Congregational Library Archive--week 1

Today was my first full day at my internship. And I do mean a full day. I was there from 9-5, just like all the paid employees. Of course, I'll only be doing that once a week, but still, it makes for a very long day when you aren't used to it. Although, in the end, it didn't feel like eight hours. In the middle of the afternoon the 2:00 seemed to go very slowly, but the total didn't feel too bad. I'll take that as a good sign that I may have actually chosen the right profession.

The collection is fascinating. I'm working with a single box of correspondence between the members of the Andover Theological Seminary class of 1877. Most of the letters are in fact addressed to the group at large and were sent in a circuitous route from member to member for nearly 20 years. When the letter made it full circle, the writer would remove his old letter (and send it to their "archivist" who I believe is responsible for keeping the letters from certain individuals in envelopes together and making my job much easier) and put in an update on what had happened in his life since the class letter had last been through, usually a year previous. I won't go into more detail here, because I would probably ramble on for hours.

The only downside to this job is also the upside. My supervisor pretty much showed me how to start, gave me a stack of supplies and left me alone to work. So I spent the entirety of my shift alone on the second floor of the stacks at a small worktable. (Well, she checked in on me a couple times, and other workers wandered through to get things off the stacks, but essentially I was alone.) By the end of the day I was just about talking to myself out loud just to deal with it. Talking about the letters, at least, but still, talking to myself is not the most professional way to act on the first day.

Taking the train back at 5:00 was a lot better than coming into town at 8:30 in the morning, which was great, because I was tired and really wanted a seat. On the way in this morning it was crowded and hot. I was actually sweating. But at the library, at least in the stacks, it was cold. I ended up putting my coat on for the afternoon--next week I'm bringing a sweater.

-Kim

Mushroom People

It rained all day yesterday. And it looks like it will continue for the next couple of days, so I get to look forward to having my feet permanently wet and cold until Tuesday. At least I have the mushroom people to distract me.

Who are the mushroom people, you ask? Bostonians with their umbrellas. Everyone actually carries umbrellas here when it rains, unlike at home, where people tend to just run and hope they stay basically dry. It most certainly has to do with the fact that her in the city, everyone is stuck walking several blocks to get anywhere, no matter the weather. So we carry umbrellas and hope to keep at least our upper bodies dry.

But it takes more than an umbrella to make a mushroom person. I've also noticed that a large number of female college students, and even some adults favor wearing rubber rain boots in gloriously bright colors. (I'm considering getting some myself, this wet feet thing is no fun) The boots really do come in every color and pattern imaginable, which makes the wearer look that much more like a cartoon character. Now, put those boots on a girl barely five feet tall and hand her an umbrella big enough for a family of four, and you have a classic mushroom person.

I actually encountered this girl in my wet walk back from Northeastern yesterday and couldn't help smiling at the resemblance to Toad, of Mario Bros. fame. Tall people with small umbrellas are mushroom people too, but this girl must be the queen of mushroom land.

-Kim

Sunday

Today is my sabbath. I haven't always been good at keeping a day of rest in my schedule, but I've decided it's something worth taking the time out for. And since Sunday is apparently the only day of the week without school commitments, it will be my day of rest, my day to put aside the stress of grad school and the busy distractions of the academic life. My self-imposed rule is that on Sundays I won't work on anything with a due date, i.e. homework of any sort. I'm the type of person who can get so caught up in the things I am required to do that I lose perspective on why I'm doing them. Perspective is something I don't want to lose. If I lose myself in the busywork and forget the ultimate goal of this degree I'm working on, I'm more likely to get frustrated and even doubt my choice in coming here. And of course, there will be much more life coming after I finish this two-year jaunt in academia--I can't forget that either.

This morning's sermon was about fasting. For some reason it didn't connect with me at all during the service (it took until I had a nap and a cup of tea), but now I've got something to take away from it. I don't know that I agree with everything that was said this morning, but the important part was that it's not about going through the motions. God didn't want the Israelites fasting merely "out of habit", but out of a genuine focus on him and the object of their grief--in the instance mentioned in Zechariah 7, the destroyed temple. I'm going to expand that idea and say that in all areas of our life, just going through the motions is not a good idea. Whatever we do, we should know why. And, for us Christians, the why is always connected back to God and how we are called to serve him in this world. So taking one day out of the week to step back and remind ourselves of that truth can only be beneficial for doing his will cheerfully through the rest of the week. (Hey, that's probably why he told us to do it)

At any rate, no work will be done today on my part. Blogging, however, is not work, though I seem to have run out of time for catching you up on the adventures of the weekend. Tomorrow I must get up early to meet with the supervisor of my archives internship at the Congregational Library.

