Getting Ready To Write

This week I will gather all that I have read and begin composing the literature review for my prospectus. It's amazing how I can start writing and immediately get picky with each sentence I write and each paragraph that I design. In some way or other, I am an architect when I write. I am laying out the landscape. I have to be very strategic with the flow of ideas. My ultimate aim is to present a strong claim and counter any arguments that oppose my claim. During the last semester or so, I have written and re-written so I have pages and pages of fragments that I need to pull together and write...and re-write...and write some more. This is quite a recursive process.

In my previous post, I announced that I am in the stages of creating a new blog in order to feature bits and pieces of my research so that I can concentrate on my research about the works of Douglass and Anzaldua within the context of rhetoric and history during the nineteenth century and twentieth century. Also, I am currently researching all information about Caleb Bingham's "The Columbian Orator," which was profoundly influential in Douglass' life as an orator.

I'm also reading and researching articles about the history of the U.S.-Mexico War, reading up on the life of Jose Vasconcelos, re-visiting my notes on Anzaldua's "Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza"--all to prepare for my presentation at this annual's Rhetoric Society of America Conference. I'll post parts of that research in the new blog very soon.

While I'm on the subject of conferences, my good friend and compatriota, Gary L. Kieffner, a doctoral student in History, e-mailed and shared some great news. He is presenting his paper titled "The Bending of Gender Role Constructs in Riding Communities of the Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century U.S.-Mexican Borderlands" at this annual's conference hosted by the Popular Culture Association and American Culture Association (PCA/ACA).

Congratulations, Gary! It was great hearing from you buddy! Thanks for sharing the great news!

Okay, back to reading and oward with writing.....