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
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Saturday, June 6, 2009
Friendship and Colors
There are several limbs I'm going to traverse faster than a flying squirrel during this post.
I can think of two reason for this.
The first reason would be my current state of mind. It's around 5 AM on a Saturday morning. Get. The. Picture.
The second reason would be my lack of blog posts. I should stop making promises because I really don't have much to talk about from week to week. However, I am getting better about remembering the topics I want to cover in each post. This post will be dealing with two of them: Friendship, and colors.
For the first, join me in a perfect, fluid world. Here, I mean fluid as ever-changing and adaptable, not aqueous. Think about your friendships in this space.
You have friendships because they are mutual, because they are beneficial, and because you can terminate them.
This is not cold hearted. If the person with whom I am best friends suddenly undergoes a negative change, I may terminate the friendship because it is either non-mutual or non-beneficial. Following? Let's be honest, people are subject to change at any time because shit happens. Any flavor of shit may happen.
If friendships, even the closest ones, can end, then what's the point? The answer is: It is mutual and beneficial. I like having people around me. I like talking. I like staying current in some peoples' lives. Likewise, they may enjoy having me around, talking to me, or staying current in my life.
In short, this is what I would like people to consider. Friendships are as fluid as jobs, but that doesn't make them any less important. They are extremely important, but I would like my readers to understand their worth and reasoning behind friendships. If you can see the skeletons beneath interpersonal relationships, it's easier to mend the broken bones.
On to colors! I walked into the cafeteria in the basement of the Indiana Government Center South and I made an observation that struck me as odd. Out of everyone in food lines, checkout lines, and tables, not a single person was wearing brightly colored clothing. As I scanned the panorama every single person struck my eyes as dull and insignificant. There were grays, dulled pinks, faded blues, shaded greens, and many other awe-supressing colors. Almost instantly, I looked down at my own shirt for comparison. It was a rich navy blue. I immediately felt like the healthy thumb on a cancerous hand. I sensed the enclosing tumor fist tightening around my garments.
At that point, I started thinking about the reasons for such bland attire. Maybe we're more likely to be recognized for our flaws than our achievements, and we want to blend in to everyone else's flaws. Maybe we follow the monotonous pattern of others because it's hard to pair bright colors with ones that are dull. Whatever the reasoning, I'm all in favor of going against the grain.
Three cheers for the brave souls that challenge the normalcy of unremarkable clothing. Three cheers for every soul that joins me in brightening up everyday life.
Don't be afraid to stand out.
Comments are encouraged and appreciated.
I can think of two reason for this.
The first reason would be my current state of mind. It's around 5 AM on a Saturday morning. Get. The. Picture.
The second reason would be my lack of blog posts. I should stop making promises because I really don't have much to talk about from week to week. However, I am getting better about remembering the topics I want to cover in each post. This post will be dealing with two of them: Friendship, and colors.
For the first, join me in a perfect, fluid world. Here, I mean fluid as ever-changing and adaptable, not aqueous. Think about your friendships in this space.
You have friendships because they are mutual, because they are beneficial, and because you can terminate them.
This is not cold hearted. If the person with whom I am best friends suddenly undergoes a negative change, I may terminate the friendship because it is either non-mutual or non-beneficial. Following? Let's be honest, people are subject to change at any time because shit happens. Any flavor of shit may happen.
If friendships, even the closest ones, can end, then what's the point? The answer is: It is mutual and beneficial. I like having people around me. I like talking. I like staying current in some peoples' lives. Likewise, they may enjoy having me around, talking to me, or staying current in my life.
In short, this is what I would like people to consider. Friendships are as fluid as jobs, but that doesn't make them any less important. They are extremely important, but I would like my readers to understand their worth and reasoning behind friendships. If you can see the skeletons beneath interpersonal relationships, it's easier to mend the broken bones.
On to colors! I walked into the cafeteria in the basement of the Indiana Government Center South and I made an observation that struck me as odd. Out of everyone in food lines, checkout lines, and tables, not a single person was wearing brightly colored clothing. As I scanned the panorama every single person struck my eyes as dull and insignificant. There were grays, dulled pinks, faded blues, shaded greens, and many other awe-supressing colors. Almost instantly, I looked down at my own shirt for comparison. It was a rich navy blue. I immediately felt like the healthy thumb on a cancerous hand. I sensed the enclosing tumor fist tightening around my garments.
At that point, I started thinking about the reasons for such bland attire. Maybe we're more likely to be recognized for our flaws than our achievements, and we want to blend in to everyone else's flaws. Maybe we follow the monotonous pattern of others because it's hard to pair bright colors with ones that are dull. Whatever the reasoning, I'm all in favor of going against the grain.
Three cheers for the brave souls that challenge the normalcy of unremarkable clothing. Three cheers for every soul that joins me in brightening up everyday life.
Don't be afraid to stand out.
