Knowledge Hog

Here is a link to a super interesting article I read tonight by Drew Boyd. I had some convo today with a couple of my friends about a knowledge hog. The article provides a well informed take on what hinders and fosters knowledge sharing. It’s titled The Golden Rule of Creativity and it’s worth the read. Following are a few quotes I liked.

“Innovation is a team sport~ groups produce better results than the lone genius.”

“Reputation is what matters.”

“You have to be seen as someone who gives and shares information with others, and has a reputation for returning the favor when others give to you.”

Caging the Intellectual Bird

“The binary world has given
radiant wings to knowledge
and information. Those who
support the infringement of
cyber freedom cage the
intellectual bird.”

••••••» Felicia Lujan
••••••» 4.30.2013

Laura Cereta: My Renaissance Hero

An Italian named Laura Cereta was an intellectual woman ahead of her time. She is my hero because she pushed it to the limit. Cereta insisted on having intellectual conversations with both men and women during a time when women we not supposed to do so.

She was a writer who lived from 1469–1499, and was a well known humanist and feminist of the Renaissance Period. How sad that she died younger than I. I would love to locate the archive where her original writings can be found- if not, I guess a secondary source in the form of a book would do. Most of her writing was in the form of personal letters to scholarly men. There must be a private collection of her original works somewhere?

The subject of her letters, many of which she published on her own in a book included: enlightenment; war; death; fate; and the oppression of married women. Check out this awesome letter I found online. Of course~ an archivist would need to verify the accuracy of this internet source.
•••••••••••••••••••••
Laura Cereta’s “Letter to Bibulus Sempronius”

You [Bibulus] brashly and publicly not merely wonder but indeed lament that I am said to possess as fine a mind as nature ever bestowed upon the most learned man. You seem to think so learned a woman has scarcely before been seen in the world. You are wrong …. for you have ceased to be a living man, but become animated stone; having rejected the studies which make men wise, you rot in torpid leisure. The explanation is clear: women have been able by nature to be exceptional, but have chosen lesser goals. For some women are concerned with parting their hair correctly, adorning themselves with lovely dresses, … or standing at mirrors to smear their lovely faces. But those in whom a deeper integrity yearns for virtue, restrain from the start their youthful souls, reflect on higher things, harden the body with sobriety and trials, and curb their tongues, open their ears, compose their thoughts in wakeful hours, their minds in contemplation to letters bonded to righteousness. For knowledge is not given as a gift, but [is gained] with diligence. Nature has generously lavished its gifts upon all people, opening to all the doors of choice through which reason sends envoys to the will …. You pretend that I alone am admirable because of the good fortune of my intellect. But I, compared to other women who have won splendid renown, am but a little mousling.

A Visit to El Rito

Center of El Rito Campus
Photograph by Felicia Lujan
October 12, 2012

On October 12, 2012, I moderated a wonderful session for the archives. My division director and two archivists delivered informative presentations for the Historias de Nuevo Mexico Conference. The conference was held on the El Rito campus of the Northern New Mexico College. There is a link on the Santa Fe Reporter’s web site to local writer Stephanie Hiller’s blog, Particle Beams. Hiller was accurate in saying that “the purpose of the conference was to present complementary perspectives of the state’s unique history to correct the picture cultivated by mainstream historians celebrating the state’s centennial.”

A Rose on the El Rito Campus
Photograph by Felicia Lujan
October 12, 2012

The ride to El Rito was gorgeous and rainy. I can’t explain what it is about gloomy weather, but I absolutely love it. There were intricate rock formations, steep cliffs, and vast land which still seemed unspoiled by my contemporaries. The campus is beautiful and features rock walls, sleepy trees, ruins, dark rolling clouds (in the morning), and minds ready to absorb the power of history. In the dining area, there was one wall in a building which had one clear portal so that the old adobe could be seen by visitors and those who cared to look at New Mexico earth.

Intricate Wood Work
Photograph by Felicia Lujan
October 12, 2012

Cutting Hall (named after Bronson Cutting) was the focal point of the conference. The hall, also an apparent performance theater enveloped the busts of historical figures such as Bronson Cutting and Jonathan Grant in oversized nichos. Grant was a local area Jewish merchant deriving from Abiquiu and the El Rito area. The theater featured traditional tin work (wall and hanging lights) as well as Spanish Colonial carvings on enormous wood beams, doors, hand rails, and benches. There were also wooden floors.

