My Struggle

As many of you know, I love history and I love to read. However, I have never felt awkward about buying a book or had to struggle to make myself do it.....until yesterday. For my German history class this week, we had to read excerpts from Hitler's book, Mein Kampf, which means "My Struggle." Being the historian that I am, I have wanted to read this book for a while now, just to get a better understanding of what was going on in Hitler's mind at the time that would lead to the Holocaust. I am a firm believer that without firm, true, and deep knowledge of Nazi Germany and the Holocaust, we cannot hope to be prepared to stop this from happening again. But, I just couldn't make myself go so far as to buy the book. Yesterday, however, I started thinking that as a graduate student and later professor of German history, specializing in the Third Reich, I will have to study and use this book. I will have to teach referencing it. And not only that, I shouldn't let others' possible opinions of me buying the book stop me from fulfilling my desire for knowledge . So...I did it. I bought Mein Kampf. However, as to the point as that sounds, it definitely was not easy. I debated with myself for at least a good thirty minutes and when I finally decided to just go check out, the African-American checker gave me the "You racist!" look, and I just wanted to scream, "I'm a freaking history major! Back off! I might be blonde and blue eyed, but that doesn't mean I'm a neo-Nazi!" But I held back, and shoved the book into my backpack as quick as I could. It's amazing to see how this book, even now can cause such a turmoil.

Renaissance Festival pictures

Schatz

For our first Valentine's Day together after we started dating, Ryan gave me this adorable teddy bear. I thought it was so cute and named it "Schatz", which is German for "sweetheart." I loved this bear!



Apparently Layla feels the same way....



Not long after I brought her home, Layla found Schatz, and she fell in love. She might forget about him for a little while, but she always goes back to him. He must be her comfort like he was often for me when Ryan and I were apart. Or maybe he just smells like me....who knows! :)

Catch Up!

I'm sorry it has been so long since I have posted! I promise to try to keep up with this blog better. A lot of things have been going on since I last posted. My mom and dad and brother, Eric, were here the 10th through the 13th, and we had a really good time. On that Saturday, we went to the Texas Renaissance Festival in Plantersville, which is about 45 minutes from College Station. It's close to Navasota, so it wasn't a very long drive. I didn't realize how large the Festival would be! We spent 6 and a half hours there, and didn't even see two whole sections of the Festival. It was so much fun, though. We got to practice archery, watch jousting, eat Bratwurst, and listen to some great music. Lauren even got a Henna tattoo! I would definitely go back another time. Maybe now that Lauren has her Dirndl, we can go back on Thanksgiving weekend for the Celtic Christmas weekend. For those of you who don't know, a Dirndl is a traditional German/Bavarian dress. You see them alot around Oktoberfest time.

On Sunday, we went to church and then we went shopping for Eric's birthday and I got some new clothes too! Sunday night, we went to see a new movie that came out recently, Fireproof. I highly recommend this movie! It was incredible. I honestly feel that every married couple, young or old, should see it. It was made by Sherwood Baptist Church in Albany, Georgia. They are the same church that made Facing the Giants. Wonderful movie!

Lauren and I have been really busy with school lately. We've had the first round of exams, and now we're preparing for a couple more, but other than my Political Science class, I won't have another exam until finals. Lauren's Nazi Germany class with Dr. Krammer is going wonderfully. It is definitely the highlight of her week, with German coming in a close second. I'm really enjoying my Visual Rhetoric class and look forward to going to it.

Speaking of German, Lauren has decided that she plans on continuing at A&M for her Master's degree in German History, specializing in Nazi Germany and the Holocaust. Dr. Krammer will be her major professor, which she couldn't be more excited about. In that light, she decided, after discussing it with her advisor, to change her minor from Sociology to German. They thought that it would be much easier for her in doing graduate research to have more German background.

I know this is a very long post, but I wanted to catch everyone up on what has been going on with Lauren and me. I hope everyone is doing well and getting ready for a great holiday season!

Ryan