When starting my research in the archives, I already knew what I wanted to do. I had my mind set on the Purdue Train Wreck. Thinking of what kind of research was I going to write about was the hardest part for me. I’m still how and what exactly I’m going to do, but I have a couple of plans. .  I still have a plan to add to my draft after more research in the archives just because I feel like there is a lot of unexplored content inside of the archives that could definitely help the progression of my paper.  I believe it takes more than just a week to discover wonderful things about our past. The things I have discovered so far are somewhat helpful but I need a lot more. This project is a challenge definitely for me since English is not at all my favorite subject.  This assignment definitely has a positive light to it that will definitely help spark our light in our lives.

Autumn-weekly blog

Instead of venting my feelings about writing my rough draft today, I'm going to write about something that makes me happy in order to feel good instead of bad before I go to bed. I'm going to write about how much I love the Fall season. I love everything about it. I love the crisp mornings when you have to wear a jacket and your nose gets a little cold walking to class, but when you leave class the sun has come out and as you walk around campus the sun warms you up even though the air is still a bit nippy. I love curling up in warm clothes and sipping a mug full of warm apple cider while sitting on my back porch or deck watching the sun go down on the glowing, changing leaves. There was a quote I found once that John Steinbeck said in his book Travels With Charlie that perfectly described the color transformation leaves go through when the change. It's a bummer I can't remember it now. The colors of fall are one of my favorite parts of the season. Walking past the same lane and watching the color of the trees change day by day. I love the crunch of fallen leaves under my feet as I walk, especially when it's just me and the trees and leaves and nature. I love the fresh smell of fall. I love the clearness of it. I love cutting open the top of a pumpkin, reaching in, and scooping out the guts with my hands, feeling the slimy pulp and the slippery seeds. I love going camping with my family, being immersed in the woods, making dinner by a campfire, roasting marshmellows, and sitting by the warm glow all night long, staring up at the clear sky and stars. I love apple picking. We picnic by a lake and eat in the sun. We pick raspberries that have been warmed by the sun that simply melt in your mouth. We drive our truck up and down the tiny paths in between the rows of trees, trying to grab apples of branches as we go. We sing this song about apples we made up when we were little as we drive. I love watching the caramel melt in the pot on the stove before we roll our apples in it to make caramel apples. I love the combination of sweet and sour when I bite into my caramel apple. The first bite is always the worst. If you don't let the caramel set long enough your teeth will slide right over the skin of the apple and all you'll get is caramel in your mouth and on your nose. Those are my favorite things about autumn.

Archives and Parents

          My chosen topic for the archive assignment is the Tank Scrap.  One of the reasons I picked the topic was because my great-grandfather (from my dad’s mom’s side) went to Purdue when the Tank Scrap still existed and actually participated in it.  When ask my dad exactly when he went, I found that his freshman year was the year of the last Tank Scrap (1913).  That year the was also one of the few years when the freshmen class won the scrap.  I guess Purdue is in my blood especially since my grandfather (other side of my dad’s side) and my dad went also went to Purdue.  Speaking of my dad, my parents came up for Parents’ Day, which was a good thing for my wallet.  I stocked up on some necessary items like drinks and warm clothes, so I am now set to hibernate in my room for the winter.  Saturday, we went the game against Marshall and found that the game was kind of ridiculous. In the first quarter, they both suck.  In the second quarter, Purdue kills not offense but on defense.  In the second half, Marshall almost comes back.  They might have some help from the refs but that doesn’t mean Marshall should be able to almost come back from a 28-point deficit.  Anyway, the day was still an all-in-all good day.  

Archives Assignment (sort of)

When I started writing my paper for the research assignment I thought about the folders that I did not look into and thought about what I would write about if I saw that information.  I then actually looked at the notes and pictures I took while I was in the archives and started writing based off of that and realized the correlation and flow in the notes which helped a lot with the transitions and the overall ease of writing the paper.  I still have a desire to add to my draft after more research in the archives just because I feel like there is a lot of unexplored content inside of the archives that could immensely help the progression of my paper.  Even if I do not use my future endeavors to the archives as a means to help the progression of my paper I will use them as a learning experience and also a means of entertainment.  The things you find inside of the archives are somewhat creepy considering you are reading letters written by dead people, but also interesting because you feel some kind of strange connection to that person just by seeing their personal hand written notes to other people.  I wonder what Amelia Earhart would think if she knew random people like me were reading her letters and documents.  If I knew someone was going to read my stuff after I died I would be so paranoid and freaked out I would probably end up burning all of my documents.  But then assignments like this wouldn't exist, so I would probably actually end up hiding all of my documents in a safe or something so if they were to be destroyed it would not be by my own doing.