Rock water fountain on the El Rito Campus
Photograph by Felicia Lujan
October 12, 2012

A friend and former classmate, opened the conference with a touching welcome. Dr. Patricia Trujillo, a powerhouse with Northern New Mexico Community College talked about connection and how when she wrote her introduction that morning, she was listening to the church bells on the El Rito Campus. She said the sound reminded her of her “familia” and specifically about the passing of her father one year ago. She talked about the bells as a symbol of connection, specifically connecting scholars with members of the community, as well as to remember our spirituality. When she and I spoke about me eventually pursuing a PhD, she gave me a wonderful compliment that made me feel good. She said “well when you do, you will have no problems because of all of your experience with documents and history.” Awesome!

El Rito Sky
Photograph by Felicia Lujan
October 12, 2012

Cutting Hall on the El Rito Campus
Photograph by Felicia Lujan
October 12, 2012

Dr. Joseph Sanchez, Director- Spanish Colonial Research Center (UNM) talked about the importance of the term “ indigenization.” or what he called “taking back your culture.” He used the example of Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo, the Pueblo de San Juan de los Caballeros taking back their traditional name. He said “most of us when we write, we search our souls.” He said “we study the values of the period, not our values.” Former State Historian, Robert Torrez delivered “Aftermath of the Mexican American War 1846-1848” He talked about the Treason Trials. One witness reported that all the church bells were sounding when the executions took place. Thomas Chavez, former Director of the National Hispanic Cultural Center and the Palace of the Governors/Museum of New Mexico delivered his paper titled “Juan Onate, Acoma, and a Troubled Administration.”

An Horno with Ruins
Photograph by Felicia Lujan
October 12, 2012

Dr. Glenabah Martinez of Taos/Dine, a professor at UNM delivered her paper titled “Religious Persecution of Pueblo Peoples in New Mexico in the 20th Century: Pedagogical Significance for New Mexico Youth.” Dr. Martinez talked about how to best teach our youth about history and specifically the history of indigenous peoples. She talked about “counter-narratives” that are often left out of text books. She said if you can’t respect the history, how do you respect the individual.” it is about “homeland” and “scared space” and the “core values” of love, respect, compassion, faith, balance and service when developing historical curriculum “community-to-community, culture-to-culture, and person-to-person.” Also “to promote indigenous students and their teachers to become intellectually aware of the critical roles of Pueblo People.” This will enable them to examine “present-day manifestations of historical oppression.” The main question posed to them being “what will your contribution be?” I really enjoyed her presentation, she talked about the “religious persecution of Pueblo People” and having “cultural integrity.”

Northern NM Community College Sign
Photograph by Felicia Lujan
October 12, 2012

This conference was a great opportunity to continue the dialogue which remains critical to our understanding of New Mexico history. I enjoyed an overcast day in a sacred place where I was able to learn and grow as a person and archivist. It was nice to walk around the campus by myself and absorb history in a way that I am rarely afforded.

A Building on the El Rito Campus
Photograph by Felicia Lujan
October 12, 2012

A Study of Ancient Minds

There is a Community Lecture on September 12, 2012. The lecture starts at 7:30pm and will take place at the James A. Little Theater in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The lecture is titled Reading Ancient Minds: Metaphor, Culture, and History Making. Scott Ortman, an Omidyar Fellow with the Santa Fe Institute and a Lightfoot Fellow with the Crow Canyon Archaeological Center will likely deliver a powerful presentation. Following is the abstract for this lecture.

How much does culture influence the fates of human societies? Our experiences with contemporary politics suggest that the varying ways humans construe the world do make a difference, but the traditional view in many fields is that, in the big picture, material forces trump human conceptualizations. Ortman argues that we don’t actually know the answer yet, but that new approaches in archaeology may suggest an answer. Cognitive science suggests that conceptual metaphors are the building blocks of human conceptual systems; Ortman illustrates how one can discover these metaphors through archaeological and linguistic analysis and discusses how these methods enable one to see the role of culture in history using examples drawn from his research on ancestral Pueblo societies of the U.S. Southwest.

Sounds super interesting doesn’t it? I love the study of metaphors, symbols, signs, imagery, and other elusive forms of communication. If I go, I will go alone with just a thinking cap and a notepad- oh and of course my crow sign!

Why Wait to Learn About Crypto Connections?

Journal of Spanish, Portuguese,
and Italian Crypto-Jews
Cover of Volume I, Spring 2009

