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The Stranger

Working my way through timetables and calendars for the term, a phonecall from Joe led to an interesting conversation about the sea wall of demolished Pentridge goal bluestone walls that had been burial markers. Helen's uncle believed he'd seen Ned Kelly's marker on a walk but he couldn't find it again to show her.  THE STRANGER  My great grandmother, Harriet Spear, died when I was ten years old but I have fond memories of her sitting in front of our gas fire and telling 'family stories'.  She was very fond of saying ' There's bad in the best of us and good in the worst of us' , and would always start my favorite story in this way. The track was rough and uneven.  My great-grandmother in her schoolday dress, curly, unruly hair disciplined into neat, conforming plaits plodded on as her brothers walked impatiently ahead.   It took an hour to make the four mile walk from Sailor Falls to the school house.  Perhaps daydreaming, she allowed herself

More mysteries than solutions at the PROV

Spent the day at the Public Records Office, Victoria with Susan finding more to intrigue. Found Julius Theodor Ernst  (Olga's father) on the Colony of Victoria Pharmaceutical Registers from 1884-1888 also confirming he was educated at the University Leipzig.  His brother Martin appears as an apprentice registered in 1890. We were unable to find Julius in the large photographic record of those who worked at the German Court in the Melbourne International Exhibition 1888 (as Helen suggested he had) . He was reported to be a 'judge'. Did find 'C.Heyne' (photo 99) under the title 'Assistants'.  Is he related to the Heynes of Adelaide? Apparently not I have on the authority of a descendant!

Melbourne in Autumn

As a reward and as a 'physical' full stop to the draft of chapter 3, which I worked hard to complete so that Pam could have it for inflight reading, the Librarian and I spent a couple of nights being tourists in Melbourne.  I love Melbourne in autumn, crunchy leaves underfoot, 28 degrees one day, soft shell jacket needed the next and ... trams. Of course the eclectic mix of buildings is an easy partnership - original buildings proudly displaying their construction dates (1888, 1889, 1913 ) nestled between intriguing monoliths of concrete and steel. Ernst's life one building, mine the next. Eavesdropping I hear a tourist proclaiming that  Fed Square  had just been rated the 8th ugliest building in the world - I disagree.  Like a meandering river it flows down to  Flinders Street  Station where the 1910 building and its much loved clocks stand as a guardian of the city. 

Tell some-one who cares! or Is this really relevant?

Wrote a brilliant methodology chapter, left it to ferment in the laptop for a week while I was: juggling blocked toilets (it's a recurring theme isn't it?); mum in hospital; forgetting to tell my longtime friend and research assistant Susan the alarm code for the house (Oops - that woke up the street!), and then re-read it. That voice in my head was grumpy!  and said if this is your contribution to scholarly debate you need to: - a void repetitive material (I know 'tell-a-story, tell-it again and then tell-it-again is the mantra for persuasive writing but ...) - tame runaway notes ( I know enough about Stephen Greenblatt to tell the examiners what he eats for breakfast but do they care?) - quote judiciously ( I love a good quote - see previous post) - limit  jargon  (is 'morphing' jargon?) Methodology due Tuesday so I need to stop writing blog posts BUT maybe I need a coffee first. I felt better when I read  Tanya Golash-Boza 's blog  and she labe

Using quotes as 'hooks' in my PhD

My study now shared with the 'Train Set' - not in view! 'Already I can see you, shapeless as you are now, embodied in my dreams as the finest of all my works.'  Olga Ernst (The Magic Shadow Show, p.18) Pam and Marnee suggested the exploring the idea of beginning chapters with quotes from Ernst's works that express precisely the chapter focus or lead into the argument. Quotes are useful to because another's language may be so succinct that by comparison, mine may be ineffective. These are my fav quotes about research: The real purpose of books is to trap the mind into doing its own thinking. Christopher Morley  (I am thinking... re-thinking...re-re-thinking...and thinking some more). I once asked a young dissertation writer whether her suddenly grayed hair was due to ill health or personal tragedy; she answered: “It was the footnotes”. Joanna Russ  ( I think my hair is greyer despite minimal footnotes. However no one will know - hair dye is a wonderf

Yay! chapter completed...75000 words left

Good learners don't always learn fast. The ability to hang out in the fog, to tolerate confusion, to dare to wait in a state of incomprehension while the glimmerings of an idea take their time to form is another vital aspect of resilience and thus of learning power: slow is often smart. Claxton (1999) What a relief to have completed the Abstract and the Introduction to tweaking stage... and have Pam and Marnee applaud. It seems to have taken an age (well, two years) to get the structure and my voice right. After four weeks of intensive holiday writing and stuck-to-the-desk-Sundays it feel like I'm suddenly coming out of that fog and the ideas that seemed formless for so long now just need a 'cut and polish' to become another chapter. Now for Methodology!

