History of the Franks

I've just started Gregory of Tours' History of the Franks. I read excerpts from it for my class in Medieval Political Thought and wanted to come back to it when I had more time. It's more interesting to read primary sources to find out what the original authors had to say and so I've pulled out some primary source books on the Middle Ages as well as some Medieval literature from my personal library. I plan to roughly read them in chronological order.

I also plan to blog about what I read. By doing this, it will give me a chance to think and reflect on what I read. A lot of the time, when I am reading for pleasure and especially when something is thrilling, I tend to read "in the moment" and not do any close reading. I think if I blog about what I have just read, it will force me to think more deeply about it and get more out of my reading. It be nice to read the book with someone, but none of my Facebook friends seemed interested. I was hoping that at least one or two people would want to since I thought that they were interested in things medieval, but alas... no potentially fun discussion group for me and a blog will have to suffice.

I finished the Introduction today. From what I've gathered, Gregory of Tours came from a noble Gallo-Roman family which was involved in ecclesiastics. Some of his ancestors were even saints. His father died when he was young and he was turned over by his mother to one of his male clergyman relatives to rear. Under this guidance, received an education as an ecclesiastic and learned grammar and dialectic, two of the seven areas which made up the ideal medieval education. (The other subjects are rhetoric, geometry, astronomy, mathematics and music.) Within these two subjects, he mostly studied the Bible, such as the Gospels and Acts. He was made Bishop of Tours in 572 or 573 and finished writing The History of the Franks in the 590s. He died about three years later. Gregory is described as a modest and deprecating man and a likeable person in general.

His book starts with the beginning of the Bible and continues until he begins to write about contemporary events in Books V to X when he becomes the Bishop of Tours. He is not prone to gross exaggeration, so his narrative can be relied upon, although it is not without pardonable misinformation on his part. In Books I to V when he writes about events before his time, he cites many books, some of which are lost to us today. So, in addition to being a chronicler of the times, he has also unwittingly recorded for posterity the works which we would not otherwise have known of.

During my days as an undergraduate, while taking a really interesting class about John Wycliffe and thinking about biblical imagery in medieval stained glass, it dawned on me that it seems that the medieval people saw themselves as people of The Book. That is, they saw their history as just a continuation of biblical stories/history. If this is true, this would account for the reason why the crusades were as popular as they were and why they were fought as ferociously as they were. Biblical kings also justified and gave power to the idea of contemporary kings.

Tonight was the 2010 Scholarship Dinner for Douglass College. I was there to thank my donors for the two scholarships which helped put me though school for 2010: The Margaret Hastings Memorial Scholarship (which I also received last year) and the Lois Zapolsky Memorial Prize.

It always amazes me that there are so many generous donors who support students that they don't even know. If it wasn't for these thoughtful people, I would been forced to put school off. If I am able to graduate this year (which I hope I will happen), it would be because of the financial help I received from such donors since I am no longer eligible for financial aid and I already have a load of debt which I have put off. C has also been important and supportive to me, by allowing me to attend school full-time without putting pressure on me to return to work. All these people made it possible for me to become the student I am today and have helped me to be the best that I can be. It was awkward at first to meet my donors for the first time. I really don't like to rely on people for help, especially financial help, but it made me realize that in order for me to realize my goal, I will need to rely on the support of many people to help me through. It is a humbling experience. Once I achieve my goal, I plan to do the same for others.

I turned in what I hope is my last project as an undergraduate today at about 12:20 PM to the Art History Department. It was a 10 page essay which I wrote over the course of many months, but didn't really define until last week when it was urgent to work on it. Hopefully Dr. H will like the paper as much as she seemed to like my presentation (which I burned onto CD, as per her request).

I was only sorry that I didn't have time to do more research. There is a whole stack of interesting library books waiting to be read, but I didn't have the time to go through them since Dr. H kept us pretty much busy the entire months with different parts of the assignment to turn in. I am planning to take note of their titles, as well as photocopy the table of contents and indexes since they seem like good books that I might be able to use for future research. I'm also hoping to borrow these books again with my Rutgers alumni library card (I was thrilled to find out that I would still have access to the library!).

For the summer, I'm planning to study for the GRE as well as make an Access database for research. I thought it would be easier to scan and type notes as opposed to writing them down. I will also create a template so that I can print out the notes in a 3x5 format that I can stick onto index cards to file away. It much easier to look through physical note cards than looking at them on the computer. Technology is great in some ways, but it still can't replace the way I do things.