Archive's

The story of my journey of archival discovery begins with my decision to research Lillian Gilbreth. For some strange reason out of all the women I read about in the Butler collection her's stood out most in my mind. I began to read though the descriptions of the hundreds of boxes she had.  The most interesting to me were the ones from her travels  love letters from her husband when they were dating and finally a scrapbook of their engagement (I know its super chessy but what can I say I am a hopeless romantic who swoons every time Flynn and Rapunzel almost kiss on the lake surrounded by the lanterns. And at just about every other romantic couple Disney and pixar create). My dream is to travel the world so I was very interested in the boxes from her travels  In these boxes I found a quirky letter where she ask's to be re-invited to a party because she refuses to be a guest of honor. In the letters from her husband I found one absolutely heartfelt letter where he could barely contain his excitement because he had finally received her latest letter. Finally in the scrap book I found this funny little note referring to Mothers five Commandments that had me cracking up. Other than that there has not been a lot of news about the archives. I have actually become really comfortable in the research room of whatever it is called. I am surprised at how friendly everyone is even as you are looking at remarkable yet priceless documents. Especially since I am a freshman and they usually are reserved for the graduate students.

Book Burning Party!!!

When I first saw this atrocious headline, I was disgusted that people would actually host a gathering to BURN books.  I mean, even if you are not an avid reader, doesn’t the idea of burning books horrify you and make you wonder what is wrong with these people.  Captured by what they had to say about this, I read over the paragraph provided to gather the answers my confused person could not immediately identify.  In order gather much needed votes to SAVE their public library from closing due to low funds in the community’s budget, book lovers resorted to an extremely effective use of reverse psychology.  Since the Tea Party’s campaign consisted of “Say No to Taxes” the library had to take drastic measures in order to make people want to pay the extra fees to keep it open.  Clicking on the video provided, I watched how they gathered attention to their cause by suggesting something completely vile.  People immediately reacted to this horrendous idea by the thousands and soon caught the attention of the media both local and national.  I loved how reverse psychology forced people to protect the library they were ready to sacrifice for less taxes.  Other libraries, some as far as London, have mimicked the library in Troy, Michigan by campaigning to have their own book burning parties in order to save their own libraries from closing.  It just shows how easily people can be manipulated by suggesting a morally wrong celebration.  Please check it out, even if you do not care about the saving of the library the man’s voice speaking is quite funny.  Here is the URL address http://www.alicemarvels.com/archives/8325?utm_source=AliceMarvels+List&utm_campaign=83c8498642-Alice_Marvels_2012_6_015_30_2012&utm_medium=email#

Another Archive blog

This Archives assignment is going along okay.  I’m still working on it now.  The bibliography page is tripping me up a little, I’ll probably be coming to Ms. Hurley’s office hours Wednesday.  I’m actually looking forward to class tomorrow just to help improve on what I have written.  Me and my roommate are going on a study break after I finish this blog.  We’re going on a walk, because apparently eating cheesy bread from Mad Mushroom every night doesn't burn calories (?...).  And my freaking iPod is freaking out now.  I plugged it in while it was playing music and I think that messed it up.  It started saying that it was corrupted and I need to format the iPod again.  Which is lame.  I think it’ll erase all the songs so that's wonderful.  But anyway, this archives project, going to finish that tonight for shizzle.  And my roommate helped me hookup my laptop to the printers here or something so now I can send things from my computer to the printer!  And I don’t have to spend like 5 hours trying to print something, because the computers there are so slow.  So that means I can send my Archives paper from my computer to the printer tonight when I finish it for sure, so that’s great :D.

