Analysis Memo over “Writing Local History”
What surprised me? I thought the panelists were going to discuss their personal history of growing up in/around Commerce and/or their time at TAMU-C. Instead, the panelists mostly focused on what they are writing, the books they’ve published, and how to publish. A few of them went into personal stories, for instance, Bobbie Purdy read an excerpt from her memoirs, and Dr. Spencer talked about his time as a pilot.
What intrigued me? I liked the historical aspect to this event. I also liked the fact that there was a broad range of ages represented in the panel.
What disturbed me? I don’t recall any disturbing factors. The event was pretty straightforward and whatnot. Although, I was hesitant to ask Dr. Spencer if he worked with The East Texan when he was here because he was of hard hearing. My soft and high-pitched voice doesn’t project well. I ended up asking Dr. Spencer if he had any experience with The East Texan after the session. I still had to repeat my question five times, and I felt really bad when he had to get up and lean over so he could hear me (I guess I felt guilty about not having the ability to project my voice). All in all, I got my answer and some advice which was very nice.
Analysis Memo over “NCoW Theatre: A Festival of Films about Writing and Writers”
What surprised me? I wasn’t sure what to expect was far as receiving information on how writing affect people’s lives in an audiovisual form. We had seen a few of these videos in class, but those mostly dealt with NCoW, and contributing to that site. We hadn’t seen the documentaries that showed people’s responses to questions about writing.
What intrigued me? In the films that dealt with interviews, I found the people’s answers to be synonymous with each other. Writing plays a large part in people’s lives, and depending on the experiences of each individual has with writing, it can be either a positive aspect or negative aspect to their lives.
What disturbed me? There was this guy in the audience who rudely interrupted Dr. Carter’s introduction to the “I Hate Writing” film by loudly blurting out, “We’ve already seen that in our class!” I found that to be quite unnecessary and rude. The lady who sat next to me nodded her head a lot. It wasn’t bothersome, but I found it strange because I didn’t see the point of nodding in understanding at a screen.
Chapter 7 of FieldWorking Box 30: Sorting through Public Archives
I found this box activity to be the most relative to my research project since my project is heavy in archival materials. Editions of The East Texan from the forties are the archival materials I am using and examining for my research project. Close examination of these newspapers will provide a great deal of insight into how the students and the campus were affected by World War II. Text and images make up the newspaper, so I’ve decided to break up the two into two separate categories, each with its own subcategories. Advertisements, political cartoons, and pictures that coincide with the articles are subcategories of images. Text is broken up into the different types of genres of articles, the random patriotic proclamations printed in between articles, and the captions under the pictures.
Books and websites pertaining to the history of the United States during that time period will also help immensely. They will help paint a broader picture of how civilians experienced the war. I remember going through an edition of The East Texan and reading the date and time of a practice blackout, along with the guidelines for participating in the blackout. I was perplexed about the blackout event. I hadn’t previously learned about practice blackouts in my history classes, so I didn’t know what a practice blackout was. Outside research through books and websites will help me fully understand what the reports (who took for granted that the people reading the newspaper would be knowledgeable about the issues at hand) wrote about.
Another helpful archival material would be an oral history from someone who experienced the War II time period as a student at East Texas State Teachers College would be an excellent first hand account. It would be rich in information about that time period, and how that person was effected directly by the war. Hopefully, I will be lucky enough to encounter an oral history like this.
