Blog On

Reading Mexican History

The history course I'm turoring, "Mexico from 1810-present," is keeping me very busy reading. I'm up to page 526 in the text; the instructor is going at a very fast pace it seems.

A couple or three days a week, I spend several hours with the textbook and my additional book source.. We're already up to about 1911 when "the Revolution" began. There are names like Emiliano Zapata and Pancho Villa that I know of, and lots of other names I'm not familiar with. There are probably a half a dozen individuals involved in "the Revolution" that I need to get straight in my head as it's kind of confusing. They all had Mexican names and led revolts in Mexican cities I'm not familiar with. It almost feels like teaching school in South Texas!

I'm highlighting as I read, using a colored pencil to be a bit out of the ordinary (instead of a yellow highlighter), but I'm feeling the need to write up some 3 x 5 note cards to write some details for reference later on. I'm feeling pressure just to complete the reading before David comes for tutoring each week.

Dave's taking sign language, and working weekends at a video store, and commuting to Denton where he's keeping an apartment as he attends classes from Monday through Thursday. He's a very busy guy, and I really admire the path he's following toward his career goal. He's really pushing himself. I used to do that, but not so much anymore. Maybe it's a youth thing.

He's in his 30s, and has been attending college classes in Denton for several years. He's still many semesters away from graduation, and considering leaving the university setting in favor of a 10-month course of study at the American Broadcasting School. College is so much more expensive than when I went (thirty years ago)!

He's paying about $1300. to take two classes this semester. Higher education has been "deregualated" by the state, and many colleges and universities really upped all their fees recently. I can understand why so many individuals have problems because of college loans. You've got to get a good job and work for years just to pay back the loan. I'm fortunate that my dad's social security payments covered my college expenses.

The best thing about all this reading and studying is that my student is the one who has the pressure of performing for a grade. I can just read, soak up information, and help him process terms and high points when I help him write up his response question for each Thursday. We end up spending 4 - 6 hours, and I'm making from $30 - 50/week, which is nice to cover a few "pocket" expenses, like cat food and kitty litter.

I'm enjoying the reading, and plan to write something up in an article or essay about the violence during the Mexican Revolution. One in fifteen was killed during the war. I forgot how much I enjoy studying history. It's one of those things you can enjoy in college, but you never get much chance to use the information in real life.

Otherwise, I'm playing with, feeding, or grooming kittens. They are grown up to the size of little cats now. I've fed them very nourishing food, and they all have such silky fur! I need to finish the roll of film so that I can post some more cutie photos.

The Sate Fair of Texas is going on for about the next month. Next weekend is the great rival football game between Texas and OU. My blood still runs burnt orange.

My computer isn't over all it's problems from the last crash. It seems that the licesnses for all the music I've saved on my computer have somehow become corrupt. I can't play any music at all on the computer. I feel creatively hobbled.

The other problem is my computer's printer. It gave a message saying it wanted to be attached to another port, then when I changed the plug, the computer wouldn't light up--like it's not accepting any electricity.

I print a lot, so I have a call into the "Geeks on Call" tech, Matt, again. Sometimes I get so frustrated I could just throw up my hands in resignation. At least when Matt comes I''ll have a person to discuss possiblities with, rather than just purchasing another printer and thinking it's the only option. I've been through about 5 printers this decade, and that's too much!

I'll try to get back into a regular blogging routine again. I'll aim for every other day, and hopefully get back to composing stories and poems again. I haven't created anything new in a long time! I feel like there are story parts I could finish up if I could block off a little time. There are some few scribbling in my spiral notebook journal, like ideas for articles yet to be written.

Coming soon: The Beatles Top Ten Songs, (to be published at Associated Content. . . .but I'd like some Writing.com feedback first).