Thursday, March 08, 2007

Thursday Thirteen #23

Thirteen Research Projects Which Will Be Impacted By the Impending Library Closure.
Part 1: General Subject Areas

1. Philosophy. Since my entrance into this field was instigated by my becoming aware at age 35 that I had never learned to think for myself, I first set out to learn what it meant to think and what it meant to know and how to judge the reliability of knowledge. I later learned that this was called epistemology.

2. Psychology. Thinking combined with behavior combined with inter-personal dynamics. A total playground for a novelist, right? I mean, a case could be made that the first novelists were the first psychologists.

3. Writing: Craft & Lifestyle & Business

4. Comparative Religion and Spiritual Traditions.

5. Geography (which for me is about much more than locating a place on a map. It is also about the inter-relations between nations and to understand that you have to know something of each ethnic group and nation's history, culture, government and economics.)

6. Civics (my catchall term that covers: politics, government, policy, elections and activism from local to global and includes sociology and theory of government, the American Constitution and civil rights.)

7. Economics: from Micro to Macro from personal to global (which is inextricably entwined with politics as it is a subclass of sociology.) I began studying this intensely in 2001 after the prediction my husband made before the 2000 presidential elections that if Gore did not win, investors would pull their money out of the tech industry and instead of cashing in his stock options he could be cashing a final paycheck before the first anniversary of the new president's inauguration. He said this in late summer of 2000. He cashed the final check in April of 2001 and we spent two weeks homeless on the streets of the Silicon Valley in August. A hard way to learn how much economics matters. Not to mention elections.

8. History. There are a lot of subcategories here. My favorites are Ancient History, History of Christianity, History of Western Civilization, Middle Ages in Europe and the Mediterranean, American History and Russian History.. My most recent focus though has been on Middle Eastern History. And I was about to delve into India and the Orient.

9. Linguistics and Languages. The place where words come out to play in the field of the Logos.

10. Science (Physics, Geology, Biology, Chemistry, Environment, Evolution, Astronomy, Oceanography, Meteorology and Medicine are among those that I have immersed myself in for a period of weeks or months.) I read the books written for laymen. I am spooked by equations and formulas but good writers can get the concepts across without them.

11. Computer and Information technology, including Information Science, which is another Interdisciplinary study (see below).

12. Comparative Story: From ancient mythology to modern movies and TV series.

13. Several Interdisciplinary Studies,including Integral Thought and Futurology and Systems Theory. This is where my passion is as I was less than five years into my intensive autodidactism (which was instigated in 1992 by the traumatic break with the fundamentalist religion I was raised in) when I reached some kind of mental tipping point after which I could never again read in any subject without making multiple connections to other subjects. My essay expressing this experience, Emerson Whispering Sweet Somethings In Einstein's Ear, was written in 1998 to inaugurate the first debut of my Joyread web site.

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

Such dreams I had for Joyread and its sister sites Joywrite and Joystory. Next week in Part 2 I will list research projects on topics with a much narrower focus, several of which are directly related to realizing my original vision for these sites, including the intent to find a way to turn my passion into income.

Links to other Thursday Thirteens!

1. Mama Duck 2. amy 3. Susan Helene Gottfried 4. Rashenbo 5. Raggedy 6. Candy Minx 7. Gattina 8. Christine 9. Tink 10 L^2 11. scooper

(leave your link in comments, I'll add you here!)

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It's easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!


11 tell me a story:

Mama Duck 3/08/2007 7:41 AM  

Wow, how interesting!! Happy TT to you!!

Lil' Duck Duck

Unknown 3/08/2007 9:47 AM  

what a neat list..thanks for sharing..happy thursday!

Susan Helene Gottfried 3/08/2007 2:49 PM  

Okay, I live in the city that gave us the free public library. This closing thing... it's wrong. Just wrong.

What will your alternatives be, once it's gone? Will all this research you've done just end, or will you be able to find a new library? (or will you spend that library time online?)

Aargh. What a pain. What an UNNECESSARY pain. Libraries are the pulse of our community. What's WRONG with people???

Rashenbo 3/08/2007 4:46 PM  

Library... .closing.... *gasp* *cough*

That is truly terrible news! I love the library... any library!

Your research projects sounds fascinating... I really enjoy psychology and philosophy.

I've certainly done my fair share of research... in fact, today's follow up post is about research so it's cool your's is about the same!

Thanks for stopping by. My thoughts are with you.

Raggedy 3/08/2007 7:45 PM  

"Emerson Whispering Sweet Somethings In Einstein's Ear" was fabulous. I just loved how you mixed the fiction as a child and then added non fiction later with the fiction. On top of that adding movies in there..Wow! When I was in shcool I remember how the subjects seemed to intertwine as well. Well done!
I can picture you cuddling your books.
Thank you!
Terrific Thursday Thirteen!
My TT is posted.
Have a wonderful day!
Happy TT'ing!
*^_^
(=':'=)
(")_ (")Š
Raggedy

Candy Minx 3/08/2007 8:13 PM  

This is really something...your powerful memories and turn around and opneness to new ideas and knowledge...I really believe you should work towrds finding an agent and publisher Joy. There is somethign to your journey and it would be amazing if you could vocalize the transformative thoughts and reading you've had in a tangible accessible manner.

I haven't read your essay but I'm leaving it on my computer tonight to read tomorrow mrningwhen I'm fresh.

Gattina 3/08/2007 8:26 PM  

You couldn't think by yourself until 35 ? But that's horrible, how could you live without thinking by yourself ? That's something very hard for me to understand.
Very interesting TT !

Anonymous,  3/08/2007 9:19 PM  

How can they close a library? That's just so wrong, and so weird. It also makes me SO ANGRY. What are you supposed to do now?

I've bookmarked your site to come back and read your essay - loved the title, BTW.

My TT is up too - all about the writing life.

Tink 3/09/2007 1:54 AM  

I still can't believe they are closing down; I just don't understand... Everyone should have one close.
Thanks for visiting my cat quotes TT!

L^2 3/09/2007 7:12 AM  

So sorry to hear they're closing your library. That's just wrong. I love the library. I don't go there as often as I used to, but as your TT illustrates the Library is a valuable resource.
Thanks for visiting my list.

Anonymous,  3/09/2007 11:54 AM  

I'm not a big library person anymore. I take for granted that it'll always be there (I also have a hard time returning things). I can't imagine living in a community without one though. Good luck with whatever comes.

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