Getting the house in order

I think when I write I am realising - when I don't write down where my mind is going, I forget it, or do nothing with what I deduce. This is not productive! So today I went shopping to a rather nice old stationers near my parents and bought 8 'maths' exercise books* for 50p each, 5 nice pens on sale at the same price, a pack of HB pencils for another 50p, and a card folder to replace the one that fell apart on the train down, for the extortionate sum of 30p ;)
I have now headed up about half of those books with 'subject areas', plus one for the Coursera course I have just started on Fantasy & SciFi. The course is only 10 weeks, but a) it's critical literature, which is something I haven't 'done' in over a decade at least, and b) I am signed up to do another course during next term, so I have to get my routine sorted Now before work is back in the picture again. This week we are looking at Grimm, which is a nice easing in for me since I studied folklore in depth as an undergrad.
Next week is Alice in Wonderland (haven't read since childhood) and Through the Looking Glass (which I'm not sure I ever read). Each week requires a c300 word critical commentary/essay thing, which will be 'fun-hard'. Thinking on that - better get on, deadline is tomorrow and since I haven't looked at time-zones I'm working on the concept of midday UK time as being ahead of anywhere in America...

* I got to love using squared paper when studying in Russia as my handwriting is far neater and the squares let you do diagrams on the same page as the writing

IMC Monday - Session 1

This is more a write up for me to remember what I saw that to tell anyone who wasn't there what happened, mostly because I didn't take notes properly and so I've probably forgotten much more than I would like to admit. For most of my friends who won't know anything about the IMC, the running theme of the Congress this year is "Rules". Will add links later when not on a tablet which hates cut and paste!

Session 1: 113 - Getting clean and being dirty: Rules to follow for hygiene.

Paper 1: To bathe or not to bathe, Elizabeth Archibald. This paper was awesome for me and was the fundamental reason for me kicking myself to make sure I actually attended instead of just wishing. Dr Archibald is in the early stage of a project studying bathing and hygiene in the medieval period and seems to have noticed similar things to where I was before I kinda stopped working on hygiene.^[1] Her handout had a lot of sources I'd either been looking for (primary sources where I had secondary references) or matched things I had noticed too. I found it really inspiring and I am now determined to spend at least part of my summer break getting my head and notes in order on the subject as it remains totally chaotic and mostly in my head.
Paper 2: When to 'go' in Frankish monastic texts, Belle Tuten. This paper was about explicit and implied evidence of when monks were able to visit the latrines. She mentioned areas I wasn't consciously aware of, such as fears held over monks using the latrines for lascivious purposes. I wasn't clear whether this referred to masturbation, homosexual relations, or both so is something I shall find out about another time... Lots of rules on what and when could happen and some interesting thoughts for me regarding cleanliness.
Paper 3: Why hold a drinking party in a latrine?: Women's impurity in two Anglo-Saxon texts, Martha Bayless This paper was a fun one which began with an account of an actual party held by some women inside a latrine! Comments about private and public space were very interesting and thought provoking, and I enjoyed the section on riddles even if it's not one of 'my' areas.

Closing Thought: "Filth Studies"! I like.

