Why Hello (& Soon Goodbye) World or at least ENG306,
Margaret’s comment on my reflection post from two weeks ago inspired that new change to my heading above. This week, I submitted my first SSR and an annotated bibliography. I also met with Suzanne outside of class. Sundi was away from the class this week due to a conference, but she left us comments on our Social Media Plan through Hypothesi.s. I am about to head on my spring break, which is quite literally going to be a “break” for me from of all of my work as I go on a spiritual retreat. That said, doing this reflection right before I go couldn’t be more timely. Reflecting on my goals from last week, they were:
- Immerse. Stay in the Conversation. Don’t let more than 48 hours slip by without having engaged in something class related.
- Buy binders and get organized.
- Meet with Sundi and/or Suzanne to discuss my research and where it’s led me.
- Figure out what’s going on with me & AJ’s still possible collaboration (which I may take on as additional to my Valentine’s Day project).
Let’s take each one by one and see where it ended up (this is also in an effort to develop some sort of rhythmic cadence, taking after Sundi’s annotations on my Social Media and Networking Plan, between my posts. In one of my earliest posts, I talked about wanting to get into a flow or rhythm of immersion with this course. I also mentioned it last week. One way to bring about more harmony may be a simple solve: simply picking up each week’s reflections from where I left off last time. Okay, this is all besides the point so back to the point:
Where did I end up with these four goals, you ask?
#1) Immerse. Stay in the Conversation. Don’t let more than 48 hours slip by without having engaged in something class related.
On this one, I am barely making it. I definitely remained engaged Monday and Wednesday, also some on Friday (because I went to Suzanne’s office hours and had to prepare for it beforehand) and today (Sunday) I’m writing this post— so I guess technically I did manage to somehow squeeze in something course-related without missing the 48 hour mark. Granted I could have been much more intentional it seems a bit more just by chance that I remained engaged in the class after midweek session on Wednesday because of this post and some office hours and prep, I think it still counts. What a way to start. While I’ll be gone this whole week on a spiritual retreat, I thought about taking some reading on St. Valentine with me. I will be at a monastery and the two didn’t seem vastly a part. Nonetheless, the decision has been made for me to not take any of my “work” in the sense of Davidson-related. I may try to do some reading before I head out in the morning.
#2) Buy Binders and get organized.
Okay— bought binders: CHECK. Got organized with the binders: NO CHECK. I did go buy the binders early this morning, and I began organize my papers and files but never finished it. New goal: come around to doing it next weekend when I get back.
#3) Meet with Sundi and/or Suzanne to discuss my research and where it’s led.
I’m proud to say: CHECK! I didn’t meet with Sundi (out of town) but I did meet with Suzanne on Friday and we had quite a fruitful conversation after I was a feeling a bit stuck with how “original” my project really was going to be. After all, what made my research any different than the already Googlable articles from History.com and Smithsonian Magazine on the History of Valentine’s Day, except maybe some more details here or there. Well, maybe it’s not necessarily about making some original contribution in just the CONTENT, but rather in the FORM. These are both online articles. Hopefully my site will be more thorough, exhaustive, collating and presenting scholarly research as well as bringing to the fore the commercialized & globalized aspect of the holiday as it has spread to other countries in a way that doesn’t necessarily come with a wave of pessimism or artificiality. And I did engage with Sundi’s comments on my Social Media Networking Plan, so we could say I had some form of a one-on-one virtual meeting.
#4) Figure out me & AJ’s collab thing?
We talked it out, and it seems we are both pursuing our original research questions in this course. Maybe our mutual interest in existentialist questions about life were meant for another time, another place.
And that brings me to today— this week was about getting into the details of the debates and arguments: what is being said about Valentine’s day? Who is saying? Who are the scholars? How are they positioned to one another? All of it….has been fruitful. I found more books and articles, began reading and annotating, learning more. A good week of “the meat” of my digital project: just doing some good ol’ fashioned reading and writing and thinking. The key to probably any good (or honestly just not terrible) project.
For this next week, it’s spring break and while we don’t have class, I still want to do some research and reading before our next class the following Monday. So that’s my new goal: come back, finish getting organized (i.e. use the binders before they collect dust!) and do some more research. I also think we have an SSR due, so it would be nice if I did one or two more of those just as a good practice.
Goodbye (quite actually because I’m unplugging for the week) World but really just my ENG306 class,
Fern
Oh! And I almost forgot. I was inspired by one or two of my classmates’ posts to include a GIF/BITMOJI (my secret love and part-time side hobby) that captures my week in an image. Here it is:
