I really had fun with learning community this semester. At the beginning, I wasn't so sure but as we got into World War II and such, things started to pick up. Mostly because they're the topics I enjoy the most about history. Also, I have realized that my writing skills have improved greatly. I do not remember a single moment where I was actually proud of a paper I turned in during high school. I'm glad Dr. AC pushed us and demanded perfect papers, because it really set the tone and encouraged me to knock out a good paper. Anywho, learning community was a great experience and I hope everyone has a fantastic summer!

I'm really hoping that the final part of our exam will be a slam dunk. Throughout both semesters, I have done pretty well on most of them. I mostly have to thank Prof. Gunderson's reviews for that. For each exam, I have made sure to write down the definitions and/or notes about each term listed. It always takes several hours, but it's worth the good grade. Plus, once I actually do the reviews, I don't have to study because writing everything down just seems to do the trick. I also hope we get the rest of our papers back tomorrow. I'm interested in my grade on my conspiracy paper.

So I took the plunge and decided to join Sigma Kappa Delta. I'm actually really excited, because I've never been apart of something like it before. Also, my work schedule is more flexible so I know that I would be able to attend the required meetings and such. I'm looking foward to eating good food and just having fun. haha Oh, and we also we t-shirts! Lord knows I couldn't live without another one of those...

Looking back on the semester, I kind of wish we could've read another book like The Devil in the White City. I really enjoyed it (even though it scared the crap out of me) and I figured that since we finished the book in such a small amount of time, there would be a chance to do it again. I'm almost upset we didn't get to discuss Howl. I didn't understand it very well, but I really wanted to get to know what the hell the guy was talking about. I still enjoyed the articles and such about the ambulance drivers during the war, Route 66, and different ways to be a good housewife in the 1950s, but I really just wanted to get into another good book.

Going into the exam, I felt really prepared because I had chosen several topics I could write about the night before. I also made sure to research each one so I could give a lot of examples and detail in my paper. For some reason however, I thought the short answer was going to be tomorrow. ha! So, I was a little unprepared. I realized that I managed to mix up facts about the Tet Offensive and the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. I was totally hitting myself in the head for it afterwards, so I'm hoping that this is where my bonus points will come in and help.

Cultivating Scholars, suprisingly, was not a bad experience. I already had to participate for my psychology class (mandatory of course) so I figured, why not? My group's poster had to be done ahead of time anyway, so why not show up to present it and earn some extra credit? I had fun looking at other people's posters, but was scared away from the one's featuring STD's that included very large pictures of the side effects ha. The guest speaker afterwards seemed kind of random. I guess it was because one of my teachers said it was going to be about one thing, and it turned out to be extremely different. I learned a lot though from it, like what the little tripod things were used for during oil drilling.

I was happy to discuss different conspiracy theories is class. At first for some reason, I could only think of JFK's assassination. Then I realized after throwing a bunch of them around that there are so many of them. I didn't want to do a conspiracy theory that was too cliche or obvious; I wanted to keep it interesting for Professor Gunderson and Dr AC ha. I randomly googled conspiracy theories and I ran across one that concerned a phenomenon call "Big Pharma." It basically suggests that drug companies create diseases so they can profit from the sales of the diseases' "cure." There's a little more to it, but since I work in the pharmaceutical field, I thought it would be cool to research. I even bought a book all about it, and thankfully it really helped with the info I needed in my paper.

I actuallly had a lot of fun playing Jeopardy, and I felt very accomplished to have obtained the five point bonus. At first, I was a little discouraged because some class member whom shall not be named do not know how to shut up haha. I didn't really feel like playing and just wanted to leave because I was so irritated. However, when the game started to get going, my competitiveness kicked in. I was pleased to know that I knew a lot of the questions and also that I had all the right information to go back to if I didn't know the answer. This semester overall has just seemed a lot more difficult to keep up with, so I was glad to get the five extra points. Hopefully I won't need them too much. :)

I was kind of suprised when Prof Gunderson stopped our notes at the point that she did. I was kind of looking foward to learning more about Clinton's administration.and hearing what she had to say about it, since I was quite young when all of it was going on. However, I still went over the powerpoint notes and read the pages in the book about it for my own sake. It's kind of sad thinking that I won't be able to experience anymore history or english literature for the rest of my college career, since neither is my major. However, I am relieved about the fact that I won't have to write another paper. I enjoyed them and was really happy with the final product of each one, but the process of getting them finished just seemed to take a lot out of me. I'm just too much of a perfectionist and I worry too much.

I found the section of notes about Nixon's administration to be really interestings. Before, you only heard negative things about Nixon, like all the scandals and everything. But then, I found out about all the acts he pushed forth like the Endangered Species Act and the Clean Air Act, which I never would've imagined. I was also happy to learn about the Watergate scandal because, I remember watching Forrest Gump so many times and the scene where he's looking out of his hotel room towards the Watergate hotel and complaining about people waving around flashlights haha. My parents would laugh and I'd kind of join in because they were but now I understand it! haha. Writing about it now seems pathetic...

