Marriott, a stone's throw from the local arena and downtown area of Grand Rapids. John had procured an 8 passenger van from work so we all piled in an made the drive to Holland. Starting our tour of western Michigan microbreweries at New Holland Brewing Company, most of us got some grub and tasted a variety of their offerings. I got a sampler of six different beers, and would have to say that I thought the "Dragon's Milk" was the best one. A dark stout with a milky aftertaste. Very good indeed.

Then we made our way back to GR to meet up with the a late arrival and were back off to Schmohz Brewing Company. No samplers there, so I tried their stout. It was probably one of the more interesting ones that I've ever had. It seemed to almost have a hint of citrus in it that made for a somewhat weird aftertaste. I can't say that I really liked it, but it wasn't terrible. I tasted the cream ale they made, and that was pretty good. The venue itself was a little weird. There were the standard bar games and the Wings were on (not to mention free popcorn and peanuts), but there were almost as many kids under the age of 15 there as there were beer drinking patrons. This weirded us out a bit so we moved on to the next place.

The Hideout Brewing Company was probably my favorite place. They had three stouts on their menu and I tried two of them, both very good. I also had their pilsner which was delicious as well. They had bar games upstairs, fooseball, shuffleboard, darts. Mike and I played Adam and John at fooseball and came out victorious. I would assume we spent a couple of hours at the Hideout because when we left we headed back to downtown GR for a bite to eat and the hockey game.

We went to eat at a place called Hopcat, which has 44 beers on tap. I had an O'Hara's red. It's an Irish microbrew from Co. Cavan. I had had their stout a few weeks earlier at a bar in Chicago, but before then I hadn't had either since my buddy Joe's wedding, which had both. I got some delicious mac and cheese for dinner. By the time we were all fed the game had already started, so we quickly made our way to the arena to catch the rest of the game.

It was the Grand Rapids Griffins versus the Rochester Americans and the score was tied at 1 in the first period when we got there. By the time the game was over, the Griffins had won 8-4. After every goal, once the arena died down and it was sufficiently quiet, my buddy Bill would yell "OH MY GOD!" as loud as he could. It was really funny, especially after 10 goals.

After the game we went to Founders, where there was a live blues band playing. I had the Russian Imperial stout there, which I was kind of disappointed with, and I think I had the scotch ale as well, which wasn't bad. We stayed at Founders for a while before heading back toward the hotel. Now there was a typical bar/nightclub across from the hotel that we went into for some reason. We stayed there for a few rounds of Labatt's Blue, but once John started to fall asleep we headed back to the hotel. At least that's how the story goes.

It's at this point that my memory starts to fade. I remember there being a hotdog vendor outside the bar, but that's about it. I don't think I got one since I'm not a big hotdog fan. My buddy Joe had brought a bottle of Jameson (the only whiskey I'll really drink) and apparently once we were back at the hotel we cracked open uncle Jaimoe and it got MIB'ed. Bill tells me that I proceeded to order pizza and buy a bunch of candy bars (which I found the next day in my backpack).

I woke up the next morning and I believe I was still drunk. Most of the bottle of Jaimoe was gone, and I hope that I didn't drink most of it, but judging by what happened Sunday it's entirely possible. I think Bill said I threw up the night before and that was a theme that continued for the rest of the day. I slept almost the entire way back to Chicago (stopping to vomit in the sink of a McDonald's bathroom of course) and couldn't even hold down gatorade and water for most of the day. Oy vey!

Fortunately I woke up Monday feeling about 90-95%. Needless to say I had a really good time this weekend. My brother did a great job of putting everything together and it was great to see all my friends and to hang out. I could have done without the hangover, and I was almost there (evidenced by my memory surviving intact so late into the evening), but as the song says "Whiskey You're The Devil." In reality though, it was everything a bachelor party usually is and should be and I was glad it went off so well.

Chapter 4...

2009-01-26T14:04:00.002-06:00

I'm starting the first draft of chapter 4 today. I have a feeling this one is going to be the hardest one to write. Ugh...

Fighting For Freedom

2009-01-23T10:37:00.002-06:00

Perhaps there is some truth to the pugilist reputation help by the Irish. Up until independence the Irish were a mainstay in the British Army, and even afterward kept fighting amongst themselves for a long time. One of the more obscure Irish military operations, at least beyond the borders of Eire, is the Irish participation in the Spanish Civil War. About 250 Irish men from both sides of the partition line volunteered to join the 15th International Brigade and support the Republican fight against General Franco and the Spanish fascists. Today the Belfast Telegraph reports that the last surviving Irish volunteer died in London. (Another 700 Blueshirts, Ireland's Fascist group, went to fight for Franco, but upon arriving in Spain realized they didn't agree with France when they were order to fight the Basques. Recognizing the similarities between the Basques and the Irish, the Blueshirts refused to fight and Franco sent them back to Ireland.)

Staunch advocates of the rights of small nations (Spain wasn't necessarily small in area, but was definitely a weak player in the international scene) and all to familiar with an unwanted and oppressive government, in many ways it's unsurprising that Irish men joined in this fight. Even the participation of the Irish Blueshirts demonstrates the inability of the Irish to escape their colonial past, regardless of political ideology. Irish balladeer Christy Moore immortalized the Irish volunteers in the song "Viva La Quinte Brigada," the lyrics of which were largely culled from a memoir written by one of the leaders of the Irish contingent.

The Last Professor

2009-01-19T11:07:00.003-06:00

A colleague of mine posted this and I figured I'd put it up here. It's a commentary on the state of the humanities in higher education, especially in relation to the shifts occurring in that arena. Namely, the rise of for-profit universities and the marginalization of full-time professors. What's really sad is that the idea that the humanities are only suitable for wealthy men of leisure seems to persist in the modern world. Too many people, organizations, businesses, etc. only look at the short-term, what-have-you-done-for-me-lately type of people, and fail to understand the benefit of having a well-rounded education. For the business world, this may mean a steeper learning curve initially, but I would be amazed if the long-term outcome didn't see an advantage toward folks from the humanities. The world needs people who are capable of thinking on their own just as much as it needs people who "do."

New DTB album

2009-01-13T23:46:00.003-06:00

Another brief note: The Derek Trucks Band released their new album Already Free today. Of course I picked up a copy, and yes, they're my favorite band (next to the Dead), but this thing is friggin' awesome. Do yourself a favor and pick up a copy. The band as two nights scheduled for Park West in April, which I'm looking forward to seeing. Money spent on DTB tickets is ALWAYS money well spent.

Rocky Mountain High

2009-01-13T23:45:00.001-06:00

This past weekend I had the pleasure of going to Colorado to see my family out there. It's no small secret that when I finish my degree I want to move to Colorado and this trip only added fuel to that fire. The attraction of family (for both Katie and I) is strong, but I also like the climate there and the proximity to outdoors activities (both summer and winter) and the frequency of musical acts I like playing in and around the Denver area.

I flew in on Thursday evening and my cousin Peter picked me up at the airport. On our way to his house we stopped and picked up the skis I had reserved for the following day. We stopped at a liquor store that had an awesome selection of microbrews from all over the western united states. I settled on the Obsidian Stoute and Moose Drool brown ale. Both were delicious. After Peter's rec league basketball game (in which he provided the bulk of his team's scoring and was perfect from the line) we went to his neighbor's house (with beer in tow) to watch the BCS Championship game, which had been Tivo'd. I was disappointed that Florida won, but oh well.

Friday was spent skiing. We headed out to Loveland and spent almost an entire day out on the slopes. There was a lot of good powder and for the hack skier like myself, it was a pleasant and enjoyable day. I'm by no means a extreme skier, and at one point we got lost in an avalanche area. That took a while to get out of, and was quite strenuous work, but that just means the beer break afterwards was warranted.

Saturday we went up to Fort Collins to see my Grandma and my Aunt. For a frail old lady, my Grandma sure has an iron tight grip. After visiting with Grandma for about 30-45 minutes, we went over to my Aunt's house for lunch. After lunch we headed over to the New Belgium Brewery to try to get a tour, but once we got there all the day's tours had ended. We settled for the brief self-guided tour and the free samples. Not only was the beer good (this is the place that makes Fat Tire) but they brew house is really cool, and they give you a fair amount of each beer to try. Once we finished there we hurried back to Denver since we had tickets for the University of Denver/Michigan Tech hockey game. The game was really entertaining. It was tied 1-1 going into the third period, which was really the best one. The game got really fast and physical in the third, and DU came out on top 3-1. After the game we went to a karaoke bar and hung out. My cousin Adam was encouraging me to do a tune and I finally relented. I was one of the last folks to go at the end of the evening and did Paul Simon's "Late In The Evening," which seemed to go over well. After returning to Peter's house and raiding the cookie dough, we called it a night.

Following a whirlwind Saturday, a restful Sunday was a welcome respite. We went to Church in the morning (my first time in years), the grocery store, and then watched football for the rest of the afternoon (a nice little Sunday indeed). In the evening my cousin Adrienne brought her kids over to Peter's so I'd get a chance to see them before I left the following morning. I helped Abby with her homework and spent some time reveling in the wonder of youth with both her and her brother Garrett. A couple of good kids there.

We woke up Monday morning to a mild blizzard, but luckily my plane wasn't delayed. Of course that same evening, we got pretty much the same weather in Chicago. Apparently it was inescapable. All-in-all, it was a whirlwind weekend, but it was a great opportunity to see my cousins, whose company I really enjoy, and for the state of Colorado to further endear itself to me.

Cynicism explained

2009-01-08T10:36:00.002-06:00

One of the most annoying things for a doctoral candidate is when people ask you what you do for a living. What ensues in an inevitable explanation of school, course work, dissertation, and idealized employment goals. Most people assume that PhDs want to teach. That's funny, because that is exactly what most PhDs want to do. What is difficult is explaining to people how hard it is to get any kind of academic job. That's not to say that it can't be done, but there are a number of limiting factors both within and beyond the control of any single individual. One of the most patronizing things is when, after explaining in layman's terms the difficulty of the job market, folks still say, "oh but you'll be fine." Just because I have enthusiasm for my work doesn't guarantee me a job. I hate to say it. So with all this pessisimism and cynicism in mind, this does a good job of explaining how dire the situation is and what some of the underlying factors are that contribute to the problem, but are beyond the control of the average PhD. Like most PhDs I hope to be one of the 30 or so percent of folks that lands a full-time tenure track job, and when my time comes I'll try my damnedest to get one, but at the same time, it's impossible to ignore the current status of the job market and higher education.

Movies

2009-01-04T22:31:00.001-06:00

Katie and I went to see three movies this week. With the Golden Globes rapidly approaching Katie wants to see as many of the nominated movies as she can to better predict the winners in each category. This is an annual undertaking. I don't really get into the whole awards thing, but it is an excuse to see some really good films (Ever since the Emmy's snubbed The Wire, I have no faith in any award shows anymore). In the past week we saw The Reader, Slumdog Millionaire, and Doubt.

The Reader was a very interesting story with an underlying message about having secrets, keeping them to yourself, and the effect that can have on one's life. The basic plot is of a young man who has an affair with an older woman as a teenager, and later he finds out that she was an SS Guard during the Second World War. The story itself was intriguing and the acting was really good. I don't think it will win Best Picture, but I can understand why it was nominated.

Slumdog Millionaire was my favorite of the three movies we've seen. It's about a poor Indian boy who goes on the Indian version of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, and wins a large amount of money. The story-telling is great as it cuts back and forth between the past and the present, showing how the events of the boy's life lead him to know the answers on the show. There's a romantic arc to the story as well, and the actors do a very good job, especially the kids who play the youth versions of the characters. There's even a Bollywood song and dance routine during the credits. This film has a good chance of being a sleeper winner for Best Film. I wouldn't be disappointed if this one won.

Doubt was a superbly acted film. Both Philip Seymour Hoffman and Meryl Streep are nominated for their acting in this movie (no shocker there - two of the top actors in the biz today). I found the story itself to be a bit dull. It's intentionally ambiguous and nothing is clear by the end of the film, but that's the whole point. I wouldn't be surprised if either nominee won an award for this film.

Out of these three, I would recommend Slumdog Millionaire the most. See all of them if you have the time, but definitely check out Slumdog.

Updates

2008-12-30T16:31:00.002-06:00

It's been a while, but things have been relatively so and there's not a ton to relate. December, as a month-long vigil to consumerism, definitely has it's distractions, but I've still managed to get a some good work done on "chapter 2," which stands at 26 pages including today's efforts.

This month's activities have been numerous. Back-to-back Holiday parties, one for Katie's work and one for school took quite the toll, although the former did most of the damage. Katie didn't make it to the second one, if that's any indicator. Ha! For the holidays we went to Katie's Dad's house in Maryland. We left on Friday the 19th and had to fly back on Christmas Day, which is never a pleasant prospect, but it could have been worse. While in MD we took a couple of trips down to DC. On Monday, 22nd Katie and I went to the National Mall and checked out the Lincoln Memorial (always impressive) and then walked past the Washington Memorial on the way to find an ATM and the subway. The wind was blowing really hard and it was really cold, so I was kind of disappointed we didn't stop to look at the new WWII memorial that was unveiled a few years ago, but I know we'll be going back at some point and the prospect of frostbite wasn't that appealing at that time. The following day I found the WWI Victory column which is right next to the White House. Katie, her Dad, brother, and I went to see the National Christmas tree and all of the trees decorated from each state. I figured the Michigan tree would be full of pink slips and broken GM and UAW symbols, but instead is was some crappy decorations from elementary school kids in Three Rivers. Go figure. In general, it was nice to get out of the city and be able to stretch our legs for a few days. To say that every chance I get to leave our tiny 1BR place for the comforts of a larger venue fuels my desire to move is an understatement. I just need to crank out this dissertation faster.

One of the highlights of this holiday season is that Katie and I have managed to get rooftop tickets for the Winter Classic at Wrigley Field. Needless to say I am pretty pumped for the game and hope that the Wings put a good walloping on the Blackhawks, but really, it's just great to be able to witness such an historic event. I ordered the Wings' Winter Classic Toque, which arrived today; Coupled with my new Red Wings sweatshirt and Pavel Datsyuk jersey, I think I'm ready for the game. More details on that to follow though.

Chapter 1 and the Dissertation Writing Group

2008-12-01T22:48:00.002-06:00

Today marked the first time the dissertation writing group considered a member's work. Fortunately for me, I was the one getting feedback. I must say that it was quite nice to have a number of well-read, intelligent people providing feedback and asking questions about my work. It really helped me to see where I needed to go and what areas I need to improve. I was also pleased that pretty much everyone thought that the chapter I submitted was pretty strong as it presently stands. Granted there is still a ton of work to do on it, but it's just a nice thing to hear.

As it stands today, I have drafts of two chapters done and have received excellent, thorough feedback on one of those chapters. I'm hoping to have a draft of a third chapter done by the end of the month or early January. With the holiday break (I'll be in Maryland for almost a week) it may be difficult to reach my "chapter per month" goal. I've decided that chapters 1-3 will cover various aspects of the interwar period (1919-1939), chapter 4 will probably cover 1939-1987, and chapter 5 will cover 1987 to the present. One of the challenges will be to maintain the analysis of Cork and Derry along with the that of Dublin and Belfast. To do so will probably require some time back in those cities to get some more source material, but hopefully I can get the bulk of it done with what I have at the present. At present, chapters 4 and 5 are going to be the most difficult to draft and get to the same stage that my current work is at. Nevertheless, it's an interesting challenge and one I'm looking forward to completing.

Back from Michigan

2008-11-18T16:42:00.002-06:00

I'm back after a long weekend in Michigan. It was a good visit and I got to see a number of my friends, a sweet hockey game, and I enjoyed some Hungry Howie's pizza - always a good thing. My buddy Tine gave me his old N64 along with the best video game ever - The New Tetris. My roommates and I used to play this game ALL the time in undergrad. Needless to say it might be a dangerous thing to have around the house now, but so far, so good. If it becomes too much of a problem I now have a study carrel at the library up on the Lake Shore Campus. I assume I'll get some decent use out of that, and it will be nice to have a quiet place to work and to be right there in the library as well.

The Dissertation Group continues to meet. We've basically been a discussion entity up to this point, but in two weeks I'm going to present some of my work and we'll have a proper workshopping session, which should be good. I'm interested to see how it turns out, especially since the chapter I need help on is all over the place right now. A bit of constructive criticism would bode well for this chapter at present. The first one was much more straight forward, while this one is trying to compare and contrast four different cities, which can be a challenge in terms of structure. So we'll see what happens. Hopefully there will be some satisfactory notes to post in the near future.

Completely unrelated, I've been working my way through all of the Dick's Picks albums. I actually own 2-3 of them and downloaded the rest (I know, I'm a horrible person. I'll buy them once I can afford to do so). There are 36 volumes and all but one are multiple CDs. I started the last week of October and just finished this week. You would think one might grow tired of that much Grateful Dead music for that long, but actually it had just the opposite effect. Most Deadheads fall into one of two camps, Jerry or Bobby. Personally, I'm deeply ensconced in the Jerry camp, but the Dick's Pick exercise leaves me with a greater appreciation of some of Bobby's work. I'm still not drinking the Weir kool-aid, but I'm probably less likely to skip past the Bobby tunes now than I used to be. Although, some songs, like Lost Sailor > Saint of Circumstance, will never be listenable to me and always get passed up.

I also went on a book-buying binge about a week or so ago, and have since received all of my purchases. The expensive books were of the academic ilk and should be useful for my dissertation. I also found a number of cheap books on the Grateful Dead that I wanted to read, and one on The Band. I've almost gotten through a book of interviews conducted with various members of the Dead and I find it to be a very enlightening book. It's really amazing how progressive the band was, not just musically, but in terms of musical innovation. Their experience with musical equipment, especially PA systems was more interesting than I thought it would be. I'm looking forward to getting through the other books, especially Phil Lesh's autobiography.

So much going on

2008-11-14T23:57:00.003-06:00

A lot going on this weekend, but the main thing is that I'm back in Michigan this weekend visiting the old haunts, as it were. The most significant revelation game tonight with my buddy Joe. Both avid hockey fans, we sought a local game to attend since I was in town. The Wings were in Florida and everyone else seemed to have away games as well. Then Joe remembered the Plymouth Whalers of the OHL. Let me tell you, I understand the appeal of minor league baseball to baseball fans (which I certainly am not). The Whalers game was awesome. They play in an arena that seats probably 5000, have $5 tall boys of Labatt Blue, and a great on ice product. We had a lot of fun watching the game and the team played well. The Whale ended up winning 5-1, with the last two goals being real beauties. Needless to say, Joe and I are both hooked. The OHL is awesome. As much as I enjoy going to NHL games, I had a ton of fun at the OHL game tonight. It was so laid back, inexpensive, and enjoyable that I just had to mention it. So if you have minor league hockey in your area do yourself a favor and check it out. You won't regret it.

Fun Fact

2008-11-06T13:13:00.002-06:00

Today in 1869 the very first intercollegiate football game was played between, what are today, Rutgers and Princeton. This has since led to the current college football season in which the University of Michigan has made a mockery of this American institution.

Final thoughts on the Election, or I'm done talking about politics for a while now.

2008-11-05T10:59:00.002-06:00

Like millions of Americans I voted yesterday. Given the long, drawn out election and everything that goes with it I'll jump in with the other internet talking heads and contribute my two cents. I voted for Obama and I'm glad he won. A few thoughts on the election, reactions to it, and observations on people my age.

The election process in this country is way more complicated and drawn out than it needs to be. I understand that we are a huge country and covering that much territory takes time. But how significantly did the candidates positions on the issues change during the course of the election? Since the actual election is always in November, the economic crisis would have still hit if the thing were shorter and the outcome would probably be the same.

Nevertheless, last night was an historic moment in American history. It will be one of those times where you recall where you were when they announced that Obama had won. I, unfortunately, was taking the dog out to pee. Seeing and hearing the pundits talk about the significance of electing an African-American president was really interesting. I believe it was Chris Matthews who made an interesting point about the correlation between race and age. To paraphrase, he said that this election result affected the psyche of people over the age of 45. For those younger folks, especially under 30, they tended to view Obama as just another guy and not as a "black" guy. I had never thought of it that way since I'm under 30 and just thought of Obama as another guy. Go figure.

