Senior Thesis

This semester I am working on my senior thesis. I have mentioned it in a couple of blog posts and thought that I would let me loyal readers know exactly what I have decided to research.

In a U.S. History class last semester we were discussing slavery being predominately in the South. A color coded map was shown that revealed slavery in Salt Lake City. I was shocked to see that slavery had made its way to Utah when the Territories were suppose to be "free" territories. I asked the professor after class what he thought about the map showing slavery in the Utah and said that he thought the map was incorrect in that aspect. I went along my way satisfied with thought that it was in error but something kept grating on me. I decided to look into the issue and found that Brigham Young had brought three slaves with him from Winter Quarters, Nebraska. I couldn't believe what I was reading and as I read further I found that the names of the three slaves (Green Flake, Hark Lay, and Oscar Crosby) were actually on the Brigham Young Monument.

On a trip to see Lyric in Salt Lake City I decided to go and see for myself. In the photo below, on the bottom right hand corner you can see that it says "Colored Servants" and below that are the names of the three slaves. After doing some research I am not shocked that LDS church members had slaves but rather that someone decided to make a divide among the white pioneers and "colored Servants". Therein lies the basis for my thesis. I want to find out the reason that there is a disparity between the races when this monument was erected in 1897 which is well after the Civil War. I have done some research and found that there are many primary sources in the LDS Church library and I am excited to get started. I think that this semester will be a tough one but this experience should be fun and rewarding.

In case you would like to read my senior thesis proposal I have included it here. I did receive an A on the paper even though there are some corrections that need to be made.

photo from www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=35317

A Little Embarrassed/Christmas Break Reading

I have looked at my blog for over a month now trying to figure out how to post my grades without being embarrassed. At the end of the summer semester I posted my grades with pride and admiration. I took six credits and received a 4.0 GPA for my hard work which even made it to Becky's blog. The fall semester came and I worked equally as hard to gain the necessary grades I would need to continue on with a graduate program. The embarrassing part is that I fell short this semester. Becky tells me that It will be fine and that I can still be proud of my accomplishments however my grades have kept me from posting on my blog. In order to get over the hump I am going to post them and move on to something else so that I do not have to dwell on them any longer.

U. S. History and Culture - A

Historian's Craft - A

Modern U.S. History 1929-Present - B+

Comparative Politics - B+

The Presidency - A

Voting and Public Opinion - A

Semester GPA - 3.77

Cume GPA - 3.83

Christmas Break Reading

Over the Christmas break I was able to read a couple of books. The first book was one that I own but was having trouble finding time to read it. The other was a Christmas gift from Becky and she knows me too well.

Yes...this is another Kurt Vonnegut book. I bought this book from a little shop in Hyde Park before we left Boise. It has been the one book that I have held in my hand the longest for fear that once I read it my last tie to the city that I love would be gone forever. It has sat on my night stand since we moved to Pocatello reminding me of the quaint book shop in Hyde Park, Java (a coffee shop where we bought hot chocolate every chance we got), the bustle of the city, the warmth of a small town, the feel of home. Once "Cat's Cradle" was over everything regarding Boise would come to end and Pocatello would be at the forefront. It hasn't been as bad as I thought it would be, however there has been some pain and a urning for the city that gave me so much.

"Cat's Cradle" is not a book for everyone. Like all of Vonnegut's books there are recurring anti-war themes and liberal undertones. I really enjoyed this book and I can't wait to read the next Kurt Vonnegut selection that Becky gave me for Christmas entitled "Armageddon in Retrospect".

The second book I read over the break was the new book by Chris Matthews entitled "Jack Kennedy: Elusive Hero". A few years ago I read my first biography and really enjoyed it. Since that time I have read a couple of others and have found that I love biographies of political figures. This book took me back to that first biography in more ways then one because it was the biography of Bobby Kennedy titled "RFK". These books span almost the same time period with a lot of overlap since Bobby worked with Jack on his campaign. This is a great book that discusses John Kennedy's experience in World War II, his campaign tactics, the Cuban Missile Crisis and the legacy that "JFK" left on the executive office. A great read for anyone looking for a biography to start 2012.

I was so excited Christmas morning when I received this book. I had been talking about this one and the new Bill Clinton book. This selection proves that my wife knows me too well. She knows that I am fascinated by the Kennedys and that I love political history almost more then any other genre. Thank you Becky for this book and the many others that I was given Christmas morning.

