Internship Update and Some Free Verse

Dear Readers:

Be thankful for your job, if you have one.

Skip this bit if you're just here for the free verse.

Project 4 - Gather information about state-wide public libraries' meeting spaces.

Project 5 - Quantify and input data from over 1500 school readiness surveys into a database.

Project 6 -

The past two weeks, my internship has been one of the most boring things I have ever done. Despite that, I'm getting paid, and I enjoy working.

The other two interns and I were given the daunting task of cataloguing and evaluating the conditions of the "green box microfilm" in the Indiana State Archives vault. This involved going through a very incomplete database and updating the microfilm rolls' location. We also checked the microfilm for multiple signs of deterioration. The going was slow, especially when we had to create new records. By the time we were finished, we had gone through about 5500 rolls of microfilm.

To pass the time, we listened to Pandora, critiqued each others' music interests, and built forts out of the empty boxes.

There are still around 1600 boxes containing 40-100 rolls of microfilm each in the vault. They have no catalogued records, and that needs to be done. Good luck, interns of the next 5 years.

Project 7 - Stalk 165 children's authors. Literally, I have to update their contact information. My stalking tools include their old contact information, whitepages.com, mapquest.com, and google.com. Some of them have died in the past 10 years.

Project 8 - Publish the Negro and Mulatto Registers to the Indiana Digital Archives. Currently, I am the only person in the state has access to and knows how to use the online portal for the digital archives publications. These publications will be available for the first national African American Genealogical Convention. This is my favorite project so far.

Well, now I'm caught up on my job stuff. It's more for my reference than your enjoyment, but I hope you enjoyed it nonetheless.

I've had two ideas for poems pop up, but I don't have the time to hash them out right now. Instead you all get to read the rough ideas, with very little editing.

This first one popped into my head after I had thought about love poems. I hope I'm being original.

To The Girl

to the girl I don't love,
I want to tell you how I feel

I rarely think about you
for more than five seconds at a time

I've never wondered how you feel about me,
nor how you feel about us

sleeps comes very easily, because you do not disturb my waking dreams
my sleeping dreams are boring and I immediately forget them upon waking

you can pay for your own meal,
I'll pay for mine

you new hair style will go unnoticed
but your cleavage might distract me for a moment

I don't care where you go to church
your birthday is a mystery too

your life is composed of so many small secrets
that I don't care to ask
until the happenstance day I find myself in love with you

That's the general idea of it. I'm talking very rough skeleton. I'll probably read this later and rip the word choice to shreds. Ideally, the final product is something insulting and ultimately sweet enough to give to...whoever, ya know? I don't care, 'cause I don't love her yet - haha.

This second one is (awful, for now) about the way affliction simplifies a fast-paced modern life. It's lacking tension, buildup, turning point, yaddah yaddah yaddah...

The Advantages of Being Blind

the blind man saves all kinds of money
because he doesn't need lights, televisions, or gasoline
he values hugs and the smell of water more than I do
the blind man takes time to organize, everything
trust comes at a much higher price and yields
a greater understanding
he is more conscious of his limits, rather
more conscious of his ability to overcome them
the blind man is always conscious of the wind
and his toes

Your comments are appreciated, your criticism is tolerated, your base are belong to me.

-Arec