red in the face

History of the Environment in the U.S.


I'm almost positive that I am one of five people (out of 40) who do the readings for this class. Fortunately, we had an essay due so the discussion about Thoreau  and Muir was destined to be a decent one. People were trickling through the door five, ten, fifteen minutes into the class; they were the ones who had waited until that morning to start the seven-page essay. 


The discussion had already started, the basic question: How did you like Muir? 
I instantly responded with, 
        "Better than Thoreau." 
When asked to explain why I continued: 
        "His writing style is much easier to follow. He is succinct. Thoreau went on and on about the trees and the Indian guide. Muir didn't waste words. His descriptions were..." 
At that moment I looked up to see my professor smile at another student and tap his watch. 
I got flustered. 
       "Um... ya, Muir is succinct, which I am obviously not being..." I tapered off. 
Professor turned his attention to me and said (loudly) "Oh no! I wasn't referring to you! Please, continue."
       "It's okay" I replied, "I don't really have anything else to say anyway."
       "No! Please, I want to hear what you were going to say!" He urged.
       "I think my face is turning red," I stammered as my face rose in temperature and turned the color of a tomato.
       "Rachel, finish what you were going to say," he pleaded.
       "I just need you to stop," I stated helplessly. The class laughed at this demand I made of our teacher to leave me alone. 
       "Alright," he agreed, "We'll come back to you."


Yes, I thought, right after my face returns to its natural color.


I eventually did rejoin the conversation and it was a good one because people were prepared. When class ended he approached me, 
        "I wasn't tapping my watch at you. A student had just walked in a half an hour after class had started. I didn't mean to embarrass you." 
I smiled, shook my head and  assured him it was fine. 


And it was. I don't usually get embarrassed. You can't really afford to get embarrassed in my family otherwise your face would be permanently red from all the jokes we make at each other's expense. I guess now I just have to be on my guard with my professors. 


p.s. if you want to read a good nature book, here ya go. Not only does he describe one of my favorite places in the world but he also rides an avalanche. 

thrifty finds

Except, it was antique-ing which, as we all know, is way more expensive than thrifting. When my in-laws came out a couple months ago, Lisa and I went to a few antique stores and ever since I've wanted to go back and explore. There is a huge antique community out here that I haven't noticed as much on the West Coast, probably because the East Coast has way more history than the West Coast and therefore more old stuff. I went to a few shops today looking for some type of trunk or chest that I could store blankets in since we have zero closet space. This proved difficult since, as previously stated, antique shops tend to be expensive. 

And then I found that beauty. He was residing in an old church turned antique store. He was hidden under tons of knick-knacks and stowed behind an old rocking horse. I fell in love. It's blue and distressed. It traveled the Cunard Line. It's huge. And it's just beautiful. Best part? A good $50-100 cheaper than other trunks/chests that I have found that were smaller. I was actually expecting to find an old wooden trunk, and there were some fabulous ones, but this steamer trunk has my heart. 

p.s. I am considering changing my name to match the initials of the original owner. Suggestions are welcome. 

Yep, I wish I was a Brit.

I told Dan last night, "I'm getting up early to watch the wedding." To which he replied, "I knew it." Which I found amusing because I hadn't really thought about it. And then, suddenly I realized I wanted to watch it. It's historic. I love that I didn't miss it. They are a beautiful couple. And that dress... she looked classically beautiful. Congratulations Cate and Will!

Did you watch? 

the grand tour.

I really love my campus. When we first got here and walked around the campus my first thought was "holy crap, it's humid" and my second thought was "preeetty campus." I'm sure it's not that unusual that the buildings on a college campus are made of brick but for some reason it just seems so East Coast to me and I've decided that the East Coast has cornered the market on brick buildings (I try to convince myself that we live on the East Coast and not the South -- it's not working). Since it's spring break and the campus is practically empty, I took the opportunity to take some pictures without 1) looking like a tourist, and 2) having random other students walking through my pictures. Also, I really only frequent about 1/3 of my campus because the History department's building is right next to the library which are pretty much the only two buildings I ever walk into -- there is a whole section of this school that I have never seen. Maybe someday I'll meander over to that portion but until then, this is the view I see everyday: 

This clock is my favorite landmark on campus.

Morton Hall is the building for the History/English departments -- most of my time on campus is spent here or at the library.

And today, the first day of my Spring Break, I was at the library bright and early studying up on the Nixon elections -- bound periodicals from yesteryear are pretty awesome and they smell cool. Not that I was sniffing them. 

Atrocities

When the first word I read is "Rape" while opening a Christmas gift I was unsuree as to what kind of gift I was receiving, fortunately I received the gift of enlightenment. The Rape of Nanking is an extraordinary book on the Nanking Massacre. If you are like me you know very little -- or nothing at all -- about the Japanese war crimes leading up to and during WWII. In my small, ignorant world the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor and were part of the axis powers during the Second World War and aside from that I knew very little. My ignorance lasted until last year when I heard a Korean speaker talk about the Japanese war crimes against his people and that opened my eyes to some of what I had, for so long, remained in the dark about. I did some minor research shortly after and found out that the Japanese war crimes are considered by some historians to be more horrendous than the Germans. My interest in the topic slowly waned and then my dad gave me this book for Christmas. Iris Chang passionately writes about the atrocities committed against the Chinese in the city and surrounding area of Nanking. The killing, plundering, raping, and terrorizing occurred over six weeks. An estimated 280-350,000 civilians and unarmed soldiers were killed during this 6-week period. Thousands and thousands of women were gang raped and many impaled shortly after their attack. Tales of the atrocities committed made me sick to my stomach. What disturbed me even more was the lack of responsibility Japan has ever taken for the massacre. For political and economic reasons Japan was not held in the same league as Germany. Japan was never forced to apologize and the retributions to the surviving victims was paltry if even distributed (Germany was still paying millions in retribution well into 2007). History was rewritten in Japan -- the deaths of hundreds of thousands became tens of thousands and for a time they claimed the entire story was falsified and exaggerated. While the book is intense and disturbing there are stories of heroism. The stories of three westerners, a German and two Americans, are retold and shed light on the incredibly selfless acts of the few who stayed behind to help the Chinese. This tragedy should not be forgotten. As George Santayana is quoted the book, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."