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Tag Archives: four years ago today

four years ago today: "personal canon"

11 Sunday Dec 2011

Posted by Anna Clutterbuck-Cook in life writing

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books, four years ago today, friends, fun

It’s been awhile since we did one of the four years ago today flashback posts. So here’s a fun one I pulled from the Gmail archive. My friend Joseph and his brother had generated lists of the top ten novels in their “personal canon” and Joseph emailed to ask what mine would be. After some thought, this is what I came up with. Looking it over today, I can’t say there are any huge revisions to this list. 


From: Anna
To: Joseph
Date: Tue, Dec 11, 2007 at 10:22 PM
Subject: Re: Personal canon of books

Hiya,

My canon is decidedly more “lowbrow” and than yours, but I am squelching my impulse to apologise for it on Nick Hornby’s firm orders (even though he loves Dickens’ and writes tedious novels about men who refuse to grow up, so I am not sure how much I trust him . . .)

I have artificially controlled against all non-fiction and children’s literature (well, below the teen level).  Not sure if that’s quite what you had in mind, but there we are.  I discover my criteria are a) enduring “good read”–something I will go back to over and over again, as well as b) things that have had deep impact on how I answer the question, “how to live?” . . . these categories don’t always overlap.  There are books that have had great impact on how I think about the world, but which I’ve only read once . . . and books that I read habitually, but that I don’t really think of as life-shaping in any explicit way.  Maybe they’re just sneaker at it? And of course these change over time . . . I was just thinking today how His Dark Materials has really grown on me over the years.  And even though I have issues with some of his didacticism, his theological imagery really speaks to me.  And, I mean, who could resist the idea of a reversal of the whole Genesis/Fall/Eve story? (Um . . . wait . . . that’s right . . . a LOT of people 😉 ).

via

That long introduction completed, here are my nominations. The top ten in a strictly alphabetical order. I figure once you make top-ten I’m not going to be judgmental. ALTHOUGH I do sometimes find myself paralyzed by the question of which book I would become if I were a character in Fahrenheit 451 . . . possibly a clear indication of how troubled I actually am :).

Top Ten:

1. E.M. Forester. A Room With a View.
2. Shirley Hazzard. The Great Fire.
3. Haven Kimmel. The Solace of Leaving Early.
4. Robin Lippincott. Our Arcadia.
5. Michelle Magorian. Not a Swan.
6. Robin McKinley. The Blue Sword, et al.
7. Audrey Niffinegger. The Time-Traveler’s Wife.
8. Dorothy Sayers. Gaudy Night.
9. Martin Cruz Smith. Rose.
10. Tom Stoppard. Arcadia.

Some possible future candidates/honorable mentions:

Isabel Allende. Daughter of Fortune & Portrait in Sepia.
Jane Austen. Persuasion.
A.S. Byatt. Possession.
Sheryl Jordan. The Raging Quiet.
Laurie R. King. The Beekeeper’s Apprentice, et al.
Barbara Kingsolver. Bean Trees.
David Levithan. The Realm of Possibility.
Gregory Maguire. Wicked, Son of a Witch
Philip Pullman. His Dark Materials.
Margaret Whelan Turner. The Thief, Queen of Attolia, King of Attolia.

Anna

four years ago today: "something like the five stages of grief"

24 Monday Oct 2011

Posted by Anna Clutterbuck-Cook in life writing

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four years ago today, hanna, MHS, simmons

Part of an ongoing series of posts highlighting primary source material from my first semester at Simmons during the fall of 2007.


From: Anna
To: Janet
Date: Wed, Oct 24, 2007 at 2:51 PM
Subject: Mid-week touchstone 

Dear Mum, 

I’m sitting at the Mass Historical Society desk for the afternoon. Being here reminds me of all those hours I spent in middle school doing “homework” in the Holland Museum lobby, waiting for tourists to appear :).

