We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
- T.S. Eliot


Welcome to Ten Roads! This blog is intended to be a place for me to share my (generally Civil War-related) thoughts and experiences. I try to update once a week at the very least. All comments and readers are greatly appreciated!

Sunday, January 18, 2009

State of the Union

Well... here we are... January 2009. I hope everyone is doing well. I personally am dealing with the trials and tribulations of senior year of high school, including but not limited to applying to college. Most of you have probably not had to do this for some years now, so let me just tell you that it's not enjoyable in the least bit. It's the epitome of stressful, in fact. Which leads me to my next paragraph...
Being part of the Civil War blogging community taught me a lot of things. I learned that there's a lot of support out there if you seek it. I also learned that military history is not for me, that I'm much more interested in the social and material aspects of the Civil War. I learned that a lot of young historians are wise beyond their years, and that a lot of older historians act like children at times. I found this to be particularly difficult to deal with and is in fact probably the reason for the initial hiatus of Ten Roads; to put it simply, I had enough drama in my own life (I am, after all, a teenage girl) that I didn't feel like dealing with all of the drama around here.
Time has passed and I continue feeling that way. I am going to officially say now that I do not plan to continue Ten Roads any longer. I perhaps will start anew at some point, and you definitely will hear from me and about me when I begin future endeavors. I thank you for reading Ten Roads and for all of the help and encouragement many of you have given me.

Feel free to keep in touch! Emails are always lovely.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sarah,

First, best of luck with your senior year and college applications. I would recommend my alma mater Illinois College to you, as it gave me a strong foundation for where I am at now. They are a private school with around 1000 students, so you would get a lot of personal attention from professors. If you want to look into it, please let me know, as I can arrange for a waiver of the fee as an alum.

Second, while I understand and respect your choice to stop blogging, I want you to know that you are always welcome to post on my blog. I do hope that you consider that and don't give up on using the internet, as it will remain a powerful tool within the discipline.

Do not let the old scholars and their antics get you down. The best thing you can do is keep working hard, keep your goals in view, and complete them to the best of your ability. I see in you the potential to become a wonderful scholar someday, you just need to never let others in the profession get your confidence in yourself down. I wish you the best of luck and hope that you will stop by Civil War History and drop an occasional post, as your thoughts would be welcome.

Best wishes,

Dan

Don said...

Sarah,

Best wishes with your college search! I look forward to your eventual return to the blogosphere.

Best,
Don

Yore