research project and other dry things such as this

So I am working on my research project for my history class and it keeps alternating between being hella boring and really interesting. Today's most troubling (annoying) aspect is this citation business that has consumed the last 5 hours of my Sunday night. Yes, I know why it's important but I really don't care right now (neither does Fenix, btw, because he's screaming in my ear to let me know just that). I'm hoping that at some point the proper way to cite all of the 100 million different types of sources will become something that I can do in my sleep. But until then, here I sit with Rampolla's Guide to Writing in History, toiling away at my annotated bibliography.

speaking of letters

Well no one was really talking about letters but this being April and the nablopomo theme being letters I thought I might actually talk about something related.

I am taking this class on the history of American immigration and it's been an incredible eye opener. There are so many things that got glossed over in my high school history classes and I feel like I really am learning some important things now. One of my favorite aspects of this class has been some of the reading assignments. There is one book in particular that I am really enjoying - Thomas Dublin's Immigrant Voices. The book is a collection of letters and journals written by American immigrants between 1773 and 1986. My favorite so far has been the writings of the immigrant John Harrower (he came to America from the Shetland islands). His musings about his journey across to the Atlantic and life in his new country are really interesting to read.

I would never have picked up this book had it not been for this class because truthfully it doesn't sound terribly fun to read. But I think that I've awakened some great love of history inside of me because I'm really having an awesome time with this class.