I volunteered to be the first to give my presentation today. Unlike other times, I wasn't nervous since I wasn't worried about how I was going to say everything or fumbling my speech. I had my slides keyed to text that I read. Knowing what I was going to say took a lot of pressure off me. I had found a text on the Internet about giving academic presentations and one of the suggestions was to read from a script, since academic information tends to be more condensed and the ideas can be presented in a more eloquent way. That was a great suggestion! I guess it is true too. I have been to at least one academic event where the speaker (an older and distinguished doctor of art history) read his presentation from a script and no one seemed to think any less of him. I was thrilled that the teacher seemed to like my presentation and even asked to have a copy on CD when I turn my paper in. I gushed about how I really liked the subject (magic and miracles) and was thinking that it would make for a great dissertation topic if I get into graduate school. I was a little embarrassed about saying that afterward because I might have sounded as if I was trying too hard to appear like an eager student (which I am, but maybe my enthusiasm should have been reined in a bit. I couldn't help it, I really like my topic!). I said something to the effect of, "The more I read, the more I found out that there is to know and the more I wanted to read." I'm sure I must have sounded like a complete nerd to everyone in class. Awkward! At the end of class, one girl actually said that she liked my presentation. Yay! Oh, and Dr. H said that it would have made a good honors paper too! =D

I turned in my catalog entries for 30 objects as well as 3 wall texts and submitted the 10 items accompanied by labels for my portion of the virtual exhibition today. What a relief! This was the part of the assignment I dreaded even more than the presentation because it seemed so daunting to write catalog entries for 30 objects! Although I began work on the catalog on Friday, I still needed a lot of time on Tuesday to complete it since I was only halfway done. C was gracious and took off from work to watch B and take care of things around the house while I slaved away at the computer all day yesterday. I probably should have just done one object a day for a month. It would have been much easier, but I was probably trying to keep up with the reading assignments and had little to no time to do so. Although I borrowed books from the library for all of the reading assignments (I detest looking at fuzzy photocopied images), I didn't have time to read them all, although I would have liked to. =( And to imagine that I thought that I could also do the suggested readings!

I really enjoy reading about magic and miracles during the early Christian period. It seems that the more I read, the more I find that there is still more to read! If I haven't mentioned this before, I think I have found an area I would like to specialize in and write a dissertation about. The only question I have now, is whether I should concentrate in history or art history.

Two more weeks to go. Next week I have to give a presentation and the following week the entire project is due. After that, I can just sit and relax and wait for graduation day to arrive. I can't wait! =)

I'm waiting for C to return from work. We are planning to go out for burgers at a nearby hotel. Later I plan to work on the descriptions for the 30 items for my miracle and magic in early Christian art catalog. So far, I have almost all of the details, such as the title, material, date, place and size, so I'm moving along. I hope I can do all 30 items tonight and maybe I will have time to do 3 wall texts tomorrow. The class is moving along quickly. I wish that I had more time to read the assignments because they are really interesting, but I am foregoing them to work on my project which also requires research, and since we are getting graded on our project I thought it would be best to concentrate on that instead. The catalog, 1-3 wall texts, images and their labels are due next week. The following week is the week to present my exhibition and the next week, the entire project is due. It really does seem like a lot to do, but I am working on a bit day by day. Hopefully it will all come together well.

I'm really looking forward to the end of this month when the entire assignment will be done and I can look forward to the graduation ceremony. I picked up a handicap pass and also my graduation regalia yesterday after going to the Dean's Tea. Unfortunately no deans were present by the time I got there. I was looking forward to seeing Dean M and hearing her stories. She is a great story teller and I wish I could tell stories as well as she does. I also have to remember to pick up the invitations. I think we only get 3, but I will have to check.

Just finished going through "Miracle and Magic: A Study in the Acts of the Apostles and the Life of Apollonius of Tyana" by Andy M. Reimer for my research paper. There are lots of interesting leads to other texts about miracles and magic during the Late Antique period. I took note of them and look forward to reading them one day for my dissertation.