One of my best friends updated his Facebook status to read: "Dear McCain voter under 30: You're an idiot." To a certain extent I understand that sentiment. Of course my brother is under 30 and I'm sure he voted for McCain, assuming he voted. But I also understand why he would. Plus, my brother is a rational person and doesn't fall back on ridiculous comments about socialism and heathenism. It seems to me that a lot of young McCain voters simply voted the same way their parents traditionally did, i.e. they come from upper/upper middle class families. The real failure, it seems to me, is their inability to actually examine the issues and each candidate's position on them and really wrestle with what their respective impacts would be. For me the big issues were education, health care, and the environment. Leaving the public schools in the hands of a "free market" is about the asinine idea ever and would only worsen districts that are already hurting.

The McCain health care plan, well, it was a joke. McCain kept saying that people shouldn't have a bureaucrat deciding their medical treatment. Even if boiled down to such a simple relationship, which, if you know anything about other national health services, does not happen, the real question to be asked is this: Would you rather have someone tell you that you CAN have a necessary procedure, even if you have to wait a few months (because it's not an emergency), OR would you rather have someone tell you that either a.) you can't have the procedure at all, or b.) you can have the procedure but it will cost you your house, life savings, kids' college funds, etc. That seems like a no brainer. Detractors call Obama a socialist. Not only is this incorrect, it shows a vast misunderstanding of what socialism is. When I was in Europe this summer I was talking to a guy about American politics, and he laughed at the idea that Obama was a socialist. In Europe, he would be considered conservative, undoubtedly. Americans use the term socialism interchangeably with communism in order to provoke fear and condemn what they don't understand. It's really sad. It's even more sad that a lot of people my age, college educated people, make these same accusations without examining what they really mean.

People are certainly entitled to their opinions, and like my Dad says, as long as they're informed opinions I have no problem debating with them. But those folks that just talk out of their ass and use fear and lack of reason (on either end of the political spectrum) to make their point aren't making a point at all. I had no problem talking politics with McCain supporters during this election, My brother and my cousin both supported McCain and we were able to have intelligent, rational conversations without turning to sniping and petty bullshit. That's the way it should be. There are too many people that latch on to one small thing, usually incorrect, and ride it with a virulence that is both ignorant and disheartening. Perhaps my lack of political conviction colors my opinion. I'm a moderate. I've voted in three presidential elections and never voted for the same party more than once (I voted for Nader in 2000). While hindsight is always 20/20 and looking back I don't always agree with my decisions, a big part of that was what was happening at the time, how it affected me, and my education of the issues. This time I feel like I was on the ball and suitably informed. It looks like American politics might experience a paradigm shift with this election, and personally, I think that's a good thing. If we move to a more European socio-economic model, I think that's alright, so long as we retain the aspects that keep us distinctly American. I have no doubt this would happen. So put away the vitriol and let's see what happens before making these stupid, uninformed, often times racist, comments. America may have taken a huge step forward by electing Obama president, but it still has a long way to go.

Chapter X initial draft

2008-10-27T22:37:00.003-05:00

I have to call it "Chapter X" because I'm not sure what number it will be. Does the introduction count as chapter 1? If so it'd probably be chapter 3, if not, chapter 2. Today I finished a first draft of Chapter X. Of course, this is a first draft in the most basic sense. It's basically a 48 page recitation of the evidence I plan to use for the chapter organized in chrono-thematic fashion. The structure is rudimentary at best, and there is no analysis yet, but still it feels like a pretty big accomplishment and a solid departure point for crafting the chapter further. I know what direction I want to take the chapter, it's just a matter of doing it now and getting some constructive feedback along the way. At present, I plan to put this one on the shelf and work on its compatriot chapter - same time period, different thematic focus. Once I have evidence drafts of both chapters done I'll go back and do some more of the analysis and plug in the secondary works.

On Sunday I was reading a chapter in an edited collection that helped me to re-think some of the theoretical aspects of the project, particularly those relating to memory, and the ways in which the Irish experience differs from other areas, namely Britain. While thinking about these things I also thought about how to frame Chapter X, which was something that I was struggling with because it does not deal with memory in the traditional sense of commemoration and remembrance events. What clicked was that those rituals were aimed at the men who died during the war, but a different memory landscape existed for those who survived and returned. It's here that the subject of Chapter X, the British Legion's approach to housing and employment issues, fits into the memory rhetoric.

Is it better to get the evidence drafts done and go back and touch them up or to complete an evidence draft of each chapter and then go back and doctor the whole thing? If I get in a real rhythm with the evidence drafts that might be the way to go. Any thoughts on the writing process are welcome. Also, any thoughts about at what point is it prudent to have my adviser take a look? Would feedback at this time be too vague, or is it worth a conversation just to make sure things are on the right track?

Sharing sources

2008-10-15T09:08:00.003-05:00

I received an email this morning from an historian in Ireland I had contacted about some sources she had used in chapter she had written. I was hoping that she would be willing to share some transcripts of interviews she had conducted with Irish veterans of the First World War. I had tried to contact this person previous, outlining my project in broad terms, but never heard back from her. This most recent message garnered a response. She politely told me, in not so many words, that my subject was too close to hers (admittedly her published works have been influential, why else would I contact her?), and since she was now working on her PhD she "cannot make available recordings and other materials which I have assembled for my PhD." She added, "Should you wish to avoid duplication in our two studies, you might consider concentrating on the cultural consequences of the Great War in Ireland. Music seems a particularly rich vein." ARGH! That's exactly what I'm trying/intending to do. I looked at an abstract of her project and she's concerned with the politics of Great War memory in Ireland. Granted, politics are never far from ANY subject in Irish history, but I only care about them insofar as they shape the trajectory of Irish history in general. I don't want to study politics intensively. Other folks I have contacted have been more than willing to provide suggestions and offer help, but I was really hoping that this person, who is probably one of the most learned on the subject, would fall into that category. I must admit I'm pretty bummed about this.

I sent back a polite email, thanking her for her time, explaining, briefly, I was interested in the cultural aspect, and that, perhaps, we could be of help to each other in the future. No reason to slam the door closed, eh?

On the one hand I get it. The dissertation is a big project and nobody wants their work copied. In that regard, some sources may need to be protected to ensure the uniqueness and the integrity of a project. On the other hand, it seems detrimental to furthering an aspect of history. Perhaps that's a bit idealistic, but the few people who study the Great War in Ireland understand that it's not your typical brand of Irish history. To study it means committing one's work to exposing people to an aspect of the past written out of the history books, generally. Dissertations must be unique pieces of research, but no two projects will ever be exactly the same, even if they use (some of) the same sources. In that regard, the unwillingness to share material seems a bit myopic. If it were something that I could go back and find at an archive, that would be one thing, and, perhaps, because these are interviews she personally conducted there is a personal stake to be had in how they're used and who uses them. But unless the interviewees specified that no one else should use them, that seems a bit selfish (to me at least).

A former colleague of mine at Loyola once told me, to paraphase, there are two types of Irish historians, those that are friendly and willing to do whatever they can to help you, and those who are bastards. Based on a single email I cannot put the subject of this post firmly into the latter category because of the caveats already mentioned. But it seems that the dial certainly was nudged in that direction a little bit (but to her credit she was polite, and, on the surface, made a valid argument).

This begs the question: should people in the same field be expected to share sources? Where does one draw the line with sharing sources? How should requests for information by colleagues be handled?

Songs that tell a story

2008-10-13T22:29:00.002-05:00

As much as I love improvisational music like the Grateful Dead and Allman Brothers, nothing quite grabs me like a well written song. It's usually something simple, with three chords, a great melody, and lyrics that tell a story. Perhaps it's the historian in me that is particularly interested in stories and the context out of which they emerge. I was jamming with one of my buddies last week and since we're both Mark Knopfler fans, I suggested we work on the tune "Sailing to Philadelphia." I had randomly come across it on my iPod the week before and was blown away instantly. First off, not only does it have Mark Knopfler and his signature guitar work, but he trades verses with James Taylor. The lyrics tell of two English surveyors who come to America. The names of these surveyors? Mason and Dixon. The song addresses several tropes inherent in the American psyche: adventure, movement west, pulling one up by their bootstraps, overcoming humble beginnings. It really is a great song and I recommend picking up a copy.

Songs that tell a story are what got me to where I am today. When I was a freshman in undergrad I worked at a local art gallery selling stuff on eBay. Over the Christmas break one of the owner's former employees came back from MSU and put in a few hours while he was in town. We had similar musical interests and he turned me on to the band Solas, who he had seen at a festival. I really liked what I heard and picked up some of their stuff. A Solas "story-song" favorite is "The Newry Highwayman." From there I came across the band Seven Nations, a Celtic-Rock band for lack of a better description, who covered a number of traditional songs, many of which tell a story, such as Canadee-I-O, Back Home In Derry, The Pound A Week Rise, and Crooked Jack. It was these two musical groups that fostered my initial interest in Irish history. I heard the stories in the songs and wanted to learn more about who these people were and the types of things that affected them. Seven Nations covered some Christy Moore, and I ended up getting into Christy. As THE Irish balladeer he plays plenty of songs that tell a story.

As a musician, one of the hardest things to remember are lyrics. I find that when a song tells a story it's much easier to remember because I think of how the story goes and the lyrics just come to me.

Some of my favorite "story songs." There are plenty of other story songs out there, especially by Dylan, Moore, Guthrie, and Garcia, but these are the ones I always find myself coming back to:

Little Musgrave - Christy Moore: A song about infidelity and retribution set to a great melody. Check out the live version with Planxty.

Ruben & Cherise - Jerry Garcia: A similar trope to that of Little Musgrave. This one is about a musician, his instrument, and the woman who potentially comes between them. The acoustic versions of this song are the best, notably 5/5/82.

Tangled Up In Blue - Bob Dylan: Zimmy is always good for a long narrative and Tangled Up In Blue is no exception. This one, for those who don't know, revolved around a man and a woman who get together, split up, and then run into each other over the years. At least that what I get out of it.

Back Home In Derry - Christy Moore: This song was actually written by Bobby Sands and set to the tune of "Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald." It's about being transported and how resistance and ideology run deeper than judicial punishment.

The Boxer - Paul Simon: Coming of age in the big city. No one writes like Simon.

Gonna Move - Paul Pena: Another coming of age song. This one talks about overcoming obstacles, especially other people's expectations.

Pastures Of Plenty - Woody Guthrie: Woody wrote this song about Okies moving out of the Dustbowl, but the Solas does an amazing version of this one. Well worth checking out.

Miracles happen

2008-10-06T23:03:00.002-05:00

At about 10pm tonight we checked the answering machine and there were two calls for me regarding my lost items from last weekend. As it turns out, everything lost has been recovered, and at minimal expense. My faith in humanity is restored!

On another note, I went to the dissertation writing group and it was a really positive experience. We're hoping for still greater numbers but it was good to have people in a similar situation to bounce thoughts and concerns off of. I asked about the chapter I'm currently working on and got some sound advise about splitting it into two chapters. Hopefully that will make things easier at these opening stages. We plan to meet the first and third Monday each month, with extra time off during the holidays. The plan is to establish goals for how much work will get done and to possibly present material to each other for feedback. It's really a way to help stay on track and establish some structure and accountability to the dissertation writing process. I think it will be a good motivator. The guy who initiated the whole thing even have "livestrong" style bracelets made that read "LUC Ph.D. ABD" on one side and "History Department" on the other - sort of a constant reminder of what we all should be doing, even if we're not. So far so good.

Updates

2008-10-03T22:24:00.003-05:00

Nothing much going on here, aside from a turbulent weekend last. Due to some irresponsible inebriation I lost a number of personal effects, but, for the most part, have resolved all the problems something like that causes. To make matters worse, I had a gig on Wednesday evening, and, once again, none of my friends showed. Apparently the Cubs game was a major deterrent. Oh well. Two more shows coming up in the next month. If this trend continues I might have to invest in some new friends. Either that, or give up live music, but who really wants to do that?

Another thing of interest next week is a meeting of a Dissertation Writing Group organized by some of my colleagues in the Loyola history department. The first meeting is on Monday and I'm intrigued to see what the whole thing is about. I'll post any thoughts or suggestions as they come.

The new computer continues to be a boon. I've got a lot of material for the current section of the chapter I'm working on. I think next week I'll get back to writing and hopefully get a chunk of the chapter done! We'll see. The one thing I have noticed thus far is that it is easy to get carried away with detail and context. Currently I'm looking at the way housing for ex-servicemen contributed to the memory of the Great War in Ireland. It is necessary to give background on the various organizations charged with overseeing the construction of ex-servicemen's houses, but at the same time there is a fine line between giving context and getting into administrative history. I'm trying to avoid the latter. Perhaps this is something to bring up with the dissertation writing group, right?

New MacBook

2008-09-26T20:59:00.002-05:00

Well, not exactly new new, it's a refurbished laptop, but it's got what I need. It's fast and able to handle all the stuff I need for work. iPhoto, Word, Bento, MacSpeech Dictate, and everything else work great on the new machine. No more waiting minutes, literally, for a program to load, to switch between programs, or doing any other day-to-day tasks. It will probably take a day or so to get everything transferred to the new machine and get it back to where the old one was. Nevertheless, it's great to have a new machine. I don't think it's absurd to get a new machine every 4-5 years. It's been 4 years since I got my iBook, and it's been a great computer. Let's just hope that I can get another good 4 years out of this MacBook. But right now, I'm really excited about being able to dive in headfirst to my research and writing (Does that make me a geek? Probably, but that was never in doubt.)

The other thing I need to mention, and I'm sure any one else in graduate school can agree with this, is that Interlibrary loan is the greatest thing ever. I'm working on part of one of the main chapters of my dissertation at the moment. I found a book on the subject I'm currently writing about (housing for Irish ex-servicemen) that Loyola did not own, naturally. A few quick clicks and interlibrary loan had the book for me in a few days. The book is a great complement to the primary sources I have, by filling in some of the administrative history those sources lack. Needless to say, the folks at ILL will be getting an acknowledgement when this thing is done!

The week that was

2008-09-22T00:55:00.002-05:00

Since my last update a few interesting things occurred. The section of the diss I'm working on now relates to Irish ex-servicemen and housing in the 1919-1932 period. I spent some time this week trying to track down an Act of Parliament that was passed in 1919. That's the sort of thing one would expect to find online, but alas, I was informed that this is not so. They (how ambiguous) have only gotten the Acts through the 17th century digitized. Fortunately, I found a reference at Loyola's law library that seemed useful, and ended up finding a bunch of books that had what I wanted. It's nice that Loyola actually had what I needed - a rarity to be sure. Progress this week was a bit slow though. To make a long story short, my laptop if four years old and cannot handle running multiple programs at once any longer. Hell, it hangs when I just try to use the internet. Today, I ordered a new MacBook (well, a refurb) and I'm really pleased with the prospect of getting a new machine. Since my student loan money came in this week, I've been able to clear my credit card debt, and I should be able to pay off the new computer very shortly as well. Regardless, I'm looking forward to being more efficient with a serviceable computer.

In other news, the band I'm playing in - Fat Tuesday - had a gig tonight (Sunday) in the city. It was fun to get out and play again. Being my own harshest critic, I don't think I played great, but I played well enough. I even got to sing a song, though I couldn't hear myself in the monitor and my throat was dry. The worst part about the gig, besides having an 11:15pm start time on a Sunday night was that NONE of my friends showed up. How sad is that? I must have told at least 70 people and not a single one stopped by. I don't know if that says something about me, my friends, or Sunday nights. Our next gig is in the city on a Saturday night. If similar circumstances prevail, I'm looking for new friends. Other than that, the gig was fine. I had a lot of fun and I'm looking forward to doing it again.

Steady as she goes

2008-09-16T21:16:00.002-05:00

Just a few updates from the past week. On the dissertation front things are progressing steadily. I've been both going through material and starting to write. I put together a brief outline today about what I think the first chapter will look like based on everything I've seen the past few months. I'm trying to decided where to make a chapter break. The primary period of concern is the interwar period, but the entire project goes to the present. For the interwar period it seems easiest to just break down the chronology with one chapter for the 1920s and one for the 1930s. I could stretch the chronology of the first chapter from 1918-1932, and then the second from 1932-1939, with de Valera's ascension to power in 1932 as the watershed moment in the interwar years. I'm still trying to figure out which chronology to use. I'll have to look at the material from the 1930s more thoroughly before I made a final decision though. This week and last week I was going through the 1920s. So time will tell. Is it lazy to just break things down by decade?

What else has been going on? Let's see. The Michigan game on Saturday was an absolute travesty. Given the weather and the fact that ND weren't working with a brand new offense, I'm not terribly surprised that Michigan lost. Any team that fumbles the ball 7 (!!!) in a single game and loses 4 of them deserves to lose. Hopefully the bye this weekend will help big Blue to get their heads out of their collective asses against Wisconsin.

I'm also playing bass in a band now. We have a show this coming Sunday. Not the best night of the week to play a show, especially since it's at 11:15pm, but any excuse to play is fine with me. I'll probably have some reflections on the gig next week.

The Derek Trucks Band - God's gift to the ears

2008-09-10T10:29:00.003-05:00

My two favorite bands of all time are the Grateful Dead and the Derek Trucks Band. Since Jerry Garcia died I'm obviously not going to any Dead shows. But the DTB just started a new tour and came through Chicago last weekend. Below is a review of the show that I posted on the DTB listserv. You'll also notice that there is a link to the show in the column on the left if anyone interested would like to listen to a recording and hear just how amazing these guys are. A few notes for clarity - Derek Trucks (DT) is married to blues singer Susan Tedeschi (ST). The members of the band are: Derek Trucks, guitar; Yonrico Scott, drums; Todd Smallie, bass; Kofi Burbridge, keys, B3, flute, clavinet, etc.; Mike Mattison, vocals; Count M'Butu, percussion.

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Hey folks,
Just got back from the DTB's rocking of the Windy City. It was my first DTB show since the Park West filming of Songlines (i.e. WAY too long). The band was in excellent form (as if they had any other). Susan sat in for a few songs on vocals. The setlist is as follows:

The Vic, Chicago, IL - 9/6/08

I'll Find My Way
Leavin' Trunk
Soul Serenade
Key To The Highway
My Favorite Things
Down Don't Bother Me
Get Out Of My Life Woman
Done Got Over*
Anyday*
Joyful Noise*

Encore:
Volunteered Slavery >
Up Above My Head

*with Susan on vocals

A few notes: The band was hitting on all cylinders from the starting gun. The soul serenade was a nice treat - something I wasn't expecting. I thought I heard a brief Amazing Grace tease during the intro. Wait for the tapes to confirm. (There were at least two tapers there, although I didn't get a chance to go talk to them. I recognized one from the last Park West show, and I know he got his source up pronto). My Favorite things was a nice, long jam. Very nice. I was in Ireland this summer when I first heard the new arrangement of Down don't bother me. I liked it from the get-go, but hearing it live was truly impressive. I hope they put this one on the new record. GOOMLW brought the funk. Susan did a great job (she even gave Barack Obama a shout out while she was improving over the Joyful Noise vamp). I hadn't seen her sit in with the band before and she added a great dynamic, especially when exchanging lines with Mike and Derek. The Volunteered Slavery was a bit spacey, most notably the jam into Up above my head. A real highlight if you ask me. Derek was on fire all night. Detuning, pulling the low E behind the neck of the guitar, and all kinds of DT wizardy. Everyone looked like they were having a good time, and the interplay between DT and ST was fun. They made a good time of it all. Derek also seemed to be more mobile. Not Pete Townsend by any stretch, but a few more bends at the knee, shrugs of the shoulders, and flexing of the elbows than a few years ago. He seems to be finding his element and having more fun with it (perhaps others have noticed this as well, I only bring it up now since I've been unable to hit up many shows in the past few years).
This was the first show I went to with my fiancee. She's not into the jam thing, but really enjoyed the show. We were standing in the section in front of the soundboard, and Katie said that from there Rico looked like Turk from Scrubs (that made me laugh). She got a kick out of Rico and the Count. She definitely enjoyed the show and I think she understands my obsession a bit better now.

----------------------

If I had the money I would follow this band on tour in a heartbeat. At some points during the show it felt like you were in a huge chautauqua tent, especially during Joyful Noise. It's really a great feeling to have. Plus watching DT play guitar is something any music lover should experience. Check to see if they'll be in your neck of the woods soon.

... and the band played on.

2008-09-09T19:19:00.003-05:00

When I was overseas it became abundantly clear to me how people could spend a solid year in research. Now, it has become equally clear as to why it takes folks so long to go through everything. The dictation software I have works pretty well, however, I don't see myself relying on it exclusively. It's certainly helpful when taking notes on material, but there's something to be said for actually typing out text that necessitates thought. One other piece of advise I got this past week (or should I say, received again) was to start writing. Don't worry about going through every single little piece of research. As you write you'll have a better idea of what, exactly, you need, which prevents spending ungodly hours trolling through material you probably won't need. The goal is to chip away at the stone. And that's certainly what I'm trying to do!