Heather

One of my favourite photos Heather, I miss your love of good books and British film-making, your appreciation of my tea-making and painting prowess; your willingness to read everything I wrote; your adoration of my children and their partners;  your ability to hold up plasterboard with a broom while every-one else wilts; your ice-cream Christmas pudding, pavlova and zucchini soup but not the meatloaf. Most of all I miss your quiet wisdom. XXX

PhD verbs

How many times can you write argued... suggested...discussed in 100000 words without seeming boringly repetitive?  Having a list of verbs in alphabetical order has meant I can browse quickly when stumped and either find the 'right' verb or a different thoughtline might be suggested. I wish I'd done it sooner and of course, surfing a bit I came across a couple of useful websites.  Here's a ready-made list .   Ron Dorn has some good tips on writing papers and a couple of useful tables of a ctive verbs that describe work and  phenomena.

Kel writes...

Wandering through the net, look for a break from the Methodology Chapter, I came across Kel's 'faction' story published on a Swinburne Uni website. Weaving the facts about an incident during WW2 that her grandfather had talked about, she wrote a 'maybe' story. Bill died when Kellie was about 4 so she pieced together this article from newspaper articles, responses to advertisements and talking to returned soldiers.  The story is dedicated to all the grandchildren who didn't get the chance to get know their grandfather.   So proud of you Kel.    Night over Sumatra  http://www.lilydale.swinburne.edu.au/journal/documents/K_Floyd.pdf Article: Advertiser (SA)13th August 1945, p.5

At the 33% mark of my PhD

I have been asked why I bother to spend my time on one writer who no one knows and has only written three books. Others have been forthrightly incredulous that a University would be remotely interested in supporting ‘my whim’ when the world has so many other pressing problems.   Children’s literature has become the poor cousin in the school curriculum as librarians have disappeared, rapidly replaced by part-time library technicians who cost less. Parents are encouraged to buy through school catalogues delivered by astute publishers to make book buying easy. I question the quality. Nevertheless, I am hopeful that the new Australian Curriculum (AC) may offer a renewed opportunity for literature to be re-established as important. Literature in the AC has its own strand !  Perhaps it's not surprising that on discovering Olga Ernst’s fairytales that I should be drawn to a writer, who conjured a world for her child readers set in familiar (to me) bush and city locales peopled with ad

Twice Told Tales: A different fairytale interpretation

Fairytales are a wellspring which one often passes by without noticing but which, when one has once discovered it, gushes uninterruptedly and offers its, clear, good-tasting water to everyone who is thirsty and wants to drink of it.             Hans Dieckmann,1985 Fairytales are fascinating. Bettelheim (1985:v) writes a foreword in Diekmann's book: Twice Told Tales impressing on the reader that when children's fantasies are based on fairytales, complete with their dangerous consequences (such as being eaten alive, roasted in an oven, abandoned by parents... need I continue?), they serve an important purpose in helping deal with childhood anxieties. Hans Dieckmann, a psychologist, explores his use of fairytales in patient - therapy, as a source of structure in the process of emotional development. Obviously, to work with an individual, unravel their history and interpret fairytale motifs that reoccur is a time-consuming process taking hundreds of hours of therapy. However,

Whirling away the layers

One of the best parts of a PhD is the side tracks along the journey. I would probably finish faster but not enjoy the stroll, or learn, as much. H.C.E. Morant is one such divergence. Whirlaway  was shown to me on Saturday, when I met with interested relatives, passed on after originally being given to Helen by her mother Olga Ernst.  An Australian girl (aptly named Helen) and her koala bear companion travel back in time to learn about Paleontology. Teaching + fantasy + timetravel. Enough to delight any child! http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/11067828 Sadly, most of its  print run was destroyed during the "blitz"in the London warehouse where it was stored. This prevented it becoming the success story it was expected to be. Hutchinson declined to reprint it and the intended sequel  an exploration of the planets for children  which had been written already by Morant was never published. With her keen interest in astronomy the next book would have appealed to Ern

Mantras and Outlines

Sometimes research is peeling the layers to find the essence of a person... or a thesis.  In 3 days I had written what I thought were perfect paragraphs u sing the mantra* ' knowledge claim – reason – warrant – evidence – implications' .     from a Thesis Whisperer post. U nfortunately, despite the length of time for serious writing with no coffee breaks (Vanilla Pod cafe closed) - I'd only managed three! (It could be argued that 3 perfect paragraphs are better than 30 mediocre ones but I'd like to finish this thesis.) I discovered  Scrivener . The Thesis Whisperer  confessed falling in love in 5 minutes and I was sceptical. Any-one can fall in love with an iPad in 1.5 seconds but not a software program! I was wrong... 3 days later I have restructured my thesis outline.  Back to writing!