luciab | (no subject)

Sitting here studying for a mid-term in Archives. I am SO underwhelmed with Archives. Totally not what I originally thought, though I did later get a sort of primer from a friend. Still, it isn't even what I expected after talking to her. I don't know if our teacher is precisely correct (I think he is) or somewhat prejudiced because he's the State Archivist. Anyway, he says that Archives, in its purest definition, is government records. Technically speaking, all those other things/places out there storing handwritten or photographic bits of history aren't Archives at all. Too bad, because I'm a hell of a lot more interested in those than I am in a discussion of theories of organization of the records of the Department of Agriculture. FBI-- more interesting. Heh.

I have also pretty much abandoned my theory that making reading notes is a good way to study. I'd heard, and thought I'd found it true, that writing something helps you remember it. What I'm finding is that, um, well, no, not really. I feel really silly sitting in class, knowing I've read the material and even made notes on it, and not being able to answer when the teacher says "What is... (insert estoric topic here)? Did you read the materials?" Well, yeah, but as Idonea says, I've slept since then! Also, when I need to find something in the book it's a lot harder when I only have notes to refer to-- even when I have helpfully noted the page each note came from. And when I go to study for an exam, I have reading notes, plus class notes, which often refer to the text, with no way to find what they refer to. If I don't understand something I've highlighted in the book, it's sure easeir to find more info than it is from reading notes. The last couple of weeks I've been highlighting, like every other poor student, and I sure don't think it's hurt me any. I guess I could say I'm no more addlepated than before, but that's hardly a ringing endorsement.

I saw something I thought amusing when I was at the Farmer's Market the other day. I was at an apple booth, and this man came rushing up, all self-important, and said to the woman who was waiting on me "Do you have any Red Delicious apples?" We'll ignore the fact that he could have asked the other woman who was not waiting on anyone, and focus instead on the inanity. Why the HELL would you go to a booth displaying a dozen different kind of apples, with descriptions of tartness/sweetness and cooking qualities, not to mention samples for tasting, and get the most bland, flavorless, dry, cardboard excuse for an apple that ever existed? I had to laugh. All I could think was, he'll get what he deserves. Meanwhile, I'd like to think that I, too, am getting what I deserve-- I'm trying different varieties of apples, both "cooking" and "eating," and enjoying them tremendously. I still remember taking Amy to visit colleges in Massachusetts, and walking into a generic little grocery that had a huge selection of dozens of different kinds of apples. At that time I'd very rarely seen anything besides Red and Golden Delicious in the stores and was completely overwhelmed. That store didn't have the good descriptions, so it was kind of random, but I gotta say, we walked out with lots of apples. Soon after that, I started seeing more variety available here too, though nothing like that. EVery time I see a good display of apples I remember that.

Okay, enough meandering. Back to the dusty Archives.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I never found that taking notes either in class of from the reading was that helpful. It was one more repetition of the material and writing them down forced me to slow down while thinking about them, but that was it.

What seems to make a bigger difference for me is using the individual facts to accomplish something bigger. If task A requires facts x, y, and z then I'm much more likely to remember x, y, and z after I'm done with A. I don't know how useful that would be for you or in your subject, though.

I like taking notes in class just because it tells me what THEY think is important, which can be completely different than what I thought was going to be important. And when they give us That Significant Look over their shoulder and say "You might be seeing this again..." I add a star. I am not going to turn down help!

At home (in Oregon) they are not dry, boring, cardboard apples. I don't know what happens to them diuring transportation but - ugh. I grew up with red delicious and granny smiths in the backyard and loved both. Now, I don't bother trying to eat them (well, until this time of year and only from the Commissary, which flies their supply in...). It's rather heart-breaking. At home we're proud of our apples, "The little crown at the bottom shows you that it is the Royalty of Apples" but MAN, I don't know what happens to them outside of home.