In other news. The Red Bull Flutag was in Chicago this past weekend. I went down to check it out with some friends. It was entertaining, but we didn't stay for the whole thing. There were a ton of people there and the novelty wore off after a while. By attending the Flutag I missed a good portion of the Michigan game. They looked pretty good when I left, but as I read the game recap it seemed pretty clear that this was not maintained throughout the rest of the game. I watched a bit of the Notre Dame game, and they looked just as pathetic. Apparently a fourth quarter rally enabled them to beat a team they were trailing for most of the game and who had lost to Cal Poly the week before (my parent's alma mater; No offense Dad!). Hopefully, the UM quarterbacks will pull their heads out of their assess long enough to put together a win this week.

Finally, I actually watched sizable portions of both the Republican and Democratic national conventions. I have to admit that I tend to lean republican, but really consider myself a moderate. In the present election, however, I have no idea why anyone would want to vote for John McCain. I felt like writing something following his speech and that of his proposed veep, but refrained. Perhaps that was a good thing. It's disturbing that the republicans are trying to make this an election about personalities, again, while Obama addresses the issues and offers concrete proposals. As someone who hopes to work in the education field, I cannot understand how anyone in that industry would vote republican given the current education planks in their platform. Granted, I like the idea of small government, but in some sectors I think it's beneficial to have the backing of Uncle Sam: education, health care, and the environment. Those are areas I can support "big government." One might notice that all of these are long-term issues, that contribute to social well-being. Shouldn't be a surprise there. These are all areas that have systemic problems, need to be addressed quickly (i.e. the health care system needs to be blown up and started from scratch if you ask me), and, unfortunately, will probably continue to be ignored until it's too late. Anything beyond these issues, I prefer small government.

A long year for Michigan football

2008-08-31T10:35:00.002-05:00

The Rich Rodriguez era did not start off well. For all the off-season hype about Rich Rod and his vaunted spread offense, when it came to game day the Wolverines did a massive face plant. Michigan fans knew this was coming. The exodus of players to graduation and the NFL draft after the 07-08 campaign would have made this season challenging for ANY coach. But to usher in a complete overhaul, most people knew that disaster would ensure despite their hopes that things might be deceptively better than projected.

Enter Utah. As we saw in 2004 with Urban Meyer calling the shots and Alex Smith (and his small hands) under center, Utah is not just a schlep of a mid-major. They're a solid team similar to App State last year (a team that was coming off of a Div 1A championship, a fact that got lost in the upset rhetoric). That said I'm not surprised that Michigan lost on Saturday. However, watching the game was very painful. Not just because my beloved Wolverines looked anemic on offense, but because of the commentators. I could rant and rave about my distaste for sports commentators for hours. The most annoying moment, to me, occurred during the first half when the commentators were slurping Michigan's offense, which had never really gotten off the ground, at the same time that the producers put up a graphic of both teams' total yardage. Utah had well over 100 yards total offense and Michigan had 35. If it weren't for penalties committed by the Utes, Michigan's 4th quarter comeback would have been for naught. It's foolish to think that Big Blue will get those kinds of breaks every week. Personally, I wanted to seem more Sam McGuffie. When he did get the ball he looked alright. Granted he's no Mike Hart, but he's not running behind the same offensive line either. I'm intrigued to see how he develops in Ann Arbor. But right now, we need a quarterback. Sheridan threw A LOT of near interceptions, and Threet was a bit better, but not a whole lot. I wouldn't be surprised if Threet starts next week though, based on his 4th quarter performance. Sheridan looked like he was trying to be Pat White out there instead of just managing the game. Before the season started Michigan fans knew that a QB would be at the top of the list for next year's recruiting crop. Frankly, I'm surprised Pryor DIDN'T come to UM. It's one thing to sign on to a program that's already winning, but it's another to be the spark, or the cornerstone, that brings a team back to their rightful place of prominence.

I do have to give props to Utah's offensive line. They protected their quarterback really well and allowed him to thread the needle with his passing. It's not a stretch for Utah to win the Mountain West title this year, assuming they stay healthy.

Hopefully next week, when we play a weak Miami, Ohio, team Big Blue will settle into their offense a bit more so they're ready for Notre Dame in week three. After the absolute domination we've had over ND the past few years, it would suck to let that get away now. In reality, we're still at least another year or two away from getting back to being a consistent top 5 or top 10 team. So long as that happens, these growing pains will be worth it. As for this year, I'll be happy with 7-5 or 8-4.

Why Lunchbox?

2008-08-29T09:22:00.002-05:00

One of the most frequent questions I get when meeting new people is how I got the nickname, Lunchbox. Well it's not really that great of a story, but I might as well write it down for posterity.

When I was in middle school, and for most of high school, really, I was fat. It's safe to use the word heifer, I think. I probably wasn't 6' yet, and weighed over 2 bills, very little of which was muscle since I didn't work out. Despite my heft, I played lacrosse on my high school's club team. One of my lax buddies gave me the name my freshman year of high school. At the time he was obsessed with Kevin Smith's movie "Mallrats." I would assume most people are at least somewhat familiar with Kevin Smith's work, and know of the characters Jay and Silent Bob. Well, at one point in "Mallrats" Jay calls Silent Bob "lunchbox." One can presume this was the case because Silent Bob was a fat guy (there might be some sort of New Jersey idiom behind this, too. With Kevin Smith you never know). Since Silent Bob was a fat guy, and I was a fat kid my buddy, Brennan, decided that I too would be known as "Lunchbox." Suffice it to say the name stuck. By the time I got to college very few people knew my real name. I even had a little Indian professor for a computer class in undergrad that called me "Mr. Lunchbox." It was great. It got to the point where it was weird when I was addressed by my given name. (It's still a bit weird to me, actually). A lot of my friends still call me Lunchbox, or any of the variations picked up over the years (most commonly Box, but also, LB, and Lunch).

So that's the story. It wasn't because I carried a lunchbox to school (although I did afterward) or anything else. A unique nickname tended to ensure that people wouldn't forget who I was even if I forgot them.

Coping with life as a poor graduate student

2008-08-25T12:27:00.003-05:00

As I made clear earlier this summer, the debacle with my credit card in Europe was a truly trying experience. Unfortunately, the worst effects of it are only now being felt. I can reasonably say that entering my 5th year of graduate study this is the first time I feel like I am on unstable ground financially. Yes, I won a research grant this summer and have a fellowship in the coming academic school year, but the former only helps to pay off the credit card debt I do have and the latter only really helps with cost of living expenses. There is little to help replenish my devastated savings. Perhaps I should have taken out a larger student loan this year, but it looks like its too late to adjust that. Honestly, I'd prefer to have a higher credit card bill that I know I can pay off over a longer period of time and be more stable, than to be able to pay off the bill quicker but face financial straights. The timing couldn't really be worse for all this, but there's not a whole lot to be done at this point except to ride it out.

On the research front, in addition to the database program I found, I also got a copy of MacSpeech Dictate. This is pretty much exactly what it sounds like, dictation software. It lets you speak to your computer and it will type out what you say. I figured since I have so much stuff to go through, a lot of which is in JPEG format and thus unable to be copied and pasted to a text document, this would be good and efficient alternative. The only real problem is that my iBook G4 runs a PowerPC processor and the program needs and Intel Mac. Luckily I can use Katie's MacBook while she's at work. Right now I'm just waiting for my microphhone headset to arrive and I'll be good to go. It will be good to start getting through this material so I can delete some of it from my iBook's hard drive. Sure I have it all backed up on an external hard drive and archived on DVDs, but I can't bring myself to delete the 20+ Gigs of photos from my hard drive yet, even though they're sucking up almost half of my hard drive space and contributing to slow performance (even worse than I was experiencing before, which were the result of putting Leopard on such an old machine). Add a new Mac laptop to my list of things I need but can't afford at the moment.

Throughout all of this I've tried to keep a "Candide" attitude telling myself that everything will work out. Let's hope that Voltaire's satire isn't just that in this case.

Vetting the data

2008-08-19T13:03:00.002-05:00

Well, now that I've returned to the good ole US of A and took a week off to get back into the swing of things, I'm turning my attention to going through all of the material I collected on my trip. I'm taking a page out of the research strategies of one of my professors at LUC, Dr. Lew Erenberg. He uses a database program to keep track of all his notes for his various projects. I figured it couldn't hurt to look into something similar. I found a program called Bento for my Mac that is pretty much everything I'd need. It allows be to create custom templates with whatever input fields I deem necessary. It allows you to create a Library and collections within that library as well. This is great because you can select the library and run a search and it will pull records from all of the collections. I wanted something with tagging, sort of like the labels function on blogspot. Since it wasn't possible to use hyperlinks within the program I just created a "Keywords" field. While it doesn't keep track of all the keywords throughout the library, it does so within each collection, which helps with consistency. So in essence, I've got a tag-like process going on. I've already been able to copy all of my typed notes into the program and I'm sure it will be useful when going through all the jpegs and pdfs I've accumulated. Just a make a record for each, put in a reference to the picture or file, and type in whatever notes on that document. Money.

Final Ratings

2008-08-14T21:42:00.002-05:00

Accommodations:
Best: Queen's University Belfast - The continental breakfast really set this place apart. It was nice to have a stable internet connection and an en suite bathroom. The only drawback was the lack of crockery, which meant I wasted $20 on a pot and a pan for cooking. The location meant I did a lot of walking too, but the weather wasn't bad so it worked out fine.
Worst: King's College, London - Lacked an internet connection, phone, or any telecommunications whatsoever. The bathroom was an entity unto itself - and that's not a good thing.
The Rest:
University College, Dublin - Nothing fancy here. Had internet, but Skype wouldn't work on my Mac. Laundry was expensive. Had a Centra (think 7-11) in the complex. Great access to buses.
University College, Cork - Best bed of the trip, en suite bathroom, nicest kitchen of the trip. No in-room internet - 4 computers in common room (3 of which worked). Laundry really expensive.
University of Ulster, Magee - The most uncomfortable bed on the trip and the kitchen was kind of gross, but that was due to a couple of the guys living there being messy and not caring about the rest of us. Decent internet connection. (2) Great roommates.

Fish & Chips:
Leo Burdock's, Dublin - Best fish of the trip. Didn't get enough ketchup. Take-out only, a beer would have been great.
Jackie Lennox's, Cork - Best chips of the trip, make that curry chips.
Galway (can't remember the name of the restaurant) - stopped here passing through to Derry. Fish was too greasy and the chips weren't any thing special.
Bishop's, Belfast - Not bad. I would say standard - nothing to write home about. Perhaps if I had got some curry for the chips.
N/A - Derry & London.

Archives:
Best: The National Archive, Kew - based on what I've written already, this should be no surprise. Everything an archive should be.
Worst: The National Library, Ireland - a colleague at Loyola warned me about this place before I left and he was right. This place was such a pain to work at. Unfortunately, I'll have to go back, but at least I'll be better prepared.
Some of the rest:
University College, Dublin - A wonderfully run archive, prior to Kew, the one of the best I went to. They didn't have much that I could use, but that doesn't take mitigate the quality of the facility.
National Archive, Ireland - Not a bad place to work. Their digital camera policy is a bit inconvenient, but it could be worse.
Cork City and County Archive - Pretty much the same as UCD. A beautiful facility with great people, just not a whole lot I could use.
Boole Library, University College Cork - A very nice facility with a very friendly and accommodating head archivist. I enjoyed working here.
Harbour Museum, Derry - Some of the nicest folks along the way. They had one collection relevant to my work. Allowed digital photos, weren't over-bearing, helped with last minute request.
PRONI - A very nice facility, easy to use, lots of useful material. No digital photography, which is a shame. That would definitely boost them in my mind.
Belfast Central Library, Newspaper Library - Great collection, allowed photography, late hours.
Imperial War Museum, London - Nice facility, horrible online catalog, would love to do more work there.
National Army Museum, London - Very nice, new facility. Catalog not online, yet. Great materials, friendly staff. No photos allowed.
British Library - Great hours, one of the best collections in the world.

Coming to America

2008-08-13T11:34:00.002-05:00

Well, I'm finally back home. The last week in London was really exhaustive, but, at the same time, I got a lot of work done. I spent a few hours on Sunday tooling around London, but nothing really to write home about. Monday was a long day, what with two flights, one of them being transatlantic. Nevertheless, I got home safely. As the plane was touching down at O'Hare the one thing that kept going through my mind was Neil Diamond's "Coming To America." That made me laugh.

So now that the initial research trip is done it's on to the next stage of the dissertation - going through all that material and starting to figure out how to put the thing together. We'll see how much stuff I have to write about here as the process unfolds.

All for now.

More thoughts on London, it's archives, and Tube

2008-08-07T15:03:00.001-05:00

The pace of research in London is very fast. It's a nice change of pace from Dublin which is the equivalent to swimming in a tar pit. The days at the archives are just flying by.

Tuesday I went to the National Archive, Kew. This place is everything an archive should be. The staff is really friendly and helpful, everything is automated, yet there still a significant degree of autonomy for the researcher. One doesn't feel like they're being a burden or sized up on a regular basis. Everything there is easy to use, or at least what I needed was. I was also able to use my digital camera, yet another boon. I'll be going back there on Friday as I put in a bulk order of documents.

Wednesday I spent at the British Library. They have SO much material there and I was able to view some of the books that I wasn't able to see at the National Library of Ireland. I'm glad I did because I found some really good stuff in those books. The system there isn't as fluid as the one at Kew, but, still, I didn't have too much trouble. The nice thing is that you can schedule what day you want documents delivered, so there are a few I ordered up for Saturday (and perhaps I'll order up a few more this evening). I didn't get out of the BL yesterday until about 7:45pm. Needless to say it was a long day, but it was also a productive one.

Today, I spent at the National Army Museum. When I initially contacted them via email they sent me a list of files that they held. Ok, cool. Once I got here they had their collection accessible via an online database (run on Macs no less!), which was nice. One of the staff told me it'd be available on the internet later this year. So I looked through their holdings and found some other stuff relevant to my research. London keeps coming up aces in terms of finding materials. So I spent the day looking through this material and taking notes. In fact, I was typing as fast as I could by the end of the day trying to get one last document typed out before they closed. I was the last one to leave, but I managed to get everything I needed, at least for the time being. All in all, it was a very successful trip to a very nice little archive.

The one thing that is clear to me is that I will have to come back to London, perhaps a couple of times, in order to get through all the stuff here. The one thing that I wasn't able to figure out for this trip was anything at the Royal British Legion Headquarters. So I'll have to see about that on a subsequent trip. (After my experience in Belfast, I really need to look into the Dublin Branch as well. They may have what I'm looking for and not even realize it.) But I will say that spending so much time at these various repositories has made my time in London go by quickly, which I appreciate, especially since I'm toward the end of the trip, pretty burned out, and not smitten by my accommodations. I have, however, been able to achieve the level of productivity I've strived for all along in London, which was not always the case in other places.

Although I may find the Tube's cash fares expensive, it's easy to see where the money goes. What a great system. The trains are on time and there are displays telling you how long until the next train arrives (like the DC Metro). The cars are clean, as are the stations, and while they may be labyrinthine, everything is clearly marked and it's easy to figure out where to go. The train cars are pretty quite for a subway. Usually, there are a few windows open in each car for ventilation, and even then it's possible to listen to music without having to decimate your eardrums or to have a conversation without having to yell. It's not quite like the Montreal Metro, which has rubber wheels and is really quiet, but when compared to the CTA subway there is a huge difference. It's nice to have an automated voice over the speaker that tells you what station you're approaching/at, and what is next. On the CTA the only time one seems to get this type of information is when the driver feels like telling the passengers. Sure they have certain announcements about keeping the CTA clean and the like, but nothing like the Tube. CTA buses have this feature, but it doesn't work on every bus. I haven't ridden the buses in London, but I certainly did in Ireland, and it's safe to say that based on my experience there and what I've seen of the buses in London, they're well maintained and clean, again, unlike the CTA. This just hammers home how absolutely terrible public transportation is in Chicago. People piss and moan about a $0.25 fare increase, but having seen other, better systems it's worth it for a higher fare. Besides, on the Tube a cash fare is £4, but if you have an Oyster Card (the same thing as the Chicago Card (Plus)) then it's only £1.50, and on top of that there is a daily cap so you won't be charged anything above the cap if you have the card (assuming I'm reading the literature correctly). But a difference between £1.50 and £4 is huge. Perhaps that's the sort of price structure we need in Chicago to really initiate change. The smart cards are so much more cost effective for the transit system there needs to be a much stronger incentive for people to use them. It's kind of like in Ireland how they charge you for plastic bags at the grocery store. Every one there has reusable shopping bags. After the initial adjustment period most people will probably just go with the flow, and be more content with their service.

London town

2008-08-04T15:33:00.003-05:00

You get a shiver in the park/it's raining in the park, but mean time....

It'd be nice if the Sultans could Swing me a better lot in London. It should be clear that for me telecommunications is the central factor determining the quality of my accommodations. In this respect, London is the worst place so far. Oh, there are internet ports in the rooms, but one must have a King's College login to access them. No guest access here like at Queen's. There are no phones in the apartment and no common room with computers for people to use. That puts London just below Cork on the telecommunications scale. Frankly, I'm disappointed. For a place that caters to international travelers--in LONDON of all places--you would think they'd have some sort of solution to the telecommunications question. There is a bar directly across the street that has "free" wifi (with purchase of course), but that's hardly acceptable in my book. Nevertheless, it's something I'll have to deal with. Let's just say I'm glad I'm only here for a week. I couldn't afford to be here longer!

The room itself isn't too bad. There's a mini fridge, two pillows, and the sheets are really comfortable. The bathroom, however, is one of the most "European" things I have encountered thus far. I will upload a photo later, but it's basically a triangle with one corner being the "shower," with a bar bisecting the triangle that holds the curtain rod. When the shower curtain is closed, the toilet is inside the shower. I shit you not (excuse the pun). Now I was a part-time custodian for about 3 years in undergrad and I am by no means a germophobe, but I do not like grimy things. This bathroom scares me. Needless to say, another reason I'm glad I'm only here for a week.

On the research front, today was very productive. I spent the day at the Imperial War Museum, which is one of the coolest museums in London (again, another one I think the Colonel would thoroughly enjoy). When I got to the reading room they had the files I had requested waiting for me at an assigned seat. The chairs were comfy and the room was big and bright. Really, it was ideal for doing research. The only drawback was that of the probably 30 seats available they crammed everyone right next to each other so there wasn't much room to work. That kind of sucked, but otherwise, I enjoyed it. I must say that most of the research facilities here have been great, with the obvious exception of the National Library of Ireland. Tomorrow's plan is to go out to the National Archive at Kew. I know that I can use the old digital camera there so hopefully I'll only need the one day there. We'll see. It looks like it's probably a 45 min Tube ride in the morning. If you think that public transportation in Chicago is expensive where a cash fare for a single ride is $2, try London where the same goes for £4 ($8). Yet another reason I'm glad I'll only be here for a week.

Finally, a totally unrelated thing, but one I think worthwhile - a format change for this here blog. I've decided that an "Album" of the week isn't really cutting mustard any more. Sometimes I find myself picking an album because of a particular song on it. Since the music industry seems to be going retro to the 50s and 60s where singles ruled, I'm changing the Album of the Week to This Week's Music, which may include a single song, an entire album, or a live concert. Since, personally, I prefer live music, I'll provide links whenever possible to live music. Singles and records, I assume people (and I use this term loosely since there are 4 people reading this) can do a Google or iTunes search for a song or album.

Belfast in Pictures

2008-08-04T14:47:00.004-05:00

As promised here are some pictures from Belfast (click on images for bigger pictures). Better late than never:

A couple of Pints Rich and I got from the Crown Bar.

The Europa hotel at one time held the distinction for being the most bombed hotel in Europe. Perhaps it still does, as I'm fuzzy on the details. The main bus and train stations are located there as well.

One of many murals in the Shankill Road area (i.e. Protestant).

Another Shankill Road mural.
And one more Shankill Road mural for good measure.

This is the main cenotaph at the Remembrance Gardens at Belfast City Hall. It's really a nice memorial, me thinks.

This is the Great War Memorial at Queen's University Belfast. It is located in front of the main university building and is literally the first thing you see when you walk through the main gates onto campus.
I just liked the look of this Celtic Cross. However, behind it you can see a list of names. This is one of the memorials in the Falls Road (i.e. Catholic) area. The names belong to people from the neighborhood (actually the surrounding streets) who have died in the Troubles.

