Kiara and I trekked out to UP today to meet with the archivist and even though we were only there for half a day it was exhausting! I mean this is more "rigorous" then a typical day at the archives in that I was moving around more---we had to walk around the huge UP campus to actually find the library (OF COURSE i forgot the city atlas I so carefully purchased last week) and once there we did some bouncing around getting our visitors passes, etc. etc.
but in my experience this is quite typical--to feel totally exhausted after being in the archives. to clarify... this is historians speak to say "in the archives." it basically means going to the library and looking at old documents, often in personal papers or collections donated to the library...sometimes there are restrictions like researchers need to get permission to access the papers..but I haven't run into that yet. anyway, where was i? yes, so being "in the archives" usually means going to certain spaces in the library...sometimes it's "special collections" "rare books and manuscripts"....you get the idea. Or maybe you don't...it's really here nor there. The point is: sitting on a hard wooden chair, head down, quickly scanning materials for something to pop out and shout "hey colleen's dissertation...right here!", hour after hour, page after page...is exhausting! yes, sitting all day is exhausting.
Part of it is that throughout there is this creeping anxiety that the golden nugget (or as one professor I've met called it the "lottery moment") of your dissertation, the fact, quote, newspaper article, photograph, letter, blah, blah that brings it all together...proves you were right all along...will somehow slip past your unblinking attention! But of course in the rational mind...that never happens a dissertation certainly isn't proved on one thing...or maybe it is? I don't know, I haven't written one yet!
In other news...
At our new favorite supermarket (yes it's in a mall) Kiara flipped her shit at the sight of a cereal! Turns out it's a cereal...a quaker oats cereal nonetheless...that made "for American export only." What's that about?!
Blog readers (all six of you) are you familiar with other American products, especially food products, that are made "for export only." We find it strange. And yes, if you're wondering...the cereal is brilliant. pure honey saturated sugar brilliance.
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ReplyDeleteFirst: although I've been vaguely aware of the notion of "for export only," it's not something I know that much about. Of course, I've been in a foreign country and seen different "versions" - presumably, often just different packaging - of familiar products; but I'm intrigued to think of products that are made in the US but not available here. Are they all vestiges from my childhood? Are they all breakfast cereals I remember oh so well?
ReplyDeleteThis brings me to my second point: YES, I remember that cereal distinctly - I looked at it as a suped-up version of Honey Nut Cheerios (already a suped-up version of regular Cheerios); excellent with milk or right out of the box.
I'm so glad you (Ryan, my brother) commented on this cereal! I took the photo and asked Colleen to post it to the blog mainly so that you could confirm that this was a childhood favorite of ours. And, maybe I'm wrong, but I feel like it has fallen out of favor in the states in recent years...or at least I haven't seen it on a supermarket shelf in a long time. So, do you think Quaker decided to make it a "for export only" product and consequently redirected this oaty/honey goodness to Manila? Perhaps. And to my good fortune!
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