Happy Anniversary

November twenty eighth (today) is our anniversary. It is always a rough time of year for us financially. Sales always seem to dip in October and November so we have less money. It is right before Christmas and we always have our Christmas shopping done by Thanksgiving so our money is spent before our anniversary. We always head to our parents for Thanksgiving which takes money right before our anniversary. All of these reasons combined mean that we don't celebrate our anniversary like every other person on the planet. I hear from my siblings how they celebrate and think that I should find a way to do something like they do. I hear from Becky how her sister celebrates and think that Becky would probably like something similar to what Beth does. Unfortunately it is not the way we do things. We have never been able to pull off the big surprises or the big trips around our anniversary. We did not have a honeymoon, we haven't celebrated our anniversary with a trip or even a great dinner. When we try to plan something romantic it always catches fire and blows up in our faces. For example a couple of years ago we decided to get a babysitter and go out to a nice dinner and a movie. Something went wrong that day and we began arguing. We ended up calling each others bluff and one thing lead to the babysitter being called and told that we would not need her. When the issue was resolved later we felt stupid. We ended up calling a Chinese buffet and having them deliver. We sat at our table and had sweet and sour chicken while we discussed the fact that we had destroyed our anniversary every year since we had gotten married.

This year is no different. Once again we have no money, we have no babysitter, and we have a son that will not allow his mother out of his sight. We are poor college students just trying to make it through another December on financial aid and student loans. So I have decided to try a cheap way to make this year at least memorable for us. This year will be our eighth anniversary and I intend to give my eight favorite memories from the last eight years. It may end up being from the last ten years though because as many of you know Becky and I dated for two and half years before getting married and sometimes those memories mesh with memories of things that happened after we were married.

In no particular order.

#8 - Our Wedding Night. This is not what you might think. As a young couple we were excited to get back to our apartment and proceed with the things that a newly married couple would do. Becky's parents grabbed us on the way out of North's Chuck Wagon, the restaurant that we were at, and asked if it was alright if they brought Becky's aunts and uncles over to see our apartment since they were from Delta and would not have the chance to see it again. We agreed and ten people got up and followed us to our six hundred square foot apartment. We showed them around and talked for a little while before they all headed out. As they were leaving we had some friends show up to congratulate us. After showing them out we headed back to our bedroom and before we could get anything started we fell asleep. We were woken up by a knock on the door, which ended up being my brother Marc and his wife. They thought that they had caught us in the act and gave us a bad time about it, but we really had fallen asleep because we were so tired.

#7 - Our First Camping Trip. One day I decided that we should drive north of Boise for the weekend and do some camping. We went to a sporting goods store and bought a tent and a few supplies and headed out. We had taken our computer and the movie "What Women Want" with Mel Gibson. As we drove we talked about how much fun it was going to be, as well as a book about the Black Dahlia murder that Becky had seen at Barnes and Noble. We drove north past Banks to a little campground just off the road that was next to the river. I set up camp and we started a fire. After a little while we decided to lay down for the night and watch the movie that we had brought. Becky kept hearing noises as the movie played and kept getting scared because of the book about the Black Dahlia murder. We shut the movie off and tried to get some sleep. Becky kept rolling around, and finally at about three in the morning she told me that she could not sleep because she thought someone was going to come and kill us. We sat up and talked and eventually moved to our car. Around five in the morning we drove to Banks and bought doughnuts and chocolate milk. We drove back to the campground, packed up our stuff, and headed for home. We have not been camping on our own in a tent since.

#6 - Our Trip to the Oregon Coast. Becky and I had decided to skip the Willard Reunion due to some family issues that we were having. We had just recently moved to Boise and had found out that we were not able to have children. I told Becky that we should use the money that we would have spent to go to the reunion to go to the coast. So on Friday morning we packed up and headed to Oregon. Becky had never been to Oregon so this was a new experience for her. She had decided to buy the new (at the time) Justin Timberlake album to make our "Oregon Trip CD". I tried to explain to her that you can not make a trip CD, a trip CD will find you. It did find us and Dave Matthews' solo album became our trip CD. We drove through Oregon to Portland, and as we came upon an exist we noticed the Portland Temple, and with a last second decision we stopped and went through a session. We were not prepared so we had to change into our church clothes in the parking lot. I am sorry to the couple who was parked next to us who got a show as we tried to put our clothes on. After the session we headed for the coast where we did not have a concrete plan. We knew that we would head for Beverly Beach and see if they had a spot open to set up our tent. When we got there the attendant informed us that they had a yurt cancellation and asked us if we wanted it. We said yes and drove over to the cutest little yurt with a fire pit outside. We were close enough to the beach that we could hear the waves. We spent the next couple of days exploring Newport Oregon and all it had to offer. We found our favorite restaurant, Georgie's, saw a whale at Otter Rock, and explored the aquarium. The two of us had a blast just spending time together without a plan or anyone else.