One thing I hate about the summer is my lack of time. There are always so many things going on- far more than I can successfully grasp! One conference I am sorry that I will miss is the 22nd Annual Conference of the Society for Crypto Judaic Studies. The conference will be held next week in Albuquerque, New Mexico from July 22-24, 2012. I would have loved to attend a special session being presented by a group of scholars, historians and genealogists. I know two of them very well. Exploring Hispano Family History, a genealogy workshop, will be presented by historian and genealogist José Antonio Esquibel, Henrietta Martinez Christmas, and a few others. I have been very interested in the scholarly studies being unearthed in this area. The oral history of my maternal line denotes a possible connection to Crypto-Jewish ancestry. When the DNA of my maternal line was analyzed not long ago, the DNA came back Native American. I believe that oral traditions hold firm ground in history, and so there must be a connection somehow linking the great grandmother I was named after to Crypto-Jewish ancestry. Her family came from Portugal through Canada in the 1800s. A great publication to check out is the Journal of Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian Crypto-Jews. The journal contains the comprehensive research of contemporary scholars if you are interested in studies of this nature. My maternal DNA or mtDNA did return with a Native American result, so I have come to an educated conclusion that the Crypto-Jewish connection is not directly maternal. I think that the missing link may actually be my great grandmother’s father. If I wasn’t already attending the NAGARA/CoSA Conference here is Santa Fe, I would have planned to learn more about Crypto Judaic Studies. The Chair of the agency I work for is a Senior Adviser to the Board of the Society for Crypto Judaic Studies. He is also a founding member of the society. Dr. Stanley Hordes is a Former New Mexico State Historian who wrote a book titled To the End of the Earth (a must read). I have had many, many conversations with Dr. Hordes, who always insists I call him Stan.  At one point when my grandmother was alive, he wanted to interview her. Unfortunately, she passed away before he ever had the opportunity. I could kick myself a million times because I have missed so many chances to learn more about my family history just waiting for tomorrow. Don’t wait! Learn more today…

An Archivist Eating Acronym Soup

I am about ready to sip on some acronym soup at the 2012 NAGARA/CoSA Annual Conference. The soup is on with some PhDs, JDs, MAs, MLSs, JDs, BAs, CAs, CRMs, and CDIMs. There may even be a few mystery acronyms in there? I am hungry already!! Eating knowledge— one of my specialties. Yum! Haha… Next week I am attending the joint conference put on by the National Association of Government Archives and Records Administrators and Council of State Archivists. It will be a fine time to see what other archivists and records managers are up to? The 2012 NAGARA/CoSA Conference will be held in my city (Santa Fe, New Mexico) at the Inn at Loretto from July 18-21. The Diamond Sponsor for this conference is Ancestry.com and the Platinum Sponsors are Family Search and Tessella. I am excited to learn, network with like minded people, and share information with anyone willing to learn before or after the conference. Some of the speakers will be from my agency, but the vast majority are traveling from all over the county to present here. The conference will open with a welcome from David Coss, Mayor of the City of Santa Fe. There will also be a “Greeting from the Archivist of the United States,” David Ferriero (NARA) followed by a session on the President’s Directive on Managing Government Records. Steve Adams, a Senior Records Analyst with NARA will speak, as will Albert Lama, the Chief Deputy Attorney General here in New Mexico. I am sure I will come away with some great information. It is sure to be outstanding.
Soup anyone?

Some of the conference sessions will include:

Archives 101
Collaboration of Native and Archival Communities
Fundamentals of Records Management
County Records: Access to Local History
A Thin Black Line- Researching Confidential Records
Who Controls Where the Governors’ Papers Go?
Records Management in the Cloud
Hiring Electronic Records Archivists
The Civil War Sesquicentennial
The Records Manager’s Role in E-Discovery
Archives, Agreements, and Access
Audit and Certification of Trustworthy Digital Repositories
The Future of the Past: A Report to the President
Use of Public Records Laws to Bypass Discovery Rules
SERI – State Electronic Records Initiative Update
Picture This! – Using Social Media to Feature Archival Collections
Judicial Records Management vs. Technology
1940 Census: The Next Generation
Essential Records and Emergency Planning
Teddy Roosevelt and the Rough Riders
Alternative Rural Hispanic Health Beliefs and a Dance and Music Video
Preserving Non-Written Ethnic Immigration Stories
Archives and Access Tools: Patron Response to Investment
The Digital Public Library of America
National Collections in a Digital Environment
Redaction, Expungement and Sealing of Electronic Records

Beautiful Woman – Beautiful Mind: A Look at Katherine Massoth

Katherine Massoth
Ph.D. Candidate (ABD)- History
October 2008 – Present
University of Iowa

I would like to take some time to honor my friend Katherine Massoth. She is an absolutely amazing woman!!! She and I have had many fruitful and thought provoking conversations over the years. Katherine has an extraordinary personality, and I love her for that. Ms. Massoth recently won the Irene Ledesma Prize from the Coalition for Western Women’s History and the Giles W. and Elise G. Mead Foundation Fellow at the Huntington Library. The Irene Ledesma Prize from the Coalition for Western Women’s History is awarded to scholars who study women, gender, and minorities. She was so very happy to receive the prize and become a Huntington Library fellow. I am proud of her. She is a woman who will change the world with her knowledge, and one smile at a time. Katherine says that these awards are allowing her “to be in-residence at the Huntington Library for four months next spring (2013) to write.” Love it! Good gob Katherine!

