Lil’ Histories No. 0: Reboot

Since writing the “Dear Diary” entries, I don’t know how to start. I’ve gotten used to beginning with “Dear Diary.”

Weird right?

Now I need a solid lil’ intro for Lil’ Histories, a brand new space in the Shade of the Grove.

So, why Lil’ Histories? Well, it is a space that I transplanted from my old website, and I’ve realized I need to compartmentalize my personal reflections from my scholarly reflections as a way to create focus for this dang thesis work.

Also I had the art already made up, and I really really liked it.

Claire, my accountability buddy, is going to be like why are you writing these when you should be focusing on writing my thesis. Or not, she just texted me with a prompt to write about writing to get my writing unstuck.

Great minds think alike.

I hope it helps because I have found this type of writing settles my chaotic impulses driven by anxiety. When I can’t ground myself in what I am doing, then I have a hard time focusing my anxiety. When my anxiety remains unfocused, my noggin fills with static noise, my body gets full of nervous energy, and my breath—spirit/life-force whatever you want to call it— becomes flighty.

It’s quite delightful to some extent, and I get really good workouts in, I am usually more social. But these delightful things distract me from my thesis. But hey, this isn’t a Dear Diary entry.

I actually get a little bit more into this in entry 15, if your interested in checking it out.

Now back to the thesis where my flightiness turns to flight.

My project is located at the historiographical intersection of where science/ knowledge, emotion, and higher education meet in the Long Progressive Era. Historians usually consider the Progressive Era to range from 1880 to 1920, but this range is a minor contention between historians.

My argument centers on the first professor of botany at the University of Wyoming, Aven Nelson, who served in a tenured position from 1887 to 1932, and staying around the University botanizing until the 1940s.

My project is not another biography celebrating some old white dude for his accomplishments. It is not really about duder himself. Instead, the main analysis focuses on the knowledge that Nelson produced (history of science/knowledge), how he produced and authenticated it (history of education/the history of professional botany), and why he spent a majority of his life producing a very specific brand of botanical knowledge (history of emotion folded back into knowledge).

Simple right? Yes and no, maybe? The logics are there, but it is a lot to just start inking down on paper.

But I gotta start somewhere. And, the argument works. Don’t worry, I’ve spent the past eighteen months ensuring the soundness of the logic.

Since it is not the strength of the argument, clarity remains the project’s major roadblock.

I need to synthesize a lot of data and information concisely into thesis. I mean, I think I can do it.

I know, I know, famous last words.

But I really think I can. And the key is working through the technicalities and jargon in these Lil’ Histories posts. These posts will help me find the brevity to state. Hone my writing into the most basic argument using the most simple ideas.

So kick back and enjoy as we spend the next few months making some history.

Hehe get what I did there…

Next time up, I think I will be discussing narrative, maybe. I don’t know. It is the plan right now. Don’t miss out!

Thanks for listening!

History is pretty cool.

Dang…need to find a new ending too.