#5 - Insurance Reunion in Dallas. The insurance company that I worked for had a reunion in Dallas every year that they would send the top agents to. Our first year my dad was able to pull some strings and get us down there. The second year I earned a spot and Becky and I headed down to Dallas for our second trip. We decided that we would catch a late flight out of Dallas on the last day so we could spend some time sightseeing. We dropped my brother Marc off at the airport that morning and drove down to the book depository to see a piece of American history. While we were there we received a call from Marc informing us that he had missed his flight and that he would like to be picked up since the next flight wasn't until six that evening (the flight right before ours). We picked him up and spent the day playing around Dallas. Later we arrived at the airport and checked in. Marc was able to catch the flight at six o'clock and we were on the nine o'clock flight. We arrived in Salt Lake around 11pm but it was snowing and we had to circle the airport waiting for a clear spot to land. When we got our luggage we headed out to our car to find that one of the tires was flat. We spent time flagging down someone that could help us and then headed to pick up Marc, who was staying with a friend. We headed home on icy roads at one in the morning. We stopped three times between Salt Lake and Snowville because I was falling asleep. We pulled off at Snowville and slept for a couple of hours and then got back on the road. We ended up pulling into Twin Falls at a quarter to six. We haven't made that drive like that since.

#4 - Viva Las Vegas. One year we decided to be spontaneous and drive to Las Vegas because Becky had never been there. I had Friday off so we decided to leave Thursday afternoon. Becky was going to pack while I took the car down for an oil change. While getting the oil checked the technician told me that my tires were worn to the threads on all four tires. I asked him if I could make it to Vegas and he told me he didn't think I could make it across town. I bought four new tires, which cost me over six hundred dollars and took three hours to put on. When I got home Becky said that she thought we shouldn't go because it was so late, but I pushed on and told her it would be fine. We left town after six pm bound for Las Vegas. We gassed up in Ely Nevada and as we pulled out of town a police officer pulled me over for accidentally using my high beam as he rounded the corner. He gave me a seventy dollar ticket for "misuse of my high beam." We pulled into Vegas around one in the morning and proceeded to find a hotel with a vacancy. The first three hotels we checked were booked solid, and on the fourth we found out that it was spring break and every hotel in town was booked. We drove off the strip to a little motel that was really gross. The guy behind the bullet proof glass charged us eighty dollars and when we got to our room we found that the sheets had not been changed and the shower was like a cave. It was really disgusting and we slept in our clothes. The next day we decided to try and find another hotel early. We went all over town and found that only four hotels had rooms available, but because it was spring break there were no discounts. We paid three hundred and fifty dollars for one night in the Venetian Hotel. We were just glad to have a room with a clean bed. We drove to the Las Vegas Temple and spent time outside because it was closed due to general conference. We woke up Saturday with the idea that we would find a cheaper place to stay but by ten o'clock that night we hadn't found anything so we headed for Salt Lake thinking we would find something along the way. We finally found a motel in Hurricane Utah which we paid eighty five dollars for. It was the last room in town and we barely beat another car there. The Las Vegas trip was one of the most expensive trips we have ever taken.
#3 - Family Trip to Oregon. Not long after adopting Audrey we decided to take a trip to the Oregon Coast again. Because we had taken some poorly planned trips in the past, we decided to really plan this trip. We rented a condo on the beach and booked flights and a rental car. We had so much fun with Audrey's first flight and first time at the beach. We ate at Georgie's again, played on the beach, and visited the aquarium. This trip was our first trip as a family and we had such a blast. Audrey doesn't remember it but she talks about her first trip on an airplane all the time. I love looking at pictures from this trip because it was one of the best times of my life with my little girl and my best friend.