Information on Katherine Massoth:

United States Women and Gender History, United States Mexico borderlands, Nineteenth-Century American West

Ph.D. Candidate (ABD): History, October 2008- Present- University of Iowa

Dissertation: “As is the Custom of the Country”: Gender, Cultural Practices, and Ethnic Identity in New Mexico and Arizona, 1846-1930

Primary Field: United States Women’s and Gender History (1776-1920), with a focus on women’s labor, the American West, and borderlands history; with Leslie Schwalm and Omar Valerio-Jiménez. Secondary Field: United States Cultural History (1820-1920); with Douglas Baynton. Tertiary Field: Colonial and Nineteenth Century Latin American History; with Catherine Komisaruk.

To learn more about Katherine Massoth visit: http://clas.uiowa.edu/history/faculty-staffkatherine-massoth.

UNM Ph.D. Can­di­dates Baca and Turo Spill Knowledge

For those of you in the Albuquerque area, these lectures would be great to attend. Unfortunately, I will be unable to go because we have been so busy at work, and tomorrow is also Election Day (don’t forget to vote ). I have known Jacobo for many years. I met him when he was working in the Political Archives at UNM. That now seems like eons ago. He is also a patron of the archives. I did get to attend his lecture for the 2012 New Mexico Statehood History Conference in Santa Fe. On May 4^th, he delivered a presentation titled John Collier’s New Mexico Boundary Bill and New Mexican Sabotage, which was well researched. If you get a chance, you may want to check this one out.

***************************************************************************

Historians Offer Two Talks about New Mexico History on June 5

May 30, 2012 | By Karen Wentworth

Originally published on the UNM web site under the “research.”

Two Ph.D. can­di­dates in His­tory at UNM will speak on Tues­day, June 5 at 1 p.m. in the Waters Room (105) of Zim­mer­man Library on the UNM Cam­pus.  The talks are co-hosted by  the Cen­ter for South­west Research and Spe­cial Col­lec­tions, the His­tor­i­cal Soci­ety of New Mex­ico and The Office of the State His­to­rian as part of the 2012 His­tory Schol­ars Lec­ture Series.

Jacobo D. Baca, a Ph.D. can­di­date in the Depart­ment of His­tory at UNM speaks on “Pueb­los and His­panos in the Era of Fed­eral Relief: The New Deal, 1933–1945″ on Tues­day, June 5 at 1 p.m. in the Waters Room (105) of Zim­mer­man Library on the UNM campus.

Jacobo Baca

Dur­ing the New Deal, the fed­eral gov­ern­ment inau­gu­rated more than a half-decade of inten­sive stud­ies of Pueblo and His­pano vil­lages that demon­strated sim­i­lar­i­ties between their depen­dence on and rela­tion­ships to the land.  Led by Indian Com­mis­sioner John Col­lier, activists-turned-bureaucrats held on to their notions the Pueblo Indi­ans and His­panos were fun­da­men­tally dif­fer­ent peo­ples whose for­tunes depended on mutual hos­til­ity and depri­va­tion.  Build­ing from these ideas they fash­ioned dur­ing the cru­sade for Pueblo land rights in the Pueblo Lands Boards fight of the 1920s, advo­cates worked to use New Deal lib­er­al­ism to repa­tri­ate land to Pueblo Indian communities.

They faced stern and steady oppo­si­tion to their uni­lat­eral pro-Pueblo approach from Sen­a­tor Den­nis Chavez, who stood firm against Collier’s will to aid the Pueb­los at the expense of sur­round­ing His­pano vil­lages.  This lec­ture focuses on how the Indian Pueb­los and His­pano vil­lages in the Tewa Basin expe­ri­enced New Deal reform and how this reform impacted their ral­tion­ship with one another and with the fed­eral and state governments.

Baca is work­ing on his dis­ser­ta­tion “Somos indi­gena: Eth­nic Pol­i­tics and Land Tenure in Mod­ern New Mex­ico, 1904–2004.”  In it he explores eth­nic pol­i­tics and mod­ern land tenure in the Indian Pueb­los and His­pano vil­lages in New Mexico’s Tewa Basin.  He also stud­ies the chang­ing rela­tion­ship with fed­eral, state and local gov­ern­ments and how that impacted social and struc­tural rela­tions among the Pueblo and His­pano peoples.

Bryan W. Turo will speak on “An Empire of Dust: Thomas Ben­ton Catron and the Rise of Cor­po­rate Enter­prise in New Mex­ico, 1866–1921.”  As a Repub­li­can Party boss in New Mex­ico for half a cen­tury, Thomas Ben­ton Catron con­tributed to the growth of the ter­ri­tory and its incor­po­ra­tion into the larger frame of democ­racy and cap­i­tal­ism in the United States and abroad.