Sessions 2-4, Tuesday and Wednesday tomorrow if I get time. I MUST go to sleep now since I have to get the 06:30 train back across the Pennines if I'm to get back to Leeds in time for the 09:00 session tomorrow morning (I'm commuting in as it's cheaper than staying).

~~~

[1] No I don't know quite why I paused/stopped researching, and I hope that listening to this will have been the kick up the proverbial for me to Get On With It! I would like to write to Dr Archibald although I'm really not sure how to phrase it - "Hi, your research is something I've been fiddling with for the last 7 years or so and I'd love to share." sounds incredibly arrogant, clumsy and ingratiating, and is totally the opposite of what I mean to say! To stop me from sitting worrying and then just doing jack again, I promise myself to contact Dr Archibald IF I can think of a way to do it that sounds neither creepy, arrogant nor generally 'off'. I'd love the opportunity to really talk about it with someone who understands! :D to get

Scared and excited...

I have finally managed to afford it. Yes, I am going to the IMC this year and now, just before getting the 5.30 train to Leeds (yup got to get one that ungodly since the budget isn't stretching to accommodation too), I have now realised how terrified I am about being in the same vicinity as people who I look up to That Much! So I am distracting myself by writing out my list of Lectures Not To Miss for the week on Evernote... So scared of being an idiot, yet so damn excited to be finally able to go!

Yes I am sad and No I don't bloody care :P

Huh?

I was listening to the news on the radion on my way into work this morning, particularly the article about the new Roman period coin stash in Jersey, and a phrase caught my attention…

“a former Celtic coin expert at Oxford University”

I thought that was a bit odd – how do you become a former expert? Is it like a position you apply for and then move onto another post? At first I thought it might be a mistake, with the BBC meaning that the expert was formerly at Oxford University, but has now moved on, or retired, or something. But no – I looked up the print article online a few minutes ago and it specifically says “Dr Philip de Jersey, a former Celtic coin expert at Oxford University”. Now, not being in any way, shape or form a coin expert, or any kind of numismatist, I turned to the venerable Google to find out more about this gentleman.

Shire Publications: “Philip de Jersey was born and brought up in Guernsey, where he spent as much time as possible working on archaeological excavations. He graduated in Geography at Hertford College, Oxford, and remained there to complete his DPhil thesis on the late iron age period in north-west France. Since 1992 he has been employed at the Institute of Archaeology in Oxford to maintain and computerise the Celtic Coin Index, a detailed record of more than thirty thousand British Celtic coins.”

Hmm neither formerly interested in coins, nor formerly of Oxford. Unfortunately my Google fu is not strong today – too close to the end of term maybe? – but I can’t pick anything more up about him. Can’t see him on the Institute of Archaeology website, but that’s never definitive in my experience, and the CCI doesn’t seem to list those who work with it – just the history which doesn’t seem to go past 1992… Regardless of this, I still view the phrasing of the article as exceedingly odd, and not one that I would personally use, or indeed like being used about me. I can’t quite articulate why, just a feeling of almost dismissiveness about it. Then again, I am neither an expert nor an academic, no matter how much I wish I was! J

Moving forwards

Following inspiration from Dave Lee King I decided to stop planning and writing posts, and just post them!

***

This year I will be 30-mumble and I've still not done so many of the things that I want to do with my life. Some of these are to a greater or lesser extent beyond my control – having a family, for example, but others are not. So, having been subjected to a full course of The Pacific Institute psychology*, I thought I'd make some constructive use of it! I am a prime procrastinator so it's probably no surprise that I'm not much closer to achieving this dream now than I was 12 years ago when I graduated…

So my 'affirmation'** is this (they have to be written in the present tense):

I am enthusiastically studying at the university of my choice for an MA in Medieval Studies / Medieval History, and confidently getting the best grades I can so that my tutors will be happy to recommend me for a funded PhD place.

So, I'm not going to stick a definite time limit on this, because I don't know whether I will be acceptable as I am now, but I AM moving things forward. My plan:

1. Identify where I definitely want to study – must be either distance learning, evening classes or with a possibility of some sort of sponsorship
   
2. Write letters to the tutors in charge of the programmes I am interested in outlining my background (degree in another subject but with a strong history element, MA LIS, professional librarian, evening classes at Birkbeck in Palaeography and Latin a few years back) to find out whether I can apply straight away or if they would prefer me to take a course such as the one offered by Oxford here: Undergraduate Advanced Diploma in Local History as a sort of conversion course.
   
3. Apply! (and hopefully get accepted)
   
4. Work my SOCKS off
   

3 has a subsidiary to it – especially if I apply and get accepted to Birkbeck. I need to be working somewhere which pays more if I am to be paying course fees as well. So, the subsidiary, which I am working on, is Get a New Job. I have two applications in and three others I am seriously considering…

Baby steps but moving forwards.

If you are interested, which I doubt, but just in case… I am considering applying to Birkbeck (evenings, part time), Trinity Saint David's (distance, part time), Leeds and possibly KCL (if I could get at least a fees remission).

--

As an aside I do have another affirmation I'm working on, this one a domestic one. It might seem silly but to be utterly frank the state of our home in the last few years would be best described as gross…:

I have a clean and tidy house to which I am pleased to invite friends and family to visit.

Well it's not perfect yet, by a long shot. But we have got 2 rooms clear and another almost complete. I'm not going to consider the garden yet though – only problem with being up here is the amount of rainfall makes the garden rather, err, lush!