#2 - Adopting Audrey. Becky and I had spent a lot of time talking about infertility. At one point I broke her heart when I told her that I was fed up and done with infertility treatments. I was tired of scheduled love making, and I was okay with not having children if it was going to be that hard. She reluctantly agreed and I packed her up and moved her to Boise to get away from our friends and family that were getting pregnant. While in Boise we found ourselves as a couple, and we grew together in a way that we never would in Twin Falls around our families. It was a great time for us as a couple, but something was still missing. Becky would cry at night and I would pretend to be asleep because nothing I said brought her comfort. One day Becky's mom told her that she thought we should have a family fast to see if we could get pregnant. We consented with the idea that if it did not work we would stop trying to have children all together. A couple of weeks after the fast we received an email from my brother Marc that explained that Tarl (Audrey's birth father) was getting a divorce and he had a six week old baby that he was looking to put up for adoption. We immediately brushed it off because we did not feel strongly about adopting, and if we did we did not want to adopt from family. Tarl's mom, Marji, called us a couple of days later and talked to us about the idea and we said that we were not sure about it. As we began to think about the possibility of adopting, we thought that we had just fasted for a baby and maybe this was our chance. We called Marji back and she sent us pictures. We fell in love immediately and we drove down to meet Tarl and Megan (Audrey's birth mother) and see their little girl. The process was hard as we had to jump through hoops and get tested, but when it was finalized six months later we had a baby daughter that looked like Becky and acted so much like me that you would swear she was not adopted. This was the start of our family and one of the best experiences I have ever had. Becky and I grew together in a way that was not possible before. Audrey has brought so much joy to our lives that I can not imagine what life would be like without her.

#1 - Having the Boy. After years of not being able to conceive, we had put it out of our minds. Becky would talk about it once in awhile, or it would be brought up in family discussions but it was not something that we were even thinking about. So you can imagine how surprised I was the night that Becky asked if we could go buy a pregnancy test. We had done this hundreds of times before always with the hope that it would be positive, but with disappointment every time. I agreed to getting one because it would ease Becky's mind even though it would crush her for a few days. When we returned home from getting the test we put Audrey to bed and Becky headed to the bathroom. A few minutes later I heard her say, "Justin, can you come back here?" I walked back to the bathroom prepared to comfort my broken wife. As I walked in she looked at me confused and said, "What does this mean?" I looked at the test and saw that it was positive. We spent the next thirty minutes reading the directions to make sure it was correct. Seven months later we were sitting in the hospital holding David, Becky overcome with joy and me bawling like a little girl. The experience of child birth was not one that I liked but the outcome has made our family more complete. David has brought joy to all of our lives in such a short amount of time. We are now the parents of a boy, which if you don't know, is different from being the parent of a little girl. Audrey has become a big sister, and as we always knew, she was made to be. David is the piece of our family that has been missing. We all welcomed him, and despite Audrey asking if we can leave him at the hospital, we all love and cherish him.

Eight years have flown by and I am sure it is because I have spent it with my best friend. We have been through deep dark trials and the highest of highs together, we have spent nights laughing and crying together, we have been mad at each other and supported each other. I have no idea what is to come or what the future holds but I do know that I don't want to spend it with anyone else. We may not have any money or anyone to watch the kids but I couldn't imagine spending my anniversary with three other people on this planet.

I love you David

I love you Audrey

I love you Becky, my best friend.

Happy Eighth Anniversary!

Double Major...WHAT?

So a week ago I sat down with the History Chair at Idaho State to discuss my senior thesis and a couple of class decisions that I needed to make. In the process of talking with him it was made known that I would like to teach history in college and not just high school. Dr. Marsh informed me that by being a secondary education major with an emphasis in history and a minor in political science would not allow me to go to graduate school in history. I explained to him that I did know that, but that I was hoping to find a school that would look at the classes I took here and see that I put in a lot of work in history and see what I would need to do to get in to a masters history program. He told me that it would be hard to do that because other schools would see my B.A. in education and not in history. He then told me that Idaho State was one of the few schools that require their secondary ed majors in history to take all the same classes that a history major must take. Dr. Marsh explained to me that my best bet was to double major.

I have ran into a few of these so called "double majors". Whenever you ask them what they are majoring in, they always say, "I have a double major in blah blah and blah blah." You always feel like an idiot because you only have one major and a double major must be double the work.