This is my second full day at the MHS. This morning, I was photocopying papers, I turn to the next paper, and what do I see? A letter from M. Cary Thomas — turn of the century woman scholar, educated at Johns Hopkins, founder of Bryn Mawr college — written in her own hand when she was president of Bryn Mawr! Oh. My. God. It’s so surreal just to find something like that, and know once she was holding it, and then find myself putting it on the photocopier!

at the front desk of the MHS (October 2008)

It’s strange and not at all comfortable (given my personality) to be a novice at this job. I have certain skills to draw on, of course, but there is so much to learn in terms of the conventions of an archives versus a bookstore or library or museum. Particularly, there is so much more need to monitor the documents, since they are moving around the building — rather than in stable exhibits — and are one-of-a-kind, extremely rare items. So I am learning new procedures as well as the usual learning of everyone’s names, and where the bathrooms are located, and how to use the email system, etc.

I am enjoying it, although it’s been a rough few days physically, which puts a damper on my mood. While usually my cycle isn’t particularly taxing, it can be a bad combination if I’m already weary (which is just the general state of things this fall . . . I know it will be got through, but annoying while it lasts). Headaches, which lead to Excedrin which leads to insomnia, etc. Yesterday, I intentionally drank coffee like a fiend in the afternoon to keep myself going through my book review assignment (more below), so today I’m feeling rather hung over (and it’s a long day, with class this evening from 6-9). Whine whine whine. 

I wrote this book review, which for some unknown reason (or reasons) I’ve been dragging my heels about for three weeks and absolutely panicked about finishing. I think it became a convenient locus for my anxieties. For a few days, I couldn’t even think about the project without panicking and/or falling asleep (which is my physical defense mechanism–I literally can’t stay awake). And then, it came down to last night, when I was pretty willing to just blurt on paper and print it out to turn in. I didn’t even really proof it. Oh, well. Not my finest scholarly hour, but I sort of feel like I can afford to have an off-semester as I’m getting adjusted. I can’t imagine (my own hubris, I know) that an “off” semester will be anything worse than “B” work. And I know my history class — where I put my best energy — will be a clear “A” (again, hubris) so I’m not too anxious in terms of keeping my scholarships. 

I was thinking last night (haha) that my approach to academic projects is something like the five stages of grief: (1) I have totally unrealistic self-expectations about what I can get done and what I want to get done (denial); (2) when it becomes clear that I’m not going to get my ideal project done, I start resenting the project and the professor, and castigating myself for the unrealistic expectations (anger); (3) I debate internally with myself over what sort of project that’s less-than-ideal I can get done, and maybe argue with the professor about altering the assignment (bargaining); (4) if none of these approaches work, it’s time to start despairing about the entire educational system and wondering what I’m doing there, and imagining I will never complete the assignment and probably drop out of school (depression); (5) finally, when I get tired of feeling crummy and/or it gets down to the wire, I finally give up on the ideal project altogether and just patch something together (acceptance). 

The book I had to review was actually quite interesting, so I’m not entirely clear why I got hung up about it. It was on the history of passports, and there’s lots to say about the history of identity papers, and how they relate to actual persons, and how they connect persons to governments. Part of my problem was no doubt lack of FOCUS, which is usually provided for smaller assignments by class discussion and course readings–but in this case the assignment was poorly written and I just got off on a muddled foot.

I think, in general, it’s been like pulling teeth intellectually to focus on abstract intellectual ideas right now, with so many external changes going on. I’ve never been good at focusing in the best circumstances, which for me means an utterly non-distracting environment (why I can’t study in libraries, ironically enough, since they’re not spaces I can take for granted and ignore). Well, right now, my whole world is a distracting environment! So I feel lucky when I manage to have a more or less coherent thought that’s defined enough to put into a short response paper :).

I had coffee with Hanna Monday night — her initiative!! — which was really good, I think, and have “dates” scheduled with both her and G for next week. I realized that, even though I treasure the alone-time, I can get too wrapped up in my own self-critical monologues re: my graduate work, etc., when I spend every moment I’m not in class or at work by myself. It’s easy for me to forget that fellow students can actually bolster my mood and energize me (as well as reminding me how unrealistic my expectations for my own work might be :)!) since 90% of the time, they aren’t very helpful. But a few well-chosen comrades can make a difference. 