This is a look at the grave sites of the Hunger Strikers and other Republican martyrs in Milltown Cemetery. Toward the back you can see a tricolor flying and a massive black tablet. On that is inscribed the text of the 1916 Proclamation. My camera battery died as I took a picture of it, sadly.

The grave of Bobby Sands. Frankly, I expected something more.

Exiting Belfast stage left

2008-08-02T04:31:00.001-05:00

Wow, where did the week go. It's amazing how quickly time flies when you have lots of work to do. Well my journal of this dissertation research trip is quickly coming to its conclusion and I'll have to move on to other dissertation and life related things to write about. I've got next week in London before going home. But first a recap of this week's activities.

As I already mentioned, I spent Monday at the Royal British Legion in Belfast. Both Tuesday and Wednesday I spent long days at the Belfast Central Library. Since a lot of what I'm doing looks like it is going to rely pretty heavily on newspapers. The Belfast Central Newspaper Library was the best place to work with newspapers thus far. The main advantage of the BCL is that they have no problem bringing out bound volumes of newspapers. Most places tend to rely heavily on microfilm. That's not to say the BCL doesn't have it's share of microfilm, but for the major Belfast area newspapers, which I was most interested in, were all available in hard copy. So what's the big deal you might ask? My digital camera can take pictures of a microfilm machine screen and produce useable images. They are not the best, but they are certainly usable. A lot, of course, depends on the quality of the film itself. With the hard copies you don't have to worry about the quality of the film. Most of the papers I looked at were in good condition and I got really good quality pictures from them.

On Thursday, I took the train to Bangor followed by a bus toward Newtownards to the Somme Heritage Centre. I spent the day there going through some of the sources they had there. Noel Cain and the other people at the Somme Centre were very friendly and accommodating. The centre was really cool. It was the type of place I would love go with my Dad because I know he'd really like it (Dad, since I know you're reading, you have your charge: Going to Northern Ireland with me). Oh, and I managed to leave my umbrella either at the train station in Belfast or on the Bangor train. Note: this is NOT a good thing in Ireland. As Murphy's Law would have it, when I left the Somme Centre it was raining pretty hard and I got drenched.

Friday, I went back to the BCL and finished up another run of papers. When I was in the Republic they had a number of newspapers digitized and completely searchable, which made the process of finding relevant information a lot easier. In the North, however, there are no papers that are completely digitized so I had to go through microfilm and hard copies. Since memory/commemoration of the First World War in Ireland most prominently coincides with Remembrance Day my strategy for attacking papers in microfilm and hard copy consisted of this: I would select a paper - this week it was the Belfast Newsletter, the Belfast Telegraph, the Northern Whig, and the Irish News, Belfast. I would request the papers from the month of November from 1919-1939. I would have liked to go further into the future but Belfast had three good papers (the Irish News, Belfast started strong and faded fast) and I wanted to get through all of them. Plus, after 1939, the commemoration of WWI veterans changes because of WWII so the 1919-1939 period is the principal concern.

So it was a very productive week in terms of research. Or at least I hope so. The other issue that developed was with so many pictures I'm starting to run out of hard drive space on my computer. I was at Tesco the other night and bought some blank DVDs. I've backed up all of the photos I've taken on DVD. Probably not a bad idea. Given what happened with my PRONI notes, I'd prefer to err on the side of caution.

So that's the update for now. I leave Belfast tomorrow for London and after a week I FINALLY go home. I understand why people need to spend 6-12 months engaged in research based on my experiences here. But I don't know how people can spend so much time away from home. I guess most people have some sort of funding, and when the dollar was strong it would be a bit easier. Yet, it remains a difficult thing to manage. So as worthwhile as the trip has been I am certainly ready to go home.

All for now.

Adventures in Belfast

2008-07-28T11:35:00.006-05:00

94 years ago today Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, thus commencing the First World War.

Things are still moving along here in Northern Ireland. This weekend differed from my usual activities because my buddy Brendan (Poz) from Loyola was in Belfast. I let him crash on the floor of my room, and since he was staying with me, we pretty much spent the entire weekend together.

I picked him up from the bus station about noon. We came back to Queen's so he could drop off his stuff then we went to check out the mural paintings in the Falls Road and the Shankill Road (Catholic/Republican and Protestant/Loyalist, respectively). Poz had a guide book that we were using as our reference point, but the problem was that for both the Falls and Shankill there only existed a small inset map and not a map of the entire west Belfast area. Needless to say, there were many wrong turns taken. There is a big fence separating the two neighborhoods and it's somewhat surreal walking through the gates (which are closed at night) between the two areas. The murals themselves were fascinating. Along the Falls Road the murals generally focused on Bobby Sands and the H-Block Hunger Strikers, as well as other moments and ideals of Republicanism. In the Shankill Road there was a distinct theme of violence that I found very interesting, especially when juxtaposed to the Falls Road and the typical villainization of the IRA (I don't want to sound like an IRA apologist, I'm not by any means). People don't hear as much about the UVF and other Protestant para-military groups as they do the IRA. But in the Shankill road militarism was ALL OVER their murals. There was even one dedicated to a particular soldier who earned the moniker "Top Gun" for taking out so many of the "others." A whole wall on the side of a house for this guy. It really makes you think.

After we looked at the murals, Poz wanted to go see the grave of Bobby Sands. Mind you we started in the Falls Road, worked our way north and then back east through the Shankill Road. To get to Sands' grave we had to go BACK down the Falls road, i.e. the road we walked down once already, plus an extra mile or two until we found Milltown Cemetery. And it was a huge cemetery. The guide book said the Sands' memorial was on the right hand side just after you walk in the main gates. That wasn't exactly true. We wandered around trying to find the area described in the book, but couldn't find it (the pictures in the link resemble the description in the book, but not what we actually found at the cemetery; weird). Finally we asked a gentleman walking through the cemetery and he pointed us in the right direction. In the meantime he told us that a bunch of the Hunger Strikers were there as well as some of the folks from the Gibralter Incident. He told us that when they were burying the Gibralter victims that loyalists threw grenades at the mourners. He seemed pleased to tell us that even though they ran toward the motorway, the loyalists were caught. The way he said it suggested that they weren't just apprehended and taken off to jail. But it was probably about a city block's distance to the grave sites of Sands and the other Hunger Strikers buried there. Just inside the gate my ass! The cemetery was clearly a Catholic one and Nationalist/Republican. What really struck me was that there was a sizable Great War memorial in the cemetery. Probably the LAST place I would expect to find one of those would be in the same cemetery where Sands, et. al. were laid to rest.

By this time we'd been walking for over 5 hours straight. Since we had been walking south, I figured we could just find an east/west road and try to get back to Queen's. So we asked for directions at a shopping center, but they weren't too helpful. And so I did what I very rarely do. Called a cab. We took a cab back to Queen's. Of course once I saw the route that we took, I realized it only would have taken us another 45 min or so to walk back because I recognized where I was after about 3 turns and 2 traffic lights. Oh well.

Then we went to the Tesco to get some food for dinner. We bought a couple oven pizzas and cooked those up. Then we went out to find a decent pint. But first we had to walk back to the city center to find a specific ATM so Poz could get out money without any fees, or so he hoped. After getting cash, we tried in vain to find a bar that wasn't packed, loud, and full of DB's. Every place we went to was absolute garbage. Even the old fashioned pub turned chachie on Saturday night. We ended up at a hotel bar. There was a wedding going on and some of the wedding-goers were at the bar. We made nice with some of them and they bought us drinks, so that made it worthwhile. One of the guys kept trying to get us to drink Diesel, which, as he told us is for Belfast because Belfast is hardcore. It consists of 2 shots of vodka, 1 red bull, and Magners (hard cider). Poz eventually tried and said it was good. I had no desire to imbibe any such concoction and took his word for it.

When we got back to Queen's a security guard stopped us and asked to see our room keys. I displayed mine, but Poz didn't have one. So we BS'd the guy and said he had to get his bag out of the room so he could go to his hostel and the security guard let Poz through under the provision he came back out. Of course he didn't, but the guy didn't have my name or room number so score one for us.

On Sunday we got up late and went out to do some more sight-seeing. We trekked through the TItanic Quarter, which was a real disappointment. Although they did have the HMS Caroline on the display there which served in the First World War and was at the Battle of Jutland in 1915. Unfortunately, people aren't allowed on the boat. So that sucked, but it was cool to see. On our way back from the Titanic Quarter we stopped at the Crown Bar for a pint because it one of those places you HAVE to get a pint in Belfast. Then we made our way back toward Queen's and Tesco's again to get food and beer. I had no interest in going out again after all the walking we did Saturday and Sunday. So we made food, had a few beers, and shot the shit.

This morning we got up early and went to breakfast. Then we headed downtown. Poz took the bus to Dublin and I went to the Royal British Legion office in Belfast. I got there around 9am and worked there until about 1pm. They had minute books of the British Legion (Ireland) Northern Branch HQ since 1919 (pre-dating the founding of the actual British Legion itself!). So I went through those and took pictures of all the minute books from 1919 until early 1942. The interwar years is the most important and I was quickly running out of memory (and that's with a 2GB memory card).

The folks who worked at the were great. They asked me if I wanted to go out and get a pint so of course I said sure. One of the guys told me they go out for a pint in the afternoon every Wednesday. As he said that I looked at my watch to double check that it was in fact Monday. Apparently they started going Wednesdays. Then Wednesdays and Fridays. Then MWF, then everyday. So they have Monday-Wednesday, Tuesday-Wednesday, Wednesday proper, Thursday-Wednesday, and Friday-Wednesday. They only go for 1 pint, but it was cool to talk to two gentlemen I went out with, both ex-British Army.

After the pint break, I bid the guys from the British Legion adieu and went over to the Belfast Central Library. I wanted to check out their newspaper library in preparation for my planned visit tomorrow. I went through their holdings and made a list of titles I'd want to look at so I should be ready to go in tomorrow guns blazing. There was a guy there taking digital photos today, so I'm glad to see I'll be able to do so as well. Although, I'm starting to run out of space on my hard drive. I have one blank DVD with me, but I might have to go buy a few more. It'd probably be wise to have a back up of some of these things any way. I think I've got about 12GB worth of photos though.

So the rest of this week will probably be split between the Central Library and the Somme Heritage Centre. I called there this afternoon, but the guy I needed to talk to wasn't in. Of course. So I'll call back tomorrow and hopefully get something set up for later this week.

(Pictures to be added later)

PRONO!

2008-07-24T15:00:00.003-05:00

It was too good to be true. Things were going far to well in Belfast not to hit some sort of snag. This morning I got snagged. I've had a very productive week at PRONI and it showed. I think I had something along the lines of 50 pages of typed notes from all the materials I had looked at so far. Before I left for PRONI this morning I opened Word to get the file ready for action. I tried to scroll down to the bottom of the page, but it said there were only 2 pages in the file. So I did a Spotlight search on my computer to see if I misplaced a file or something. Nope. That was the only PRONI file on the machine. Pages and pages of notes, hours of work, gone. What I think happened is this: When I was typing everything up over the past three days I was forgetting to put page breaks in to ensure that each file has it's own page. That helps reduce confusion later. Well I must have had most of the document's text highlighted while inserting the last page break without noticing it, or something along those lines because the only thing remaining was the last thing I was working on at the end of the day yesterday. Once I saved and quit the program there was no chance of getting anything back, let alone the following day. What a huge pain in the ass. Right? Luckily, today just happens to be the one day of the week when PRONI is open late, so I have time to go through everything. And I did. I put my grant money to use and just ordered copies of everything I had already taken notes on. Fortunately, since I had a pretty fresh memory of the pertinent files I was able to get everything done by about 3:00pm, after about 4.5 hours, and move on to stuff I hadn't yet seen. So yes, the situation sucks, but if it was going to happen, it happened at the right time because I had time to get everything back. So it could be worse. At least I'm finding useful material and PRONI will post it home for me so I don't have to bother carrying the stuff around. I think that qualifies as turning lemons into lemonade. For my efforts, I'll have a beer tonight!

A few other observations: Every where I go in Ireland I run into Italians. Does Italy have some obsession with Ireland the rest of world needs to know about? I had an Italian roommate in Dublin (Carlo was great), then in Cork and Belfast there are large groups doing something (Lord knows what) under the auspices of some program. When I was in Derry there was another group of Continentals, that I assume was Italian based on deductive reasoning since their speech sounded like a romance language, but didn't sound like Spanish or French. The most annoying thing that all the groups have in common (not Carlo, like I said, he was the man) is their proclivity toward being out of doors while using voice decibel levels incongruent with whatever time of day it is. Perhaps I'm becoming a curmudgeon? Who knows.

I will say that the current crop of Italians in Belfast obviously didn't get the memo that the 80s are over. Numerous people, male and female, are rocking serious mullets. You can tell that these mullets are carefully stylized coifs and not the result of some brooding passive-aggressive spite. These are by far the worst mullets I've seen since I've been here, and there are a lot. How do Europeans not think that mullets look completely ridiculous? I blame soccer players.

Also, I've noticed that people, at least in Ireland, have an aversion to picking up after their dogs. Not only have I espied dog shit on numerous sidewalks, but yesterday I had the benefit of stepping in a huge pile of it. Granted, in Chicago no everyone picks up after their dogs. I've noticed some repeat offenders on our street, or at least people who walk their dog on our street. I have a feeling they do so at night. That, or their dog has an affinity for stealth crapping. But even so, they tend to crap on the grass, which, although still gross and not good for MY dog, it off the actual footpath, thus greatly reducing the chances for people to step in it. Not in Ireland. It's as though they're afraid to spoil all the green that surrounds them with dog poo. I don't even see people carrying plastic bags when they walk their dogs.

PRONI, Day 1

2008-07-21T11:32:00.002-05:00

If today is any indicator of the next two weeks, Belfast will be a very valuable stop on this research trip. Let's hope it is.

I got up and went to the student center located about 50 yards from my building for the provided continental breakfast. They actually had a decent selection of stuff and it was nice not to have to buy breakfast food. Up QUB!

It was just over a mile to walk to the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland, which took about 20 minutes. No rain today and the temperature isn't too bad so I didn't mind it at all. I ended up getting there at 9:30am. Registration was a breeze. I spent a couple of hours going through their finding aids and online catalog compiling a list of sources I wanted to go through. I spent the afternoon going through the first batch.

I had a reference for the Irish Rugby Football Union from another book and I was greatly pleased with the material I found. A good deal of information about the organizations efforts to commemorate their fallen in WWI. Exactly the sort of stuff I'm looking for. Hopefully more of that will turn up along the way.

Towards the end of the day I was approached by a gentleman who, I assumed, worked at PRONI. He asked, somewhat puzzled, if I, in fact, went to Loyola since I was wearing a LUC t-shirt. I confirmed that I did and I was there working on my PhD. He introduced himself as Sean Farrell from NIU, a name I have heard of - cool! He asked who I was working with, still seeming a bit unsure. I told him my adviser was Ted Karamanski and Andy Wilson was one of my readers. This seemed to make much more sense to him, especially after I told him who I was NOT working with, which, of course, did not seem to surprise him. He seemed to be on his way out, but said he'd be back tomorrow. He offered conversation over a coffee/tea break, so hopefully I can count Dr. Farrell as another good contact gained on this trip.

All in all, a good day at the archives. Hopefully this will be a recurring trend over the next few weeks.

Out from the sweet town of Derry...

2008-07-20T06:15:00.001-05:00

All is quiet on the western front. I'm moving east to Belfast in about an hour. I figured I'd make some quick notes since I have neglected to do so recently. This past week was fairly productive and overall better than I thought it would be. A quick recap in the on-going log of my dissertation research:

Monday: Bank Holiday. Everything is closed. Went to the Pub with Joe and Rich.

Tuesday: Woke up early and sauntered down to the bus station. Caught the bus to Enniskillen where I checked out the Royal Inniskillin Fusiliers regimental museum. I was pretty impressed with it really. It was a small operation but very well done. I got to talking to one of the folks who worked there and he actually gave me some leads for Derry. So that was good.

Wednesday: Not too much. Went down to the Free Derry museum in the Bogside with Rich. It's a one-sided story (but understandably so) and a really interesting little museum.

Thursday: I met with Trevor Temple, who is the principle historian on the Diamond War Memorial project in Derry. We sat down for a bit and talked about various things. Trevor told me of some more sources down at the Harbour museum that they had neglected to mention, so I fired off an email to them when I got home. He gave me some additional tips and I walked away with a solid contact in Derry.

Friday: I was able to get back down to the Harbour museum and look through the aforementioned files. Thank God for the digital camera. Just snap pictures of everything and sort it out later. I had originally planned to go to Armagh to see the Royal Irish Regiment museum, but then I discovered that instead of a 2:45 bus ride from Derry with at least 1 connection, I could take a 1:15 bus from Belfast with no connections. Needless to say, that trip was deferred for a few days.

Saturday: I woke up late and did laundry. Then Rich and I went to Belfast for the afternoon. We got a few pints at the Crown Bar and met some crazy drunk lady who kept us entertained until it was time to catch our bus back to Derry.

When the dust settles, I have to say that I've enjoyed my time in Derry the most so far. Having a couple of roommates to do things with has helped greatly. But I think I collected some good material while I was here. I get the impression the next three weeks are going to go pretty quickly since there seems to be a lot of stuff to do in Belfast and my week in London is going to be a whirlwind tour. I'm probably leaving Derry at a good time though, because even though it's the least expensive place I've been thus far, I've probably spent more time and money on extracurriculars here than any where else along the way. I'm sure next weekend in Belfast might be similar since my buddy Poz is going to be in town, but I have a feeling it's back to my old hermetic routine. I haven't broken the bank yet, so it's probably a good time to do so.

All for now.

Peadar O'Donnell's

2008-07-14T11:48:00.003-05:00

My roommates and I have been frequenting a bar in Derry called Peadar O'Donnell's. They have sessions nightly of traditional Irish music and only last night did I remember to bring my camera and snap a few pictures. These folks sound really good and even do a number of Neil Young songs arranged in a traditional Irish vein. Very cool! Brother Neil keeps the free world rocking for sure. (Side note: when I was in Cork, I was watching the weekly sports recap show on RTE and the music they played over the credits was "Rockin' In The Free World." Is there a connection between Ireland and Neil Young I'm missing? I mean he's from Ontario?!) Anyway, the set up for the session was two fiddles, a guitar, and a multi-instrumentalist who played Uilleann pipes, bouzouki, and a variety of whistles. I tried to get pictures of each.

From left: Rich, Rich's buddy, and Joe (Rich and Joe are two of my roommates. Nice lads.)

The (potential) lies of academic pedigree

2008-07-12T11:50:00.005-05:00

While updating myself on several of the blogs I read regularly I came across a few recent posts about the ever-present issue of the job market for history PhDs. Yes, it sucks. We all know that. What really bothers me is what I consider the cheapening of the PhD degree from certain universities. (See comment #34 here). The author of that comment, on the subject of requirements and expectations for graduate students states:

1. These “minimal intellectual attainments” are falling. Only 15-20 years ago graduate students in my field had to know both French and German. Now you can do it without either. My own institution’s doctoral program is anemic, but colleagues in “healthier” ones lament the decline of their incoming students in terms of preparedness, writing skills, analytical ability, self-confidence, and most other indicators of success common to academia and the more promising fields to which gifted students are increasingly attracted. Compare that with the ever more competitive admissions processes at elite undergraduate institutions and law and medical schools.

I cannot argue with all of these statements, but at the same time I think the situation is vastly over simplified. I look at my own academic career as an example. I am by no means an elite thinker, but I have a pretty good head on my shoulders. I admit that my decision to go to grad school was pretty hasty, but I have busted my ass in school to try to make up for any shortcomings I had when I entered. The comment on foreign language really irks me. I have no problem with the requirement for foreign language knowledge. I know that I had to do a lot of French in a short period of time to get up to snuff. But the original poster's comment lacks context. Not all fields NEED foreign language knowledge. Yes, it may be helpful, but it's not always critical. The prevalence of English as a spoken and written language throughout the world mitigates, in many cases, the need for foreign language simply because so many sources are available for the native English speaker. Furthermore, Americanists generally have less need than say Europeanists. My focus in Irish history tends to push me closer to the Americanist camp simply because the sources that I need to conduct my work are in English. The trend toward easing these sorts of requirements is the result of recognizing this situation for what it is. If I was studying French or German history, it would be ludicrous to undertake either without fluency in each respective tongue.

