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.

Dedication Day 2008

Click here to view the video I took of Ken Burns' speech at the Soldiers National Cemetery on November 19th, 2008.

I was helping out the Civil War Institute, so I was "behind the scenes," thus this video is at a somewhat unique angle.

Oh boy.

Park Service to charge museum admission fee.

In reality, it is a better deal for the visitors. Currently the film is $8 and the proposed cost for the film + Cyclorama is $12. $7.50 is obviously a lot cheaper. However, something just bothers me about the museum requiring a fee. This will also cause ticketing to be backed up, causing people to decide against standing in line. That's what happened when we had the tickets for the museum but still weren't charging. We lost a lot of visitors then, in my opinion. Hopefully all of this works out with minimal hassle for visitors and minimal hassle for the Foundation staff.

Witness tree damaged

Here is the article from the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Oddly enough, I don't remember it storming on Thursday. I must really not be paying attention anymore.

I've come to a conclusion...

I absolutely despise all of the pointless sectarianism involved in academia, especially the study of the Civil War. It's gotten to the point where other people's opinions are annoying me, which is not something that happens typically and it bothers me. For this reason, I'm going to take a break from this for a short while, probably a few weeks. Besides, I will be busy with some freelance stuff and going back to school. I don't want to wind up hating what I actually love doing, you know?