http://reaching-lifelong-goals.com Redfokker's Nontraditional Student Resource Site Sat, 31 Jul 2010 00:43:30 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 http://reaching-lifelong-goals.com/2010/01/league-wwi-aviation-historians/ http://reaching-lifelong-goals.com/2010/01/league-wwi-aviation-historians/#comments Fri, 15 Jan 2010 01:58:45 +0000 Redfokker http://reaching-lifelong-goals.com/?p=444 My wonderful wife has given me the perfect birthday present, (actually it is next Friday the 22nd) with a long overdue membership to the League of WWI Aviation Historians. After a lifetime of interest in the Great War, and 20 years of active research, model building and study I am finally part of a group of my “peers”.   I have known about the League for a several years, but it has always been one of those “things I need to do, someday”.   Being a History Major and a nontraditional student, memberships in professional organizations such as this are very beneficial to your college career.  Associations in your field of study are available for everyone.   Many have special student rates for membership.   I have been “shopping” around in the field of History Studies and have found over 20 different organizations that I would be a member of.   Maintaining that many memberships would be daunting, so it pays to be selective.   I am unique in the fact that I plan to specialize in one area of history so I can be selective in the associations joined.   The resources and networking possibilities of a membership in the League of WWI Aviation Historians will be invaluable to my goal of writing the ultimate book about WWI Ace Ernst Udet.   I have already made a connection with an author of WWI history through Facebook (there is a whole post in the works about this story…)   Putting together research about WWI history is challenging at best, but with new friends and associations with fellow historians in the field, the sky is the limit!   The league has biennial meetings with seminars and presentations of scholarly papers and books.   The next meeting will be in 2011 and my goal is to have a good part of my Ernst Udet book and research ready for presentation.   A lofty goal, but one that will drive my progress toward a real-time deadline! And in addition to this, I forgot to post about my wonderful wife’s Christmas present to me…a membership in the SOCIETY FOR MILITARY HISTORY!   Which also includes a subscription to the Journal of Military History!    Exciting stuff in my History Major World.   I’ll put together a special posting about this membership in the next day or so. ]]> http://reaching-lifelong-goals.com/2010/01/league-wwi-aviation-historians/feed/ 0 http://reaching-lifelong-goals.com/2009/11/armistice-day-november-11th/ http://reaching-lifelong-goals.com/2009/11/armistice-day-november-11th/#comments Wed, 11 Nov 2009 16:38:02 +0000 Redfokker http://reaching-lifelong-goals.com/?p=421 In America we know November 11th as Veterans Day. It is also known as Armistice Day, remembrance Day, Poppy Day, and Volkstrauertag in other countries around the world. On that day we observe the anniversary of the cessation of hostilities between the Allied nations and Germany that went into effect on the eleventh-hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918, thus bringing to an end the carnage of what was supposed to be “the war to end all wars.” Being a WWI Aviation Historian, this day will always be known to me as Armistice day.  It is a little sad that there are few folks that remember the primary purpose of this day.   As a Veteran, I recognize the importance of this days new name of  “Veteran’s Day”.   It is of vital importance that the sacrifices of our fallen members of all wars have a day of remembrance.  I salute my fellow military members both of today and of years past.    God Bless them all. ]]> http://reaching-lifelong-goals.com/2009/11/armistice-day-november-11th/feed/ 2 http://reaching-lifelong-goals.com/2009/11/traditional-student-tools/ http://reaching-lifelong-goals.com/2009/11/traditional-student-tools/#comments Wed, 04 Nov 2009 01:55:34 +0000 Redfokker http://reaching-lifelong-goals.com/?p=418 I’m so excited!   I have just installed one of the best tools a Non Traditional Student could ever have – ENDNOTE – Bibliographies made easy.   This program is a must have for any serious research writing.   If you are a Non Traditional Student just getting started back in college, I whole heartedly recommend this program.   Go out and buy it today!!  Basically, Endnote  will allow you to SEARCH online bibliographic databases, ORGANIZE your references, images and downloaded PDF documents, and most important – CITE WHILE YOU WRITE!   I purchased the program Endnote 2.o, there are more updated versions available, but all will do everything you need when writing your research papers for college.  I am still in the learning curve…lots of features to master.   I did a cursory search of my probable thesis topic about WWI ace, Ernst Udet and was able to start locating some valuable resources.   And I have just scratched the surface of this program.   As an aside, I find that there has been very little written about Udet.   This is both a plus and minus for me.  One one hand, the available resources out there are few, but I don’t think my topic will have much competition out there.   I found just 17 references in the Library of Congress.   I will be digging into academic data bases when I get up to speed with Endnote.  One of the really fantastic features of this program is it’s integration with Office 2007.   Citation of references will be available with a single click, and the MLA foot note will be magically entered into the document I’m working on.   I’ll spend more time with the tutorials on Endnote and report my findings of the other spiffy features as I learn them.   If you are a Non Traditional Student that will be writing college level research papers over the next few years, this program is a definite must have.   I think there are a number of similar programs out there, but I had this one suggested to me by my History Professor.   He said if this program would have been available when he was writing his Thesis, life would have been sooooo much easier!!  I will update this post with more information about Endnote.  I will be diving into using it for my Non Traditional Student research paper for my WR123 class….Now that I mention this, I have a due date for my mid-term portfolio coming up soon.   Better climb that learning curve quickly! ]]> http://reaching-lifelong-goals.com/2009/11/traditional-student-tools/feed/ 4 http://reaching-lifelong-goals.com/2009/09/great-ww1-blog-to-read/ http://reaching-lifelong-goals.com/2009/09/great-ww1-blog-to-read/#comments Wed, 09 Sep 2009 15:52:41 +0000 Redfokker http://reaching-lifelong-goals.com/?p=230 I stumbled upon one of the most wonderful history blogs the other day.  WW1 Experiences of an English Soldier Being a history major, specializing in the Great War, I was drawn to this “real time” account of Private Harry Lamin from England.   This blog is written by Harry’s grandson and is taken from his letters home about his experiences in the trenches of WW1.   The blog has been around for a couple of years.  The letters home are very descriptive of his life as a British soldier.   The blogger printed the letters exactly 90 years after they were written on the actual days of the letters.   You follow Harry from his training through his wartime experiences on the western front.   I have been catching up on them as I got into this blog late.   Harry has quite a following out there in Internet Land.   People wait with bated breath for each new post as the letters home “arrive”.   This blog is very popular and has made the national news in England.   Harry Lamin was born in 1887 in the midlands of England and in 1917 at the age of 29 he joined up to fight in the Great War.   His letters home were mainly to his brother and sister.   They are reprinted just as they were received, grammar errors and all.   The blogger does give some context information to help with historical matters.    I have been enjoying reading these accounts and highly recommend this blog even if you are not a student of history. Harry even has a Facebook page of his own!!   The great-grand daughter of Harry has posted a page to follow on Facebook.   Harry is one of my Facebook friends!   Through this blog, the man’s life in the trenches of WW1 becomes real time, 90 years after the fact.   I feel this is one of the greatest ideas for a blog about WW1 I have found on the Internet.   The letters have also been published into a book that was available on Amazon a couple of years ago as well.    I have a communication with “Harry” to see if the book is still available.   I will update this post with more info as it becomes available.

