So much blogging...so little time!

HUGE apologies for not blogging regularly everyone! I made some bad decisions with my time the two weeks before this one, and this week I've been paying for it. And since I haven't been blogging regularly I have TONS to tell everybody. I never think that I'll have much to talk about with books, movies, and writing as my main topics, but I'm an English major! There's always something to say about books, movies, or writing, or at least about my plans in those areas. Fingers crossed that I'll do better at writing regularly in the future!

I've been reading To Draw Closer to God a second time, and since I have my own copy now I've been able to mark it up. Y'all should read it. Fabulous book. I learn something new everything I read through it. My new favorite quote is from that book: "If you wish to get rich, save what you get. A fool can earn money, but it takes a wise man to save and dispose of it to his own advantage. Then go to work, and save everything, and make your own bonnets and clothing." (from Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, 11:201) Of course Pres. Eyring says tons of great things of his own, but this quote is the one that speaks to me the most right now. Only problem is I can't make my own clothing...it'd be cool if I could...but for now I guess I'll just reuse and recycle!

So a long time ago I talked with Dr. McCuskey about literary criticism and undergrad publishing opportunities, etc. He told me to talk to my fellow undergrad Trent, which I did on Tuesday. He's done lots of conferencing so I learned a lot about something I've never done. He also suggested the British and Commonwealth Studies minor (BCS), which I have always been interested in but up til now have found reasons why I couldn't do it. So the week I pick to email the people who would have answers to my questions is the week that those professors don't check their email! How frustrating! What's worse is that I think registration for summer classes begins next week and if this minor works for me I would take a summer class. The longer they take to answer me, the less time I have to make up my mind and finangle my finances!

Anyway...pretend that they've answered me, and I'm signed up to take three credits of Directed Study. I have to write a proposal for the topic of my 20 ish page paper that I will produce under the direction of my supervising professor (Dr. McCuskey or...or...just Dr. McCuskey). With this in mind alongside my angst about unanswered emails, I've come up with a few paper ideas.

1. Film Adaptations of Jane Austen's Novels. I would probably investigate how these adaptations change modern perceptions about the era in which she wrote; what thematic and formal changes have been made in the transition from book to movie; how do those changes reflect or affect modern society. I like the idea of the paper, but I feel like I'd have a hard time researching for it.
2. Domestic Angels/Cult of Domesticity/Female Gender Roles in Jane Austen's Novels. This is the topic I am least excited about, mostly because I feel like this is a topic that everyone will have written about. I suppose that's helpful for research, but there's no point to my paper if this something everyone talks about.
3. Dancing and Physical Activity, either in Jane Austen's novels or in Romantic/Victorian literature in general (I'm getting less specific as I go along...). How did dancing function in society? How did it change between the Romantic and Victorian periods? How did it differ between classes? I think this would be a really fun paper to write because it's so random.
4. Love Letters in Victorian Literature. This idea comes from our reading of Middlemarch by George Eliot. And doesn't Darcy write something of a love letter? or Mr. Ferrars? I might even use Elizabeth Barrett Browning's "Letters from the Portugeuse" (sp?), I don't even know. I think it would be fun to write though, because love letters in Victorian literature just don't really ever work, so why do they come up?

Anyway, those are my ideas so far. Let me know what you think.