Talking with Dr. Burton: Project Updates!

After talking with Dr. Burton, my faculty mentor for my field study project and overseer or my Digital Civilization course contract, I've learned a few things about where I am and where I need to go from here:

First, I need to draft, draft, draft my personal essays!  So far I have been able to do two, but I have a tentative date to be semi finished with them by December 1st so I can get on to the digital aspect of them and create my eBook.  I've been a terrible perfectionist lately, and Dr. Burton had to talk me off the ledge and let me know that I should be sending him stuff early on in the process.  Personal essays are just so vulnerable, and I think that it is scary!  I'm overcoming that though.  It should be a good exercise in general to stop editing like mad, especially if I am going in the wrong direction.

I also learned that as I am drafting these essays, I need to be thinking about audience and basically market my essays- sell my product before it is finished. 

To do this I need to first, believe it is possible, and second, figure out how to do it.

Why I Switched to an eReader (And why Nook Color instead of a Kindle)

In light of some of my realizations about “going digital,” I thought I would dedicate a post to talking about how I converted to a Nook Color eReader.    

Like most of us (I think), I was a little apprehensive about the switch.  It was not an easy decision.  I love the feel of books.  I love the way they smell and being able to scribble in the margins and turn the pages to my heart’s content.  I disliked reading anything on a computer monitor, and was irritated that some books are actually more expensive in an eBook format than the regular used print editions on Amazon.  

So what changed?

Honestly, I think I was forced to reconsider since I was going to India and had fourteen books I was supposed to take with me.  When you plan on backpacking all over India and Europe, carrying that much weight is suicide.  I thought a lot about the Amazon Kindle but ended up getting a Nook Color based on this review that my dad sent me from the Chicago Times.

The review is great, but I thought I would give my own thoughts on owning a Nook Color and how it has changed my reading experience.

Social Media vs Conventional Academia?

Since coming home from India I have given a lot more thought to this whole social media question in an educational setting.  Until recently I did not realize that sometimes my thoughts on the benefits of the emerging digital culture are not just different from conventional forms of learning, but they are in outright opposition to the traditional education model. 

The first week of school I picked up a copy of the Daily Universe and noted the first page article, “BYU professors turning to social media.”  Because this is in my realm of interests and I have had a great experience with it in India and Ghana, I picked it up.

I was disappointed by the article.  I think it was nice that it addressed the growing social media in classroom question, but in many ways it seemed very surface level—making me think that in general we have not fully grasped the benefits linked with social media for educational purposes.  While there were a few references to an online discussion, the article did not seem to hint that this online discussion could be held with others outside of the classroom and in the real world.  Facebook was the only type of media mentioned, which was discredited as a way for teachers to creep on students and even cause some distraction, where other resources, such as academic blogs, were not even mentioned.  Professor Parker, a religious professor, mentioned that he does not “see social media playing a large role” in any of his classes,” and I think many professors are in that line of thinking.

Back in the Game

Me?  Why no, I'm not overwhelmed at all.

I've been really good at letting India take a backseat to all of the rest of the madness going on in my life right now.  Taking classes while trying to tackle course work while simultaneously making meaning of an experience like India is not the easiest load to juggle, but what do you do?  Deadlines are approaching, and I know I will feel a world better once I start.

Starting is the important thing.  After meeting with my faculty mentor, Dr. Burton, I've realized that I need to get my travel essays done a lot earlier than I anticipated.  If I am to publish an eBook, I need to leave myself a lot of room to find an audience, learn formatting, find outlets for my work, and just figure out the logistics of it all.

The cool thing is that this is much more than a honors thesis.  The hard thing is that this is much more than an honors thesis.  But it is going to be so much more rewarding knowing that I am establishing my writing presence on the internet.  This, right along with my novel writing class, has gotten me very excited about learning the ropes of self publishing.

So here is a brief to-do list:

• Email Professor Bennion two solid drafts and my coursework
• Start drafting more travel essays so that I am ahead of schedule
• Figure out if I am going to try for an ORCA grant
• Decide what final outcome, other than my eBook, I would like to have to show what I have learned through my experiences with emerging media.
• Get my personal writing group together to start talking about these topics
• Balance coursework with my current classes
• Keep this blog updated!

