CollectingBanter

CollectingBanter (http://www.collectingbanter.com/index.php)
-   Books (http://www.collectingbanter.com/forumdisplay.php?f=15)
-   -   Nice to see you again, Francis.... (http://www.collectingbanter.com/showthread.php?t=322656)

Willow Arune[_3_] December 18th 13 07:32 AM

Nice to see you again, Francis....
 
Well, Francis, it has been a while...

I have just finished my first semester towards an M.A. in History at the University of Northern British Columbia. We have a nice campus on a hill overlooking PG. Not large, about 5,000 students. As is usual these days, the sciences take the lion's share of $$ so the History Department is small and the courses rather limited. Still, we are rated as the second highest small campus in Canada and the profs are wonderful!
I returned to university in January, 2012. While enrolled in a B.A program to give my classes sums purpose, I needed a third BA like a hole in the head. In all events, a prof suggested I go the Masters route and I was accepted into the program - one of three. I just finished the first semester, course work, and managed to retain my A's.
We have one prof who is a medievalist. I took her course in Medieval History, then Spanish Medieval History. Both ere fascinating. I have also had her for Historiography - 500 and now 700. A course on Child Birth and Women's Bodies 1500 to 2000 turned out to be a wonderful course as well. After the Season, Witches in Medieval Times. I am currently debating several thesis topics, limited by my inability to travel. Happily we do have Barkerville (the gold rush town of the 1858 - 1875 days) close to us and a few topics in PG seem interesting. Unfetter by travel, I would b e off to Europe but age and the need to avoid travel does so limit one.
Heading back to university at 65 (+2 now) has been wonderful. Being an Old Bat amidst all these younger types is a delight. The changes are amazing - no more index cards in wooden trays is only one. Computers are everywhere, impossible to be without one. That led to a change from PCs to Macs. The ability to find research papers from decades ago not only quick but possible at any time at home - I link the to university computer - is such an improvement.
Books? As before, the local scene is very limited - hypermodern mostly, some modern, nothing old. I did develop a taste for Louis Auchincloss and had a good hunt on the Internet. While mysteries remain a major focus, the reading in a Masters program tends to take up many hours.
In addition to Witches, next semester will include a course on Annales, in Historiography. Yes, the history of the Med in five volumes and more. I did the indexing for my prof's new book during the summer - the legal cases arising in Barcelona when wives sued to recover their dowries in the 1500s. Very interesting - and thankfully I did not have to do the translating from Medieval Latin!
Hope all is well with you...

Willow


Francis A. Miniter[_2_] December 21st 13 11:50 PM

Nice to see you again, Francis....
 
On 12/18/2013 1:32 AM, Willow Arune wrote:
Well, Francis, it has been a while...

I have just finished my first semester towards an M.A. in History at the University of
Northern British Columbia. We have a nice campus on a hill overlooking PG. Not large,
about 5,000 students. As is usual these days, the sciences take the lion's share of $$
so the History Department is small and the courses rather limited. Still, we are rated
as the second highest small campus in Canada and the profs are wonderful!


I returned to university in January, 2012. While enrolled in a B.A program to give my
classes sums purpose, I needed a third BA like a hole in the head. In all events, a prof
suggested I go the Masters route and I was accepted into the program - one of three. I
just finished the first semester, course work, and managed to retain my A's.


We have one prof who is a medievalist. I took her course in Medieval History, then Spanish
Medieval History. Both ere fascinating. I have also had her for Historiography - 500 and
now 700. A course on Child Birth and Women's Bodies 1500 to 2000 turned out to be a wonderful
course as well. After the Season, Witches in Medieval Times. I am currently debating several
thesis topics, limited by my inability to travel. Happily we do have Barkerville (the gold
rush town of the 1858 - 1875 days) close to us and a few topics in PG seem interesting.
Unfetter by travel, I would b e off to Europe but age and the need to avoid travel does so
limit one.