-Kim

Employment! And Sharks! And Bears! Oh my!

This morning I got the call from the coordinator of the Simmons Writing Center. It's official--I will be a tutor this fall. I get to work on campus, and the pay rate is actually very good. So even though it will only be about eight hours a week (the schedule is still in process), I will be making a decent amount of spending money. So, thanks to everyone who was praying for something to come through. Of all the possibilities, the writing center job was going to be the best for scheduling purposes, so I'm glad it worked out. It's not library work, but since I'm also dong an unpaid internship at an archive, I figure it's fine to earn a paycheck in something outside my field for now. Just having something is such a blessing and a relief.

To celebrate the job, I went for a swim. Actually, I did that yesterday, too. On the residence campus we have a great fitness center with an amazing pool. Well, for lap swimming anyway. We don't have slides or anything like that. But we have an 8-lane, 25m pool that is available for students to use for free during much of the day. At other times, the swim team uses it (the only sport we have for which the mascot of "Sharks" is really appropriate), or they rent it out to local daycare/swim lesson groups. I had intended to make use of the pool for my exercise (since the rest of my life, being academic, is largely sedentary), but hadn't gotten around to it until this week. Being in the water feels so good, I can almost forget I'm exercising. You know, the one thing the Stewart Center was really lacking was a pool. USF should do something about that.

Last night was college night at the Museum of Science, which meant that anyone with a college ID got in for free. Well, I like free stuff, and I would probably never pay to go to the science museum, so we decided to check it out. Chris and I met Tetima at the campus library when she got off work, and the three of us treked across town together. Thankfully, this trip didn't involve switching trains, because we were traveling at rush hour. And most of the crowd was students, all getting off at the same stop.

Upon arriving at the museum we were pleasantly surprised to discover that not only could we look at the exhibits for free, we could get free tickets to the various shows playing. So we took in a 3-D movie and a laser show as long as we were there. The 3-D movie was entitled Fly Me To The Moon, but we didn't realize just how literally they meant it. It actually involved flies going to the moon. Three animated fly children, in fact. So weird. But rather entertaining. There were far too many exhibits to take in, but we did spend some time looking at the math section, "backyard physics" and an interactive display on models. Actually, all the displays were interactive. We also wandered through a room with stuffed animals behind glass. The one animal out in the open was a black bear, which I couldn't keep myself away from. Picture to follow. On the level above that was a room with displays about human physiology. That was fun too.

The last thing we did at the museum was see a laser show in the planetarium. It was all set to music by Queen. Yes, we chose this over the other options. It was actually quite fun, although during one song they had a near-constant giant spiral that made me woozy. They played most of the classics, starting with "We will Rock You" and "Bicycle" and ending with "Bohemian Rhapsody" and "We Are the Champions." The show was 40 min long, so the music just kept coming. Some of it I had never heard before or hadn't realized was Queen, including something about Flash Gordon and what Chris insists was the "Highlander" theme song. It probably was, since the recurring image was a giant sword. Although, the images during "Bohemian Rhapsody" really didn't seem to fit. It was birds. Just random birds sitting in trees or fluttering about. Every other part of the show made sense, but the birds puzzled me. And I was disappointed they didn't play "Don't Stop Me Now", because that would have been awesome with lasers. Of course, half the fun of the show was the random associations I have with Queen songs that not very many people understand. As soon as the show started, I felt the urge to watch "A Knight's Tale", which, by the way, is still the most amazing anachronistic action comedy I've ever seen. And, any mention of Queen makes me think of "Good Omens" and giggle to myself. If you haven't read it but appreciate British humor and the apocalypse, you need to make time to read it. Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman writing together--what could be better?

But I digress. The museum trip was definitely worth the trip across town and loss of an evening that would only have been spent doing homework that got done in time anyway. After we got back I was approached by the RA, Peter, to be conscripted onto the North Hall Council. Apparently we don't get money for activities unless we have an actual council with officers. So now I'm treasurer of a group that will only probably have funds, and limited funds at that. It shouldn't be too bad--I would have ended up helping with activities anyway, and now I have a cool title to put on my resume: Treasurer and Staple Queen. The second one probably won't appear in print again, but it was a condition of my acceptance of the position. We've been making more bulletin boards, and my stapling skills have been in much demand. At least as treasurer I only have to keep track of the money--apparently my neighbors have already decided I'm trustworthy. And meticulous enough to do a good job and probably drive them buggy, but they'll learn that soon enough.