~~~

Notes:

* AKA as TPI training, and known affectionately amongst colleagues as 'Brain-washing', 'happy clap', and 'turning you into a pod person'… J

**
An affirmation is a written or oral expression that represents a belief about ourselves. Affirmations are built on the theory that people's beliefs in their own self-efficacy mobilize them to accomplish goals. http://www.thepacificinstitute.us/v2/files/pdfs/CurriculumFoundations.pdf [PDF]

 

Who the heck are you?

Well, I thought I'd better post an introduction to who the heck I am on here...

I am keeping this blog semi-anonymous, mainly as I wish at present to be able to speak freely on whatever I wish, regardless of private or work interests. However, I am not going to hide who I am either.

Facts about me:

• I am female of "a certain age".
• I am married to a Red-headed NIrishman but currently have no children.
• I read Russian Studies as an undergraduate followed by a Library and Information Studies MA.
• I currently work in libraries in the North West of England but I am originally from the South East.
• The name Angel Cynn comes from Bede's Historia Ecclesiastic Gentis Anglorum, Book 2.
• I am an Aspie.
• I have perseverations on many subjects, including Medieval social history, Historical costume, Names, Etymology, Fairy/Folk tales, Languages and travelling.
• My favourite season is Winter and I love the snow
• I love watching steam trains and fireworks
• I love murlocs
• My interest in history starts pre-history, wanes from the Romans to about 600-700AD, picks up then until the Wars of the Roses where it dull slightly through the next couple of hundred years and picks up again in the Regency period.
• I am a geek, I admit it and am sometimes quite proud of it.
• I have been accused of being a Goth, and I am not offended by this :P
• I have an addiction to a certain MMORPG
• I hate censorship but endorse reader guidance - is this a contradiction? :S

Library Quotes

I was doing some research this week for making some bookmarks for Satelite Site and wanted to put an appropriate quote on the back, but all the ones I found seem to make me want to make commentaries with them. In the end I decided to share a few of my aimless meanderings. The source site, which is linked below, has many many more if you like that kind of thing!   "A library is not a community masturbation centre." Blaise Cronin (Library Journal column, 15 November 2002, p.46) Depends what library you are in… and what gets you off I guess! "Blaming the library for exposure to pornography is like blaming the lake if your child walks up to it alone, falls in and then drowns." David Sawyer (Spokane Spokesman-Review column, 18 December 2000) I so agree here! "Doing research on the Web is like using a library assembled piecemeal by pack rats and vandalized nightly." Roger Ebert (Yahoo! Internet Life column, Sept. 1998, p. 66) Sometimes those pack rats are good and provide good information. However, some are insidious little bustards who are like woodworm in your floorboards – they undermine the good stuff without you realising until it all suddenly collapses and you have to rebuild all your arguments from the beginning again. "For him that stealeth a book from this library, let it change into a serpent in his hand and rend him. Let him be struck by palsy & all his members blasted. Let him languish in pain, crying aloud for mercy, & let there be no surcease for his agony until he sink to dissolution. Let bookworms gnaw his entrails in token of the worm that dieth not, & when at last he goeth to his final punishment let the flames of hell consume him for ever & aye." Attributed to the monastery of San Pedro, Barcelona (unable to identify published source) Can I put this on the wall in 'my' library? :D "I accept the risk of damnation. The Lord will absolve me, because He knows I acted for His glory. My duty was to protect the library." Umberto Eco (The Name of the Rose. HBJ, 1983, p. 471) I think that I would stand by this principle – I am a guardian of knowledge. It is not my place in life to dictate what people read, it is to facilitate those who come to me to find what they need. "I'd like to be in charge of a library, or be an archaeologist. Again, it's research, a bit of detective work -- the things I really love to do." Bill Wyman (Publishers Weekly interview, 9 September 2002, p. 53) THIS is what drew me to libraries. It's also, I think, probably why I still love researching on history and the past. "Libraries are not safe places, and the reason for that is there are ideas to be found." Greeley, TX resident John Bookman (As quoted in Denver Post article, 17 December 2003) Good!! "Librarians are librarians: they are not caregivers, nurturers, social workers, surrogate parents, welfare agents, or therapists. When all is said and done, their role is straightforward: they gather stuff, impose some order on said stuff, and make the stuff available to the public." Blaise Cronin (Library Journal column, 15 May 2002, p. 66) … and woe betide you if you mess with that stuff! ;) "Libraries are brothels for the mind. Which means that librarians are the madams, greeting punters, understanding their strange tastes and needs, and pimping their books." Guy Browning (The Guardian column, 18 October 2003. Submitted by Lynette in Queensland) Muhahah, I am a Madam to a Brothel of the Mind. In an FE College no less! :D "Libraries are your friends." Neil Gaiman (submitted by Trey Bunn) They are. Sitting here, I feel at home. I could live here quite happily… "My grandma always said that God made libraries so that people didn't have any excuse to be stupid." Joan Bauer (Rules of the Road. Putnam, 1997, p. 142. Props to The U*N*A*B*A*S*H*E*D Librarian) I like her Grandma! "We cannot have good libraries until we first have good librarians -- properly educated, professionally recognized, and fairly rewarded." Herbert S. White (Library Journal column, 15 November 1999, pp. 44-45) I wish Management and Government understood this… "Where any nation starts awake Books are the memory. And it's plain Decay of libraries is like Alzheimer's in the nation's brain." Ted Hughes ("Hear It Again")

