Brain explodingly awesome
Originally published at Historical Personality Disorder. Please leave any comments there.
If you have been following along on my Facebook posts, you will already have heard the term “brain explodingly awesome” used a few times. Right now, I am sitting on a jet (with wifi!!! The modern age has arrived at last!), drinking a rum and coke, and eating the last few pieces of Donna’s brickle bread, brain firing on all cylinders. Except for the jet lag, of course…
The last 9 days have been a whirlwind of intellectual and creative stimulation. I begged my department to let me take a week off school to attend the two seminars, Costume Accessories From Head to Toe, and A Reconstructed Visitible Past, held at Colonial Williamsburg this past week, and they happily allowed me to go… On my own dime, of courses. Such is the life of a grad student in the humanities.
But that’s not really a problem, because I feel like I definitely got my money’s worth out of the last week! I got to meet and trade info with a myriad of really spectacular names in the clothing and textile worlds, which makes me so happy. I also have a head filled to bursting with ideas for my thesis, and I’m really excited about 18th century clothing again. However, I think the next big project I undertake will actually be 16th century. I have a couple of commitments during the course of this year that focus on the 16th century, so… But more on that later.
The wig styling class I took really did a lot to boost my confidence, after realizing that I already was doing most of what the wigmakers at CW do. The just do it better. ;). We did some dressing up the weekend before the conference started, and so I will be posting those photos once I get them off my camera.
One of the biggest things I took away from the symposiums was from Abby Cox’s presentation on blogging and the historical costume community. I told her that the one thing that I realized as a result of her presentation was that I do not post often enough here. Note to self: Blog more about costumes.
In other news, I received my Costume College confirmation. It’s official: 2011 will mark my triumphant return to teaching at CoCo! In store is a class which I am *super* excited about called “Fashioning the Florentine Form” which is on my research into unboned supportive garments in 16th c. Florence. I hope it will be as good as I think it will be!
Anyway, my rum and coke is starting to turn watery, so I’d better turn my attention back to it before the ice completely melts. See you all again when we touch down in San Francisco!