I am feeling a bit more confident today about grad school, although I did read an article about a woman who graduated with a PhD in medieval literature who is struggling to support herself by taking several adjunct positions at different academic institutions. It wasn't a pretty picture. She races around from one class at one location to another in order to support herself as well as repay her student loans and credit card debt. I wonder if I should take some time out to get my own credit card debts paid so that I can concentrate more on my studies instead of being distracted by the thought of bills looming over my head. On the other hand, I've been doing a little bit of thinking about teaching and was even a bit excited about the prospect of conducting a class. I'm all for interactive learning and have devised some ideas about how I would conduct my class to get students thinking and participating about the topic. I'm still uneasy about it, but at least there is now a bit of excitement mixed in with the feeling instead of dread. I also read a bit about lecturing at a university. Instead of trying to squeeze a whole lot of information into each class, the goal is to introduce three main ideas. That seems doable to me and a whole lot less intimidating!

I've been having some doubts about whether I can actually finish grad school. It seems more intense than at the undergraduate level and I just have so many distractions. Not all of them are bad and some of them are necessary, such as housework, cooking and looking after the puppy when C is at work. I'm worried that I won't be able to finish the program. It's a major concern since it will involve a large commitment of time and money. Even if I was able to get a fellowship or some form of stipend, it is still an investment of money on the part of others and that is something that I take very seriously. The only way that I can see myself completing it, is if I were to study on a part-time basis. I doubt that I would qualify for any fellowships at that point, since it would appear to others that I am not taking my studies seriously.

I wasn't able to get any of my research done these past few days either. I guess that is why I am feeling pessimistic. It is really difficult to balance time unless I get up earlier than B and C. C's schedule doesn't make it any easier. Since he gets up a 2 pm or later on his days off, that means that errands and chores we had scheduled to do together involving stores and daylight are rushed. By the time we get home, I am usually tired. If I have enough energy to do anything, I usually cook dinner for us. When that is done, I clean up. By the time I am done, it is usually really late and so I spend some time with C before going to bed at 4ish since that is when he goes to bed. Of course, I could always go to bed earlier, say, at 12 am so that I could get up at 8 am, but then I wouldn't have really gotten to spend any quality time with C and I feel that that isn't the way I would like to live my life. Life is about connecting with others and not just about grades. Sometimes I forget this and let my drive for high grades take over my life. When this happens, I neglect the people that make up my world and let my home fall apart around me. But when I reflect on it, I realize that it would be a sad world to live in if there was no connection between family and friends. It is what makes life worth living.

I guess I should really blog a bit more, just to get into the habit of putting my thoughts down. It seems a good idea, especially since I am interested in pursuing a PhD. Yesterday I spent some time reading about how to study history and about how to conduct a research. I learned how to conduct research in high school, but it has been many years, so a refresher was good. As for learning how to study history, no one ever really sat down to teach me how to study history. History books are so jammed packed with information that I get really caught up in the details and sometimes lose sight of the larger picture, so I thought that maybe I was missing a studying technique. Turns out that it is normal to read an article a few times before really grasping the ideas--what a relief! Before, I thought that I was just really dense or something!

It also turns out that I am not alone in how I conduct research. That is, I spend lots of time reading and collecting quotes and not as much time writing the paper. I hope that blogging and putting my thoughts down will become a habit so that I will become more prolific and fluent in my writing.

On another, but related note, I am leaning more towards studying history. I enjoy art history, but I am not sure if I want to analyze the development of art as much as I would like to learn about the culture of the Middle Ages. Right now I am thinking about magic and miracles in late antiquity. I think it might be a good and interesting topic for a dissertation too. The earlier period of the Middle Ages is the most intriguing for me since it is a period of great change. The development of Christianity defines the period we call the Middle Ages and a whole culture revolved around this religion. Apart from Egypt and her pyramids, I can't think of any other culture that devoted a unique and pervasive building type to religion as the Christian churches and cathedrals. Not only that, but these buildings formed the center of many new and growing towns and cities being established in Europe during that time. Like Egyptian culture (which I also find really interesting; I was thinking of becoming an Egyptologist at one time), it is a monumental culture that is intensely interesting to study no matter what the topic: religion, art, literature, music, history, etc.

It's sad to be only a sideline friend

Facebook is a great way to connect, but once you do connect with people you once knew, it feels a bit lonely when they really don't bother to keep in touch with you. It's also a bittersweet feeling to be able to see what they are up to and to know that you are not a part of their activities or thoughts. Sometimes it seems that many use the site to advertise the wonderful things they are doing than to keep in touch with friends.

I managed to read a few pages about early Christian architecture yesterday, although I failed to read the entire chapter. I will have to make it a high priority today. It's really difficult to maintain a set schedule with C around, but I guess I can't always use him as an excuse.