It was nice to get out of the classroom once more and go somewhere exciting. I went to the sixth floor museum a few months ago, but I was happy to go again since they just opened the seventh floor. I walked through the majority of everything, but it was sometimes difficult because there were so many (old) people around. I made sure to watch the video about the influence JFK's assasination had on the world. It seriously makes me cry everytime haha. I was also happy to visit the JFK memorial after the museum, because I had never visited that before. I thought it was a weird structure though, but it was cool how Prof. Gunderson explained how it blocked off all the noise of the city. It was very peaceful.

I'm really excited that we've gotten past the group presentations. I must say, that week was probably the most nerve-racking. I think the pop culture topics were more difficult than last semester's because you actually had to find the ways history linked to, say for example, Mickey Mouse. I was thoroughly satisfied with my group's work (and the cupcakes :P). I also really really enjoyed the other presentations-especially Lucille Ball and Woodstock.

After discussing suburbian life during the fifties, it really does seem like life was much easier back then. I have always thought that if I had a choice to live during a certain decade, I would choose the fifties, because it was a time where you could leave your front door unlocked at night. You just never think about people worrying about money, or their job, or serial killers running the streets. Everybody just seemed happy and carefree as they made their way to the soda shop. I don't know, personally, I like the idea of being a housewife and having a husband support the whole family. I guess I'm just old-fashioned.

So since I've finished (almost) my film analysis paper, I can now focus on our pop culture group project. When the class was in the library looking at the databases, I found it kind of difficult finding anything about Mickey Mouse. I didn't really think it would be impossible to do so since Mickey Mouse and Disney are everywhere, but all the results dealt with like experiments on mice. I think I'll really have to search for a good book to find the best information for my part of the project. Overall, I'm really excited about the project, especially decorating the tri-fold poster haha.

Due to my procrastinating ways, I am once again stuck trying to catch up (hmmm...reminds me of last semester). I kind of hoped that we would have at least one free entry per week, but I suppose I shouldn't be complaining since we only have to do two this time. I personally find it really difficult to talk about class, because everyone else knows what we talked about it and heard other people's opinions and thoughts. I dont know, maybe I'm frankly just not trying enough. Frankly, I'm quite burned out. I honestly think teachers get together and set a certain day to squeeze every possible project and paper due date into that one day. Sneaky little suckers.

The most difficult thing about the test was the review! Even since last semester, I have looked up and written down every single term on our review sheets. This last one just seemed brutal. Perhaps it was because I hadn't done one in a couple of months. The multiple choice seemed a little confusing too because there are so many names you need to know. Let's just stick to the presidents or something haha. Anywho, I was pleased with my grade, considering the amount of time I put into it. Oh, and by the looks of it, we have another exam, like, next week!

Before this class, I had heard a little bit about the Tuskegee Airmen but I didn't know that many details. I was intrigued when I found out we were actually going to meet a real Tuskegee Airman, which I thought was a pretty big deal. I actually learned a lot from Calvin Spann, for instance, the Tuskegee Airmen never fought combat, but instead, they help taxi the fighter jets back and fourth between countries. I did find it sad though that he couldn't continue to fly and ended up selling pharmeceuticals.

P.S. the lady with Calvin Spann did not look like his wife haha I seriously thought it was his daughter or something. seriously!

 

haha, you gotta love Joan Crawford.

So...I'm pathetically looking over our course schedule trying to find ideas for my entry catching up, I'm kind of tiffed! I can kind of see how much stuff that we aren't doing. The worst part is, they sound like really fun things! It looks like we skipped a bunch of interesting readings and movie clips. I don't know if we're going to go back and look at them or what. Maybe we're just behind a bit and need to catch up, especially with Dr. AC not being there on thursday. Anywho, I just really hope we get to complete everything on the schedule.

I'm really looking foward to the Sixth Floor Museum! The last time I went was just a couple of months ago, but before that it had been years. I know it's such a tragedy about what happened there, but the museum really is beautiful. It isn't all just about the assassination, but it also tells about JFK's journey to the White House and all the amazing things he did before his death. I think my favorite and most touching part of the museum in the movie of his funeral. It just shows how much strength and courage Jackie Kennedy had.

I have to say it--this book scared the bejeezus out of me. I was really excited at first, because I was thinking "ooh cool, serial killers!" (yeah, I'm sick like that) but then when I really got into the book, it was just completely disturbing. I found myself having nightmares and waking up in the middle of the night, being all freaked out. I suppose I'm just a sissy, because I don't think anyone else had this problem. Also, when I reached the part of the book when then fair finally opened, I really enjoyed reading the "architecture" chapters. It was interesting because you could really create a picture of it in your mind and try to see how beautiful it was.