I have not updated in a while. It is more due to the hectic-ness of 2020 combined with grad classes that asked a lot of me. The worthwhileness of this past semester cannot be overstated. While I am attempting to demonstrate all that I did this semester through some grad school updates, pretty much all I did was coursework.
Grad School Update 1: More Skills
To improve my skills I joined a grant/fellowship/postdoc writing workshop. I am the only Master’s student in the writing group. Nonetheless, it is beneficial to see what my Ph.D. peers in the department are up to. I believe I have learned a lot.
In addition to being Secretary, I also took over the social media accounts associated with UNL’s HGSA. There is now a Facebook page and an active Twitter.
I also joined the UNL Archives to aid in processing specific quilt collections as well as whatever else is asked of me. I really do like the digital projects I undertook last year with the Center for Digital Research in the Humanities but it is nice to be back with analog projects and honing my skills in that regard.
Grad School Update 2: The Actual Coursework
As far as my coursework for this semester went, it was a challenge. I greatly stepped outside of my expertise. Generally, I look at diplomatic history. More recently, this has taken to analyzing the place of the United States in the world via the internalization of domestic engagements.
Stepping outside of my comfort zone
However, this semester I stepped into social history to understand Human Rights from a group in which one might not associate human rights — Sex Workers. I began this semester knowing I wanted to look at an intersection of Human Rights histories and Women and Gender Histories. In the prior spring, I had my first real brush with understanding the place of sex workers within history. Thus, I decided to explore more over the summer in a directed readings course that covered research methods. By the end of this fall semester, I produced an article-length research paper. Admittedly it is still very rough, I still have a lot to look into, but it is a start.
Oh Theory
Admittedly I am not much for theory but I know that about myself. So, I took a feminist theories class to help me really understand theory and what it means to utilize theory in your work. It was a very good class and I can say with confidence that I have a greater understanding. Honestly, I am really underselling the course. It gave me the assurance I needed in my own ability to work with theory. At the very least, I am now able to point it out and understand it’s influence on whatever work I am engaging with. I am so very grateful to Dr. Rose Holz. Her ability to teach and adapt the course made it the best it could have been during these stressful times. I have no idea how she could have made it better, truly it was fantastic.
Don’t forget breathing room
With these two difficult courses, I also took something that while not easy gave me breathing room. Post-World-War-Two America allowed me to handle my semester much better than it could have been. Usually, I like to stick with the 1970s and beyond but this course was all about 1945 to 1969. So I knew the general events of the time period I am not as sure in the time period. The course helped keep my passion for history alive when my research course (the sex worker project) threatened to overwhelm me.
What’s Next
All of this has made me even more certain of my choice to “go out into the world” and look for a job. Well sort of. I have applied for another Master’s program in Library and Information Science but I will not know anything until around February. To that end, I am excited to see what the future holds. Whether I go and get a job in archiving or I have the ability to continue my education, I believe I will be happy. My time at UNL has been challenging but it was the best decision I could have made two years ago. Perhaps I will attempt a Ph.D. later, but for now, I am looking forward to experiencing life outside of the academy, hopefully after one more Master’s.
In any event, now that we are on break, I am staring at a pile of books. Some of them have been on my list to read for quite a while. The hope is that they will all enhance my portfolio pieces for my Master’s defense. So wish me luck in re-composing those pieces. I’ve also signed up for a few workshops. In the next update, probably at the end of break, I’ll speak more about that.