Happily, my own well-chosen comrades (H and G) are going to be in the same history class next semester, and have convinced me to be in it as well . . . so hopefully the collaborative energy will be exponentially enhanced :). G is also taking oral history, which I will be doing as well, so I’m looking forward very much to the spring. I’ll probably panic when the time comes, and go through the predictable cycle (see above) anyway, but right now I can idealize things to my hearts content! 

I really hope you and Dad are able to make a trip to Boston in the spring. I’m already haphazardly collecting little things to do . . . eg the Wednesday morning art tour at the MHS, which I was given privately today, and very much enjoyed; and a visit to the Brookline Booksmith, my favorite independent bookstore so far . . . apart of course, from showing you my own spaces, and the museums and lovely parks that abound. Hm, and places to eat! I walked past a pub this afternoon called “The Foggy Goggle” which I think is just begging to be tried! 

I was asking Dad about filling my levothyroxin prescription online; I may at some point soon ask if you could pick up a refill at Model Drug (where my current prescription is), unless it seems easy to get a new prescription from Krayshak’s office. Dad says it shouldn’t be difficult to send it out here. And I’d reimburse you, of course. 

North Hall, Simmons Residential Campus

Tonight is the first game of the world series, so the neighborhood is going to be bustling! Since I’m on foot, I don’t anticipate much trouble, and I live just far enough away that the noise doesn’t wake me up (living on the res campus, I think, insulates me from the street just enough).

That’s about all the news around here . . . I’m going to sign off and see if I can catch up on a couple of other emails before the end of my shift, 

Love, 
Anna

four years ago today: "I’m gloating to you because I wouldn’t gloat to anyone else."

26 Monday Sep 2011

Posted by Anna Clutterbuck-Cook in life writing

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DCR, four years ago today, simmons

From: Anna
To: Janet, Mark
Date: Thu, Sep 27, 2007 at 11:43 PM
Subject: Welcome home!

Hi Mom and Dad,

Well, I’m hoping that you’re both so preoccupied with besting each other at cribbage that you won’t bother to check email until you get home [from vacation] this weekend.  I’m trusting that Brian and Toby [the cat] didn’t murder one another in your absence . . .

Whew, it’s hot and humid here!  We are having Indian Summer with a vengeance and the dorms are insufferable.  I still haven’t caved and bought a fan, which means I get by with cold showers and sleeping naked on top of the sheets.  It’s working in the short term, but if this lasts through the weekend, money may have to be found, regardless of future job prospects, for a small fan. 

I had my first [Department of Conservation and Recreation] internship session today . . . what fun!  B, my supervisor, is a Simmons grad whose specialty is digitization of visual records (photos, art, etc.). Until last year, she worked at Harvard on a number of different projects. Now she’s the plans archivist for the DCR’s Office of Cultural Resources (or OCR, god do people love their acronyms!).  They have a giant basement with all those cabinets with the big file drawers for maps and plans.  I’m working with a subset of the collection of land plans that the DCR inherited from one of its predecessor departments, the Municipal Parks Commission (you guessed it: MPC).  I am starting with the earliest plans, which date back into the 1890s, and many of which come from the Olmsted firm.  The plans are deteriorating and Judy would like to apply for a grant to have conservation work done on them — which can cost as much as $500/sheet.  Like buying reproduction wallpaper for the Cappon House.  So my job is to organize the plans and enter data on each plan into an Excel file (which I will design as I go along) that will serve as an index of what they have for people who need to use the information currently, as well as provide information for writing the grant proposal.