Why are these posts always so long? I don't mean for them to be, but so many interesting things keep happening at the same time. Here are a couple of pictures from our time at the museum. I didn't think to bring my camera, so these are courtesy of my new friend Chris.




Here I am with Tetima, waiting for the 3-D movie.



And I made a new furry friend as well.

-Kim

Cafe Polonia

On Friday night my neighbors and I made a pilgrimage to the only Polish restaurant in all of the greater Boston area, Cafe Polonia. It's actually a very small establishment, and the seven of us took up about a fourth of the space. From campus, we took two trains (the Green Line to Park Street, then changed to the Red Line to Andrews Station) and then had a short walk to the restaurant. It was lightly sprinkling at this point, and only three members of the group had thought to bring umbrellas. When we got to Cafe Polonia we were surprised to see a sign on the door announcing a private function that night at 7:30. However, since we arrived at 6, we figured there was just enough time for us to have a good meal and get out of their way. So we enjoyed solid Polish goodness. I had a plate of pierogi, but next time I'll be brave and try something with more variety of flavor. Pierogi is good, but an entire plate of what is essentially ravioli stuffed with potato and cheese is a little bland after a while.

Upon leaving Cafe Polonia, we continued our trek to another fabled destination: Target. We were in the suburb of Dorchester at this point, so all the big box stores are available, arranged in a square around a giant parking area. We had to walk over the freeway to get there from the restaurant, but the walk was short and would have posed no problem had it not still been raining. Once inside Target, we all dispersed, eager to locate whatever sundry items were needed. Almost anything is cheaper at Target than at the stores we can walk to around campus, it's just a matter of whether the cost outweighs the bother of traveling so far. Once we finally all found each other again, we decided to take the bus back instead of the train, since there was a bus stop just outside Target. But the bus never came. Plenty of other buses came through, but not the number 8. In the end (after waiting more than half an hour under the roof of the bus stop--which doesn't actually keep off the rain unless it's falling straight down) we got on the shuttle bus that would take us back to Andrews Station so we could take the train back. The trains showed up promptly, and we were back at Fenway Station (which I am getting to know very well now) pretty quickly after that. Of course, the bottom six inches of my pants were wet by the time we walked from Fenway back to the dorm, but that's not such a big deal.

I also got a package from Dianna on Friday afternoon. It really made my day. New music, cute Edward Monkton paraphernalia, and crackers shaped like the state of Texas--if that doesn't say love and friendship, I don't know what does.

On Saturday I got another package. This time it was the books and movies I had asked my parents to ship out to me. This bare-bones version of my personal library is pathetic in size--taking up only half of the small bookshelf provided in my room--but it makes this place feel more like home. Now if I need a break, I can grab a book or a great movie off the shelf instead of mindlessly searching the internet for amusement. I think this option is better. Plus, now I can share my tastes with my neighbors when we want to do a movie night. Good times.

I also had class on Saturday. I'm still not happy about that, but I only have 12 weeks of it left. At least it was better this time--we got to do an autopsy on a dead computer. So now I know what the inside of a 6-year-old Dell looks like. Not a bad way to spend a Saturday, though I could think of better things to do. In the evening I considered breaking in the movie collection, but opted for watching a football game I had no interest in so that I could socialize with a couple of my neighbors, Chris and Erin. We had a good time. Also, I now have dibs on some of Erin's furniture when she graduates and moves out at the end of this semester. Very nice.

In other news, I should have a webcam soon. Trying to find one that was compatible with Mac and not insanely expensive was proving to be quite difficult. In the end, Sherwin stepped up and did it for me. I still have to pay him for it, but he did the dirty work of finding an iSight on ebay and bidding on it for me. Isn't he wonderful? Now that's what I call an anniversary present (we've been dating for five months as of last Friday, for anyone who's confused--hard to believe time goes by so quickly). At least now we'll be able to talk face-to-face on skype. The internet is great for making long-distance relationships more bearable.

Wow, this post is getting really long. I'll tell you about my archives internship later this week when I know what it is. Today I marked my top three choices online, and we'll see what happens. Also, I still don't have a job, but I'm trying not to dwell on that. It's been rainy all weekend, which is making me sleepy and not very productive. I'll have to find a way to motivate myself and change that.

-Kim