— End of Week Two —

As the end of the second week of our class comes to a close, I would like to take the time to reflect on how things have been going for me as I get closer to a centralized topic. At first, as most of my classmates may or may not remember, and you as a reader may not be aware of yet, I considered venturing into two different topics and see how we felt about it for the research project. Here in Wichita Falls, we of course have so many groups of people who we could study; opportunities to determine the patterns of migration that have either changed recently or even decades ago. We have the ability to take advantage of our Sheppard’s Air Force Base, the Midwestern State University Community, the Oil Industry, and much much more.

I have selected a topic and group of “migrants” (since the point of this project is to track and research a groups migration) for this semester! I want to see where the research and resources in Wichita Falls takes us with the Comanche. Midwestern State (the institution I attend) provides a huge amount of resources for me to use such as archives, documents, memorabilia, photographs, special collections, and so much more in the Moffett Library on campus. I have set an appointment successfully with Cortny Bates, the Special Collections / Associate University Librarian this upcoming Friday, September 1^st at 10:00pm in the special collections room. This of course is an excellent resource for me to have access to since we know they have so much information available at hand.

Continue reading Let’s get down to business: finding resources in our community. →

— Beginning of Week Two —

My initial reaction to this week’s readings was that of a general overtone throughout each piece within itself can be found, which connects it to one another; I think that it is additionally important to note how each and every one of us establishes our own thoughts and interpretations as well. This is essentially what makes conversations, and research such as this intriguing and fulfilling.

For me, reflecting upon my own encounters with life, and attempting to understand the state in which we currently find the United States through various perspectives has helped me think about the topic of migration in a more personal spectrum. It is quite apparent that the United States is a nation created solely by immigrants, who migrated here through various different channels, over different periods of time. One of the things that stood out to me while reading the journal written by Gabbacia was the way she depicted the importance of migration for every single person; migration clearly has a purpose, no matter how different it may be depending on the situation at hand in the face of history. I think this is something that I personally want to create a deeper understanding for the Wichita Falls community within itself; why do people migrate to a town this small – what resources are in this city that create an environment and sense of home that makes people from all over the United States call migrate to? A sense of community is later on established as one can hope for them, and this place that was once foreign becomes home for the migrants.

Continue reading First reading reaction →

— Introduction to this course blog, and end of Week One —

“History in its broadest aspect is a record of man’s migrations from one environment to another.” – Ellsworth Huntington

First of all, I’d like to extend a warm thank you to Dr. Turner for allowing me to not only be a candidate in the first place for this course, but as well as being a great support system for this upcoming semester.

As the semester begins to unfold before us, and we begin to accommodate ourselves in our schedules and routines, it will definitely require a good amount of work and proper time management to balance this project out on all parts. Our project begins on Tuesday, August 22 and ends Thursday November 30, 2017.

In case you all didn’t know, and for those of you visiting this page, my blog is dedicated to not only track the journey I am to embark on but as well as document the process and steps I take when it comes to my research project. The Cultural Crossroads or “migration” project I will work on is still under works, but let me tell you, I have some good ideas as well as an excellent faculty advisor, so I’m sure we will get a more centralized topic for our research project in itself.

Continue reading It’s time to work a little harder. →