At Library with Soundtrack

05/06/2009 16:07
So, back to work! I’m sitting in the library (listening to the acoustic version of “Overkill” at the moment –thanks Scrubs!), rethinking the material I’ve gathered over the last couple of years, from the point of view of a PhD program. A lot of the stuff I thought was just going to end up as interesting background for historical fiction, may now be viable in papers, articles, and non-fiction. Long works like an adult history that incorporates Knowlton and Bradlaugh are suddenly back on the table, since I’ll have the platform and contacts needed to sell this type of work.

“Rabble Rouser” by KMFDM now—how does this relate? Hmm. Will I feel constrained? Inside the box? And what will I do to avoid that?

“Yiddish Dance” or something like that by Del Castillo—I think this one’s just making it hard for me to think straight.

Now “La Pistola y El Corazon,” by Los Lobos, which is easier because I’m not trying to understand the words. Need to make a page for the Erasmus Darwins, and follow up with the historical societies. And later this week, get down to the UMass library and get to work finding the rest of them in the Vital Records that aren’t online yet.

“Where Are We Running” – Lenny Kravitz. I should put up a page on the mercury controversy in the Boston Surgical and Medical, too. That might be a first paper for a sci/med focus. (now “Flash” by Lenny—I swear it’s random! “I am not gonna waste this moment, cuz these moments don’t last.”) And the Chilean stuff: do I have enough of that for another paper? Probably not without going back and doing some primary work. I wonder if Brown Univ. has anything on José Tomas Urmeneta (who went there – when? 1860s? What would he have taken back? Maybe that’s an angle.

“Lose Yourself” – well, it’s a workout mix. “you only get one shot, don’t miss your chance to blow.” Knowlton and the church – if I take it back to Yale and bring forward the Ashfield theme of divisiveness (Baptist vs. Congregationalist)? Where do I want to put these things? I really haven’t paid attention to the ways historiographical styles match up with themes, or the publications that specialize in these. Will have to start scanning journals, I suppose.

“Miserlou” reminds me of whacking rabbids on the Wii. Now “Jai Ho” -- I’ve been emailing. Lucy’s English teachers are CYA-ing big-time. Good news is I can work with her on her writing this summer. AGUA? Maybe that’s something, if I follow dependencia through to neo-liberalism. Water would be a good topic, and Bolivia might be fun to visit on a research grant…New England and Latin America? JQ Adams? The first agrarian republic and influence in either direction? Spanish America is so much older than New England. I wonder if there’s any contact at all?

“Rock is Dead,” – I’m not much of a Manson fan, but I love this song. Looks like there might be something to look into on the Spanish/New England front, judging from JSTOR. Even if I want to stay in the 19th C. And, I have to look at labor and Heighton before next fall. Track down what may have happened after he fell off the radar. What’s happening to labor history, now that the labor historians are all reaching retirement age?

“Overkill” again. Probably a sign it’s time to leave.

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