The idea that there are more schools offering PhDs and granting degrees to students that otherwise wouldn't have them is insulting. Especially when you look at the limited number of openings at elite schools. Sure they can remain in their upper-echelon of the Ivory Tower, but to suggest that people from non-elite schools don't do good, important work is ridiculous. Because that is the impression given by commentators such as the one cited.

Intelligence is only one of many factors that determine which universities one applies and gets accepted to. Remember, applications are voluntary, so some really smart people might opt NOT to go to elite schools even if they could get in. Governing factors such as finances, location, program reputation, and, for undergraduates what one thinks they want to study, all color application choices. Personally, I wanted to teach secondary education when I as applying to undergraduate schools. In Michigan the two best programs for secondary ed were generally considered to be Michigan State and Oakland University. Those were the only schools I applied to. In hindsight, I probably should have applied to University of Michigan as well, but their program for what I wanted to study was not as good, so it made no sense at the time. I opted for Oakland University because it was smaller than MSU - I didn't want to be a face in the crowd and have TAs as instructors - and less expensive. Since I was geared toward secondary ed my history curriculum was slightly different than other history majors, and as a result I probably had fewer upper-level history courses, but the difference was probably only 1 or 2 classes overall and I rocked the upper-level courses I did take, generally getting really high grades from the toughest profs in the department.

When I made the decision to go to grad school, because of time constraints, I only applied to two schools - Loyola and Boston College. I got into Loyola and decided to go there. So my academic pedigree is Oakland University > Loyola University Chicago. Probably not the most impressive. But in reality, I have noticed that where you get your degree matters very little, no matter what people say. At conferences I have been amazed at the quality of work from people at a variety of institutions, including really bad work from people at elite schools, and really good work from people at Loyola type schools. Dr. Robert Bucholz, one of Loyola's faculty members who actually gives a crap about graduate students, has said that he'd put Loyola students in the same ring as elite schools any day. I always thought that was a bit of posturing on his end, until I started putting conferences together and seeing the kind of stuff being done. I would agree with him on that point. I know that I am always impressed with my forerunners at Loyola and how well versed they are in the discipline. As this post suggests, different tiered graduate programs serve different purposes. I think that is a better perspective on the issue raised here.

In the end, I recognize that the prospects of finding a secure/rewarding academic job is unlikely and that my opinion doesn't matter on the subject, because as Tim Lacy pointed out here the system for evaluating programs is inherently flawed. I'm not trying to say that Loyola is a top-tier school. Don't get me wrong. But it is a very good school, and there are a number of other factors (size of school/department, funding, necessity for part-time work, etc.) that contribute to Loyola's, and schools of it's ilk, being branded as "inferior" - a label that is then siphoned off to it's graduates in the academy. Are there some bad eggs at Loyola. Sure there are. But I'm sure people would be surprised at the similarities between our department and that of a top flight school, at least intellectually. In the end, isn't that what really matters? No matter where someone goes for their PhD they're going to bust their asses to finish the degree. At the same time, all the literature and commentary indicates that newly minted PhDs shouldn't expect their efforts to be acknowledged by a tenure-track job. Anyone who enters grad school with the mentality that that is the only acceptable situation for them are setting themselves up to fail. But I would hope that during the course of one's training as an historian (or any humanities field) that (s)he would be able to revise their thinking.

Basically I refuse to be labeled as an inferior historian simply because of where I went to school. In the words of W. Axl Rose - "Don't Damn Me!"

Derry redux

2008-07-12T05:49:00.000-05:00

It's actually looking to be a lovely day outside here in Derry. Actually, the weather here has been pretty good, considering I'm in Ireland. All-in-all things went really well this week. Things seem to have really come together in Derry this week.

I was able to get a good deal of work done. Priority numero uno. So that was good. I spent 3 days at the Harbour museum looking at the War Memorial collection. I think I have over 1k pictures I took with the old digital camera. Needless to say, I'm glad that I bought those extra camera batteries before I left! I spent Thursday and Friday at the Derry Central Library going through newspapers on microfilm. For the most part these were really helpful and had some good stuff in them. At least I hope so. As with everything, I have no idea until I actually go through everything I've collected.

A number of other positives in terms of research this week: I got an email from a gentleman at the British Legion in Belfast about working there. I had sent an email to someone at Legion HQ in London looking for the Legion archive and he passed my info on to this person in Belfast. So I was able to communicate with him and I should be good to go to check out some Legion records in Belfast. Score! The other development also came via email. I had contacted a professor at King's College London who had written his diss and a book on the British Legion. He wrote me back and not only did he say I had an interesting topic, but gave me some leads on Legion sources. He also mentioned that he had a meeting with the general director of the Legion next week, and that he'd mention my project in case there was anything he missed regarding Ireland in the Legion archive. Very cool.

Next week might slow down a bit, much of which is beyond my control. Today, the 12th of July is a holiday in Northern Ireland, so everything is closed. Monday is a Bank Holiday so everything is closed then too. I had planned to spend some more time at the city library but it's also closed on Tuesday because of the holiday and there is strike action planned, effectively closing the library on Wednesday and Thursday. So it looks like the early part of next week will be spent trying to plan my next move. There are two regimental museums that I didn't think I was going to be able to get to, and now, with a little coordination, I should be able to see at least one, if not both. One is the Royal Inniskillen Fusiliers regimental museum in Enniskillen, and the other is the Royal Irish Fusiliers museum in Armagh. I tried calling both places on Friday, but the curator of each respective museum was out of the office. So we'll see about next week. The RIF museum is closed M-W, so hopefully I can get to the Inniskillen's museum on Wed and his the RIF on Thursday. That would be ideal. But we'll see what happens.

In other news, my credit card finally arrived! After three weeks of errors and other bullshit USAA FINALLY came through. As they say, better late than never. So that's one major obstacle overcome. I can rest a bit easier now.

There's a great traditional Irish pub in town that me and the roommates have frequented this week called Peadar O'Donnell's (hence the lack of postings). They have trad sessions every night and the price of a pint is about $5.20, which is about what you'd pay in the states for a good pint anyway. Even though the exchange rate here is worse, the prices are much more favorable, in general. So far Derry has been the hands down best part of the trip so far. I can see how people can get attached to a place like this. I wish I was back home in Derry, indeed!

All for now. Long weekend ahead. Cheers to all four of my readers!

(London) Derry

2008-07-07T18:49:00.002-05:00

I arrived in Derry last night right about on schedule. The bus ride up from Cork was very long. In the States, with our interstates system it would probably take all of 4-5 hours to drive from Cork to Derry. It takes about that long to drive from Chicago to Detroit, even on the Megabus. I tried to read a bit on the bus but the road was so bumpy I started to get a headache. I opted for watching a movie or two instead. The first leg, from Cork to Galway, I did some sudoku and tried to read. The second leg from Galway to Derry I watched Wayne's World and got through most of I Heart Huckabees. My battery died just as we were getting to Derry, so that was alright.

The walk from the bus station to the University was bearable, even while hauling my luggage. The folks at the university security station were nothing but pleasant and helpful. Already Derry was good in my book. I got to my room and it was comparable to the apartment in Cork. The only differences being that there was no tv, no en suite bathroom, and a smaller bed - all things that can be easily dealt with. I was pleased to see that I DID have an internet connection in the room, which is all I really needed anyway. In the words of Nick Monterosso, "hooray for me."

Today I went down to the Harbor Museum and started to go through the War Memorial collection there. It's fairly large and will probably keep my occupied for the remainder of tomorrow and part of Wednesday. I spent the lunch hour wandering around Derry. It reminded me a lot of Quebec City, what with the river below and the hills, etc. Perhaps I'll take some pictures from the city walls this week. Speaking of pictures, I was able to use my digital camera today at the harbor museum, which is always a boon to my pocket book.

On the way home I went to the grocery store. While eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich another fellow moved in. He's from Bristol and goes to Oxford where he studies geography. I can't remember his name for the life of me, but we had a good evening. We went out in Derry, which apparently shuts down at about 5pm. We managed to find a watering hole or two, where we procured sustenance in the form of food and beverage. At one particular place the price of beverages on Mondays was about $3USD, so that was also a boon to my pocket book. Needless to say, I'll probably be there next Monday as well. It was nice to have some good conversation as well.

All in all, Derry is the highlight of the trip thus far.

In other news, it looks like I should be able to get a credit card mailed to me here in Derry after all. Of course, I'll believe it when I see it, but there is hope. They said they'd send it FedEx, so we'll see what comes of this. Apparently the reason I never received the card in Cork was due to a rep error, and they sent another card to Chicago. Brilliant.

All for now, back in a few days probably.

Finishing up in Cork

2008-07-04T18:58:00.002-05:00

Obviously there weren't any updates this week. I can't really say why. All 4 people reading this probably don't care anyway. Not a whole lot happened this week. It was actually pretty productive in terms of research, or I should say I did a lot of research and hope that it turns out to be useful. I think I was pretty fortunate this week. I was researching at the Boole Library at University College Cork, looking at the Grehan estate papers. Major Steven Grehan fought in the First World War and when he came back to Ireland to take over the family estate, he became involved with the British Legion in Ireland. All the available information for the collection said that the British Legion files were closed for 30 years from 1996 to protect the families of those mentioned from any potential embarrassment. I inquired about the collection when I was there and the archivist told me that a few years ago the family went through the collection and blacked out all the names in the papers, and that I could now look at them. So it took me about 2.5 days, but I got through the whole collection. It was nice to feel like a real historian again. I can also add that the UCC archive was a really nice place to work: the staff were nice and the archivist was very friendly and helpful. It's too bad that I'm not researching a subject that is better suited to the available sources here because the archives at UCC and the CCCA are both really nice facilities (even if they close for 1.5 hours for lunch).

Other than archival research I've continued to look at various newspaper sources available online. This morning I had an appointment at the College Archive, which didn't have much useful material for me, but the archivist there was really nice. She recognized my Grateful Dead tye-dye because her husband is apparently a Dead head. Who knew?! The internet access situation here, or should I say lack thereof, has really limited my ability to get work done outside the archives.

In other news, the new credit card USAA was supposed to send me never showed up. Couple that with the fact that I am unable to receive mail where I'm staying in Derry and I'm pretty much SOL. So that sucks. Oh well. Good bye savings! Most of the time they're a great company and I can't say enough good things about them, but in this situation they have failed miserably.

Tomorrow is laundry day and Sunday is the trek up to Derry, which will be an all day affair. The bus leaves Cork at 8:25 and gets in to Derry at 19:15. UGH! Hopefully I'll have an internet connection in Derry, but based on the way things have gone thus far on this trip, I won't count on it until my computer is connected and online. Seeing truly is believing over here.

All for now.

Jackie Lennox's, Christy Moore, and other items from Cork

2008-06-28T17:59:00.004-05:00

The end of the week finished out much better than the start of the week. I guess I can cease whining for a bit now. I was actually able to get some work done and feel as though I was rather productive. Hopefully things will remain on the upswing next week.

Today (Saturday) I had two goals. One was to eat fish and chips and the second was to successfully navigate myself to the evening's Christy Moore show. I've heard that Jackie Lennox's is the best chipper in Cork, so naturally I had to try it. It was about a 15-20 min walk from where I'm staying, but there was an extra 15-20 minutes spent looking for an ATM before I was able to dine. In the States there's an ATM on every corner and in every convenience store. Not here. Apparently that part of convenience hasn't gotten over here yet. Oh well. I got a piece of cod and some curry chips. Both were very delicious. Like Burdock's in Dublin, I had no need to eat for the rest of the day after scarfing the huge amount of food I was served. Since I've been living off of ramen and pasta it was a nice change of pace to have a filling meal. I happily took a picture of the vestiges of my meal. Mmm.... I spent the rest of the afternoon tooling around the city center and managed to finally have a few pints in Cork. I went for a few Murphy's although I generally prefer Guinness, but when in Cork.... I was so full from Lennox's that I had

only had room for 2 pints, that, and my wallet would only acquiese to 2 pints as well. I had about an hour and a half to get to the gig so I figured I'd take my time walking there. I neglected to bring a map with me because I generally knew where to go. I ended up getting lost of course, so it's good that I left myself ample time. Now The Marquee was the venue where Christy was playing. Apparently there is a whole series of shows there this summer. Eric Clapton and Jay-Z already played there and Paul Simon will be there later this week. What I wouldn't give to see Paul Simon again - one of the best live shows you will ever see. Period. Anyway, I got there and they hadn't opened the doors yet. That included to the parking lot. Now there was no where to go and hang out in the area, so why with 90 minutes to showtime they weren't letting cars park, I have no idea. It seemed a bit overkill to me.

Christy came on at 8:15pm and played until about 10pm. It was a really good show. I haven't been to too many concerts recently and this was defintely worth the price of admission. I tried to take some pictures, but I was far enough back that I had to use the digital zoom so they didn't come out too well. C'est la vie. I ended up walking back to the apartment from the venue, which took about 50 minutes and was clear on the other side of the city. But it was a decent night out and the walk wasn't too bad. All-in-all, it was a good day. So things are looking up in Cork: good work getting done, good music, good brew. All for now.

Don't Mess With... Cork?

2008-06-25T16:29:00.002-05:00

Cork is rebel country. The People's Republic of Cork. I gotta get me one of them t-shirts. It should come as no surprise that a large number of men from Cork enlisted in the British Army during the First World War given Cork's role as Ireland's "second city." Furthermore, it is also not surprising that there is little information here on the men who served in the British Army. At least little that I've found so far. The strength of Republicanism in Cork would probably prevent veterans with weak political allegiances from vocalizing their past service for fear of reprisal, especially in the early 1920s.

Oh well. Such is life. I spent two days at the Cork City and County Archive and have about 7 pages worth of typed notes to show for it. None of which is very meaty. I did get an idea for another project based on one of the sources there, but that does me little good for the current undertaking. Instead of wasting more time at the CCCA, I'm moving on and by moving on I mean going back to newspapers. This time I'll head to the Cork County Library because I can get more time on the microfilm readers. It's about a 15-20 minute walk from where I'm staying, so it's probably a little bit closer than the city library. Plus you don't have to pay to use their computers there. What library makes people pay to use their computers? Isn't that the point of the library, to get those basic services for free? (Ok, so libraries serve a much broader and significant purpose, but you know what I mean.)

On the bright side, the weather here in Cork was much improved over yesterday when all it did was rain whenever I set foot outside with 20mph winds to boot. I think tomorrow is going to be crappy too, but I believe things should shape up a bit on Saturday when I go see Christy Moore perform. Now THAT will definitely be a good time.

I've got the remainder of this week to do research here and next week as well. I have a feeling that unless I find a real gold mine next week when I go to the Boole Library, I won't need to come back to Cork in the future - at least for research purposes. It's a shame. It's a nice city. I like it much better than Dublin. I'd rather work here, but the sources, or lack thereof I should say, makes such a proposition unrealistic.

On to another subject: sports. I've never really been a soccer fan. It's been growing on me since the last World Cup, but I can only get into "good" games. Some soccer games are like watching the 1995 New Jersey Devils, and that's just plain painful. Yes they won the Cup, but they set the NHL back 10 years in the process. See, nothing good comes from New Jersey. Anyway, like I mentioned before the European Cup, or Euro 2008, or whatever it's called is going on now. I've watched a handful of games and the number one thing that stick out to me are the announcers. It's no secret that I hate most sports announcers in the States. Outside of Mickey Redmond, I'm hard pressed to find someone I actually like. CBC is good for hockey because the commentators don't talk over the entire game. The same is true of soccer in Europe. The commentators basically tell you who has the ball. That's it. There is NO discussion of players' personal history, trade history, or any other hogwash your typical American commentator spouts off. There are no stupid graphics or sound clips of the player shown simultaneously with the game. No. It's just the game. The commentators respect the audience enough to let them watch in peace. It's a welcome change to the CONSTANT banter of sports commentary in the States. Since I watch a lot of hockey, I can say that the various teams on Versus are atrocious. The same is true of ESPN's coverage of lacrosse - professional and college. Most of that is due to the verbal vomiting of Quint Kessenich. For lax, I understand why they do it - not a lot of people are familiar with the sport and the players. But for those that ARE familiar, it's like running your ears over a cheese grater. Sportscasters pandering to the lowest common denominator gets really old, really quickly.

Cork, Ireland

2008-06-23T16:32:00.002-05:00

So I finally made it to Cork on Sunday. Not much happening here. The ride down was uneventful. I spent most of the time reading "Back To The Front" by Stephen O'Shea. A good read. The scenery driving through Tipperary and Cork was very nice. They're the sort of places you'd imagine retiring to if you wanted to retire in the Irish countryside. The most random thing I saw on the way to Cork was an Aldi. Who knew they had Aldi in Ireland? I didn't. I should have asked the bus driver if he'd pull over so I can get some cheap Ramen noodles (there's no 10 for $1 here, it's about 0.85Euro per pack. Oy!). The place I'm staying is much nicer than UCD. However, there is one key element missing from the residence at UCC. There is no internet access in the apartment. Apparently, they turned off the internet for the summer and have four computers (three of which currently function properly) for everyone staying here to use. Needless to say, it's ridiculously inefficient. I'm trying to see what I can get done about possibly getting something in my room, but I'm not holding my breath.

In terms of research, today was somewhat productive. I went to the City Library and went through some newspapers. They put limits on how long people can use the microfilm readers, which sucks, but they only have two of them so it's somewhat understandable. Regardless, today was a relatively slow day there so I got to use the machines longer than the allotted time. I also spent some time in the morning calling a few places in Northern Ireland to make sure everything was in place for my visits there. There is still more work to be done in that regard, but at least it's a step in the right direction. Tomorrow I'll go to the city and county archive and hopefully get some good stuff done. They're not open Mondays, which is why I didn't go today.

This trip has been very trying in a number of respects already. It's hard to focus when there are so many little things getting in the way and distracting me, all of which are beyond my control. But, one of the main goals of this trip, in addition to collecting materials, obviously, is to learn the lay of the land, so to speak, and I think that aim is certainly being reached for better or for worse. In general, I like Cork a lot better than Dublin. I just wish I had internet access in my room, and not the inconsistent wireless network that randomly pops up. That's about it for the moment. More developments as they happen.

5 Singles for a Rainy Day

2008-06-21T11:56:00.003-05:00

Today was laundry day and since everything (archive-wise) is closed on Saturday there's not much to do today. It's also pouring rain outside. So here are 5 tracks for a rainy day. Since I certainly have my d'ruthers I'll try to keep it to songs you might not know, even if you know the artist.

Christy Moore - "Little Musgrave." Whether solo, or with Irish supergroup Planxty this is a soft, mellow song that has a great melody. A song about infidelity and retribution. Timeless themes, which is evident that the lyrics come from a 17th or 18th century poem (or something along those lines). The story is in the clip. Check it out.

Wake The Dead - "Sugaree." Originally a Hunter-Garcia song, this band plays Dead tunes with Celtic arrangements and instruments. Very cool.

Paul Pena - "Center of Asia." Paul Pena was an amazing individual and songwriter. He wrote the original "Jet Airliner," the song made famous by The Steve Miller Band. Pena was blind and taught himself Tuvan throat-singing. The documentary Ghengis Blues documents his trip to Tuva, where Paul wrote and performed this song.

Eric Clapton - "Over The Rainbow." Sure, I know what you're thinking - the Lunchbox has gone soft. But Clapton does a great version of this classic. I remember seeing him on the Reptile tour at the Palace of Auburn Hills. He finished his set with a blistering "Sunshine For Your Love" then came back for an encore, pulled out a stool, grabbed an acoustic guitar [at least I thought at the time. Looking at the above clip it's actually a hollow body electric, but that's a mere formality], and played this jazzy version of "Over The Rainbow." I was floored. It was pure genius. A version is available on the live album "One More Car, One More Rider."

Pearl Jam - "Thumbing My Way." I'm most familiar with the version from "Live at Benaroyal Hall" but the original is on "Riot Act," which I understand might not be one of their best records. I think it's fine though. Regardless, this is a great song.

So there you have it. By no means a "Top 5" a la High Fidelity, but a good list for what it's worth (not the Buffalo Springfield song, of course).

...and then it hit the fan.

2008-06-20T13:43:00.003-05:00

Wednesday was a bit better at the NLI. I was able to get through more films, I talked to the librarians and they cleared the hogs off the printing machines, and I met Diarmaid Ferriter. He wrote The Transformation of Ireland, a mammoth tome that's basically a survey of twentieth century Ireland through a social and cultural lens rather than the standard political narrative. So I got to speak with him briefly and tell him that I really enjoyed his book. He gave me his email and told me to keep in touch in regards to my project. Very cool. I ended up leaving the NLI about an hour earlier than I planned because I was dying after looking at microfilm for 3 days straight. I came home and went through the Irish Times online to make up for the time lost.