Well because I have an associates degree from the College of Southern Idaho, I am a little farther along. This means that I don't have to take a language course here at Idaho State. To double major all I have to do are the classes that I am already taking. It is a little more work because as a secondary education major I am required to have a minor. I still have to take my political science classes but I only have one more to take and my minor will be fulfilled.

So just like that I am now a double major in secondary education with an emphasis on history and a minor in political science and a history major. That's right, I do sound pompous and I kind of like it.

One last note, there are two schools close that have graduate programs in my field that have information on my thesis. Both schools drive me crazy because of my affiliation (which is only has a fan) with BYU. The first is Utah State, great program but I hate their fan base. The other is the University of Utah, can't stand that they are the University of Pac 12 and they are BYU's rival. Mostly likely I will be trying my hardest to get into the University of Utah because it will be the easiest to work on my thesis from there. Let's hope I can stay True Blue at the U!

School Has Begun

School started on Monday and it seemed a little daunting when I picked up this load of books. Going back to school and starting as a junior seemed like a good idea until I realized that I am taking upper division courses and the professors expect me to be able to read. It isn't a bad thing, most of these books are interesting to me so I am excited to get started. I am a little nervous because I am taking 18 credits all in history and political science.

I start Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays off with United States History and Culture, it is the only class that is a lower division class and one that wouldn't transfer from the College of Southern Idaho. Next is The Presidency, a poli sci class that helps understand the rights and responsibilities of the presidency. From there I go to Comparative Politics, another poli sci class that discusses the different forms of government and politics from around the world. I was a little early to the class on Monday and the professor and I got into a discussion about how to spell Gadhaffi correctly. Unfortunately the only correct spelling is the Arabic spelling. The last class is the Historians Craft, which will help me to understand how to find and use primary and secondary sources in my research as a historian.

On Tuesdays and Thursdays I start the day off with Public Opinion and Political Behavior. This class is another poli sci class that goes behind public opinion and shows how it effects voting, drives government, and ultimately gets government officials elected. The last class on Tuesdays and Thursdays is Modern United States History. This class starts around 1932 (although it will really start at 1929) and goes to the present. A main focus in this class will be pop culture and the effects it has on society.

Although nervous, I am excited to be back. I have had a couple good days and it feels good to be working toward the future again. I am sure that Becky is also happy to get me out of the house she can go back to running things the way that she likes. If I don't post anything for awhile please know it is because I am READING and not because I fell off the face of the earth.

I am so excited for football this year. I know that I say that every year but this year I mean it. The team is looking amazing from what I hear. Media Day was awesome and I am so stoked that ESPN has partnered with BYU and that 10 games will be on ESPN and the one game that isn't right now will be on BYUTV. That game doesn't even matter because it is against my current school ISU. I could get student tickets and go if I wanted to. The biggest thing that I am excited for though is the opportunity to go to more games this year. After discussing the move to Pocatello one of the things that was brought up was that we would be closer to Utah and therefore closer to my Cougars. I am going to try and make it to a couple of games this year instead of the one and if they go well I will see if I can do more. I can't wait!

Heaps coming into his own, great linebackers, promising receivers, going independent, ESPN, and the possibility to make it to every home game. This is going to be a great year.

New Mexico bowl Highlights 2010 from James B Ellison on Vimeo.

1st Semester Done

The first semester back at school as been a tough one. I spent countless hours studying and preparing for class. I took two test that took me 5 hours a piece to finish. 4 papers that had to be 10 pages or more. Observation hours at a middle school, school board meeting, and band concert. I interviewed multiple people that I then had to write 5 page papers for. I did service at the Idaho Food Bank here in Pocatello for service hours related to one classes observations. I had to do 23 hours of observations in the school and around the community. 2 class presentations and some group work. At the middle of the semester I was afraid that I had made a mistake in going back to school. It felt like things were rushing over my head and that I was not able to catch up. As the semester came to an end I realized that I had made it through and that it wasn't as bad as I had thought. I am excited for the upcoming semester and although 1 class has 6 books that I have to buy I am excited to read them. This endeavor has been tough on my family but in the end I know that the Lord will take care of us. This is what we are suppose to be doing and we all feel good about it even though we complain some times.

Now for what you really wanted to know.

EDUC 2201 - 97%

EDUC 2204 - 100%