MPC plan detail (Sept 2007)

The maps are very cool!  And it’s easy to get sucked into wanted to know the whole story about them.  Already, I’m thinking about side-research projects into the history of public parkland, landscape architecture, not to mention the history of the maps themselves and the conventions they follow.  The little directional markers alone are beautiful.  (I will try to stay in everyone’s good graces so that, when you guys come out here, Dad, I can take you down for a private tour!  Provided you don’t need a homeland security background check 🙂 . . .)

section of the Charles River Reservation plans (Sept 2007)

I helped lead discussion on postmodernism and history today.  I felt it went so-so, though Laura (prof) was encouraging overall.  People struggled with the readings.  But we did manage to have a discussion, so that in itself felt like a success :).  I got my second response paper back (with my second “check-plus,” which is the highest of her pass-fail marks) . . . I’m gloating to you because I wouldn’t gloat to anyone else: she made it a point to say in class that she’s being stingy with the marks because it’s her job to teach us something in the class, and we have to start somewhere . . . so that if we found ourselves in possession of one of the few check-plusses she handed out, we have something to feel proud about.  (A +! +! +! +! . . .)  She put it nicer than I just did, but you get the point.  I had to be careful not to laugh.  Seriously, though, she wrote “absolutely elegant — you express your sophisticated level of thinking beautifully.” Aww . . . crush just got a little bigger :). 

I’m gingerly making inroads on the friendship front with several colleagues in that class.  Lola (not to be confused with Laura the prof) was my discussion co-leader and we had a lively meeting Monday night to come up with our questions.  She’s a graduate of Smith College, in history, worked as the curator of a small house museum for several years, is now back in school.  Her adviser at Smith was Helen Lefkowitz Horowitz who is like my women’s history idol . . . one of the people who I was soooo disappointed doesn’t teach at a graduate institution.  I very immodestly squealed (yes, I did: “Ohmigod! You had  Helen Lefkowitz Horowitz as your thesis advisor???!!!”) when she mentioned it in passing.  And I’m persisting in making contact with G, although I’m not exactly sure what footing the friendship will take at this point (still trying to figure out: interested in guys? girls? both? neither?).  He’s got a cultural studies/gender studies background and is really interested in themes of resistance and social change.  I sent him a rather long email this evening continuing our classroom conversation of this afternoon, and fingers crossed it won’t scare him away!

I also have a group of students that I’m doing a hands-on archive project with in Archives class (we take a practice collection and have to “arrange and describe” it, and produce a “finding aid,” which is like a detailed catalog entry — as I explained to one girl, think of it as the cross between a card catalog record and an index or detailed table of contents – -that researchers use to figure out what an archives holdings are and whether they would be useful).  I think it’s going to be a fun project — we’re organizing the papers of a woman who was in the army as a dietitian during WWII and an alum of Simmons.

I started preliminary research on my chosen topic for my archives paper, a short paper due in late October about an issue in archival theory/practice.  I chose the interaction between feminist theory/methods and archival practice.  I went to the librarian and she was very nice but suggested I had picked perhaps too narrow a topic, on which there really wasn’t anything written yet.  I said, “Well, I guess I’ve found my niche and it’s not even the end of my first month here!”  Unfortunately, I won’t be able to, you know, write a body of theory and publish it in peer-reviewed journals in time to write a paper for class in which I referred to my own scholarly research :).  So I am left piecing together stuff in innovative ways (what’s new?) . . . N (librarian) was a little bit nudging me to consider re-orienting my topic slightly, but I wasn’t giving in.  I mean, it’s only a 5-7 page paper for gods’ sake, I think I can manage to write a literature review of what’s out there in that length of text without exhausting my argument.

For my history paper (roughly the same size), I’m supposed to take a primary document to analyze; I chose something from the Oneida Community which touches on gender and education and communitarian values . . . so there’s plenty to sink my teeth into.  I was tempted by a more contemporary memoir on 1980s feminism that I stumbled into on one of the databases, but it felt a little like cheating (too recent) so I let it pass.