Thursday I spent at the UCD archive, just a short jaunt across campus. The bonus was that I got to sleep in an extra hour. In terms of how the archive is setup and run, it was hands-down the best archive I've been to over here. Unfortunately, they don't have much material that is useful for my project. So I went through what I could, which took up the bulk of the day, and decided I'd work on a gameplan for Friday later in the evening. On my way back I stopped at one of the bookstores on campus to pick up something. This is where things started to go downhill. I knew that two productive days wouldn't come without repercussions, at least with the way this trip is going.

So I get what I want and go to the register to pay. The guy runs my card twice and it's not going through. One of the other folks there says maybe the credit card company (USAA) saw a bunch of charges in Ireland, figured it was stolen, and turned it off. That sounds feasible so I ask them to hold the materials so I can come back and get them once I get credit card this straightened out. I came back to my room and went about trying to contact USAA. The toll-free number they listed on their website for folks calling from Ireland did not work and wasn't toll-free. Since my credit card is my primary form of financial support here, I decided to bit the bullet and use my cell phone. To my surprise, the call won't go through. So I send them an email and get a response a few hours later. Here's what happened: In May I signed up for new card in an effort to upgrade my current credit card. I called USAA before I left and told them I only wanted one card and they said they wanted me to cancel the one I already had and use the new one. I told them that was fine, but I was leaving the country in a few days and if the new one didn't show up in time I'd have no choice but to use the old one. The guy at USAA told me that it'd be fine to use the old one until I started using the new one. Ok. Good. I'm set for Europe. Fast forward to yesterday evening, and I get a response from USAA saying that the old card automatically shuts off 20 days after the new card is sent. This is contradictory to what the representative told me earlier. So now I'm stuck in Ireland without a credit card. It wouldn't be a huge deal if I weren't packing up and moving to Cork on Sunday. That means I have to put an $800 housing charge on my debit card, which is exactly what I'm trying to avoid at present. So most of today was wasted trying to get this situation resolved, which it still is not. This is really aggravating because 1) I'm in Ireland and can't do anything about it, 2) USAA has, in the past, been nothing but an amazing company, and 3) they don't appear willing to help the situation in an amenable way despite the extraordinary circumstances that were explained to them. Needless to say I'm pretty pissed at the moment. If it's not one thing on this trip it's another. As my Dad said in an email, it's two-steps forward and one-step back on this trip. Well that's exactly the kind of bullshit I don't need. I've got little time here, it's expensive as hell, and I can't afford (in more ways than one) these types of setbacks. Ireland seems to hate me at the moment and that just plain sucks.

Learning to Deal, or Tales from the National Library of Ireland

2008-06-17T15:34:00.003-05:00

When I first arrived in Dublin the first place I went to get a reader's card was the National Library. They have the best newspaper collection in the Republic, if not the whole island so I knew I'd have to spend at least a few days there. They issued me a temporary reader's card, which, although it wouldn't allow me to access the manuscripts, should do the trick. I found out today that wasn't the case. I tried to request some books and the gentleman behind the desk told me had to see my reader's ticket. When I produced the temporary ticket I was issued he informed me that the books I requested were deemed rare and thus could only be accessed by someone with a permanent readers ticket (this is the one that you need to bring 2 passport size photos for - completely ridiculous). Since I only planned to be there the duration of today and tomorrow I didn't think it was worth it to get the full readers ticket because I didn't know how long it was good for, when, or if I'd be back, how much the photos cost, etc., since I had a lot of newspapers to go through anyway. The librarian was very friendly and I could tell he empathized with my position, but I've come to the conclusion that Irish archives in general are behind the times, especially with what I've heard about the British National Archive and some places on the Continent and in the States. The whole scam of "licensing" in regard to making copies of newspapers is aggravating, especially when I could just snap a digital photo, get a better quality reproduction (still within my licensed limit of one copy per document) and get through the materials faster. No wonder it takes people forever to finish this degree. [Note: The British Library has similar policies, but it's more expensive because of the dollar:pound conversion, but they have an even better collection than the NLI. I just can't win!] I plan to go back to the National Library tomorrow before spending two days at the UCD archive just down the sidewalk from my place of residence. I think I'll be glad to get out of Dublin. I love the country, but Dublin is not for me.

That said, today's work was a combination of aggravation and productivity. For about 2-3 hours during the middle of the day there were three people using the Microfilm Printing machines that would not relinquish them. Let me explain to clarify. The NLI has two rooms filled with microfilm readers. Most of the readers simply allow you to view the microfilm and don't have printing capabilities. There are three machines that can print. Now, the policy - that is not at all enforced even though the printing machines are visible from the librarian's desk - is that patrons are to use the non-printing machines to view their films and then use the printing machines when they need to print. This is actually a good policy because then the printing machines are continually free and no one is just sitting at the same printing machine all day. Everyone gets an opportunity to print when they need to. Of course, it doesn't work like this. There were three gentlemen, and I use that term loosely as the policy is clearly posted, sat the the printing machines all afternoon. I finally just gave up and took notes on what I wanted to print and tomorrow I'll recall the reels and print them out. What a pain in the ass though. People can be so rude.

Also, the National Library is one of the largest (in terms of collection) and most important research institutions in Ireland, but they seem to be unawares that people might want to do large scale research there. The printing card for the microfilm machines come with either 2 or 4 copies on them (costing 1 or 2 Euro, respectively) and they have no way to sell bulk copy cards. One has to go down to the book store and buy multiple 1Euro cards, unless you have a healthy supply of 2Euro coins to put in the card machine upstairs. For example, if you want 40 copies, like I did today, you have to go to the book store and buy 20 cards for 1 Euro each that hold 2 copies per card. Ridiculous.

Can you tell I'm less than thrilled with the National Library of Ireland? To their credit though, the staff there is nothing but great. I think their directors need to rethink some of their policies though. I mean Jesus Christ. I'd rather use my digital camera and pay the library for each picture I take - that way they still get their 50cents per copy and I get work done faster. The money is only part of the problem. Time and copy quality are even more significant for me at this point.

Did I mention that when I got off the bus to come home it started to rain. Naturally, it stopped by the time I got to my apartment. Thanks Ireland. You made my day today.

On the bright side, since I had time to go through some more papers today with the printing machines being hogged, I found some decent material. And by the end of the day (9 hours total) when the printing machines were free I was able to print some stuff out. Needless to say, I'll be glad at the end of the day tomorrow when I'm done at the NLI for this trip. Chalk this one up to a learning experience.

Ironically, I'm finding that the Irish Times is probably the best source for news anywhere in Ireland and it's completely digital and searchable. I think if you have an Irish IP address you can access their archival content free. It might be worth the price to subscribe to their digital archive once I get back to the States though. Thanks to the Irish Times archive I'm finding a lot of information about veterans activities post-WWI. I can conceivably see this project shifting the emphasis of memory to the wings and focusing more on the British ex-servicemen. I'd want to have some stuff, probably a chapter or two on commemoration and memory, unless I can convincingly put a memory spin the material on veterans. Of course that's all to be seen once I get home and actually go through all this material I'm collecting.

A final note: I found out yesterday that I received a Summer Research Grant from Loyola. The money will be a made help in offsetting the cost of this trip which is all coming out of my savings. I'll have to take a few days this fall when I get home to dedicate to looking for grants to help fund me next year once my fellowship is up in '09.

Futbol, not football (Otherwise known as soccer)

2008-06-15T03:17:00.003-05:00

This weekend I decided to take it easy. The National Library was only open from 9:30-1pm, so I figured by the time I got there an got settled it'd be time for me to go anyway. Tomorrow will bring a full day there regardless. So I went into the city to knock a few things off of my To Do list. Namely, I went to Leo Burdock's Fish & Chips. I got a huge piece of fish and fries. It was amazing and was the first filling meal I've had in a week. Living off Peanut Butter & Jelly gets a bit old. (Even the Ramen noodles here are a rip off - almost $2US for a single package! Are you kidding me? $2 will get 20 in the States!!! But I digress.) Having gone to the city with my Finnish roommate, she wanted to get a pint after the Fish & Chips since Burdocks is a take-out only place. So we walked around Grafton St. and got a pint. Then we found our way to what is the closest thing to a sports bar in Dublin (I would assume) to watch the European Cup or whatever the current soccer (futbol, not football) tournament is called. Sweden was playing Spain and it was actually a pretty entertaining game. We had gone to watch The Netherlands vs. France on Friday evening and that game wasn't very exciting. But it was definitely an experience to watch soccer at a crowded bar in Europe. The people here really love their football. By the time the game was over we had spent enough time in the city and headed back to UCD. I spent the remainder of the evening looking through the Irish Times online archive and found some useful articles. So the day wasn't a complete academic waste!

Sunday looks like it will be pretty lazy. No real plans for the day, just taking it easy. We'll see.

Week 1 in the books

2008-06-13T12:09:00.002-05:00

The last couple of days have been pretty productive. I think I've got some good material, but only time will tell if my time in Dublin has been worthwhile. Mine is a difficult topic to get at, so hopefully some of my tangential approaches will pay off. That's to be seen though.

Thursday morning I went back to the National Archive and took some pictures in the morning. By the time I had finished that and gone through a few more files it was time for me to go. I had an appointment at the Guinness Storehouse at 1pm. I walked over to Guinness where I had a huge amount of files to go through. Most of them pertained to the actual war years with very little discussing the long-term effects of the war or the company's attitude toward it. There was, however, some very good material on the creation of the company's Roll of Honour, which I'm sure I will be able to use.

Earlier in the week I went to the grocery store and bought some granola bars to serve as a lunch substitute. Of course, I forgot to bring any on Thursday. Needless to say I was exhausted by the time I was done at Guinness (probably 4:30-4:45). Since it was still kind of early I decided it would be prudent to go to the main bus station to get a bus ticket for Cork next week. So I walked to the main bus station from Guinness, which is clear on the other side of the city. When I got to the bus station the person at the ticket window tickets had to be bought the day of your trip. Poop and pee. Then I walked from the main bus station to my bus stop, which was probably another 15-20 minutes.

Today was much simpler. I made sure to pack a granola bar and went to the National Archive. I think I've looked at pretty much everything I need to see there, at least for the time being. The National Library is open tomorrow, but I'm not sure if I'm going to go there or not. I need to go through some of my materials and see how things stand. Perhaps I'll do a half day and allow myself to sleep in a bit. Regardless, I'll probably be there on Monday.

I'm not really sure what I'll do this weekend otherwise. I'm sure I can find some cost-effective entertainment. I was talking to a couple of the guys who work at the desk at the National Archive today and they were saying how expensive Dublin is, and that I might even be able to afford a pint when I go to Cork. Let's hope so!

Train kept a rollin'

2008-06-11T17:52:00.002-05:00

Not a whole lot to report today. Another productive day at the archive. I was able to finish photographing everything I needed from the first box of ex-servicemen records. I'll try to move on to the second box tomorrow. Tomorrow I'll actually be splitting time between the National Archive and the Guinness Archive. I had an email when I got home from the Guinness archivist stating that they wouldn't be open at 9:30am as previously communicated, but tomorrow would open at 1pm. That kind of messes up my plan, but oh well. I'm sure I'll manage. I was able to look at some Taoiseach files, some of which might be of use and I'll plan to photograph them tomorrow. That way, in the very least, I'll get most, if not all of the small files out of the way, and can concentrate on the big boxes of ex-servicemen records. For not having very much on WWI, the National Archive has proved to be a worthwhile stop for me, at least it seems that way at the moment. I think I was told there are something around 12-13 boxes of the ex-servicemen records, which I doubt I'll get through on this trip. One of the archivists also told me they have a collection of WWI ex-servicemen's wills, but like the Defense Forces archive, they were temporarily unavailable. Apparently they plan to put them on CD and make them available to people. That would be a cost effective alternative than a return trip. So I'll keep my eyes out for those. All-in-all, it was a good day. Going through archives makes one feel more like an historian than going through newspapers on microfilm, which is more of a needle-in-a-haystack way of doing history. Someday, decades from now, everything will be fully digitized and searchable, until then we have microfilm apparently.

After the archives I decided to lay low for the evening. Now extra work tonight. I watched "The Commitments" which I brought with me - always a good flick. I also spent a good part of the evening talking with Carlo, my roommate from Italy. Interesting guy. I got an email from Katie, my fiancee, this morning that really made my day a few times over. She said that she went running with the dog, and when he stopped to relieve himself, instead of doing that he simply plopped down on the ground. The thought of this, and the look I know was on his face, made me laugh to myself a few times today. Oh Buca. I'm also trying to find a convenient time to go to Burdock's Fish & Chips. I was going to go tomorrow, but the time change at Guinness threw my timetables off. Perhaps I will go this weekend with Carlo. All for now. More tomorrow?

A good research day

2008-06-10T14:44:00.002-05:00

Today I went back to the National Archive of Ireland. I got there right as it opened and had a pretty productive day. I talked with the archivist a bit when I first got there to try to orient myself. She was really helpful while at the same time admitting that there was probably very little there of direct relevance to my dissertation. This is a common thing, and I'm becoming used to this as an initial response. Upon doing some digging, I think that there will be at least 3-4 sources that will be very useful, but that is still to be determined. What probably saved me was a purchase I made at the National Museum on Sunday, a book by Brian Hanley called A Guide To Irish Military Heritage. I had been informed of the existence of the book before I left, but was fortunate to find it when I did. The files I was hoping would pan out - the Bureau of Military History - will probably have scant relevance for my diss, but one of the sources suggested in Hanley's book proved quite useful and interesting today. There was a committee put together in 1927-1928 to determine the grievances of British ex-servicemen in Ireland; it was called the Committee on Claims of British Ex-servicemen. The files give a good picture of the types of problems many former British soldiers experienced in post-Independence Ireland as well as what efforts the British Legion took to try to help these men. Since my focus is on the memory of the Great War in Ireland I began to think about how relevant these sources were. It seems to me that to read the position of ex-servicement as a "site" (a la Pierre Nora, not necessarily a physical site, but one that provides a common understanding for a group) of memory/remembrance would be one way to make use of these sources. In essence, the status of veterans constitutes an access point into assessing the legacy of the war in Ireland. Even better, the National Archive allows limited use of digital cameras and I was able to photograph 3 full jackets of files in the allotted half hour. Hopefully tomorrow will be just as productive. I believe there is a different archivist on duty tomorrow, so perhaps I can talk them into letting me use the camera all day. That would make things go faster and allow me to get more done. The federal government also kept records of the British Legion's annual request to use the city's parks for their Remembrance Day ceremonies. These files contain some interesting pieces of information as well. Hopefully I'll be able to get that stuff photographed this week as well. Toward the end of the day, I was looking for more stuff and found some references for the Connaught Rangers that may be helpful. Tomorrow I'll look at the rest of the list (I only got through "C") and perhaps some more stuff will turn up. All-in-all it was a productive day. I felt like a real historian today. Today's investigations have provoked more questions that I may or may not find answers to. We'll see.

On a separate note, I need to say that I hate phones. I bought a calling card that supposedly allows me to call the States from Ireland. Since the apartment I'm staying in lacks a landline phone, I've had to try to use it on pay phones. It has not worked yet. This annoys me. I think it might be the pay phone and if I had a regular land line it would be fine, but this is an unanticipated headache.

New York Blackout: Dublin Style

2008-06-08T14:48:00.004-05:00

Saturday and Sunday were a busy couple of days. I got up on time Saturday, no thanks to my alarm clock, and got to the Dublin City Archive about 15 minutes after it opened. Not bad. I continued going through their online newspaper collections, but that hit a snag when I lost the use of my email. I forgot that Loyola was doing maintenance to their servers on Saturday, and so the process of emailing files to myself came to a halt for the day since I couldn't access email. Once I realized what happened, I spent some time going through city council minute books. There really wasn't much there and I was hoping for more. Oh well. By the end of the day I had begun to go through some newspapers on microfilm. On Monday, I'll finishing emailing myself the documents I have left and hit the microfilm hard. Luckily the library is open until 8pm during the week so I should be able to get a good deal done. We'll see. The whole process is over-whelming because I have so much to see, so little time, copies are so expensive, and the use of my digital camera is prohibited.

When I finally got home from the archive I started going through the Irish Times website on my laptop. Now having American appliances in Europe can be a challenge. Most expensive items have power come with power converters (the box on the cable). I bought a separate converter for the trip as well, and have a number of different plug adapters that do not convert current. So because of all this, I have a Ireland:UK adapter followed by a UK:US adapter, which I plug my laptop into. The plug on my laptop is a little loose so for added stability, I removed the UK:US adapter and plugged my UK:US converter into the IE/UK adapter. Sound confusing?
It is. I figure that the two converters back to back shouldn't be a problem, right? Wrong. After a while I heard a big pop and the lights go out. My converter had blown. Fortunately, the fuse in the IE:UK adapter didn't blow (that happened on Friday to my first adapter. The second one is much higher quality), but the surge completely knocked out the power in the entire apartment. This was probably around 7-8pm. We try to flip the circuit breakers and nothing happens. After several trips to reception and an offer to switch apartments, we all decide to stay the night without power. Everyone I'm sharing with is here for at least two weeks and had no interest in packing in the dark. Reception said they'd have someone come out and fix the power today (Sunday). In the meantime, the lack of power provided everyone an opportunity to talk and we did so until the wee hours of the morning.

apartment. The proposed solution didn't work. So I decided to go be a tourist for a bit instead of sitting around all day waiting for a fix. I got onCome Sunday morning, the folks from reception come and fidget with the buttons in the the bus and went downtown. I planned to buy an alarm clock - the time delay issue was related to current variations, my engineer roommate speculated - which I did. Then I set out down the River Liffey (picture above) to the National Museum of Ireland. There was an exhibit about Irish militarism I wanted to see. The exhibit was interesting and had some displays I could probably use for my diss. I bought some books at the museum bookstore as well as the official literature on the Soldier Chiefs exhibit. From the national museum I set out for the Irish National War Memorial at Islandbridge.

After a 15-20 minute walk I finally arrived at the park. It consists of a number of open spaces, a few sports pitches, and the main memorial area. The center of the memorial area had a large stone monument with two poppy wreathes laid on it. To the east and west of the main area were fountains and additional stone work that led into a memorial garden at each end. Straight ahead was the main cenotaph. The stone work on the wall behind the cenotaph bore an inscription dedicating the memorial to those who died in the war. I've included pictures of the center monument with the cenotaph in the back ground as well as an image of the western memorial garden. The park in general was very relaxing and pleasant, quite the antithesis of the conflict it commemorates. I'm sure that was the idea. It was nice to see that there were a fair number of people using the park. I'm sure it would be an even greater destination for families and other events if it were more centrally located.

When I left the park I made my way back through Dublin. I went past Kilmainhaim Jail, where the '16 rebels were shot, but I didn't go in or take any pictures. I made my way past the Guinness Storehouse on the way across town to the bus stop. It wasn't too long before a bus came and I was back to UCD. Upon entering the apartment I tried the light switch and the power had, in fact, not been restored. My walking for the day was not done yet. Poop. I went down to reception and was given a key for a new apartment. Fortunately, it was in the same building on the ground floor so it wasn't a laborious move. I got myself re-settled in the new place and had some dinner consisting of Peanut Butter & Jelly - my first food since breakfast - and some carrots. All things considered it was a busy day, but I got a lot done and saw a lot of the city. The sore knees and ankles are a small price to pay in the end. Tomorrow I'll head back to the Dublin City Archive, and perhaps try to persuade them to let me use my camera. We'll see. More to come.

Getting a foothold in Dublin

2008-06-06T17:46:00.004-05:00

After a five year sabbatical, I'm finally back in Ireland. I got in yesterday and was completely wiped out. I only slept for an hour or two on the plane. So what did I do? I went to UCD to check in to my room. I think I arrived around 9am. It might have been earlier, since my flight got in early and that was at 7:35am. Naturally, check-in wasn't until 3pm. So I dropped off some of my stuff at reception and figured I'd go get my readers tickets from the three major archives I'd be using in Dublin.

First I went to the National Library. It's a really nice building, right next to Leinster house on Kildare Street. So I went there and poked around a bit. I found out that if I want to look at the manuscripts collection I'd need a passport photo because they make a real-deal badge for you. I had kicked around looking at some of their manuscripts, but honestly, I hadn't hoped to find much there. I might still go back and do so, but we'll see what I have time to do. I'm more interested in their newspaper collection anyway.