Bryan Turo

But more than that, Catron’s life can help to explain how Amer­i­can cul­ture and insti­tu­tions infil­trated the west­ern ter­ri­to­ries in the years fol­low­ing the Civil War.  This lec­ture will explore how Catron grew an empire out of the acqui­si­tion of land in New Mex­ico and other parts of the west and how he used it to make money in the form of joint stock companies.

Turo was raised in White Plains, N.Y. and com­pleted his Bachelor’s degree in Bing­ham­ton Uni­ver­sity.  After tir­ing of harsh win­ters, he moved to Tuc­son, Ariz. To earn a Master’s in His­tory at the Uni­ver­sity of Ari­zona in 2008.  Since then, he has lived in Albu­querque where he is in the process of earn­ing a Ph.D. from UNM.  He stud­ies U.S. his­tory, with a focus on the West and South­west.  He is cur­rently fin­ish­ing his dis­ser­ta­tion on the life and times of Thomas Catron.

The lec­ture is free and the pub­lic is welcome.

Preparing Snow White for a New Hunt

Tomorrow is the day I have been waiting for! The movie I feel like I have been waiting for all my life will open, and of course I have tickets for opening night! I’m sure the movies will be packed, but it will be well worth it to see Snow White and the Huntsman starring Charlize Theron (as the Evil Queen Ravenna), Kristen Stewart (as Snow White), and Chris Hemsworth (as the Huntsman). I am absolutely sure that I will love the movie, and I am in eager anticipation. I started preparing this past weekend by changing my web site background to feature Queen Ravenna, and a quote from her magic mirror. Tonight I decided to look into some historical aspects of this classic fairytale to edify myself. I was so pleased to discover that Snow White has come a long, long, long way baby! Snow White was once portrayed as a timid, girly girl (sometimes in a corset) who waited for her man.

1908- San Antonio Newspaper Ad

The new day Snow women are tough and domineering yet still beautiful, and in need of a lovely touch from the men they desire. I have not seen Kristen Stewart in action as Snow, but I am sure that she will pull through in a strong and sexy role tomorrow night. The most current version of Snow was in the TV series Once Upon a Time (of course a favorite). In this series, Mary Margaret took on more of the traditional timid traits of Snow, while her fairytale counterpart was a woman who knew exactly what she wanted. We can’t really understand this fairytale without looking at some historical perspectives. I was curious where this tale originated? All I knew was that it was created by the Brothers Grimm. There have been several white papers published with regard to the tale, but I wanted a fresh look.

1913- Des Moines News Ad

I was able to confirm through two scholarly sources that the Brothers Grimm did publish the first version of the Snow White fairytale in 1812. In 1977, the Journal of American Folklore published a white paper titled Initiation and Meaning in the Tale of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs by NJ Girardot. In his paper, Girardot discusses the 1812 “classic Grimm story of Snow White.” Another date confirmation for the origin of this tale derived from Guardians of the fairy tale: the Brothers Grimm by T O’Neill. The author published his findings in a 1999 issue of National Geographic. O’Neill says that the Brothers Grimm, Jacob and Wilhelm, “named their story collection Children’s and Household Tales and published the first of its seven editions in Germany in 1812.” The book included the tale of Snow White.

After taking a close look at newspapers from the time period in which the Brothers Grimm published their German fairytale classics, I came to some interesting conclusions. Most of the digitized newspapers I located were published in London, which is not far from Germany. There were three things I was able to establish in my research. First, “snow white” was actually used as a descriptive phrase during the time period I looked at (1812-1820). Second, Snow White as a character is highly symbolic of purity, innocence, and love. Third, though Snow White’s contemporary character has morphed into that of a capable female, the symbols which permeate the character still remain true (in my opinion with the addition of strength).

From 1812-1820, London newspapers published articles and advertisements describing many things as “snow white.” The papers talked about how to “turn sugar into snow-white powder,” and how “summits alone were snow-white.” They also described the “colour from the snow-white Limestone,” snow white doves, snow white hands, snow white dust, snow white culinary salt, snow white pages of books, parties decorated with snow white favors, snow white chenille, snow white palfrey bead, and snow white sheep. I think that since the phrase was used commonly to describe things that were pure or beautiful, the Brothers Grimm borrowed the phrase in creating the Snow White character. By 1820, there is evidence of the phrase snow white being connected to innocence.

