Family History

For my grandparents' 60th anniversary, my aunt hired a genealogist to dig up some of my family's history.

My paternal grandparents James (b. 1926) and Katie (b. 1930)

They met in college, married in March of 1951, and had five children (the youngest of whom is my dad).

My name and the names of my siblings are all on this page :)

My Dreamcatcher Tattoo

Since I really like dreamcatchers and I didn't have the supplies or the funds to make one, I decided to make myself a tattoo :)

Dreamcatchers were huge in most Native American tribes. I think the Ojibwa were the first to use them, then they were adopted by neighboring nations. They were believed to protect sleepers from bad dreams. They were hung directly over their heads so that only positive images would come to them as they slept. The good dreams would then mosey on down the feathers into the mind of the sleeper. Any nightmares would be caught by the middle part and then were burned away at sunrise.

Rehash: Review of Memoirs of a Geisha

I have NEVER in my LIFE typed SO MUCH in SO LITTLE TIME.

So I loved the movie Memoirs of a Geisha. I still do, despite the research that ruined it all. I had to watch the movie until I memorized entire scenes so I could fully understand why it was so inaccurate. The film took place around WWII (the bombing of Hiroshima occurred toward the middle). It was about a poor farmer's daughter who gets sold to a geisha house and ends up becoming one of the most renowned geisha of her time. The amount of research that went into that thing was insane. On the upside, I did learn more about the true culture of geisha in the forties. Much of it could be interpreted as merely fantasy; this is call Orientalism, which is creating a fantasy/illusion about other cultures, particularly those of the Eastern persuasion. Also, I analyzed the characters, particularly Sayuri, the protagonist.

Family Recipe

PRALINE COOKIES:

20-24 whole graham crackers

1 cup butter

1 packed cup light brown sugar

1 cup chopped pecans or sliced almonds

Line a 10x15 jelly roll pan with the crackers. Boil sugar and butter for 1 minute, then remove from heat. Add nuts when bubbling stops. Spread over crackers, then bake in 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Cool and cut into squares. Makes around 5 dozen.

PANCAKES:

1 whole banana (optional)

2 cups flour

1 egg 

1 tsp. salt

4-6 tbs. sugar

2 tbs. baking powder

1 cup milk

1 tbs melted butter

Mix all liquids together, including the egg. Then mix all dry ingredients in a separate bowl. Once mixed fully, combine moist and dry ingredients. If too thick add more water. Too thin, add flour. Spoon onto heated pan, checking occasionally. Flip over when golden brown.

Optional: add bananas, sprinkles, cinnamon, anything else you might like after combining the moist and dry ingredients.

It took me about 2 hours to make everything. It was fun, but I was mad I didn't make enough for me to eat. I don't think either of them turned out nearly as good as when my parents make them...but I tried.

Rehash: Things You'd Find in a 19th Century Newspaper

One of my favorite things I did last semester :)
I recreated a series of articles and advertisements that you might have seen in the issue right after Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. It didn't take a whole lot of research; I just trolled about the web, chose a few that I liked, and made some up of my own. My favorite one I made was probably the face serum for the women with snake venom and bone marrow. It was scary, some of the things they put in cosmetics and medicines (opium? mercury?? COCAINE???). Of course, these substances were advertised by "experts" and "specialists" (aka, learned physicians) as healthy, so the public believed them. I would have liked to know more about what actually happened to the skin/hair/mental state of the people who took this stuff regularly. I highly doubt it did as it advertised, though. The article on Lincoln's assassination was pretty easy to do, too. I think I would have put all these together into one big newspaper that I'd have brought to class, even though it would have required more work (cutting, pasting, folding, etc. etc.)

Rehash: My Short Story from Last Semester

I wrote a story about Jack the Ripper for my project last semester. It was in the POV of a girl named Eliza who takes in an apprentice of the Jack himself (who, in this case, is a fire-and-brimstone, hideously prejudiced preacher). Basically, he shows up at her door one night injured and she tends to his wounds before he leaves. A few months later, she witnesses one of the killings. Had I not been born such a ridiculous procrastinator, I would have probably spent more time and research on it. So little is known about Jack (besides his beef towards streetwalkers), I feel like there was so much more I could have done with the story, such as exploring the time period and how ratchet Whitechapel was back then. Like I said, the writing's not my best either, so I do believe heavy revision is in order. And maybe I would've gone into more detail about the killing itself, just as a challenge. I've never written a murder scene, especially not as hideous as that one. A few sites did have pictures of the victims' bodies, which did help in the writing process. Unfortunately, though, my brain is probably pissed off at me for exposing it to such hideous imagery.

Interviewing my Grandfather

On Thanksgiving, I interviewed my grandfather, James Johnson, about some of the new inventions that came about when he was young. Specifically, when he first heard about a TV. It's fun listening to grandparents tell stories about when they were young, especially when it concerns something I grew up with. Here's a part of the interview:

ME: Where were you when you first heard of a TV?

GF: It was during the War II. I was a military police officer, and I was in Russia on assignment. I was there around 3 years. We were on our way back to the US. There were replacements coming in for us, and they told us about all the changes in technology in the US that had happened while we were gone. 

ME: What kinds of things were you told about?

GF: Washing machines, dryers, coffee machines, and the drink machines. You know, the ones where you put the coin in?

ME: (laughing) Yes, I know.

GF: All right. Anyway, one of the men was telling me about this new little box. It was similar to a radio--you plug it in and all that--but it had a glass front and you could see things that were going on in other parts of the world.

ME: Did you believe him at first?

GF: No. (laughs) I didn’t believe the guy at first. Thought he was kinda woozy. Like his elevator hadn't gone all the way up to the top. But he was telling me to go to a furniture store as soon as I got back. He said they'd have these radio-looking things, except their fronts were glass. I asked him, "Where do you put the film?" and he answered, "Nope, it’s live. Don't need a tape or film. You can see things in Europe and other parts of America." Like I said, I thought he was crazy at first, but I found out he was serious when I got home. (laughs)

Working Behind the Scenes at RenFest

I got the chance to go to the Renaissance Festival on November 6. I ran into a lot of important historical figures, like Guy Fawkes (second picture below with the bomb). It was a school day, so we escorted some middle and high-school orchestras to different venues for their performances. Being a pirate for a day was pretty awesome, though unfortunately I didn't get into any sword fights or steal doubloons or anything like that. Even so, it was fun :)