Next, I went to the Dublin City Library and Archives; probably a 5-10 minute walk from the National Library. The folks there were very friendly and I talked at length with one of their archivists, Andrew O'Brien, who is interested in the First World War in Ireland. He gave me some good ideas for places to look. I also saw they had access to a number of Irish newspapers online, which is very helpful, especially for the larger-run, national papers.

So after spending sometime at the city library, I went off to find the National Archive. Street signs in Ireland are few and far between, and many streets change names in the course of a block or two. Needless to say I probably didn't take the most direct route to the National Archives. I got my readers ticket there and looked through some of their finding aids briefly, but I was really too tired to do any real work. I figured I'd leave it for another day.

Then I set off to find my way back to UCD. I wandered through one of the trendier parts of town and found a restaurant to grab a bite to eat. This was probably about 2pm local time and I hadn't eaten since breakfast on the plan. I scarfed some fish and chips and then went to find a bus to take me back to UCD. The problem with streets signs reared it's ugly head again. This, however, was exacerbated by the lack of route maps for the buses. Everything in Ireland seems to be intuitive and if you're not familiar with the system it takes a bit of trying, luck, and common sense to get it down. Since I wasn't sure what route the bus took to UCD I set off to find out. Needless to say, I walked most of the way to UCD before finding a bus. The college is about 2.5miles south of the city. By the time I found a bus (or did the bus find me?) and got back to the reception it was past three and acceptable to check-in. After unpacking a bit, and trying to get the internet to work, which was a trying ordeal (iChat and Mail still don't work, neither will Skype - this is some kind of hackneyed network here) and fruitless at the time, I went out to get a bite to eat. This was probably around 5:15pm. So I go to what is apparently the closest bar for a pint and some food. It's not the best place, but it's the best place around. I go there, and order a Smithwickes, and drain a glass for the World Champion Detroit Red Wings. The bartender informs me that food isn't served until 6pm. Poop and pee. Since it was a bit past 5:30 at that point I decided to wait it out. I got another pint and some food before going back to UCD (the exchange rate is killing me here - almost $7US for a pint!). I mill around for a bit before falling asleep. I get up, shower, and fall right back asleep.

This morning, I got up and the clock said 7:35am, or thereabouts. In fact, the time was 10:30ish and I had intended to wake up at 8:30 to be back to the Dublin City Archive by 10. I have no idea how a clock can loose 3 hours over night. Perhaps it was jet-lagged too? I got to the archive about 11:15am and spent the day going through the online newspapers. When I went to plug in the power adapter (not the converter, mind you, just the adapter) I was greeted with a pop and a green spark. Now aside from the fact that green is my favorite color, nothing good came of the spark. The adapter has a fuse, which clearly had blown, and was rendered useless. Hooray for me. So I spent the next 6 hours traversing Irish periodicals of yore. At closing time I inquired about a hardware store to get a new fuse, and there happened to be one just down the street. At the hardware store, the guy told me he didn't have any, but informed me of a place up in Parnell Square that could help me out. Having a vague recollection of where Parnell Square was, I set out to find the store. Once I got to O'Connell Street I couldn't find the store I was told to use as a landmark (Penney's) until I had already given up and gotten on a no. 10 bus back home. Naturally, I had gone much further than I needed to go to find the store. Upon my return to UCD, I deemed it necessary to procure some groceries because based on the accounting of the previous days two meals, I couldn't even afford those. I inquired about a real grocery store, since they always referred me to the little stop-and-shop here on campus. I told them I wanted a big grocery store, one that their parents would go to. They kindly gave me directions to Tescos where I was able to procure milk, cereal, PB&J fixin's, cutlery, plates, a bowl, and some decent TP. About $35 worth of food should be enough to feed me for a 3-5 days at least. Victory for me. I might head back there Saturday or Sunday to procure some beer and quesadilla fixin's. Now that's diverse cuisine! After meeting one of my suitemates, who was kind enough to help me get my internet configured - nice folks the Austrians, I spent the rest of the evening in my room going through the Irish Times' website, which helped ease the defeat felt this morning because of the alarm issues.

Salary for Mom

2008-06-03T23:51:00.002-05:00

An interesting article on CNN about the would-be salary of stay-at-home mom's was very interesting. The concept behind the article and the study it's based on, monetizing and placing value on the work women do in their own homes, is not foreign to me. In courses that focus on women and gender (one of my advisers specializes in this area) the meaning and impact of moving women from the workplace is not uncommon. Joanna Bourke's Husbandry to Housewifery: Women, Economic Change, and Housework in Ireland, 1890-1914 directly focuses on this topic in an Irish context, yet Bourke's findings can be applied to other places as well. All of this begs the question of what do we make of these findings? If you ask the average parent, it's unlikely they would be surprised by the study. But what, if any thing, can be done to actually compensate parents for their time spent tending to their families? At the crux of my thinking about this issue is class. Bourke's work looks at what would be best classified as middle class (which for 19th Century Irish society was much different from what we think of as middle class today). I can't help but think that if there were some sort of renumeration for stay-at-home parents that as a society, we would see an improvement in America. I recently watched the Michael Moore film, "Sicko" and while I am by no means a supporter of Mr. Moore and the way he presents his views, some of the facts he presents are indisputable. While presenting information about France's health care system, Moore reveals that the government pays individuals to help out mothers with infants at home. It seems to me, perhaps indirectly, that the French government emphasizes the value of parenting. By having individuals help new mothers, the new mothers are able to be even more productive, and the domestic service industry, under the control of the government becomes more standardized and regulated. Of course, these are ideals, but still interesting concepts to think about. Nothing like this would ever fly in America because of our vast fear of "socialism," but it certainly seems like a step in the right direction to me in acknowledging the importance and value of stay-at-home parents.

Updates...

2008-05-27T19:25:00.002-05:00

Memorial Day weekend was a good one. Syracuse men's lacrosse won their 10th national championship and the Detroit Red Wings went up 2-0 in the Stanley Cup Finals complete with 2 shut out from Chris Osgood. From a sports point of view, it was a weekend for the history books.

In other news, I've got about a week until I depart for Ireland. I've got a ton of work to do while I'm there and I'm a little bit intimidated about the entire endeavor. It's safe to say that with all the preparation graduate school provides, it's difficult for an American university to prepare their students for European research (at least at my school that's the case). With the Euro and the Pound Sterling killing my savings account and little to no funding from other sources, it's fair to say I'm nervous. Hopefully, I'll be able to get some good pictures in my moments of free time over there and post them here.

Bring on Lord Stanley!

2008-05-20T00:42:00.004-05:00

The Wings are back in the Stanley Cup finals! As one of about 10,384 who actually cares about the sport of hockey, I am pumped. The entire playoffs have been awesome this year and a Wings/Pens final should be a real show stopper. I think it's safe to say that Chris Osgood has solidified himself as a clutch goaltender and has proved he's a no. 1 guy in Detroit. Good man, Ozzie! Here's to another Stanley Cup in the Motor City!

Also, Syracuse men's lacrosse is back in the Final Four this upcoming weekend. They face Virginia in the semifinals - a team they lost to by one goal in overtime earlier this year. Hopefully the Orange can avenge their loss earlier in the season.

Officially ABD

2008-05-13T14:57:00.002-05:00

Today I finally got an opportunity to defend my dissertation proposal. Unsurprisingly, I got a lot of good feedback from my advisers, and I have a better idea of how to structure my research and dissertation. The most pertinent suggestion was to limit the number of areas in my analysis. I had planned to hit as many cities in Ireland as possible to get a broad spectrum of evidence. My committee suggested choosing two or three cities in addition to Belfast and Dublin to conduct research. The most logical choices seem to be Cork and Derry based on a number of factors - presence of a local press and archives, recruitment levels during the First World War, and ease of access. Cork itself is interesting, especially in the late 10s and early 20s because it was a hotbed of Republican activity - a fact that may yield some interesting research findings. Now I've got three weeks to figure out my research agenda for my 9 weeks overseas. It is abundantly clear to me at this point, that this trip will be the first of several to Ireland. Although I can't afford to stay abroad for a long period of time, this trip will at least get me familiar with the archives and sources and help me to better plan future research in a more efficient manner.

Techno-aggravation

2008-05-08T22:39:00.003-05:00

Last Friday my laptop died. Apparently the logic board on my iBook G4 went kaput. I took my machine into the Apple Store on Michigan Ave. The tech diagnosed the demise of the logic board and sent off the machine to get repaired. I tried to back-up some of my files before he took the machine, but I was having trouble with my external hard drive and the transfer would take too long, according to the tech, and I couldn't sit there all day. He assured me that the hard drive wouldn't be replaced so I relented. BIG MISTAKE. I got my iBook back today and they replaced the hard drive. Not only did they replace it, they failed to archive my old drive or provide me with the actual drive they swapped out (one would think that would be normal, like the auto industry. What are they going to do with my old hard drive?). The long short of it is that I lost four years worth of archived emails. Most pertinent, were items pertaining to my upcoming European research venture. I went up to campus today and talked to someone in IT. They said they'd try to recover some of my emails. I'm hopeful, but prepared for the worst. The moral of the story: make sure you back up. Ok, I already knew that. But if you find yourself in a similar situation, DO NOT let some tech pressure you into hurrying with your files. Take every precaution, examine the paperwork carefully, and make sure the repair people will archive your files if you cannot. I'm really angry at the folks at the Apple Store (although I retain my love for Apple in general), but I'm angry at myself for letting them pressure me into doing something that I didn't feel right about from the get go.

Continued decline a sign of the times?

2008-04-27T19:07:00.005-05:00

An article in today's Chicago Tribune stuck out to me. In the past three years over 1000 pubs have closed in rural Ireland. It seems somewhat ironic that one of the elements stereotypically associated with Irish culture, the pub, is seemingly endangered. Notice the emphasis on closings is in rural Ireland. Urban pubs cater to a different audience and it's the local pub that has been central to communal culture in Ireland. That's what makes this revelation such a shock to Irish culture. While pub culture probably will never completely subside, much like native Gaelic-speakers, part of the charm and ambiance associated with what it means to be Irish looks to be another victim of an ever-changing world. Of course, these issues are nothing new, what with the Celtic Tiger economy in the late 90s and early 00s. But it's interesting to see that as the bubble of the Celtic Tiger begins to burst in Ireland there are corollary effects on popular culture.

A Tarnished Memory

2008-04-06T10:08:00.004-05:00

The First World War remains one of the most important events in European history. Recent events in France help illustrate this. In a despicable act, vandals desecrated the graves of Muslim soldiers who died fighting in the French army. This act suggests at least two things to me. The memory of WWI continues to be active in France, and it can be used to draw attention to contemporary issues, even if they're heinous. The other thing this story describes is the state's role in protecting the memory of the war. The vandalism, therefore, is not just a hate crime, which is bad enough, it is an affront to the nation writ large. The memory of historical events is woven into the fabric of a nation-state's historical narrative. Various hot-button topic often constitute some of the most salient memory terrain. It's also important to remember that the big events only constitute part of a society's memory spectrum. In Ireland, the memory of the Great Famine, the Easter Rising, the Black and Tans, and the Troubles in the North are some of the major elements of Irish collective memory. But just as important as these memories are, other major events have their own memory legacy, such as the Great War. France is not the only nation that has had subversives make political or other statements through the prism of the Great War, and it certainly won't be the last. How this has been done in the past and what it means in and to that society remain questions that need to be answered.

Dissertation Research Planning

2008-04-02T09:29:00.002-05:00

I'm currently in the process of planning my dissertation research for the summer. It looks like I'll be in Ireland for eight weeks and England for one. Despite the weak dollar against the Euro, I'm pretty pumped to get overseas and start doing some real research. I'll be traversing most of the island of Ireland during my trip and I will try to take plenty of pictures and post them here, assuming I can figure out how to do that. All for now.

Friday miscellaney

2008-03-14T07:58:00.002-05:00

You have to love the occasional odd-ball news story. Granted, this won't make it onto Law and Order, but at least the beekeeper got some restitution for the un"bear"able crime of having his honey repeatedly stolen.

Just in time for St. Patty's

2008-03-12T10:14:00.002-05:00

The front page story on the Irish Indo's site today stated that Ireland is implementing a new, lower legal limit for blood alcohol content for Irish drivers. As an American reading the story it seemed very timely, what with St. Patrick's day celebrations looming on the horizon this weekend and the city of Chicago preparing to dye the river green. This legislation is a subtle reminder that not all Irish folks are falling-over drunks. Granted those Irish that do drink consume more than the average American per sitting, but that doesn't mean they are all drunks. St. Patrick's day as a holiday is really an American invention. In Ireland, up until recently, it was always a solemn occasion that included a trip to Church. In America, we put green dye in already terrible American macro-brewed beer and claim to be Irish, if not for a few hours. Who, then, is more responsible? The Irish who are taking proactive measures to increase responsibility and accountability for people who drink in their country, or Americans (generally aged 18-30) that view St. Patrick's day as a time to get black-out drunk for the sake of "being Irish." The disconnect between Ireland and Irish-America is shocking at times. Unfortunately, without more Irish historians in America to dispel these myths, change is not on the horizon, unlike that pint of green beer this weekend....

The political use of WWI memory: An American case

2008-03-07T22:29:00.003-06:00

Granted, one of my minor fields is American history, but I'll be the first to tell you that I find the subject dour and boring. Nevertheless, when I came across this article on CNN I had to pause for moment. It discusses the recent honoring of the last American WWI vet. As someone who studies the First World War and it's memory, I find this blatant use of the memory of the war for political ends to be deplorable. The entire gist of my dissertation is to challenge this sort of official, top-down politicization of WWI memory in Ireland. The most interesting aspect of this article, at least for me, was the desire of others outside the bounds of the government to have a proper memorial to the veterans of the First World War in the national mall. I'm not suggesting the Mr. Buckles should not be or is unworthy of being honored. That's not the case as at all. Furthermore, I think it's great that his story garners national attention. It's just the timing of the event I have a problem with. In the midst of an election year, where the Iraq war is a hot topic. To truly honor Mr. Buckles, the government should have honored him this past November. After all, in America Veteran's Day is on the 11th of November, which is Remembrance Day in Britain and Ireland, a day which derives its importance from the end of the First World War.

Another one bites the dust

2008-03-04T23:52:00.004-06:00

A week or so ago, I made a quick observation about Ian Paisley, Jr. resigning his position in the Northern Irish government. This week his father, Ian Paisley, Sr., announced that he will step down in May of 2008. This begs the question: What's next for Northern Ireland?

Paisley, Sr. made it clear (taking a jab the hierarchical Catholic Church in the process, no doubt) that when he steps down from the NI government, it will be a clean break. The fact that his son resigned last week ensures that there will not be a "chosen successor" to run the DUP.

As I ruminated before, the situation in Northern Ireland has the potential to make some giant steps forward without the Paisley's calling the shots. Hopefully, their fellow party members will be a bit more tactful and amenable in the way they handle power-sharing in Northern Ireland. Let's hope that that power-sharing continues!

When to say "when"

2008-03-04T13:18:00.002-06:00

Renowned Irish poet Seamus Heaney has a bone to pick. Currently, there is a proposal to build a new highway through one of Ireland's most important historical areas. The continued evolution of Ireland's economy and the need for greater access via automobile are the culprits of this cultural outrage for Heaney. I can't say that I blame him. This semester I'm TAing for an International Studies 101 course. The bulk of the material thus far has focused on the issue of globalization and positives and negatives associated with it. Economically, globalization tends to be a boon for most countries that can harness it. Socially and culturally, the outcome is much more mixed. As Mr. Heaney suggests, the development of the Irish economy is being done at the expense of Irish heritage. These are the sort of subtle attacks globalization makes on culture that make one group simply shrug while others throw up their arms in frustration. If the Irish government were smart, they would re-route the proposed road, but hire some historians to generate road markers along that stretch of road. Incorporating a few stopping points along with some historical information the Irish would be able to preserve and even promote their culture at the same time that they move forward in the global economy. There are plenty of roads in the States like this. I can recall driving through the Rocky Mountains coming home from Aspen a few summers ago, and in addition to the beautiful views, there were places to pull off, take pictures, and read information about the area. It seems like a minimal investment to protect the culture that makes Ireland such a wonderful place to begin with.

Branding National Identity

2008-02-29T10:38:00.002-06:00

Despite the onset of globalization, nationalism remains one of the central ideas in European history. It seems, however, that the identity of those within the nation-state increasingly has less to political and economic boundaries and more with cultural boundaries. This story illustrates some of the unique ways that various peoples are trying to maintain their national identity. Scotland is attempting to place restrictions on what can be considered a Scottish kilt. Some of the motivations behind the proposal are surely economic, and this is probably an example of a non-tariff barrier of sorts. Nevertheless, the underlying problem is the way that faux kilts reflect on the real thing and the amount of pride vested in this cultural practice. As the story says, kilts as we now think of them came into being in the 18th century, and in fact, is an "invented tradition" in its own right. Hugh Trevor-Roper contributed a chapter on the invention of the modern kilt in Hobsbawm and Ranger's edited collection "The Invention of Tradition," a book that has been influential in the way people think about constructed nationalism.

"Once" in a lifetime moment

2008-02-27T11:39:00.002-06:00

I've been meaning to make a quick comment on the Irish at the Oscars, but only had the time now. I, for one, was pleased to see a number of Irish nominees in various categories. The highlight for me was the performance and win for best original song from the film "Once." For those not in the know, Glen Hansard also had a role in the film "The Commitments." In "Once" Hansard's songwriting takes center stage. Granted I may be biased toward all things both Irish and musical, especially when they merge, but I really believe the best song won on Sunday. The three songs from "Enchanted" lacked substance, and the tune from August Rush was also over produced and slick. When Hansard encouraged people to "make art" in his acceptance speech he was speaking as one who already had. When compared to the other songs in the category, "Falling Slowly" was the most artistic of them all. It's a great song, from really good film, written by superb musicians. Kudos to Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova on a job well done and an award well earned.

End of the Line or Start of Something New?

2008-02-22T21:20:00.002-06:00

Part of my daily internet regimen includes checking a number of Irish newspaper's online outlets and the BBC. I came across this story about Ian Paisley Jr resigning his position as Junior Minister in the Northern Irish Assembly. For those unaware, Ian Paisley, Sr. is the most outspoken Protestant leader in Northern Ireland and was very slow in coming around to the current peace and power sharing agreement in the North. The resignation of the younger Paisley makes me wonder about the future of Northern Irish politics. From the sounds of it, Paisley, Jr. is not done with politics, but in the very least the rumblings about his lobbying will be a setback in any future political campaigns. If we can assume for a moment that the junior Paisley is out of the picture, at least in terms of party leadership in Northern Ireland, does that suggest that the near future might see even more progress? It seems that once Paisley Sr is through with politics, and if Paisley Jr is not in a leadership position, the road would be open for better sectarian relations in the north. It's not that I'm pro Sinn Fein and anti-DUP/Paisleyism, it's just very clear that Sinn Fein and the IRA have made greater strides toward peace in the North, at least in the last 4-5 years. Remember, the IRA disarmed already (the Protestant paramilitaries might have, and I forget for certain, but either was it was significantly later than the IRA). I don't think that any of this will result in the North being absorbed into the Republic. That it too great of a economic hit for the twenty-six counties. But, if Northern Ireland is going to persist as a political entity, it will have to do so through peaceful means and understanding. Perhaps with the Paisleys out of the limelight, the quality of life in Northern Ireland will increase even more.

Full of Blarney?

2008-02-21T18:08:00.002-06:00

Tim Lacy passed this link along to me about the legitimacy of the Blarney Stone. Apparently, a recent study questions the authenticity of the Blarney Stone, the famous pebble at Blarney Castle in County Cork. After reading the posting, the first thing I thought was: does it matter if the current Blarney stone is the original? The posting implies that the current stone isn't the original because the current means for accessing it are not the same as the original ones. The implication, therefore, is that the "Blarney Stone" was designated in a different, safer location at the Castle. In terms of historical accuracy this could be a particularly sticky issue. Perhaps an archaeological historian and a public historian in Ireland could team up to solve this question. However, for the current state of Irish tourism, it seems to me that anything to generate more interest in the Blarney Stone is a good thing. Tourism has been an important economic endeavor in Ireland since the early 20th century at least. Various Irish and Irish-American companies advertised vacations and trips to Ireland in the (Irish-)American press in the 1910s and 1920s. My research has been predominantly limited to The Chicago Citizen, the AOH's newspaper in Chicago. The Blarney Stone is as crucial to Irish tourism as the Guinness Brewery, Croag Patrick, the Giant's Causeway, and the Cliffs of Mohr. If the controversy brings more people to Ireland to check out the Blarney Stone, even if they're skeptics, I don't see how that's a bad thing as this has the potential to increase interest in Ireland writ large. And that, can only be a good thing for those interested in all things Irish and Irish history.