Tickets for Snow White and the Huntsman
opening on Friday night (6.1.2012)

In some historical versions of the tale, the Queen orders a huntsman to kill Snow White and return with one of her organs as proof. There are often different organs requested from the huntsman as proof of Snow’s death. Most say her heart (yes— so very symbolic), but there are apparently some which call for the delivery of her lungs, or liver. In some versions, the Queen eats these organs though she does not realize they are not actually from Snow White, but other animals. Once the Queen’s mirror tells her that Snow is still alive, she visits the cottage where Snow is living with the dwarfs. On her visit she “laces” Snow White up, and makes her faint. It was interesting that I found some early advertisements in newspapers which featured corsets during what was called a “Snow White Sale.” Yikes- look at that waist!

1908- San Antonio Newspaper Ad

There are still other symbols to explore as part of this tale, like the poisoned comb, the poisoned apple, the magic mirror, the glass coffin, the evil queen, the brave and captivating prince, and of course the magic kiss. Since this classic has been analyzed and re-analyzed over and over again, I will provide my symbolic breakdown with a focus on the new film. I will write something this weekend once I can report my findings. Popcorn, a double flavor Icee, Ravens (my bird sign), intricate weapons, and heart stopping gazes! I can’t wait!!!

Tough: Training Your Mind for Battle

_______________________________

All men can see these tactics whereby
I conquer, but what none can see is the
strategy out of which victory is evolved.
=>=>=>=>=>=>=>=>Sun Tzu
______________________________

Almost every morning as I drive off to work, I pass several members of the New Mexico National Guard running. The look on their faces would not be described as effortless. I am familiar with the difficulty of the path they run, and it is far from easy. The guardsmen and one guardswoman continuously trek the dirt path along the frontage road in the early hours of the morning. Today was the first day in many, many, many days that I have seen these people run with a fully loaded military backpack. While I was driving by each (and I may have passed three or four), I tried to imagine how hard running like that would be? I mean the packs had to weigh at least 80 pounds? I glanced into the rear view mirror to look at my son, and I noticed he too was in awe. There we were, both amazed. Being the nerd I am, I used the time to slip in a bit of education, because I felt inspired. I asked Daryn “why do you think they are training like that?” Though he is very aware of the importance of fitness, he responded questionably “because they don’t have cars???” Hum? I laughed and then I went on to explain.

After I dropped him off for his last day of 1^st grade, I continued on to work. During the drive, the word battle came to mind. Daryn and I had talked about the need for these men and women to prepare. This is one reason they were running with the heavy packs. We had talked about the preparation for a war- physical battle, but I realized what I had not told my son was that the guardsmen were also preparing for mental battle as well. All battles start in the mind, and if our minds are strong, we shall endure any war. So what is the definition of the word battle? The physical definition of the word is captured by a noun, but the mental definition of the word can be captured by both a noun and a verb. Battle as a “thing” (or noun), is defined as “a sustained fight.” Battle as an “action” (or verb) is defined as a “fight or struggle tenaciously to achieve or resist something.” The Nation Guard motto is “Always Ready, Always There.” What a great motto! The guard is “the oldest component of the Armed Forces of the United States and one of the nation’s longest-enduring institutions.” The guards were preparing for battles, with each beginning in the mind.

New Mexico National Guard Building in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
I took this photograph on the way home from work today.

After looking into the fitness programs with the guard I found a regimen published in 1998. The regimen is called “Battlemind Training.” The program is specifically designed for “Building Soldier Resiliency.” The regimen was designed by Carl Andrew Castro of the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research. He is with the Department of Military Psychiatry, in the Division of Psychiatry and Neuroscience. Battlemind training ha? I like that. Apparently this is a very tailored kind of training, which prepares the guard for combat (physically), as well as for a return home following combat (mentally). What a great program! Castro defines battlemind as “a Soldiers inner strength to face adversity, fear, and hardship during combat with confidence and resolution.” He says that “in essence it is psychological resiliency.” The intensive training was designed to “develop psychological resiliency which contributes to a Soldiers will and spirit to fight and win in combat, thereby reducing combat stress reactions and symptoms.” There are two criteria associated with this training and they are “self-confidence” and “mental toughness.”

In 2008, Graham Jones published an article titled Managing Yourself: How the Best of the Best Get Better. The article was published in Harvard Business Review. A business review you ask? Why would an article about fitness be published there? It is because athletes and intellectuals all face the same battles. The differences between the athlete and the intellectual may be: the environment (in the office and/or on the track); the methods (how we fight and/or weapons used); individual thresholds for stress and pain; and commitment to a goal and/or end result. All of these things play a key role in the physical and mental battles each of us face. In many cases, (more cases than some are willing to admit) intellectuals and athletes are one in the same. It is just that the smarts that an athlete chooses to employ as a weapon of choice are focused differently. In his article, Jones says that the main obstacle to achieving “the impossible” may be a “self-limiting mind-set.”