Yesterday I found a book at the public library which may help me with my project on miracles and magic. It didn't have entire chapters devoted to the topic, but there were some clues to where I might be able to find more leads. I also took out a book on traditional archery and heathers. I'd like to eventually try mounted archery and figured that I should get a start somewhere. The book on heathers might prove extremely useful for the solution of what to plant at the steep slope at the side of the house so that C doesn't have to mow the lawn and risk his life by falling off the wall and into the street below.

Maybe today I can go to Rutgers to make a copy of an article we were supposed to read. Unfortunately the professor didn't post it on Sakai, so I'm not exactly sure if she expects us to read it or not. I was under the impression that she would post it on Sakai, but when I last looked it was missing.

So much to do and so little time! That's how I always feel. I think I need to take a meditation class. I'm feeling a bit stressed. I couldn't get to sleep last night either and fell asleep around 2:30 or 3 AM and woke up at about 11:30 AM today. It is difficult to go to sleep early. There are so many things on my mind that I am thinking that I should do. At least I read a chapter of "Twenty Years After" yesterday. The story is getting a bit more exciting now that the four musketeers have met up. Interestingly, it has taken a different turn than I expected as Porthos and d'Artagnan are teamed up with the Cardinal against Aramis and Athos for the grandson of Henry IV. Oh, bother! I don't remember his name, but probably should since he is relevant to English history. John Someone who was probably involved in the War of the Roses. Now I will have to look it up... Oh... it was the Duc de Beaufort. Upon further research, it seems that he has nothing to do with the War of the Roses or John of Gaunt and Katherine Swynford, although they had children with the same surname. I wonder where I got the name "John" from... maybe I mixed him up with John of Gaunt. Oh... Henry IV is in reference to the king of France, not of England. There are so many Henry IVs!

Did not do much yesterday and went to bed early because of a headache from lack of sleep. C and I drove around in the storm looking for a grocery store or supermarket. They were all closed and so we ended up going to Wawa for a few items and Subway for lunch. The Subway was located in a Pilot station which serves truckers. It seems that they were all congregating there because of the storm. It was slow going, but nice to be out driving on snow-covered white roads with the snow blowing all around.

Still have not started the readings. After coming home yesterday, I was a bit tired... oh, that and plus I had to shovel outside the mudroom. C doesn't do a very good job of it and likes to bring out his electric snow shovel. I don't think the electric shovel does as clean a job as shoveling the stuff manually. Back to the readings, I hope I can catch up with last week's readings today. Tomorrow, I hope to start next week's readings and maybe even finish it all. I was taking notes in MS Word for each article and chapter I read, but I think I will stop that. It takes me a lot longer to get through the assignments and I also worry that pulling out bits and pieces of information may not be a good idea since I may miss part of what the author is trying to say or if I remember it, I will have forgotten it by the time I re-read my notes. I am hoping that it is enough to make notes in the margins. I wonder if students of yore had this much work to do or whether it is something of the modern age where faster is equated with better. I don't see how anyone can really absorb all that information in such a short period of time without having the time to mull over the readings.

Today is a sunny day. The local grocery is probably open, so I will go down there to pick up some items for dinner. I am planning to make shepherd's pie tonight. I had planned to make it last night, but again, the grocery stores were closed.

Yesterday, with C's reluctant help, I was able to plant sweet woodruff, sage and lamb's ear seeds. Hopefully they will germinate. I also brought some germinating mix, balanced fertilizer and greensand from the Gardener's Supply Company. I used up all of the Miracle-Gro seed starting mix yesterday and thought that I should give their germinating mix a try. The product has received rave reviews from customers and I find that the Miracle-Gro mix tends to have small twiggy parts in it, which I read somewhere was an indication of poorer quality mixes. I also brought 100 small round transplant pots and wooden plant labels from Jung's. Not sure if I will actually need 100 pots, but I'm sure that I will be giving some plants away. Besides, it's always nice to have extras on hand.

I think I will not finish "The Okinawa Program". I took a look at the recipes in the back of the book and they do not seem like anything that C will eat and I find some of the low-fat recipes a bit hard to swallow, so it doesn't look like anything I can realistically do. I guess I will have to move onto something else that seems a bit more do-able. At least, there is one less book that I feel compelled to read. It will probably go back into the BookMooch queue for someone else who might be more accepting of healthier foods. For now, I will just try to eat a bit more sensibly, cut portion sizes and eat in moderation. I will have to try to find some more healthy, but tasty recipes. I guess adding fish into the equation wouldn't hurt either. I've always liked some fish, although C seems not to enjoy eating them. It's difficult to live with a finicky eater (sigh).

