Fall

Fall is officially here, with all of its obvious signs: Cool weather, leaves just beginning to turn color, I can leave the windows open all day, seems acceptable now to make hot chocolate, and butternut squash is back in season! I'm a little sad about it not being summer anymore, feel as though I hardly got to experience it and the chance to wear shorts, but fall just seems so much more cozy.

I had my first presentation today. The first thing I've had to actually do, that wasn't just read and discuss books. I had to give a "state of the field" report on the historiography of immigration. Basically identify and look at the major works that historians have done in immigration history, give their thesis, what argument they made, and how it affected historians writing after them. Discuss trends (like looking at Irish, Jewish, women, ethnic groups etc etc) and the new theoretical frameworks that came into play over the years. I of course got myself all worked up over it, As I am wont to do. Had lots of notes, probably talked a little more than I should have, but hey at least I was thorough. I think it went fine, my perspective is still a little skewed at this point. Afterwards I asked the prof if he had any feedback and he seemed to think it was fine so I guess I should just move on. :) Its very new this whole attitude I sense about grades just not really mattering anymore. Like, you do the reading, come to class and discuss, and thats it for most of the time. Never going to be tested on it or need to write about it (at least in my case, not the PhDs so much because they have General Exams) so its very much a learning for your own knowledge type of thing. It is taking some getting used to.

But, there is so much interesting stuff that I have been reading. I started a pile of those books that maybe some day I will go back to and actually get to read from cover to cover and soak it all up. Such a wide mixture of things-- the Progressive era, Japanese American immigrants, British missionaries in Jamaica. My brain is sort of on overload.