Photo credit to comerecommended.com

Varanasi Email Home Aug 8

Here are parts of an email I sent to my parents from Varanasi:

I'm writing this from my hotel room in Varanasi.  It is a cold tiled room with no windows and stripped lime green wallpaper.  I woke up this morning and both of my travel buddies had gone out, and in the pitch black it felt something like a nightmare.

But it is not a nightmare.  Somehow.  But there is something about this city- the most intense city I have ever been in.  It is synonymous with death.  People come here from all over India to die or have their ashes burned on the ghat steps near the holy Ganges River.  Right outside of my hotel is the main funeral ghat.  There are cremations that go on there every 24/7 and the ashes swirl up and get into our food if we order at the terrace restaurant here.  You smell it no matter where you go, and sadly, it is almost a better aroma than the cobble stone allies full of shit and pee and who knows what else.  Until you have seen Varanasi it is almost impossible to believe that such a place exists. 

I will be taking another train this evening to Delhi where I will stay until my flight to France.  I am so grateful for the company....I have had no breakdowns, remarkably.  It has made me realize just how strong I have gotten since the last breakup I have been through.  I might still be in shock, but honestly, I think I've received a lot of outside help as well.  Just having the three of us is a world better than the group of seven.  There were definitely problems coming back....

....

And don't worry daddy, I know you always wanted to see the Taj Mahal.  It exceeded all expectations, and I took lots of pictures and thought of you.  I hope one day you two can come and see that place.

I'll try to keep you posted soon.  Please don't forward this on to anyone else.  I just wanted to get a chance to tell you about what is going on in my life right  now.  I'm doing remarkably well considering the circumstances.  Thank you for the love and support, as always.  Your emails in response to my diary-esk messages were very much needed.  You were the only outlet I felt like I had. 

Loves,
Rachel

Unpacking India

I’m back!

And by back, I mean my body is physically in Provo, Utah now, which is the beginning of the later process of my experience in India—making sense of it and completing my coursework.  Truth be told, it has not been an easy transition.  Reentry never is.

My little rendezvous across the globe were very rewarding experiences but gave me just five days recovery before classes started.  I’m still jet lagged.  My emotions have been all over, and life went on without me.  It is hard sometimes to walk down the familiar grocery store isles or through the BYU Bookstore without feeling like I want to burst and tell someone—anyone, what I’ve seen.  Four weeks ago I was leaving McLeod Ganj, my home for the last three months.  Three weeks ago I was watching corpses burn by the dozens along the Ganges River in Varanasi, picking human ash out of my hair.  Two weeks ago I was throwing grass at my friends on the lawn in front of the Eiffel Tower.  Last week I was eating gelato on the steps of the Pantheon, listening to a man play a harpsichord.

This week I am a student in the classroom again.

And next week, maybe I will have it figured out.  Like my boxes sitting in the corner of my new apartment (that I cannot unpack yet due to an unexpected flooding prior to moving in), I’m anxious to get settled.

Here are a few first steps to help get me there:

•   Email all of my professors and set up times to talk about my course contracts (due in a month)
•   Finish reading books for Professor Easley’s class and brainstorm ideas for a final paper
•  Write up my summary statements on the personal essays I’ve read and email them to Professor Bennion along with some rough drafts of two of my own personal essays
•  Get involved and organized according to my Thesis Writing Class (HONRS 300R) and set goals to work on my thesis and coursework
•  Continually update this blog and catch up on some posts I’ve missed
• Make personal goals to set aside time and work on drafts of my personal essays
• Critique this blog

(Photo credit to The Tiny Life)

Goodbye McLeod Ganj

It’s over.

My bag is stuffed to the brim, my stomach feels like the inside of an out of balance washing machine, and I am something between thrilled, depressed, excited, stressed, anxious, and completely ready to board my train for Delhi tomorrow.

I thought I would write a few of the lessons I have learned—lessons that are a bit beyond learning how to flush a squatter with a bucket or how to rattle off a few Indian and Tibetan greetings.  It will take a bit more time than that though.  This experience was many things, but at the end of the day, I am happy I came, and I am grateful for the time I had.  It is an entirely different category than Ghana.  Mahinder, our massage teacher, says that coming to India makes you grow up about five years.  I’m not sure about that exact number, but it really does change you.  

I am behind on updating this blog, but I thought I would just stop in and say thank you for all the support while I was in the field.  I will have much more posts coming, but for now I will be traveling to Agra, Varanasi, Paris, Rome, and Florence.  I’ll be back in Utah August 23^rd.

(I know, right?  This is my life right now!)