[You can read the paper that resulted here at Simmons’ Essays and Studies literary journal]

I did, however, sign up for a series of lectures/discussions hosted by the Massachusetts Historical Society and the Schlesinger Library called the Boston Series on Women and Gender in History: four times over the semester they get together and discuss a paper (as yet unpublished) with the author and a “commentator” over dinner.  $20 for the whole series!  It would have been obscene to pass it up, especially since the topics are all awesome.  Unfortunately, the first two conflict with my History class, but I’m going to try and squirm out of one class, since the topic is gender in the Vietnam era and I just can’t miss it. 

view from Spectacle Island (Sept 2007)

Well, I really ought to get to bed. Early day at work tomorrow . . . and then a packed weekend of reading, so that I can frivol on Sunday — fingers crossed I have time to visit the Harbor Islands, and then I’m, watching The History Boys over a bottle of wine with Hanna [yes, this was more me-style flirtation] — and then my [job] interview with the MHS on Monday!  Send lots and lots of good karma waves in my direction.  Natalie [a friend and former MHS research fellow] is in town and she is going to put in a good word as well (she assures me this is kosher). 

Lots of love . . .
Anna

four years ago today: "I’ll have to re-think this being-your-friend thing"

12 Monday Sep 2011

Posted by Anna Clutterbuck-Cook in life writing

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four years ago today, hanna, simmons, work-life balance

Hanna’s comment, when I asked her to look this conversation over and approve it for posting, was: “good god, you are a clunky flirt … just…wow … it’s amazing.” The only thing I can offer by way of defending myself is to point out that at that point I hadn’t yet consciously realized I was interested in flirting, or even at all capable of it! As before, third party names have been omitted and clarifying editions are in brackets. All other text is original to the conversation.


dorm room beds aren’t the best for cuddling
(September 2007)

Online Chat with Hanna Date: 2007/9/12
1:13 PM
me: the internship site [for choosing archives internships] is up and running!
Hanna: oh, thank goodness!
anything you can’t live without? 😉
1:14 PM
me: um . . . nothing quite THAT inticing
My top three choices so far are:
Hanna: drumroll
1:15 PM
me: 1) BPL [Boston Public Library], a photo project with the Leslie Jones collection, “part of a pre-digitization phase.”
Hanna: awww…the bpl….
me: 2) Mass. Dept of Conservation and Recreation, organizing and indexing plans and maps, including some Olmstead stuff [this was the one I was eventually offered, and accepted]
Hanna: nice,nice.
1:16 PM
me: and 3) the New England Conservatory of Music, a personal collection of one Victoria Glaser, now 94, whose collection they would like to make accessible for research
Hanna: oooh, nice. all good choices!
me: I also looked at the Boston Athenaeum, just because the space is so worthy of drooling over
1:17 PM
[me:] but the whole concept of a subscription library . . .
so hoity-toity
Hanna: yeah, S (who used to work here) went on and on and on about how much she loved the athenaeum and her internship there. she said they had the best pencils ever.
1:18 PM
me: haha
well, that $220/year membership fee has to pay for something!
the thing I wasn’t so sure about with their internship (aside from the elitism)
was that they weren’t so specific about what projects were available
1:19 PM
[me:] so you’re just picking the site, not the project
Hanna: right, right — warning there, though. when i signed up for my 438 internship the project i got at the site was totally different from the one they advertised.
i don’t know what would have happened if i’d raised a stink about it.
me: ah
good heads up
1:20 PM
[me:] so S liked the athenaeum?
(aside from the pencils?)
Hanna: oh, yeah, she loved it.
apparently it’s a gorgeous space and i guess some of their collections are to die for.
me: have you ever talked to anyone who’s worked at the BPL?
1:21 PM
Hanna: thinking
no, i don’t think so.
1:22 PM
[Hanna:] i know one of the girls in my management class this summer was just going to start working there when the class ended, but we didn’t stay in touch after the semester was over.
me: oh well
1:23 PM
Hanna: 😦 sorry.
me: 🙂
don’t worry about it
just thought, you know, if you had any insider info . . .
Hanna: 😉 only that they can’t hire anyone who doesn’t live in bosto.
n
1:24 PM
me: ah . . . well, that’s good to know for future reference!
Hanna: yup, pretty much!
did you see the collection at harvard that’s olmstead’s stuff?
1:25 PM
me: no . . . hmm
I kinda skipped over the Harvard entries, since V made it sound like those were really popular
Hanna: mmm, true. but if you don’t ask, you don’t get! 😉
1:26 PM
me: yeah, but I have this pathological aversion to taking choices away from other people 🙂
I always want to take the choice that no one else is interested in, so I don’t spoil anyone’s plans
1:27 PM
Hanna: well…yes, so, okay philosophically i have to say that is highly altruistic of you.
and therefore i cannot disapprove.
me: 😛
Hanna: or even argue really.
me: I’m not saying it’s a GOOD thing
Hanna: 🙂
me: I mean, for me personally
1:28 PM
Hanna: no, i know. and in this case it might be a bit of overkill, really. it is just an internship after all. it isn’t like you’re doing something really serious like taking the last m&m or something.
me: haha
(looking at the Harvard internships)