Grateful Impatience

2008-02-19T19:59:00.003-06:00

Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful for my dissertation committee. Everyone on it helped me out of a major bind at my school. Nevertheless, it is amazing how difficult it has been to schedule a two hour meeting with all four committee members. I understand the need to fulfill familial obligations, but I'm talking about a one-time, two hour meeting. Needless to say, I'm currently a bit frustrated. So be forewarned, that the most difficult aspect of writing your dissertation proposal can be getting a proposal defense date scheduled!

The Dissertation Proposal

2008-01-23T22:53:00.000-06:00

I assume that most doctoral-granting institutions require PhD students to write a dissertation proposal before they embark on researching and writing their dissertation. At my school we have a formal, public defense of the proposal, but I realize that might not be the case at all schools. Since I finished my exams in November, I've been working on my own dissertation proposal. I wrote the majority of it over a 1-2 week period in mid-December. So when the current semester started I had a complete draft to present to my adviser. Luckily, my adviser is of the opinion that the dissertation proposal is a step in a larger process, and that it does not have to be a perfect specimen - your research will and (probably) should change as you get further into your subject. Therefore, splitting hairs over the minutia of your proposal is an exercise in futility. I know that other professors in my department are of the perfectionist school. Granted, each adviser is entitled to their own opinion on dissertation proposals, but the overall effect of the perfectionist school has been detrimental to the process in general. Too many students spend way too much time writing, and, of course, putting off completing their proposals. As one of my committee members told me last week, no one should take more than two months to get their proposal done. I agree. That is also why I'm shocked that some people in my department take a year or more to finish their proposals (if I had not switched advisers, I surely would have been one of those by no fault of my own). The long short of it is this: the dissertation proposal is a set of ideas and hypotheses. It doesn't have to be flawless or even set in concrete. The most important thing is to speak with your adviser before and during to process and determine their expectations so that you can set reasonable goals for completing the proposal in a timely manner.

The Power of Popular Culture

2007-12-29T15:32:00.000-06:00

I was reading an article in the Irish Times today commenting on recent remarks by Glen Hansard, and Irish musician and actor recently known for his role in the film Once. What struck me in the article was a comment about the status of high culture in Ireland. The writers states:

>> "We do, as a nation, have a problem with high art. Public art has a terrible record of being vandalised."

Given my personal interest in Irish history this comment struck me because it echoes one of the central points of my dissertation - that popular cultural is the real barometer to measure Irish society against. It's not just political. It's not just that the IRA historically targeted governmental monuments to destroy because of what they represent. It's deeper. The Irish have had a contempt for the upper classes for so long and the number of elites has been so small, comparatively, that high culture only matters so much as that it correlates to British (or any other) culture. The popular is what truly represents the people of Ireland. The fact that class is understudied in Irish history has led scholars to assume the tension in Ireland ran solely along ethnic lines, like F. S. L. Lyons' "Culture and Anarchy." But ethnicity is only part of the issue. Were a lot of Irish elites non-Catholics of Anglo-Irish stock? Most likely. That fact, however, seems like a convenient excuse to divert a class issue into an ethnic one. Because most of the folks in Ireland come from modest means, it's only natural that they hold high art in contempt. By exploring the the popular aspects of culture helps to illustrate a more complex Irish history.

Building solidarity

2007-12-14T10:27:00.001-06:00

Last night I spent some time with colleagues discussing various aspects of our collective graduate school experience. One of the topics we discussed is something that I have been actively trying to change this year - the lack of camaraderie in our department. It seems to me that this problem stems from a number of factors. First, we're a relatively small department. That means that cohorts are not very big and one if lucky if they have someone with a similar research project to bounce ideas off of. Second, we are an urban school in Chicago with people spread out over a large area. This creates a motivational issue for people to actually get out of their houses and participate in various activities (especially with the current shape of the CTA and the winter weather). As the president of our department's graduate student association I've made concerted efforts to increase interest in our organization and foster a sense of community amongst the students in the department. It seems like this action won't pay off for another few years as it will probably take a few more years of sustained advocacy to get our department where it needs to be. Providing opportunities for people is only one half of the equation. The other half involves people actually taking part in them. One can offer as many services as they like, but if no one uses them what is the net benefit? It seems both sides are deprived of positive opportunities. What are some ways to get people more involved? How does one go about getting people to show up to meetings, workshops, or even the bar? These are some of the issues my department will continue to face for the foreseeable future.

Where to draw the line?

2007-11-30T10:25:00.000-06:00

No, "draw the line" is not intended as a reference to the hit-or-miss Aerosmith album from 1977. Rather, it's a question about the reciprocal commitment of graduate programs to their students. Granted, some doctoral institutions are blessed with large faculties that can easily or even reasonably accommodate changes to student's study plans, but what about smaller departments? It's not unreasonable for incoming freshmen to change their intended major 4-5 times, on average so why would it be different for graduate students to adhere strictly to their proposed course of study when they enter the program. When students are accepted into a program they make a commitment to that school and that department. At the same time, the department makes a commitment to the student as well. Especially if a student performs well and is in good standing academically, the department should do everything possible to accommodate the student in accordance with their academic interests. Naturally, for smaller departments, this might be more difficult. Sometimes exceptions can be made, wrinkles implemented, and favors granted, but what are students to do in the rare instance that their program fails them? Attrition rates measure the the inverse relationship, but it seems reasonable to ask how prevalent this situation is? I would assume it's rare, but that does not make it any less tragic when it occurs. I can speak from personal experience, that I faced some difficulties with finding an advisor at my school, but I was eventually able to work out a situation mutually agreeable to myself, the department, and the graduate school. It's just very unfortunate that smaller departments face these issues and that a small minority of students are negatively affected by them.

Music, Pop Culture, and Irish History

2007-11-15T09:25:00.000-06:00

I was reading Tim Lacy's History and Education blog the other day and he had an interesting post about a class at UMass-Amherst that used the Grateful Dead as a lens for studying American Culture since the 1960s. I found this intriguing for a number of reasons: 1. I'm a huge DeadHead and would love to take that class, and 2. I'm continually interested in the role that music plays in a society's culture. I have two separate projects in mind along these lines for Ireland - neither of which I'll touch for a couple years because I'm sure the dissertation will get in the way.

The first project would be to investigate the Blues and R&B scene in Ireland, specifically the North, in the 1960s and 1970s. During a period where ethic/sectarian differences became extremely volatile, music provided a milieu for co-mingling, and relatively peacefully at that from some of the material I've read. It'd be interesting to contrast the trajectories and impact of two popular artists - Van Morrison and Rory Gallagher (Protestant and Catholic respectively) to examine this question.

The second project would be similar to the way that scholars tend to approach the 1960s in America by looking at Irish counter culture. I recently finished reading Christy Moore's book "One Voice." What struck me was the amount of anti-Government sentiment in Ireland during the 1960s, 70s, and 80s. I think that in many ways, Irish folk or ballad singers provided a steady challenge to the state's agenda because singers were common, played in pubs, which meant that they reached a wide array of people at little cost. It seems there was plenty of exposure to these artists throughout the island, and their liberal leanings must have had some reverberations throughout society writ large. With a government trying to dig itself out of a pre-modern nationalist agenda in the 20th Century, and a Church that often turned a blind eye to endemic social problems, i.e. both were conservative entities, that really left pub culture and balladeers as a sizable, relatively uncensored form of popular culture and opposition (film, literature, and published music were more susceptible to the censorship laws in Ireland).

These are just the germ of the ideas at this point. Any comments (if anyone reads this) are welcome.

Veterans/Remembrance Day

2007-11-12T10:03:00.000-06:00

No matter how you stack it, all veterans are worthy of remembrance. Taking the time to recognize the sacrifices veterans have made for their country is important not only for understanding contemporary events, but also how we understand the past. One or two days per year may be enough for the general population, but remember that there are families and individuals that are affected daily, and they make an important contribution to how we understand the memory of the past.

Semper Fi

Final Thoughts on Comps

2007-11-07T08:35:00.000-06:00

So yesterday I had the oral exam that comprises the second part of the major field comprehensive at my school. It was basically what I expected; two of the three professors asked useful questions that were broad in scope and allowed me to demonstrate a knowledge of the literature, while the third asked very specific questions, looking for specific answers that did not lend themselves to an historiographical discussion. The highlight was when I was asked by this professor to discuss a counter-factual and its implications on a specific nation's history. This made for some unpleasant and uncomfortable moments in an already nerve-racking experience. But at least I was not surprised. That's the way this faculty member approaches everything. They cannot simply ask the broad question and let you answer. Regardless I no longer have to work with this person and I am glad to have finished the exam process.

Since I have passed all of my exams now I think it's fair to call into question the way that they are handled at least in my department. For the PhD one takes a minor field exam and a major field exam. Fair enough. The minor field is a three-hour written exam with two examiners. You get 4 questions, pick two and write on them. The major field is split into written and oral components. There are three examiners and the written is five hours, while the oral is two. Furthermore, students are not allowed to use and notes during any of the tests. This last point is an issue of contention with me. I don't understand what the problem is with using notes. Clearly you know the material if you're taking the exam, and you've got so much information in you head it seems at least fair to have a copy of your reading list in the exam with you. Plus, having your notes is not the tipping point between knowing the historiography and not. If you don't know it your notes won't help you anyway, but if you do they can help you make tighter arguments quicker, enabling you to write more and more accurately. Besides, when is a professor without notes of some kind? In lecture they might not use them, but at least they have their notes at the ready in case they need them (generally). I was browsing another department's website (as I often do) and saw that their major field exam was eight hours, could be on or off campus, and was open note. This seemed to me like the optimal conditions for doing the test. It gives enough time to think about, write, and revise your answers. With the five hours window at my school you're locked in an office alone with a computer. You don't really have time to eat or use the restroom. Hell, there's barely time to stand, stretch, and shake the carpal tunnel out of your wrists. If one has more time to write better answers then the oral exam, in some ways, is rendered obsolete. There will always be questions regarding specific parts of your answers, but it is likely that there would be less in a modified system. Is is necessary to formally discuss these questions as part of the exam? Or would it be better to simply address them informally as necessary, but not have that constitute part of the exam process? It just seems that the process in my department is a bit over-complex. That's not to say that it can't be successfully completed; it can. Rather, it's impossible to complete without thinking, "how is this useful to me" or "how does this prove my abilities as an historian" at various junctures.

Exam = Passed

2007-10-31T11:19:00.001-05:00

While writing the previous post I got a call from my GPD/Committee chair congratulating me on passing the written portion of my major field exam. To say that it's a weight off my shoulders would be an understatement. She told me that I had good answers, appropriate in length, scope, and usefulness of sources. I feel like this deserves it's own separate posting because it's such a milestone. I don't envy anyone who has to undergo this process, and at my institution I'm not a fan of some of the particulars (ex: closed note), but it's a good feeling to have passed. Now it's just the matter of the oral component and on to dissertation! In the words of Nick Monterosso "hooray for me!"

A rare political piece

2007-10-31T10:54:00.000-05:00

As an historian, my girlfriend often chides me about my total lack of regard for contemporary American politics. But what can I say? It's all the same posturing, nothing ever changes, and frankly it's not very interesting. However, last night on Leno I caught part of his interview with Republican candidate Ron Paul and I was impressed with what the guy had to say. Mainly, I enjoyed his strong adherence to republicanism (with a small "r"), that is, keeping government small and letting social and economic forces play out in a free market. This got me wondering about where we went wrong as a political nation. Clearly, I think it was the New Deal that created a government people needed and relied on. Of course, this was a matter of survival in the 30s and 40s. Then in the 50s it seems like the government started to exploit the system in a way that only worsened in the 60s and 70s. By that time, federal government was too big to reduce, and the coming of Reagan was the final straw. Today though, despite an economic recession, I think it's more important than ever to reduce the size of the national government and allot greater sovereignty to individual states. It just seems that the entire system is broke and needs to be fixed, and reducing the size of government is one feasible way and one that is in accordance with the principles this nation was founded upon. Furthermore, accountability would be restored on an individual and local level.

Since we're talking about a system overhaul, I think one area politicians need to look is the state of campaigning in this country. Yes, we are a large country with a population over 300 million, but that is no reason to have 1-2 year presidential campaigns. The British parliamentary system has is right. When the British form a new government they campaign for about a month and then have their elections. How pleasant would it be to simply have campaigns in October and then vote in November. There's less posturing, bullshit, and mudslinging that way and it is much more cost effective. By having less time to run a campaign it would be easier (theoretically) for individuals of more modest means to gain access to the American political system. If there is a more socially representative population in the house and the senate then there would be less need for PACs and other lobby groups. It just seems to me that solutions are simple, but that people don't want to have to deal with the whining and are unwilling to undergo a little hardship for the greater, long-term good. That myopic perspective is what got us here in the first place.

Toots and The Maytals, Chris Pierce, and the House of Blues

2007-10-17T09:40:00.000-05:00

So last night my girlfriend and I went to go see Toots and The Maytals at the House of Blues here in Chicago. It was my first show at the main theatre at the HOB blues so I was looking forward to it. That, and when I was a Freshman in undergrad a co-worker saw Toots and raved about it. I've been meaning to see him ever since but never got around to it until yesterday. Toots put on a great show. He's got to be in his 60s and he's still the consummate entertainer. Seeing Toots also make me realize how unique Bob Marley was as an artist. While Toots' main focus seems to be entertaining, Marley had other motives. He was much more concerned with raising consciousness about injustice and inequality, but did so in a manner that remained entertaining. It goes to show that Marley really transcended the boundaries of performer, entertainer, evangelist, and activist.

One of the opening acts (yes, plural - more on that in a minute) was a guy named Chris Pierce. Being the music snob I am, I tend to be skeptical of opening acts but Chris and his band performed admirably. They had a nice balance of soul, gospel, blues, reggae, and rock. Really a pleasant listen. He reminded me a bit of Amos Lee. There were some sound issues with Chris' set, mainly the bass was too loud and completely washed out. However, the HOB let the band use their house Hammond B-3, which complemented their sound nicely. I had the pleasure of talking to the drummer after their set. A very nice guy (who played a really stripped down kit and made it work very well, I might add) who seconded my thoughts on the sound issue (The sound did improve for Toots' set).

Had the aforementioned acts contained the entirety of the show, it would have been a rousing success. However, in between these two highlights was one of the worst bands I've ever seen. First of all, this show was on a Tuesday night and didn't start until 9pm. Why on earth there needed to be more than one opening band is beyond me. This meant that Toots didn't go on until about 11:30pm, probably about the time he would have been finishing up had the second band not played. I would be much happier today if that had happened, my ears would feel better, I wouldn't be so tired, and Katie would have stayed for the whole show (having a REAL job gets in the way of late night concerts). The terrible sound (engineering-wise) continued with the Fear Nuttin' Band, and their music was so putrid that it just exacerbated the situation to the extreme. Chris Pierce offered a pleasant segue to Toots, I can see why they shared a bill. But this other band created a jarring fissure between the other two performances. They played what they called "Yardcore," a mixture of Jamaican music (hence the "Yard") and hardcore. The end result of this equation was basically a Linkin Park type of sound (one song sounded kind of like 311) but without any semblance of melody or songcraftsmanship. If the goal is to be loud and atonal they were certainly good at that. The singers were two Jamaicans who spat fast paced Jamaican patois at the audience and struggled mightily when a measure of (attempted) melody crept into their songs. The audience had to suffer through this wall of noise for a good 45 minutes. I feel sorry for audiences of Toots' upcoming shows on the East Coast as apparently these guys are opening for the next couple weeks. A shock to the system indeed. Needless to say, I'll do a bit more research before I go see another show at the House of Blues, especially in terms of concert start times and opening acts. Although I'd love to see Chris Pierce come back to Chicago and put on a full set.

Chicago Marathon = Disaster

2007-10-08T09:32:00.000-05:00

I'm amazed at how poorly run this year's Chicago marathon was - and no, not by the actual runners. It's like as though the 90 degree heat was a surprise, which makes the lack of water and paramedics seem more like poor planning than anything else. I know a bunch of people who ran this year and last year and the difference was staggering. Granted the weather last year was better, but regardless the people who organize these events generally have an idea of what would be necessary to have a safe, successful run. Moving the start time up would have been one logical option. It just seems ridiculous that it took hundreds in the hospitalized and one dead to highlight the ineptitude of this year's marathon. Let's hope next year will see the return of a well-run marathon and a little more amicable running weather.

Much love for the LMA

2007-09-17T11:27:00.000-05:00

If you are a fan of live music and have not familiarized yourself with the live music archive you need to do so. As an admitted Deadhead the site is a treasure trove. You can stream any of their almost 3000 Dead shows on your computer and download a great number of them in lossless file formats (SHN, FLAC). The aren't your ticket? There are hundreds of bands and thousands of shows on the archive. Most tend to be in the "jam band" community (however widely applied that term is), such as String Cheese Incident, Derek Trucks Band, Yonder Mountain String Band, Phil Lesh and Friends, etc. It's a great way to check out new acts before you purchase tickets and records.

Follow up

2007-09-11T12:05:00.000-05:00

After meeting with the new GPD last week, I discovered that the graduate student representative at the faculty meetings is selected by the GPD. This task was officially given to the HGSA for which we plan to have a democratically nominated individual represent the history graduate student body.

Personally, I'm excited at the level of involvement being afforded the HGSA by our GPD and the increased amount of transparency in departmental issues. I would encourage all graduate students, regardless of discipline, to join your department's graduate student association (or equivalent) or to establish one if there isn't already. Not only does it provide camaraderie but access to departmental information that might otherwise not be immediately forthcoming.

New Discovery: The Saw Doctors

2007-08-31T22:51:00.000-05:00

I first time I saw the Saw Doctors was at the Chicago Celtic Festival in the fall of 2004. I had never heard them before but a few of their songs stuck in my head for a few years. At the end of the spring semester one of my professors commented to me about the band, knowing my affinity for all things Irish. Most recently, while at work, I noticed some of their tunes on the shared iTunes network at work. After a few virtual spins I was hooked. They remind me of a college/party band, along the lines of Jimmy Buffet, but their social and cultural commentary is pointed, on the ball, and identifiably Irish. Their most recent stuff seems a bit more mainstream, a bit slicker, and, dare I say, over produced, but on the whole these guys write great tunes, have a great sense of humor, and a unique worldview. They don't delve into traditional Irish instrumentation, an occasional accordion seems to be the closest they get, but the motifs of exile, home sickness, social frustration, and others reinforce some of the accepted (read: nationalist, except the anti-Clericalism really) ideas of what is Irish (see Kerby Miller). By no means does this reflect quotidian Irish life, but catering to your audiences' expectations is what sells records - on both sides of the Atlantic. So to put my musical and intellectual snobbery aside, I give the Saw Doctors a big thumbs-up (hopefully Roger Ebert won't take exception to the use of his trademark "thumbs" rating).

4x6 Cards

2007-08-09T11:11:00.000-05:00

A quick tip for studying for exams: use 4x6 cards. Get a stack of blank cards, enough so you have one for each source on your reading list. Across the top write the Author's last name, the full title of the book, and I put the year of publication in the upper right hand corner. On the next line write "T:" followed by the thesis of the book or article. I try to keep it rather concise, no more than two lines on the card. Next, write "A:" and list all of the main arguments, sub-theses, or other pertinent information from the book. The bottom four lines on the card I use for methodology "M:" and relevance "R:". Just like you don't need to read the whole book to understand it's historical context and relevance, you don't need pages of notes on each work. When it gets time for your exam you're not going to remember much more than you can fit on a 4x6 card anyway, if that. This method is revised from the one I used for my minor field reading list, with the most important change being relevance. By thinking about some of the broader themes each work addresses while you're studying it prevents you from having to go back and re-consult items. I find the 4x6 card method useful because it allows you to physically move texts from one grouping to another and assess how adding or subtracting a given work affects the trend you have established. It also helps to see the cross-pollination and layers involved between areas of history such as nationalism, culture, identity, colonialism, etc. Finally, always remember to consult book reviews on the works you read for you list and compare others' thoughts on the book to your own? If theirs don't make sense it creates more questions and provides insight into the field. Book reviews also help you get through your list quicker, which, in turn, provides you more time to actually study your notes rather than cramming in as many books as you can at the last minutes. I've found that an average of two works per day got me through my list fairly quickly (I had already read or was familiar with about half of the 130 or so books on my major field list and notes I had on those sped up the process even more).