*****Digital composite by Felicia Lujan*****
“Mental toughness” backpack we should all
run with. The backpack composite has an
image of neurons, and words that enhance
the “mind-body connection.”

The author is a sports psychologist who consults with Olympic and other world champions in various sports. During a time when Jones “teamed up with an Olympic gold medal swimmer,” he compared sports to business. This is obviously why his article was published in Harvard Business Review. He said “sport is not business, of course, but the parallels are striking. In both worlds, elite performers are not born but made.” This is so true. He goes on to say that “the real key to excellence in both sports and business is not the ability to swim fast or do quantitative analyses quickly in your head; rather, it is mental toughness.” Jones also says that “elite performers in both arenas thrive on pressure; they excel when the heat is turned up. Their rise to the top is the result of very careful planning- of setting and hitting hundreds of small goals. Elite performers use competition to hone their skills, and they reinvent themselves continually to stay ahead of the pack.” Maybe while running with a backpack!?

The Journal of the Indian Academy of Applied Psychology published a white paper by E. Bhambri, P.K. Dhillon and S.P Sahni in 2005. The paper was titled Effect of Psychological Interventions in Enhancing Mental Toughness Dimensions of Sports Persons. I loved that these three researchers of the mind referred to something they called the “mental toughness dimensions of sports persons.” It is great to see academics acknowledge the mental fortitude of athletes. This team’s research found that “sports persons who enter the competitive arena soon realize that there is more to competition than simply learning the physical skills. It is one thing to possess the physical and mental skills and yet another to be able to use them when needed. Every athletic contest is a contest of control. Control of the delicate mind-body connection, which is dramatically clear within the competitive arena.” I love these guys! Yes- yes- the mind-body connection. Do you think that it takes just as much mental toughness to write a white paper as it does to run 14 miles? Of course it does! These researchers even acknowledge the fact that some athletes “spend so much time on physical practice to get an edge in the competition, yet they ignore one of the basic aspects of the game that is mental skill.”

Battles… We all have all sorts of wars to win. Some of our battles will be quick and painless, but others will be long and difficult. The battles we face can bring us to our knees. If our “backpacks” in this life get really heavy, there are a few things we can do. The choice is ours and ours alone. We can drop the backpack and walk or stop completely. We can ask a friend for help carrying a load that is hard to handle alone. Or…. we can trek on and endure by making the most of our innate ability to utilize the mind-body connection. Be inspired… Trek on…

Battlemind Training: Building Soldier Resiliency by Carl Andrew Castro, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, Department of Military Psychiatry, Division of Psychiatry and Neuroscience, 1998

Managing Yourself: How the Best of the Best Get Better by Graham Jones, Harvard Business Review, 2008

Effect of Psychological Interventions in Enhancing Mental Toughness Dimensions of Sports Persons by E. Bhambri, P.K. Dhillon and S.P Sahni, Journal of the Indian Academy of Applied Psychology, 2005

Whiskey Dreams: Inside the Mind of Hemingway

I may be a person who reads farther into things than I should, but as a deep woman, it is really hard for me to take things at face value. Today I had two signs- they were signs that I think I needed to see, or maybe to feel. One of those signs was a post by a favored writing guru with a love similar to mine. That post reminded me that there was something that I had to do. Many of the posts on this site deal with digital initiatives and issues, which is the main reason I like it. Today I learned about a new digital initiative, and this one involves the mind of Ernest Hemingway. The Hemingway Papers are now available in a digital archive, and I know thanks to the author of Read, Write, Now.

http://readwritenow.wordpress.com/2012/05/10/digital-archive-as-advertisement-the-hemingway-papers/

The Hemingway Papers capture “the legendary writer’s reporting from the Toronto Star archives.” Article topics in this digital archive include: culture; sports; vices; and war. The articles were featured in the Toronto Star in the 1920s. I am yet to explore the pages devoted to “the curious case of the stolen Hemingway letters.” The site also mentions the Hemingway Letters Project which will be an attempt to digitize over 6,000 Hemingway letters over the next few years. Did this guy really have and/or write that many letters? I am madly in love with this man! Since he was interested in whiskey and rum-runners, I can’t help but wonder if he wrote best after licking the fire water?

Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961) was a Nobel Prize winning author and journalist. His work enveloped fiction and non-fiction. His various works were published from around 1918 thru the 1950s. When Paris was liberated during World War II, Hemingway was on the beach for the Normandy landings capturing history during Operation Neptune and Operation Overlord. From Illinois, to Kansas, to Madrid, to Pamplonato, to Italy, to Paris, to London, to Normandy, to Africa, to Key West, to Florida, to Cuba, Hemingway had likely seen it all. Maybe he saw much more than he could handle? He had a seasoned life, and sadly he still never seemed to peg down true happiness. He had several brushes with death throughout his lifetime. A couple were close calls. It was sad for me to learn tonight that after escaping a dark fate so many times, his life was ultimately ended by his own hands. In 1961, Hemingway moved from Cuba to Idaho and killed himself. It is strange that though I started reading his works as a middle school student, I never knew that? This was indeed a tragic loss to the literary world. With any luck for this amazing man, they allow whiskey dreams in heaven!