Archives blog

I’m not sure exactly what I want to do for this archives project yet.  I think I’ve narrowed it down to a few women in the women’s archive site.  They’re all very inspirational.  Now I just have to choose one.  I’m excited to go to the archives this week and learn more about these people and begin working on this paper.  I’m a little nervous about it, but I think it will be interesting.  That’s pretty awesome that a student last year interviewed Susan Butler and then Susan wrote her a recommendation letter and stuff.  (I’m not really sure I can call her Susan, I don’t know if we’re on a first name basis yet.  Considering we’ve never met and all, but oh well.)  I don’t think I’ll choose to write about Susan, though, unfortunately, as great as it would’ve been.  That was really neat Thursday when we got to see those books and papers from the archives.  I thought the Dirty Greek newspaper thing was so funny.  That would be so great if somebody did that to the Exponent.  Probably wouldn’t be legal or moral, but very funny.  I’d read the newspaper more.  I only really look at the newspaper now to play Sudoku.  But mostly towards the beginning of the week since it gets harder as the week goes on (I know, sneaky son of a guns).  Rereading this I'm not sure why all my sentences seem so fragment-y.  That's just how I roll I guess.

Archives

This archives project is more difficult and overwhelming than I thought it would be. I'm having a hard time trying to pick a topic because there are hundreds of topics to choose from. I find a lot of the topics to be very interesting though. I enjoyed looking up information about Purdue history like the Train Accident, the Bell Tower, and the buildings history. The history of Purdue or even Purdue's traditions are fascinating. It is also awesome to see the growth in time and how things came about to be in present day. So, I will most likely do my paper on one of these topics.
I haven't been in the archives yet, but I am a little intimidated to go in. I think it might be overwhelming with multiple readings and tons of information. I am not really sure what to expect going into the archives because I have never experienced anything like it. The lady who came in to class and taught us about the archives was very helpful and she definitely knew what she was talking about. I really loved learning about all the neat articles and dated newspapers she brought in on Thursday. It was amazing to see such old artifacts still in existence and kept in a safe place.
Honestly, I have enjoyed learning about the archives so far, and I am excited and nervous to explore the archives more in depth with my chosen topic.

Weekly Blog

       I found have found these blogs as a useful way to improve my writing abilities and coming up with ideas to write about. The only problem is when I hit a wall in coming up with something to write about because nothing is on my mind, or nothing interesting has happened during the week in between these blogs. The only two things I can think of is that my birthday was Friday and going to Triple XXX for the first time.

My birthday was nice because I only had one class that day. I got a few presents from my parents. Although, the day was mostly just like any other Friday, which consists of me hanging out with friends. The main reason of this probably because I don’t care about parties celebrating me, so my friends didn’t know until the day of. By the way, that makes me nineteen.

People kept saying all of us freshmen should go to Triple XXX. I thought why not. I went and had the Duane Purvis All-American Burger which is the peanut butter one. I must say that the burger only proves that everything is made better with peanut butter (as long as you aren’t allergic that is). It’s definitely something I’ll be doing again.

Excited and Unclear

At first when we got this assignment I was super confused about what we were supposed to do and where we would be getting our infromation. But after the last two class periods and learning more about the Archives here at Purdue I am really excited for the project and a bit more clear on the project at hand. Last class on Thrusday when we actually got to see legitament items from the Archives was when I started getting excited. Looking at all the really old stuff and having the opportunity to discover a piece of history someone may not have seen before sounds super cool! The items Kristin brought in mesmorized  me. It was so cool seeing a real will and real papyrus paper! I just hope I can find an interesting topic that will fascinate me as much as the items that Kristin brought to class did. Regarding my topic, it was on my list of To Do's this weekend to brainstorm and look around on the website to try and find something that interested me, but I didn't get to it. So tomorrow I plan on pinpointing a topic and going to the library in the afternoon to look at some cool artifacts! These questions just dawned on me though: are we supposed to take notes or something when we're looking at artifacts? How are we going to incorporate what we see and find in the Archives into our paper? Is there a certain format we need to have in our paper? Certain ways in which to cite information? What about a Works Cited? I guess I still am a little unclear on some aspects of this project. If anyone has answers, please share them!