the Plans Library at the Dept. of Conservation and Recreation
(October 2007)

 1:29 PM
[me:] they have a lot of cool ones related to horticulture this semester, don’t they?
Hanna: yeah — the glass flowers collection one might be cool. have you seen that museum yet?
me: noooo . . .
must plan to go someday [I still haven’t been!]
1:30 PM
Hanna: on a sunday — if i remember right, mass residents get in free before noon — or after noon — or something like that. it’s on their website.
me: again, good to know!
now you have confused my choices 😉
1:31 PM
Hanna: whoops!
but i added something to your field trip list so that’s got to be a good thing.
me: yeah, I’ll have to re-think this being -your-friend thing
🙂
(field trip list–always a plus!)
1:32 PM
Hanna: see? there you go. the one balances out the other. 😉
1:33 PM
i’d also like to know how this internship out in northampton counts as being on mass transit.
are they confusing the t with greyhound?
me: good question
1:34 PM
[me:] some of the ones on the list looked a little sketchy, access-wise to me!
I mean, yeah, if you had 3 hours to commute!
Hanna: yeah! my 438 class had internships on offer that were up in southern nh and maine.
1:35 PM
me: okay, those may be great sites, but how many of us have the time and/or resources to go out there?
Hanna: exactly.
1:36 PM
[Hanna:] and they were very cool internships, but i don’t know if anyone took them in the end.
me: how sad 😦
1:37 PM
Hanna: i know we had a couple of distance commuter students, but i think they wanted to go to repositories in boston because of subject interests.
1:38 PM
me: so what are you thinking of?
1:39 PM
Hanna: there’s one at bc that just says ‘a chance to do higher level processing and finding aids’ and i just really want to get into the bc repository because they’re supposed to have a good irish collection… [she did, and they do]
…and then the one at harvard about making a kind of harvard cliff’s notes study guide because it might be fun to work at the harvard repository…
me: yep, yep
cliffs notes?
(which one is it?)
Hanna: hang on —
1:40 PM
“…[to] create a guide to biographical and genealogical resources about people associated with Harvard…”
and then the one at tufts in their digital collection because i nearly applied for a job there.
1:41 PM
me: the H one sounds like it could be rather OED [Oxford English Dictionary] in length!
well, all good options, yes?
1:42 PM
Hanna: yeah, i think so. and they’re all on mass transit in places i know and open m-to-f since i can only work on the fridays.
me: 🙂
yeah, that’s sort of how I sorted them as well
1:43 PM
Hanna: i hate the time crunch thing. i was working out my scheduling last night and nearly gave myself a panic attack.
me: yeah
if I end up working at NEU, my schedule is going to be pretty colorful this semester!
Hanna: 🙂
1:44 PM
me: plus, I’m still in the mode of catching up from all the transitions
so I feel like sleeping about 10hrs/night
I know it won’t last, but it makes me feel very . . . unproductive
1:45 PM
Hanna: i know how you feel.
it’s also because it’s turning chilly and dark earlier and so on…
me: yeah 🙂
that was my problem in Aberdeen
3pm?
getting dark?
time for bed!
in the summer
I never had to go to sleep 🙂
Hanna: 🙂
1:46 PM
[Hanna:] i just have an awful time getting up in the morning. it’s dark and chilly — this is what my feather comforter was designed for, people! why am i leaving it?
me: yeah, while I’ve never been a sleep-in-until-noon sort of person,
1:47 PM
[me:] I never have been able to happily get up before it’s light out
Hanna: oh, no.
1:48 PM
[Hanna:] when it’s light, i can get up — but getting up before the sun does not work for me.
me: exactly
which presents problems for those of us
living so far north of the equator
or wherever would mean
we wouldn’t ever have to get up
before it was light out 🙂

