My eyes are dim, I cannot see, I have not brought my specs with me...
Hey guys, look! New glasses! :D
Also, why don't I give an update of what I've been up to recently...?
Well, as previously mentioned, my paper abstract has been accepted, so on Saturday, March 27th, I will be presenting a paper on medical innovations made during the American Civil War at a medical history conference held at the U. of A., so I'm still ridiculously pleased about that. :) Mum took me to the store where I bought my first ball gown, years ago, and bought me a nice little skirt-suit ensemble so I have something smart to wear during the presentation. Now I just need a pair of shoes that will go well... I hope I don't look too much like an intern!
Speaking of the history of medicine and the Civil War... my historiography paper (that is, the history of the history of my subject - what other historians have said about it) has been going marvellously well! I have finished much of the reading that I'll need to write this 6,000 word paper, and I've actually written about 2,000 words of it. So I'm in advance! Huzzah!
I still have to keep up with my French translation homework, though. And I have two more papers to write.
One is for the History of Slavery, Serfdom and Servitude - essentially, we get two court cases on a certain subject and must look at the differences in how they were interpreted, and why that may be. I picked religious discrimination in the workplace, and the two cases that were given to me haven't bored me to tears yet, so we'll see how it goes.
The paper for my native history class... is coming along fine, I suppose. I'm going to be writing about the interrelations of the Cree, Blackfoot, Métis and White folk around Fort Edmonton (the Hudson's Bay Company post) in the 1850s, mostly arguing that even though, unlike in the Eastern fur trade, there was no longer any competition between European powers (England had a monopoly in Rupert's Land to the West, unlike the fierce competition of the 1600s and early 1700s in the East between the Dutch, English and French), it was still a pretty violent place, due to tensions between native groups and the fur traders who tried to insert themselves into local aboriginal trade routes... and yet tried to trade with them all, even the enemies of their greatest trading partners, the Cree (and then they were suprised when the Cree became angry!). Anyway, I've just got to clarify my thesis, do some more research, and, well, sit down and FOCUS and write the darn thing.
So... yeah. Stuff is happening. Slowly but surely. I'm super-excited for about mid-April, when my exams will finish and I can finally get a good night's sleep, stress-free. And read some of the stack of fiction books that has been piling up by my bedside. I particularly look forward to Terry Pratchett's "Making Money" (oh the wit of Terry Pratchett! :) ) and Scott Westerfeld's "Leviathan", which is pretty much the First World War but with steampunk and plucky children. I do so love alternate universes...