Streets

So I have a paper due on Monday and a presentation about the streetscape of a Chicago street near campus. Streetscape is like landscape except that you look at buildings, streets, signs, etc. and not plants. It's pretty interesting, but it's really hard. What do I know about graystones, row houses and 3-flats? Give me a ranch house and I'll talk about it, but this era is not my specialty. I'm hoping to wow the audience and my professor with a spectacular powerpoint presentation and my amazing map drawing abilities. I didn't work for a surveyor for nothing.

I tell you, that job has provided me with so many life skills. I can read a map like nobody's business. We have had a number of map exercises in class to remind us that maps are documentary sources just like diaries and letters and whatever else we historians use. Anyway, while the rest of the class struggled to figure out what direction was north, I was leaps and bounds ahead. If only we were graded on map reading instead of our analysis of buildings.

On a happy note, next semester is going to be a lot nicer. I will have one Tuesday night class, and then I'll be writing my master's essay. Hopefully I'll have an advisor for my essay by next Wednesday. I've really only got 1 option, so I'm hoping he says yes. According to the program director, these essays can take "up to a year" - that better not happen to me. I want this thing done in one semester, and I don't want it hanging over me with an incomplete. I'll write the best darn dining room paper they've ever seen! Yeah, it's dining rooms again. One of these days I'm going to write a version that satisfies me. If not, this is my last try - I'll just suck it up and see if anyone wants to publish it. This one's going to be early 20th century, so if you've got your grandma's recipe book (or your great grandma's for that matter), or some photos of her dining room, let me know!