Sunrise across the Fens (September 2007)

1:49 PM
[me:] well, speaking of productivity . . .
Hanna: oh, overrated.
me: I think I’m going to sign off and go out for a walk before I face classes this afternoon
Hanna:  hehe — oh, okay, in that case, not overrated. i hear it’s gorgeous out!
1:50 PM
me: it is!
Hanna: oh, bah. well, go on then — you enjoy that beautiful weather! 😛
me: mm
I’ll try to send you some karmic sunshine, or whatever
1:51 PM
Hanna: hehe. thanks! and do enjoy the walk — boston’s really lovely in the fall.
me: bye
Hanna: wave

four years ago today: "first class, etc."

05 Monday Sep 2011

Posted by Anna Clutterbuck-Cook in life writing

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boston, family, four years ago today, hanna, simmons

So in an exercise of sheer archivist-historian self-indulgence, I’ve decided to offer an occasional series this fall that features emails written by 2007 me about my first few months in Boston (and first semester in graduate school). I’m going to kick the series off with an email I sent out to my family on 5 September 2007, on the first day of the fall semester. It features bookstores, libraries, Hanna, classes, and more! I’ve added a few clarifying notes, deleted some individual’s names, and included links to relevent posts from back then. Other than that, it’s a gen-u-ine primary historical source!

From: Anna
To: Brian, Janet, Maggie, Mark, and Joseph
Date: Wed, Sep 5, 2007 at 9:53 PM
Subject: First class, etc.

Hiya all,

Dad wrote earlier and thanked me for keeping y’all “in the loop” about what’s going on in my new life here in Boston. Ha! That’s a losing battle :). Things are happening so swiftly right now, I’m pretty sure I can’t keep up with them myself, let alone keep everyone else up to speed . . .

But here are a few developments in the last 24 hours.

(No, you don’t all have to read ALL of it, if that’s what you’re thinking B & M . . .)

This morning I spent a couple of hours on the phone with Q, the computer magician at Lean Logistics [a company I was working for remotely], setting up the Virtual Private Network (VPN) connection with Lean Logistics. In order to do this, he set up a WebEx conference connection which (get this!) allowed me to give him a remote view of my desktop and control of the mouse on my computer! So I had the very surreal experience of watching my mouse float around doing things while Q talked in my ear, muttering to himself about what he was doing. It was quite cool, actually. And the most important thing is that it worked! So I am now back on board with the whole data entry thing, and fingers crossed it will turn out to be worth the fuss.

On the other job front, I took the Green “D” line downtown to the Prudential Center today and met R [a department manager at Barnes & Noble, where I had transferred from my previous position in Holland, Mich.]. The store is a very strange, warren-like layout, with the children’s department situated back of beyond . . . but she assured me she tries to schedule at least two people in the department at a time. The schedule sheets and “dailies” of staff assignments are intimidatingly large! She said they have about 120 people on staff (though of course not all in the store at one time). I will be starting work a week from Friday, with a 7:00am-11:00am “zoning” shift, which means shelving and so on in the early morning. The next two weeks I have no closing shifts, thankfully, so that I can get a feel for the public transit routes without worrying about returning to the dorm at midnight. There seem to be no truly straightforward ways directly from the Prudential Center to the residential campus. There is a [subway] station incorporated into the center which stops fairly near the [Simmons] teaching campus, but several blocks away from the residential campus. The alternative is to walk a few blocks from Prudential and then take the subway line that stops right next to the dorm. I will have to ask around about what’s advisable. My impulse would be to refuse to be intimidated, but I also don’t want to take foolish risks.