The Hemingway Papers http://ehto.thestar.com/

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Bittersweet

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“Happiness. Simple as a
glass of chocolate
or tortuous as the
heart. Bitter.
Sweet. Alive.”
― Joanne Harris, Chocolat

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This afternoon I got the buzz from my phone that I had been waiting for, unfortunately, it wasn’t exactly what I had hoped for. While in training from the National Archives today, I swallowed about 20 dark chocolate covered Kona beans in suspended anticipation for that message. My face and rear will likely pay for that tomorrow! At 2:58pm, Santa Fe Workshops sent me an email in regard to my recent scholarship application. The message read:

*****“Hello, thank you very much for your participation in our scholarship program. We had great response with a number of amazing submissions.  The judging was very difficult due to the number of submissions and the level of photography. Though you were not selected for the scholarship you had applied for, you have been chosen with select others for the Honorable Mention scholarship.”*****

An Honorable Mention scholarship ha? Select others ha? Well that sounds kinda nice right?! I’m not exactly sure what that means, other than it came with about $300. I had applied for the New Mexico Resident Scholarship, but I guess it is best to suppress the picky diva in me and accept the scholarship! The course I wanted to take was called Imagination and Dreams, and the cost to attend that was over $1,000, so I guess that’s out of the question now… I had a rather bittersweet day I guess!?
Well I have never been awarded an Honorable Mention scholarship, so I had to look that up. It appears this is “a commendation given to a candidate in an examination or competition who is not awarded a prize.” But I did get a prize- there was money attached! What is a commendation? Oh- “an award involving special praise” – I see…  Sometimes we just have to be happy with what we get. Maybe they had a record that I was awarded the Nikon Scholarship Award in 2003? I guess I can smile about getting an Honorable Mention- that is an honor as well anyhow.

It was probably someone else’s turn in the rhythmic circle. Bittersweet I tell you- – Bitersweet…

The students from my 2003 Photoshop: Beyond the Basics class. This was the year I was awarded a Nikon Scholarship to attend a week-long intensive at Santa Fe Workshops. There are three students who stood out to me. Two of the men were from the FBI, and were using Photoshop to enhance forensic data electronically. One woman was an infrared photographer. All super cool people!

A Creative Endeavor…

DVD title menu for my digital scholarship application. The menu includes 2 of my photographs.

Tonight I completed the scholarship application that I have been working on. The hard copy packet will be professionally presented, compete with a nice binder and descriptive tabs. This scholarship packet includes: the application; a letter of intent; 2 letters of recommendation; and 20 of my photographs. Tonight I completed the finishing touches on the application by: making a nice (full color) cover sheet; re-sizing and re-naming the photos to meet the application specs; attaching descriptive tabs for each item; making a DVD with my digital submissions; and creating a custom label for the DVD. The application is due in a few days, so I am right on schedule! I’m sure that there are many people who want to get one of these scholarship, so my chances may be very slim, but all I can do is try right? On a positive note, I now have a DVD with my best images from 2001 thru 2012. That’s something isn’t it? Stay positive my friends!

I want to send a big thank you to Marlene and Virginia for all their help! I do appreciate friends who come with the realness…

Custom label for DVD- created for my digital scholarship application packet (20 photos)

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Luck on the 11th Day in the 11th Hour

Photo on my iPod Touch which features a digital composite I created titled Surrender of Agent 11.

This week I decided that it was time for me to “set new goals” for myself. Tonight I started on that promise by working on an application packet for a Nikon scholarship. If I am awarded the scholarship, I will use the money to continue my education and spur creativity by taking a week long intensive workshop.

So in the 11th hour (as the clock makes way to midnight), I post this on the 11th day for luck. The application packet will feature 20 of my images (digital composites and digital photographs). I have included one digital composite titled Surrender of Agent 11 (this is my number of course). The composite features an image of my hand holding keys in the shape of number 11 (symbolic of relinquishing access to a lock). I also placed a tattoo on my arm. The tattoo has missing letters, but says surrender.

Keep your fingers crossed for me! The application packet is due soon, and I will get a yeah or neah there after.
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**Inspirational Quote #11**

“As you travel through life,
your dreams will guide you,
determination will get you there,
and love will provide the
greatest scenery of all.”

- Michelle C. Ustaszeski –

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