Maybe I’m just a “History Geek”, but I felt compelled to post about this wonderful blog.   I will continue to follow Harry’s experiences and keep you all updated as I catch up with him.   Study of the History of WW1 is becoming more popular and I have found a great many wonderful websites available.

]]> http://reaching-lifelong-goals.com/2009/09/great-ww1-blog-to-read/feed/ 3 http://reaching-lifelong-goals.com/2009/09/independent-study-credits/ http://reaching-lifelong-goals.com/2009/09/independent-study-credits/#comments Fri, 04 Sep 2009 21:25:02 +0000 Redfokker http://reaching-lifelong-goals.com/?p=171 I have registered for 3 credits of Independent Study this Fall Term.   As a History Major and a Non Traditional Student, I am still trying to figure out this whole “college” thing.   I took History 203 during Summer Term at Linn Benton Community College and my fantastic instructor Scott McAleer informed us about this opportunity.   Basically, you and your adviser come up with an independent study project in your field.   I will be receiving 3 credit hours for this “class”.    Since I am a History Major, we have come up with a project for me to start developing an annotated bibliography in my area of study.    During the term, I will research all the materials out there for a specific subject, and catalog and review each of them.   Since this can become an overwhelming task, I will narrow my search to my possible Master’s Thesis subjects.   I am heading in two main directions at this time; the German ace Ernst Udet’s WW1 career, or The development of aeronautics during the Great War. Both of these topics will benefit me during my Non Traditional College journey.   I have goals of writing a book someday about Ernst Udet.   Developing a complete bibliography now will save  a huge amount of work for me in the future.    Also, the Master’s Program at Oregon State University in History has an emphasis on the History of Science (Linus Pauling is a major influence in this…).    This all becomes part of my ongoing college goals.    I am in the process of setting specific goals for my College experience (another blog topic waiting to happen…) and both of these topics are the building blocks for reaching these goals.   I have very specific goals for my Non Traditional Student Journey and I really have to start pointing my class scheduling  efforts toward them.   While I am at Linn Benton Community College finishing up my Math requirements,  I will be filling my schedule with under grad classes that propel me into my Junior and Senior years at Oregon State.    My wife suggested a couple of days ago that I should look into more writing classes….we all should listen to our wives!!!   What a great notion…since my new hobby of blogging is becoming such a big part of my life, and I’ll be doing a huge amount of writing over the next few years,  boning up on writing skills is a must!

I am probably preaching to the choir here, but I highly recommend looking into an Independent Study class.   Your adviser at your institution will help to tailor a program that will specifically dovetail into your area of study.   The individual attention from your Independent Study Adviser will be a big bonus here as well.   I really hope to develop a relationship with Scott as a History advisor as well as a History MENTOR.

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