I am going to finish up or at least try to finish up my order for the seeds today. I think I will need a few transplant pots too. I was hoping that I could find them in a nursery around here to save on shipping costs. Home Depot doesn't seem to carry them.

I didn't get much sleep last night. I went to bed around 2:30-3 AM and woke up around 7:30. That's only 5 hours. I had told the other officers in the S Club that I would send the meeting minutes out by 8 AM and wanted to stick to my word. I figured that I would be up at that hour anyway since I had to prepare to leave for school. With the snowstorm, school is closed today so apart from getting up to send the meeting minutes, I didn't have to get up early. Oh well... maybe this will force my sleeping pattern to get back on track since I will be tired tonight.

Hopefully I can catch up on all of my readings for last week. I think that I am reading ahead since we seem to be slipping a bit behind schedule in class. That's okay though. I wouldn't want to be caught behind and it doesn't hurt to be ahead. I still need to do some research about magic and miracles though. I wouldn't want to get behind on that. I should probably start my paper by writing a few preliminary words on it, just to get the creative and thinking process going. It seems less intimidating if I think of writing a page a day than if I were to put it all off until the very last minute. At least I would feel that I have something that just needs a bit of fine-tuning. Often in the past, I would find that although I did a lot of reading and note taking, I don't have a coherent paper until there are actually logical thoughts and paragraph progressions in the paper. Since this is my only class, there is no excuse for not having a strong paper by the end of the semester. Unless I have chosen a poor topic...

No school tomorrow due to a snow storm! Hurray! I can catch up to all of my readings tonight. I was also worried because my sleep pattern has reverted back to falling asleep at 4 AM. Right now the streets are wet, so I think we are going to have heavy wet snow. Not very nice... especially when one must walk the dog.

I guess I will have time to do a bit of seed starting now that I don't have to go to bed early. I really should start some of them. I planted some tulips, muscari and irises in pots and covered the bulbs in potting soil. Then I read that the tops of the tulips should not be covered. Oh well! I guess this will be a learning experience. Let's see what happens.

It's funny. I think I must have Attention Deficit Disorder or something. I can't bring myself to sit still and read my schoolwork, but when I finally do, I find it really interesting. My mind has been on seeds and plants lately. I've been trying to divide up tasks in my Franklin Covey planner pages so that I actually do what I am scheduled to do. Sometimes it works, sometimes I procrastinate. A lot of the time, I use it to jog my memory about what I should be doing on a particular day. For example, today I am supposed to make some ham and cheese biscuits which I haven't yet started.

Tomorrow I will have to do a bit of grocery shopping since we are out of the basic necessities like eggs and such. I wonder what I should make for dinner tomorrow. I would like us to eat healthier. Shepherd's pie sounds good and the last one I made was delicious, but according to my book, "The Okinawa Program", (yes, putting the comma there was not a mistake. The English style of punctuation makes more sense to me than the American style, but that's another matter) meat is one of those things which one should not have too much of. Maybe it is okay for tomorrow since it is going to be a cold and snowy one. Nothing like hearty comfort food! Maybe I should make some chocolate chip cookies too. I made some brownies from a new recipe from my Penzeys catalog yesterday. They weren't bad, but they could have been a bit more chocolaty. I burnt the edges though so I cut those parts off before sending C to work with a plate of brownies to share with his co-workers.

Yesterday I picked up my Kindle (which C had given to me for Christmas) and read a chapter or two from Dumas' "Twenty Years After". My friend V gave me a physically copy for my birthday last year, but I never finished reading it since schoolwork and taking care of a new puppy kept me busy most of the time. C felt bad that I wasn't using the Kindle, so I figured that I would compromise and try to do both at once. It really is a nice device for reading casual books. I especially like the somewhat instant dictionary feature.

I'm still pondering whether I should apply to a Medieval Studies program under the history or art history department. Historians, for some reason, just seem a bit more cautious about making assumptions and seem to carefully construct their arguments around written evidence while art historians seem to make some broad stylistic conclusions sometimes. I suppose that written evidence is more concrete and is spelled out while visual evidence may leave much for the imagination. I'm planning to write my art history seminar paper on miracles and magic. Hopefully I can find enough visual and written evidence to form a strong and coherent thesis since there does not seem to be much written about it at present. At least, according to Mathews's book, "The Clash of Gods".