One of my favorite scholars to read and to talk with in the field of technical and professional communication is Brenton D. Faber. I used his article on what it means to be “professional” communication for my first major publication, and for my dissertation, which focuses on women’s agency within large organizations, I used his book Community... Continue Reading →
How My Spanish Ancestors Ended Up in the United States
From as early as I can remember, I was taught to be proud of my Spanish heritage. My siblings and I all have Spanish middle names. “You are a quarter Spanish,” my mother would always say. My dad would teach me words and phrases, and Spanish colors and numbers were a regular part of my... Continue Reading →
A Trip to Ireland
Last week, my husband and I were in Ireland. We visited because I had been accepted at an academic conference in Limerick. In fact, the paper I submitted with my colleague Breeanne ended up winning the Hayhoe Fellow Award, or the award for the best graduate student paper. We spent a day in Dublin. We... Continue Reading →
I Was Expecting More from This Book: Modern Motherhood
When I first came across Modern Motherhood: Women and Family in England, 1945-2000 (2012) by Angela Davis, I couldn't wait to get my hands on it. I eyed it for a few weeks, and then I broke down and ordered it. As soon as it arrived, I was so excited to read it. I even... Continue Reading →
The Beauty of Friendship and Books
Over the last two years, I've had the opportunity to work in some archives in Salt Lake City on a women's history project. This internship has resulted in some interesting research projects for me on women, technical communication, and communication design. My formal assignment is to do research for a team of women working on... Continue Reading →
Calling All Female Editors and Technical Writers
As you know, I've been working on a Ph.D. in technical and professional communication. I've finally hit dissertation phase, and I'm looking for participants. Here's the official call: As part of my current research for my dissertation at Utah State University, I’m conducting a study about women’s work experiences in the field of technical and... Continue Reading →
A Post-Halloween Trick
My ten-year-old daughter's substitute teacher asked her what she was going to be for Halloween. My daughter responded, "Lucy Ricardo, from I Love Lucy." The substitute responded, "Hmm. I'm not familiar with that." What?!?!? "How old is this lady?" I asked my daughter. "I don't know. . . . She has white hair." "Has she... Continue Reading →
The Practice of Everyday Life: Living and Cooking
I ordered The Practice of Everyday Life: Volume 2: Living and Cooking (1998) by Michel de Certeau, Luce Giard, and Pierre Mayol as a companion to de Certeau’s The Practice of Everyday Life. This second volume seemed to be more aligned with my research interests and topic, as I read both of these books for... Continue Reading →
A History of Domestic Advice
From Catharine Beecher to Martha Stewart: A Cultural History of Domestic Advice (2002) by Sarah A. Leavitt intrigued me from the moment I first found it on the shelves of my university library. I was working on a research paper about the female inventor of the dishwasher and communication, which I recently presented in Vienna,... Continue Reading →
Let’s Celebrate the New Year with Statistics
What better way to celebrate the new year than to post a link to a summary of my blog statistics! Sounds boring, right? But I find these year-end summaries quite fascinating, and I love seeing what has been going on behind the scenes at my favorite bloggers' sites. I hope you enjoy looking at mine!... Continue Reading →