When I was down at the Prudential Center, I took a very pleasurable detour to the Boston Public Library and signed up for my very own library card. It made me positively giddy and possessive feeling . . . like Eva [a child my mother cared for] signing up for her first library card (well, maybe not THAT giddy). You’ve all seen pictures of the BPL before, but here’s a picture of me with my new card standing on the steps in front of the statue of Our Lady of the Libraries (or whichever muse she’s supposed to be) on Copley Square.

Boston Public Library, Copley Square (September 2007)

Meanwhile, just to add spice to my work life, my friend Hanna — a GSLIS student with whom I’ve been corresponding this past year & just met at the History reception last night — emailed me this morning to say that the archives at Northeastern University, where she works, will be starting a year-long grant project October 1st, for which they need a part-time (10-13 hours/weekly) assistant. They are digitizing records from Freedom House, a civil rights organization from the 1950s that worked to integrate (and keep integrated) neighborhoods in Boston. She is urging me to apply for the job, and her supervisor said I should put in my resume ASAP — so I don’t have a lot of time to decide. At first I was like, “gawd this is too much!” But the more I think about it, the better it sounds . . . it pays $15/hour and it looks like Barnes & Noble won’t be offering me more than around 10 hours a week, which means I lose the permanent part-time status. Without that, there really isn’t much incentive to keep the job for the long haul (aside from the employee discount & pleasure of being around, um, books, which doesn’t seem to be a problem for me!). So, I’m going to apply for the job, and if I get it probably a) restrict my hours at B&N and b) quit after Christmas. [I didn’t get hired by Northeastern at this interview, but went on to work for them first as an intern and then as a part-time archives assistant a few years later.]

My final stop of the day was the Introduction to Archives class. This is the first of the three Archives core classes, so most of the students in the class are starting their AM (archives management) focus. This can happen either after they’ve already been library science students, or (as in my case) if they come in knowing what they want to focus in, and perhaps even dual-degreeing (can that be a verb?). I don’t know if I’m unusual, but I’d say that I’m less committed to archives as a specific type of library science than I am to doing both history and library science . . . if that makes sense? I get the impression that students dual-degree because the history will be useful in their archives career, or they got into archives through their history undergrad. I wouldn’t say I thought “archives!” when I imagined becoming a librarian, though there are certainly lots of things to recommend it. I mean, it doesn’t take much to get me all enthusiastic about public history, collective memory, material culture, the democratization of access, and so on. But there are moments (like every other one) where I could just as easily become a Public Librarian in some place like . . . oh, Leland? Or drive a bookmobile through the Lake District?

That having been said, I’m sort of on syllabus high right now, which comes before syllabus shock (that sets in after all three courses have had their first days, and I start accumulating project deadlines). Next week, I’ll get to choose my top three choices for the 60-hour internship out of over 100 options Simmons lines up for us. Fingers crossed it’s something with women’s or social justice history, or education . . . it’s Boston, I’m sure I can manage something! Or perhaps something off-beat will catch my eye that I never even thought of.

And the professor, V, seems nice (if a little prone to rambling . . . really, how many profs have you met who DON’T have that tendency?) She’s enthusiastic, available, and her basic message was: plan ahead, keep me informed, and don’t panic.

Well, I should wrap this email up and hunt down my resume for a little polishing (I’m going to put off writing the cover letter until I’ve had a sobering night’s sleep behind me).

Tomorrow I get my first History Methods class — hooray! — in the afternoon. I think that’s the one that has everyone shaking in their boots (“so much reading!” is what I keep hearing . . . um, and this is a problem to us library students HOW??). That and this job application are the last big things on my list this week. Other than that, I’m going to try and finish my online technology tutorial, open my bank account, and pick up my ZipCar card and paperwork at the main office downtown. And Saturday, Hanna is taking me out to all the best used bookstores, or to a museum, and her favorite coffee shop . . . or something frivolous, geeky and fun. I finally ordered my “Feminism is for Everyone!” library call number shirt (HQ1190.H67) and am hoping I have it in time to wear on our outing.


I did wear this shirt on our Saturday outing;
To this day, Hanna remains particularly fond of it.

 Love to you all,
Anna

"the past is a wild party; check your preconceptions at the door." ~ Emma Donoghue

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