Comments are encouraged and appreciated.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
The Past 7 Days
As promised, I am posting. Notice the lack of deadline, teehee.
Acronyms:
FLs - Flatlanders
A group of people not acquainted with the lifestyles of the western United States (excluding Pacific states and most of Texas)
NACURH - National Association of College and University Residence Halls
The organization of which student governments across the nation are members
GLACURH - Great Lakes Affiliate of College and University Residence Halls
The region of NACURH to which IU belongs
RHA - Residence Halls Association
A commonly used title for an individual student government
Wednesday of last week, I got up early and my dad took me to the airport. Met up with the rest of the IU delegation for NACURH, they are cool people. The plane ride to Phoenix was interesting. Southwest Airlines has open seating, and since we all had cheap tickets we were the last to board. I sat between another kid traveling alone and a father whose family was in the adjacent row. We were politely silent.
After the plane ride, the FLs in the delegation complained about the turbulence. It...uh...wasn't that bad. Try trans-Atlantic, or Minneapolis - Indy through a storm. Ah ha.
Once we landed, we picked up the rental car (we betta be rollin' in a expedition or some shit, I ain't cruisin' in no minivan). It was an 8 passenger Ford Expedition (good call, Tabs) with enough room for our luggage.
Our hotel was in Scottsdale, which is a suburb of Phoenix. The FLs were impressed by the mountains. They weren't mountains, they were hills. The delegation now knows the difference. :-)
We did some shopping (Tabitha stimulated the desert economy) and did the pool thing. The bartenders didn't seem to notice that some of us were underage, and all of them offered us drinks at one point or another. Maybe another day, you trendy and flirtatious blondes. Next was boring stuff, stuff that bored me, and stuff that I didn't find particularly interesting. We'll skip to the conference.
As we were standing in line, we were singing/rapping along to Emery's iPhone. The other delegations were jealous; we didn't judge them for it. Soulja Boy came on and I was the only person who did the dance (go white boy, go white boy!). The rooms weren't as nice as IU's. They were most similar to Read, except with carpet and really old/small suite-style bathrooms.
Here goes the good stuff, for those of you suffering through my introduction.
The older I get, the more it seems easier to not care about people's names, and it seemed that a lot of the people there shared a similar sentiment. Before the first day was over, we were reduced to the school we represented within GLACURH. Introductions hardly seemed worth the effort when there were around 1500(?) students from across the country. I appreciate that distinction. It makes the real introductions meaningful and memorable, rather than forcing introductions that are rushed and quickly forgotten. This distinction also opened the door wide open for random acts of kindness. Because it didn't matter that names weren't exchanged, I noticed it was easy for myself and others to treat everyone nicely, to automatically assume cordiality or familiarity. Learn this, readers: people are people. The people you know are the same as the people you don't.
The other big piece of personal development I took from the conference relates to my preference of station. As I got familiar with NACURH as an organization and looked at its basic functions, I caught myself resenting it. I thought, here is an organization that exists solely to reward and recognize its more outstanding members. Sure, it allows for the exchange of ideas between member RHAs, but who are they to judge our efforts? I prefer the hands-on experience, directly implementing programs, directly advising student representatives. I don't need to be nationally recognized for something I did for 1200 students in RHA. My recognition comes from my peers. NACURH's recognition comes only from the member regions and schools that think it's important to be nationally recognized. The only thing I can appreciate is the exposure to other RHAs' ideas. If people are proud of their work, let them be recognized by their peers. Make a damn website to exchange that kind of info.
The drive back to Phoenix and the flight back to Indy were both uneventful. However, I imagine that the elderly gentlemen sitting on either side of me appreciated the gory and profane comic book I was reading. It's called Preacher. I love it, check it out.
I just got done with day 4 of my internship. Started last week before the trip to Arizona. The people are interesting enough to distract me from the lack of intrigue in my work. Here's a summary of my work at the Indiana State Library
Project 1 - Catalogue 15 years of political newsletters by Brian Howey
Status - Complete
Notes - Found some pornographic material that Mr. Howey must have printed out and forgotten in his binder.
Project 2 - Take inventory and re-label digital copies of County Histories
Status - In progress
Notes - This is my favorite so far, really. I'm quick and organized.
Project 3 - Obtain, microfilm, and digitize ~9 County Registers of Negroes and Mulattoes
Status - In progress
Notes - Indianapolis is hosting the first ever national African American genealogical conference. A person referred to as Mulatto is one who would be known as bi-racial today. Most of these registers date back to around 1853 - 1860.
Librarians seem to lack a sense of urgency. I really enjoy working, no matter the job. I need to keep an eye on the manager side of my personality, it's sharper than I intend.
Hopefully you've enjoyed some or most of this. I'm going to make an effort to blog more frequently so I can include more reflection.
Your comments are encouraged, or else I wouldn't be making this public. Also keep in mind that I'm no stranger to criticism or public humiliation.