Archive Blog September 23rd, 2012

I have only visited the Archives once so far. I did it before I went into class on Thursday. I didn't get to actually look at anything because I still am not sure at all what I want to do the research project over. I did look at the side exhibit thing. It was really interesting. I have been thinking about what I want to do my project on. I was looking on Archon and I came across a few things. I found the tank scrap and the train accident really interesting when we talked about it in class. So I looked it up. I feel like those two subjects will be fairly popular. So I may find another one that’s similar. I am not sure yet though. I plan on going to the archives on Monday and Tuesday during class time. So I should probably reserve some materials for tomorrow.  So hopefully by Wednesday I will have decided what I want to write about. I am still really confused about how this is all going to come together. I am actually pretty worried about it. I hope I can pull it all together. I hope to get my paper done before October break.

I am actually pretty excited for break too. I am going back to Ohio for break. I get to go to the football game, and my old school’s marching band competition. I am so excited for the competition. It’s one of the biggest in Ohio. Normally over 20 marching bands come to compete from all over. Last year, we had schools from Kentucky entered in it. I also get to see all of my friends who were younger. Overall I think things are getting a lot better. I was super stressed and now, not so much. I really hope it stays this way for a while. That would be a good thing.

The Archives

I find this project to be rather interesting, but difficult.  I look forward to searching through the archives.  As far as my topic goes, I haven't found one that stands out to me.  They all sound interesting, but I'll know when I that one that stands out to me.  I'm leaning towards a topic that pertains to Purdue's history.  There's a lot on campus that I can write about.  I think the dedication of buildings, fountains, and/or monuments is very interesting.  Like seriously, what did people have to do to get a building named after them.  That is awesome.  I don't have to have a building named after me, I'll settle for a statue.  I would like to know what they contributed to Purdue that they received great recognition.  A  prime example would be the recreation center,"The Dova."  Was he that great of a president that he gets a brand new building?  What will Mitch Daniels get, a city? 

Another idea that I've came across would have to be the Purdue wreck of 1903.  I have a lot questions for what lead up to this event.  How does the Purdue and IU rivalry affect what going on a train?  Was this event an accident?  I would to know how other colleges helped in the effort of pulling Purdue back together.  I would also like to know who helped Purdue during this tragic time.  I have a lot of options and little time to choose one.  Overall this will be a research that will help me understand this great university.

Blog #3 Archives

Since today’s blog topic is on our experience in the archives I cannot write about the awesome day I had today celebrating my 19^th birthday; therefore, I will dedicate this week’s blog towards my journey on the archive project so far.  With Charles, Beth, and a bunch of other random classmates in tow, I walked over to the archives on Thursday after class.  After looking at all the entomology show cases up front, I hoped to enter behind the librarians’ gate in order to find an interesting topic to write about while wandering through the rows of history.  Unfortunately, I learned that I could not gain access to the thousands of interesting topics just waiting for me to dedicate my research paper to them without filling out a form saying exactly what I wanted to look at.  Clueless on where to start, I walked away dejected. 

At the moment I am still lost on what I wish to write about for the next three weeks.  I have tried searching through archon and the archives and special collections on the Purdue Library website with no luck.  With every hour that passes by I feel my anxiety level growing higher and higher.  My stress level seemed to skyrocket when I received a text message today, asking me to join a few other members of my learning community in the archives to research our topics.  If anyone has any awesome ideas that they do not wish to use and would like to let me know feel free to call, text, or chase me down the street.

My experience in the archives has been pretty limited, but I did find that the workers there are extremely friendly.  They are not scary in the least, so if anyone is feeling anxious about going because they think they will look like a turd, no worries!
I went in on Friday after my conference with Ms. Hurley and tried to reserve some stuff for Monday, but turns out you are supposed to do that online...but I can't figure out how to do so, so if anyone has helpful suggestions they would be greatly appreciated.
I do not know for sure what I am going to do yet for my paper, but hopefully after looking at some stuff tomorrow I'll have a pretty good idea! I feel slightly overwhelmed and confused about how this is all supposed to work, but I'm really hoping that once I decide on what I am actually going to write about I will have a calmness come over me...if that does not happen I'm not really sure what I'm going do, because I'm pretty sure my stress level has already exceeded a healthy amount!!
I think I'm just going to keep my hopes up for the nice people in the archives to really help me through this..I'm also planning to pretty much move into the archives until this is done..anyone with me?!?

