a general (rambling) update...
more than 6 months since the last update. i suppose it's time to poke my head in and remind all of my lj friends that i do read your blogs (almost daily) even if i never respond (i'm a consumate lurker). it's also a good chance to let you know that i'm alive (in case any of you were seriously worried about the state of things).
as some of you may know, i just got back from a very brief research trip to Italy. my dissertation, which i'm sure you're all just dying to hear about, is slowly trucking along. but to be honest, i've never been very good at setting my own schedule. i think i'm going to have to get a dissertation accountability partner (my adviser, bless his heart, has only just started to really wonder what i do with my fellowship funded free time). i went to Italy to chase a manuscript of a long lost play by an equally long lost author (whose works are the focus of my work).
if i learned anything of value (other than how freakin' expensive it is to have a copy of a manuscript made) is that Italian libraries are so very different. take for instance the "Sala dei manoscritti" at the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze (which is where I spent most of my time). it's a lovely old fashioned library room. ridiculously high ceilings with books up to the top and a little catwalk that's only about a foot wide for hunting the highest reaches. the librarians are typically italian (helpful enough, but not exactly inviting). every request has to be done in triplicate and turned in along with your library card (which is something of an ordeal all by itself) and your passport. never forget your "documento." the rules are essentially the same as those in most Special Collections reading rooms here. but there is one notable atmospheric difference-- open windows no matter the weather. you see, here at the getty, at ucla, at the newberry, in every special collections reading room i've ever been in, it's always freezing. cold, dry air protects the books, the parchment, the ancient paper. at the BNCF that is not the case. their 12 ft windows facing the arno are often open, despite the heat, the humidity and even the rain. terribly distressing for the lover of old books, but completely recognizable as an italian sensibility-- why worry over much, they're mostly stored in a cold, dark place.
aah Italy. it was fun and absolutely terrifying, especially because i now know that i have to go back. i had grandiose plans-- stay at the apartment of a friend in Florence and then hit all of the small town archives i needed to see by train/bus. simple really. i had my days organized. 1-5 at the BNCF and at the Archivio di Stato, the following days in Pisa, Arezzo and Siena. unfortunately i forgot about how things work in Italy. you see after finishing at the BNCF i went further out of the center to the Archivio. i was finished with my paperwork by 10.45, but alas it was too late in the day for my request: i would have to return the next day after 10.30. the inefficiency is mind boggling really.
i suppose what i wanted to mention in the update is that i have one year left at UCLA. they gave my a dissertation year fellowship for next year. it is effectively a swan song-- "take this money and finish within the year. this is the last money you'll ever get from us." so there it is, the pressure is finally on. not only to finish but to look for a j-o-b. i don't think i've ever been more scared.
and that my lovelies, is all i can really say for now. but who knows, maybe i'll make my lj something of an accountability partner and start rambling daily about how much work i've done... ...
...
or not ;)
as some of you may know, i just got back from a very brief research trip to Italy. my dissertation, which i'm sure you're all just dying to hear about, is slowly trucking along. but to be honest, i've never been very good at setting my own schedule. i think i'm going to have to get a dissertation accountability partner (my adviser, bless his heart, has only just started to really wonder what i do with my fellowship funded free time). i went to Italy to chase a manuscript of a long lost play by an equally long lost author (whose works are the focus of my work).
if i learned anything of value (other than how freakin' expensive it is to have a copy of a manuscript made) is that Italian libraries are so very different. take for instance the "Sala dei manoscritti" at the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze (which is where I spent most of my time). it's a lovely old fashioned library room. ridiculously high ceilings with books up to the top and a little catwalk that's only about a foot wide for hunting the highest reaches. the librarians are typically italian (helpful enough, but not exactly inviting). every request has to be done in triplicate and turned in along with your library card (which is something of an ordeal all by itself) and your passport. never forget your "documento." the rules are essentially the same as those in most Special Collections reading rooms here. but there is one notable atmospheric difference-- open windows no matter the weather. you see, here at the getty, at ucla, at the newberry, in every special collections reading room i've ever been in, it's always freezing. cold, dry air protects the books, the parchment, the ancient paper. at the BNCF that is not the case. their 12 ft windows facing the arno are often open, despite the heat, the humidity and even the rain. terribly distressing for the lover of old books, but completely recognizable as an italian sensibility-- why worry over much, they're mostly stored in a cold, dark place.
aah Italy. it was fun and absolutely terrifying, especially because i now know that i have to go back. i had grandiose plans-- stay at the apartment of a friend in Florence and then hit all of the small town archives i needed to see by train/bus. simple really. i had my days organized. 1-5 at the BNCF and at the Archivio di Stato, the following days in Pisa, Arezzo and Siena. unfortunately i forgot about how things work in Italy. you see after finishing at the BNCF i went further out of the center to the Archivio. i was finished with my paperwork by 10.45, but alas it was too late in the day for my request: i would have to return the next day after 10.30. the inefficiency is mind boggling really.
i suppose what i wanted to mention in the update is that i have one year left at UCLA. they gave my a dissertation year fellowship for next year. it is effectively a swan song-- "take this money and finish within the year. this is the last money you'll ever get from us." so there it is, the pressure is finally on. not only to finish but to look for a j-o-b. i don't think i've ever been more scared.
and that my lovelies, is all i can really say for now. but who knows, maybe i'll make my lj something of an accountability partner and start rambling daily about how much work i've done... ...
...
or not ;)