-Arec
Acronyms:
FLs - Flatlanders
A group of people not acquainted with the lifestyles of the western United States (excluding Pacific states and most of Texas)
NACURH - National Association of College and University Residence Halls
The organization of which student governments across the nation are members
GLACURH - Great Lakes Affiliate of College and University Residence Halls
The region of NACURH to which IU belongs
RHA - Residence Halls Association
A commonly used title for an individual student government
Wednesday of last week, I got up early and my dad took me to the airport. Met up with the rest of the IU delegation for NACURH, they are cool people. The plane ride to Phoenix was interesting. Southwest Airlines has open seating, and since we all had cheap tickets we were the last to board. I sat between another kid traveling alone and a father whose family was in the adjacent row. We were politely silent.
After the plane ride, the FLs in the delegation complained about the turbulence. It...uh...wasn't that bad. Try trans-Atlantic, or Minneapolis - Indy through a storm. Ah ha.
Once we landed, we picked up the rental car (we betta be rollin' in a expedition or some shit, I ain't cruisin' in no minivan). It was an 8 passenger Ford Expedition (good call, Tabs) with enough room for our luggage.
Our hotel was in Scottsdale, which is a suburb of Phoenix. The FLs were impressed by the mountains. They weren't mountains, they were hills. The delegation now knows the difference. :-)
We did some shopping (Tabitha stimulated the desert economy) and did the pool thing. The bartenders didn't seem to notice that some of us were underage, and all of them offered us drinks at one point or another. Maybe another day, you trendy and flirtatious blondes. Next was boring stuff, stuff that bored me, and stuff that I didn't find particularly interesting. We'll skip to the conference.
As we were standing in line, we were singing/rapping along to Emery's iPhone. The other delegations were jealous; we didn't judge them for it. Soulja Boy came on and I was the only person who did the dance (go white boy, go white boy!). The rooms weren't as nice as IU's. They were most similar to Read, except with carpet and really old/small suite-style bathrooms.
Here goes the good stuff, for those of you suffering through my introduction.
The older I get, the more it seems easier to not care about people's names, and it seemed that a lot of the people there shared a similar sentiment. Before the first day was over, we were reduced to the school we represented within GLACURH. Introductions hardly seemed worth the effort when there were around 1500(?) students from across the country. I appreciate that distinction. It makes the real introductions meaningful and memorable, rather than forcing introductions that are rushed and quickly forgotten. This distinction also opened the door wide open for random acts of kindness. Because it didn't matter that names weren't exchanged, I noticed it was easy for myself and others to treat everyone nicely, to automatically assume cordiality or familiarity. Learn this, readers: people are people. The people you know are the same as the people you don't.
The other big piece of personal development I took from the conference relates to my preference of station. As I got familiar with NACURH as an organization and looked at its basic functions, I caught myself resenting it. I thought, here is an organization that exists solely to reward and recognize its more outstanding members. Sure, it allows for the exchange of ideas between member RHAs, but who are they to judge our efforts? I prefer the hands-on experience, directly implementing programs, directly advising student representatives. I don't need to be nationally recognized for something I did for 1200 students in RHA. My recognition comes from my peers. NACURH's recognition comes only from the member regions and schools that think it's important to be nationally recognized. The only thing I can appreciate is the exposure to other RHAs' ideas. If people are proud of their work, let them be recognized by their peers. Make a damn website to exchange that kind of info.
The drive back to Phoenix and the flight back to Indy were both uneventful. However, I imagine that the elderly gentlemen sitting on either side of me appreciated the gory and profane comic book I was reading. It's called Preacher. I love it, check it out.
I just got done with day 4 of my internship. Started last week before the trip to Arizona. The people are interesting enough to distract me from the lack of intrigue in my work. Here's a summary of my work at the Indiana State Library
Project 1 - Catalogue 15 years of political newsletters by Brian Howey
Status - Complete
Notes - Found some pornographic material that Mr. Howey must have printed out and forgotten in his binder.
Project 2 - Take inventory and re-label digital copies of County Histories
Status - In progress
Notes - This is my favorite so far, really. I'm quick and organized.
Project 3 - Obtain, microfilm, and digitize ~9 County Registers of Negroes and Mulattoes
Status - In progress
Notes - Indianapolis is hosting the first ever national African American genealogical conference. A person referred to as Mulatto is one who would be known as bi-racial today. Most of these registers date back to around 1853 - 1860.
Librarians seem to lack a sense of urgency. I really enjoy working, no matter the job. I need to keep an eye on the manager side of my personality, it's sharper than I intend.
Hopefully you've enjoyed some or most of this. I'm going to make an effort to blog more frequently so I can include more reflection.
Your comments are encouraged, or else I wouldn't be making this public. Also keep in mind that I'm no stranger to criticism or public humiliation.
-Arec
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
The Static Cure
After shuffling my feet around for so long, I need to shock the hell out of something.
We ran out of cats. I'm starting a blog.
We ran out of cats. I'm starting a blog.
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