Reflection

The most difficult part of my memoir was trying to define my significance without just coming out and telling it.  But unfortunately it still sorta of happened that way. I wasn't able to express myself how I wanted to and be able to relate to my audience.  Whenever I write, I find it more effective to state your exact point, then give examples to justify yourself.  This method is better for me because it allows your audience to identify where you come from. Then be able to come up with their own opinion.  I was most successful with the structure of my memoir, so that it would all make sense in the end.  I used foreshadowing in the beginning in the form of light rain.  I also talked about how  my grandfather was sick with cancer and taking chemo treatments.  Everything in my memoir builds on to the next event.  I explicitly stated my purpose in my memoir.  I wasn't able to show my significance without telling it.  I feel that if I used less telling I would lose the attention and sympathy of my audience.  The most important thing I learned while writing this memoir was that you have to paint the story or situation for the audience.  You have to go into grave detail, so that they will be able to relate and understand where you are coming from.  My writing strategy was at first brainstorm on my topic the I set it into chronological events.  My revision was a lot harder because I now had to set up the flow of my memoir.

Class Slogan?

Class Slogans

By Friday: You get one vote. Just comment with the number of your choice.

From The Boiler Challenge:

1. We'll just throw you. It'll be okay. I know CPR.
2. Where did your head come in?
3. Are you in this box with me?
4. Just swim through--like a swordfish.
5. Should we bend her in half?
6. It's like crowd-surfing.
7. I'll lead us to safety, guys!
8. We can do this! I fit eight in a bug!
9. Grab my pant loop.
10. Is that a baby? What? No!
11. Let's push the baby out of the ice.
12. Just throw the baby!
13. I like being blind guys.
14. Scooting slowly is good.

From the Original (Vintage?) Class Website

15. And on the eighth day, god created English 106.
16. We. Are. Writers. Bum ba da da bum bum bum!
17. Wanna avoid writer's block and grammatical error mayhem? Take English 106.
18. "Passion rules reason, for better or for worse." - Blood of the of Fold by Terry Goodkind
19. "The only sovereign you can allow to rule you is reason." - Faith of the Fallen by Terry Goodkind
20. "He's got huge, sharp... er... He can leap about. Look at the bones!" Tim the Sorcerer from MP & the HG
21. Just do it. English 106.
22-Just write it. English 106.
23. Leave the writing to us.
24-English 106, it's grrrreat!
25-Hey, I just wrote you, and this is crazy, but here's our blog site, so comment maybe.
26. The ultimate writing machine
27-I’m writin’ it.
28-You (Yes You), write it your way.
29 English 106 - a class of its own
30) English 106, Its totally better than English 105
31) ERMAHGERD ERNGLERSH!
32. Party rocking at Purdue online, English 106 you'll have a good time and we don't wanna make you loose your mind, we just wanna see you have good time....... dun dun dun TYPE THAT ............dun dun BLOG IT!
33. English 106. An Evolution of Edificial Education.
34. English 106. Write about it. Blog about it. Be about it.
35. Write, your wrong!
36. Do the Write thing!
37. Write this Way! Ladies!

Memoir Reflection (In Class, 9/17)

Write 300 words discussing the following questions. You needn't answer them in order or even answer all of them. Rather, choose an organization that best communicates your points to the audience.

What was the most difficult and most successful part of your memoir?
What point did you wish to communicate and how did you do so (explicitly/implicitly, showing/telling)?
What was the most important thing you learned while writing your memoir?
What was your writing strategy? Your revising strategy?
Required: How did the comments of your peer review group and your instructor help/not help your process along? Please be honest--this will let me know how to help you more with future rough drafts.

Please email your essay-form reflection to me in proper MLA format by 11:59 pm on Wednesday, 9/19. 

Hi everyone! Welcome to the new blog for Ms. Hurley's Purdue Explorers. You should have received an invite to join gmail (yes, this is unavoidable) and start authoring your own posts. If you didn't, send me an email!