Rachel

I'm so frustrated and tired from this book that I'm not sure whether I'm up for blogging or not. As I read my mind wanders to different things and I realize I've read five pages without really reading anything at all. I had to go get glasses this morning, finally, because it’s hard enough to read this in general, let alone with awful eyesight. You just cost me $200, Foucault!
There are parts that I am interested in, however....Now that I am done complaining. When I was younger I always thought of the world in a microcosmic, similitude, convenience type way. All of the galaxies in the universe and all of the cells in our bodies are related in number and in function. I know that's not true, but it is a way of seeing things. I get the feeling a lot of what Foucault is saying isn't true; it’s just his way of seeing things. For example, Mexicans do not write from the bottom of the page to the top in spirals, but it fits with his theory of writing, so he's just going to wing it and go for it.
I still have a few pages left, so I'm going to wing it and go for it. I hope seminar tomorrow will help everyone with this book.

Posted by Rachel at 07:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

These are my bookshelves.

On this one, a small upper corner is designated for my boyfriend, the rest are mine. They are organized in my own strange system, which is part according to size, and part in order of favorites:

This smaller shelf holds a couple of my favorites and a couple of upcoming reads:

Posted by Rachel at 11:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I've had some car troubles this morning, so I decided to come in for the afternoon class rather than come in late and disturb seminar.

I found this book to be a great gift for this quarter. The first couple of chapters pretty much summed up the ideas that we were all talking about last quarter. It was a gift because it helped me know we were on the right track. I got a little sidetracked thinking about these ideas. For example, when he was talking about grassroots historians being able to make sights without proper training I started thinking about the instant success and recognition for anyone that can come from the web. Those who are merely browsing and surfing wish to remain completely anonymous. They want to be able to look at whatever they want without anyone bothering them or knowing what they might be looking at. But when someone makes a website, its different. When someone makes a website they want people to know who they are. They want instant recognition for their efforts. Whether their site is for academic or entertainment purposes, anyone can find instant fame on the web if they do a good job. So, the web is one part anonymity and one part instant fame. It can be so confusing sometimes.
As was pointed out, however, if you are making a site and you want to stand out above the rest, you have to follow the guidlines to be able to make your sight look more official, academic, and trustable.

Posted by Rachel at 11:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This book has helped me to understand a lot of the things I saw when I was in Europe. I was too young to understand what the lecterns and other shelves were when I saw them but reading about them has made me realize that I saw them all the time in Italy and Germany, especially in large churches. This book also made me think about a piece of furniture that Thomas Jefferson made for himself at Monticello. It is only about as tall as a desk, but it has 5 or 6 shelves all around so that he could have 5 or 6 books open to read at all times. The most interesting part of this book was how the shelving of books changed over the centuries, from the chained lecturns to the shelves we have today. How much more inviting is the upper floor of our library versus a stone monestary with large chains holding the books to uncomfortable shelves.

Posted by Rachel at 07:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)