Original quotations taken from . >> Sig lines

Images

Just a short, backdated post to source the images I am using on the front page of this blog.

1. The cover banner is from p. 14 of Cultureru.com's Medieval Bestiary.
   It is entitled Pica et Picus by the site, and shows a magpie and a woodpecker set within medalions.
   Source: Bestiary, Росси́йская национальная библиотека имени М.Е. Салтыкова-Щедрина, (Russian National Library / Saltykov-Shchedrin Library), St.Petersburg (MS LatQ.v.V.I) [Exact citation not given on source]



2. My icon is of Conradin from the Codex Manesse (Folio 7r). Original image: http://diglit.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/cpg848/0009

1. Hygiene

The Middle Ages, were not, overall, stinky, smelly, unsanitary and dirty. Yes, people viewed personal hygiene differently from modern people, but that does not mean a total absence... For many years, this has been my 'hobby horse' subject, and I freely admit I can bore people into several repeated deaths over it! It all started at a re-enactment show, when a member of the public said flippantly, "Well they were all dirty and smelly weren't they!". I felt this to be untrue, but having no evidence either way left me with a question mark in my head wouldn't let me alone. Be it known here and now, that the question mark is the single most inspirational thing for me - I can't let them alone. I hate not knowing or not understanding, and if something sparks me off, I can't let go until all the questions are gone. Which is never of course...!

Where am I now?

So where am I now with regards to research? What has changed?

Current topics

• The history of personal hygiene in the wider Middle Ages
• Medievalism and the modern perception of the Medieval period
• Rosaries
• The source of the concept of the filthy Middle Ages

Future (near and distant)
This covers areas which interest me, but which either I don't have the time or skill (yet?) to research, or which I am looking into incidentally to other research

• National and social insults - "Filthy viking marauders", "effete Italians", "impassive Germans" and so on...
• Links between Muscovy/Rus and the British Isles - mostly interested in the elite and trading links
• The Varangarians
• Women's roles in borderlands - especially looking at the Welsh Marches, how women interacted across the borders in times of peace and war, cross border relationships etc.
• The daughters of Yaroslav the Wise.
• The place and role of women in medieval court life.
• Pre-modern Royal ladies-in-waiting - who were they, what did they actually do, what happened to them once their mistresses moved on, either through marriage, political deposition of their husband, or death?
• Women in Russian folklore - Rusalka, Baba Yaga, Vasilissa Prekrasnaia - roles, actions and importance
• Folklore and historicity, e.g. Continuing from my BA thesis and looking at the links between Russian folklore and real historical periods (i.e. Do folk tales represent an era, an idealised era, etc.)

Some posts will be a short series outlining my thinking on each of these. My intention is that these will serve as indexes to thinking each subject, although I will use tags for indexing as well (The Librarian in me goes deep ;D)