Heading back to university at 65 (+2 now) has been wonderful. Being an Old Bat amidst all
these younger types is a delight. The changes are amazing - no more index cards in wooden
trays is only one. Computers are everywhere, impossible to be without one. That led to a
change from PCs to Macs. The ability to find research papers from decades ago not only quick
but possible at any time at home - I link the to university computer - is such an improvement.


Books? As before, the local scene is very limited - hypermodern mostly, some modern, nothing
old. I did develop a taste for Louis Auchincloss and had a good hunt on the Internet. While
mysteries remain a major focus, the reading in a Masters program tends to take up many hours.
In addition to Witches, next semester will include a course on Annales, in Historiography.
Yes, the history of the Med in five volumes and more. I did the indexing for my prof's new
book during the summer - the legal cases arising in Barcelona when wives sued to recover their
dowries in the 1500s. Very interesting - and thankfully I did not have to do the translating
from Medieval Latin!


Hope all is well with you...

Willow


Hi Willow,

I did find the post after all. I failed to remember that you posted it
to rec.collecting.books.

On women's history, I have been putting together a small collection of
my own, including:

Antonia Fraser, The Weaker Vessel
Bonnie Anderson, A History of their Own
A History of Women (5 vols), Belknap Press Harvard

In Fraser's book, I think it was, I recalled one girl in medieval times
having been widowed three times by the time she was age eleven. Such
was a female an object of trade for family advancement.

All is well. I started listing books on ABE - just a few so far. And I
have sold one - for $100 - Georgette Heyer, The Corinthian, Dutton 1966,
first reissue in America under that name.

I am doing a lot of reading in psychoanalysis and in the history of
religion, sometimes in both at once. Right now I am deep into Robert
Wright, The Evolution of God (Little Brown 2009). Fascinating to me,
but not a book that a religious person would like at all. I recently
finished Andre Lacocque and Pierre-Emmanual Lacocque, The Jonah Complex,
a psychoanalytic/theological treatise of 150 pages on the 2 1/2 pages of
the text. Actually, very well done.


Francis A. Miniter


Kitty Go Boom December 22nd 13 04:23 PM

Nice to see you again, Francis....
 
Why don't you two lovebirds get a room and stop using this group to send love
letters to each other?


Don Phillipson[_2_] December 28th 13 09:38 PM

Nice to see you again, Francis....
 
"Kitty Go Boom" wrote in message
...

Why don't you two lovebirds get a room and stop using this group to send
love letters to each other?


This poster may be mistaken. Letters packed with references to books, even
if personally addressed while publicly posted, seem appropriate enough for a
books NG.

--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)




Francis A. Miniter[_2_] December 29th 13 05:43 AM

Nice to see you again, Francis....
 
On 12/28/2013 3:38 PM, Don Phillipson wrote:
"Kitty Go Boom" wrote in message
...

Why don't you two lovebirds get a room and stop using this group to send
love letters to each other?


This poster may be mistaken. Letters packed with references to books, even
if personally addressed while publicly posted, seem appropriate enough for a
books NG.


Thank you. Over in Rec.arts.mystery, posts often are addressed to one
of the participants in the group that the poster feels will be
especially interested in the subject matter.


Francis A. Miniter


Francis A. Miniter[_2_] December 29th 13 05:43 AM

Nice to see you again, Francis....
 
On 12/28/2013 3:38 PM, Don Phillipson wrote:
"Kitty Go Boom" wrote in message
...

Why don't you two lovebirds get a room and stop using this group to send
love letters to each other?


This poster may be mistaken. Letters packed with references to books, even
if personally addressed while publicly posted, seem appropriate enough for a
books NG.


Thank you. Over in Rec.arts.mystery, posts often are addressed to one
of the participants in the group that the poster feels will be
especially interested in the subject matter.


Francis A. Miniter



All times are GMT +1. The time now is 04:12 PM.

Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.6.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
CollectingBanter.com