Journals

Journal #8 (10/29)

When I tried Google Ngram, I searched words like "women, family, and work" to see how their use changed over time. I notived that some words became more common during certain time periods, which made me thnik about how society and culture influence languagge. I htought it was interestnig that a graph could show changes in what people wrote about throughout history. However, I also realized that the graphs only show how often words appeared in books, not necessarity what people believed or how they acted. I thought Google Ngram was an interesting way to experinces and a fun way to explore historical trends and see how language reflects and changes in society.

Journal #7 (10/15)

I really liked visiting the HARC center, I am not catholic (Christian) so just learning a little bit about the sisters and women in the catholic church was so fascinating to me. Not only that but I loved learning how much of an impact the sisters all over the world had. The archives that the HARC had and the work that they are doing is absolutely amazing.

When in the classroom setting looking at the archives I found myself analyzing more than I thought I would have, I noticed things that identified time periods, I found a recipet sticker on the pack of an art piece that showed prices of things at the time and also the date, the person who made it, and who it was for. When looking at the big book of finances, I was surprised about the information that we found in the book that wasn't just about money, it was about things happening at the time and all of that.

I feel like I slightly had an identity crisis. As a nursing major I was walking through this thinking "maybe I need to rethink my major choice or add a minor." I was absoltuely floored by the work that these women in the HARC center were doing and I would absolutely love to sort through documents, organize files, read books, analyze art peices and letters and pictures. I wil definitly be going back. I have never been a history fan, I always found it interesting going to museums and learning about things like that but I am not a history understander. However, this changed my mind or rather opened my eyes to a side of history that facinates me.

Journal #6 (10/1)

What stood out to me in this book is how much our sense of who we are can come from the people and stroies around us. I found myself thinking about how Shapiro had to question things about herself that she has always justa ccepted as true. It made me realize that our identity is not always as simple or fixed as we think it is. I also thought it was interesting how learning something new about your past can completely change the way you look at yourself, even if the person you were before has not actually changed.

Journal #4 (9/17)

This reading was long and I have a lot of tests this week so I felt like the more I read it the less I was comprehending. That is also why I am doing the jounal Thursday morning. A few things stuck out to me in this reading that I am going to highlight. The first "takeaway" is the idea that listening is more than just hearing someone. One of the biggest ideas in this reading is that listening is an active process and not just being quiet when someone is talking to you. Being a good listener is acknowledging tone, pauses, body language, facial expressions, and things a person might not be directly changed. This was interesting to me because I always viewed listening as just being quiet but also subconciously took into account all of the other things.

Another thing this reading highlighted in my brain is the importance of silence. The exercises involving silence was one of the most interesting parts of this reading to me. To me it changed the idea of what interupting means. Its not always talking over someone, it can also be moving on too quickly and interupting a though process. This made me think about how often people feel the need to immediatly respond instead of being comfortable with silence. There was so many other things that stuck out to me that I can't wait to discuss in class.

Naked Eye

Quality Camera

Journal #3 (9/10)

The piece of artwork that I chose caught my eye immediatly because when I first walked into the room it looked like it was just a blue painted canvas with what looked to me like a light bulb. After sitting down in front of it things slowly what I would describe as "revealed themselves to me" because everything is the same tone of blue just different shades some lighter some darker. I noticed the long recangle on the left side of the painting and it reminded me of a skyscarper in New York, at that thought the other rectangles came to life in the image. After looking at those I began to think about how maybe the gold spot wasn't a light because it also kind of looked to me like a key hole. A key hole to open what I have no idea.

Before leaving I snapped a picture of my piece of art so that I could go back and look at it again but immideatly after taking the picture I relaized that in the picture the art revelaed so much more. So I moved to another angle to snap a picture closer to what it looked like to the naked eye. The photo on the left is the naked eye, the one on the right is from my good quality camera. The camera photo revealed to me the side profile of the person. I noticed that ther person had a very round head and angular nose with almost no other features. There were also what looked like white dots around the face which could have simply been to help the part of the painting stand out. The skyline I saw before now looked more like stepping stones to me, and the dark parts above it looked like a skyline. There was also a bright blue archway that almost looked sketched messely onto the tall rectangle and I dont exactly know the purpose of that. And the thing that confused me the most was the scribbles of dark paint around the light bulb.

Overall I had no idea what this painting was or what it meant or literally anything but that could likely be because I have 2 nursing exams this week and my brain is in such a practical thinking mode that anything methaphorical or meaningful was not coming to mind. I did take a picture of the name and description but haven't looked until right now. Name reveal...... "Nocturne." Still no clue what is was about or anything but it was interesting and more than anything I liked the process.

Journal #2 (9/3)

I approached this jounral entry kind of confused because there was reading technique with pages to reference but I couldn't find the reading. So I am going to just interpret it for myself and analyze the image. When I first look at it I notice that the girls in it are all matching so they are likely going to an event or something of the sort. I then noticed that they were all wearing sunglasses and short sleeves so it was likely warm. They all also are smiling implying that they are happy and enjoy each others company. (obviously I also know all of this because its me and my roomates). If I didn't know who this was, baed on the way they look they could potentially be related or maybe just good friends. But knowing what I know about the picture I also look at it and see my best friends, memories of when I was my happiest, I see how excited I was to be settling in and making life long friends. I also look at this and feel their touch, the caluses on Julia's hands from playing guitar and the brush of Addi's hair on my neck, a feeling I hate. It also makes me feel sad because they are abroad this year and I miss them. It makes me remmeber how grateful I should be for such amazing people that God blessed me with.

Journal #1(8/27)

The story made me think about how history can depend on who has the power to tell it. In the story Colonial missionaries had the ability to write books and teach in schools the details that they deemed important to history but the stories they told were vastly different from the ones Nwamgba had to tell based on her own personal experiences. She gave a different understanding of what happened in her society. It also raised the thought that stories could be used to preserve things that might otherwise be forgotten. These stories can also challenge the version of history that we are taught by bringing in new perspective and truths that might have been otherwise left out. I think that the story did a good job of showing how both colonial history and oral and cultural history can both be important and valued when considering what in hsitory is really truth.

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