General Update

First things first, I recently discovered my new favorite websight to check obsessivly for updates. That webight is Fuck Yeah, History Major Heraldic Beast. Some of you might not know this, but I am a History Major. My focuse is on World War II Europe and my Minor is Religion.

I love Fuck Yeah, History Major Heraldic Beast (or FYHMHB for short). So I sat down and made one based upon my own experience in a History Class I took in the 2nd semester of my Sophomore year.

I was taking a Modern Europe Class. It wasn't a requirment for me... but it was a requirment for the International Studies Major that seems to be pretty popular at my school. It was a huge class, probably one of the 3 biggest classes I've been in. The teacher (who shall remained unamed) is the head of the History Department and happens to be the guy in charge of my Historical area of interest.

So we were going over Russia REALLY quickly and then the Professor said something along the lines of "Lenin and Stalin were basically the same guy."

I went into a state of shock. You see at the same time that I was taking Modern Europe I was also takeing "Red Star Over Russia" which was entirely about Communism under Lenin and Stalin. It was late enough in the semester that we were pretty far along in the Red Star Class (I think we were around WWII) so I knew that "Lenin = Stalin" was bullshit.

However when I managed to break out of my shocked state the Professor had moved on, and I wasn't confident enough to question him on Lenin and Stalin.

Then last semester (1st semester of Junior Year) I took another class (Holocaust In History) with the same Professor. We were talking about Russia's involvement... and he made the same mistake. Sadly, once again, I went into a state of shock and didn't snap out of it in time to say anything.

For those of you who don't understand my anger, allow me to explain. Historians, forgive my simplistic explanation. Also, feel free to correct me.

Both Lenin and Stalin were rulers of Communist Russia. Lenin was a Marxist Revolutionary, author, lawyer, economic theorist, political philosopher, creater of the Soviet Communist Party, leader of the 1917 October Revolution adn founder of the USSR. He was good friends with Trotsky, worked fourteen to sixteen hours daily and, perhaps most importantly... Lenin thought Stalin was a douchbag.

You see, Lenin was really sick before he died. He had several strokes, durring the first stroke (which left him mute for weeks and severaly hampered motion on his right side) he wrote Lenin's Testament, in which he basically said "We should make Stalin GTFO."

Stalin and his buddies suppressed this and through a bunch of weasley moves, Stalin gained control of the USSR.

Now Stalin was a douche. Under Stalin millions of people ended up in penal labor camps / deported / exiled (mostly in/to SIBERIA)

Stalin was also pretty much responsible for the Great Terror (also called the Great Purge) in which 950,000 to 1.2 million people died. During the Great Terror Stalin PERSONALLY DIRECTED that people who didn't make "proper" confessions be tortured. In addition to authorizing torture, Stalin also signed 357 proscription lists in 1937 and 1938 which condemned to execution some 40,000 people, and about 90% of these are confirmed to have been shot. Here are three examples of Stalin's signature on papers authorzing that hundreds of people be shot. Oh and here's one authorizing the shooting of Polish army and police officers after the USSR split Poland up with Germany right before WWII. (And here's the deal that Nazi Germay and the USSR came up with to split up Western Europe.)

So Lenin = Stalin is kinda like saying that Hitler = Churchill.

*looks up at how much she's written* Okay, moving right along...

I'm frazzled.

Actually I'm in that strange state where you have a bunch of different things to do... but yet you still feel like you're somehow "on top of things". Is this true? Am I really on top of things? I don't know... so let's explore why The BJC is frazzled...

Reason #1
I'm taking a 300 Level Research Seminar for my History Major. It's about the breakup of the USSR and we have to complete a 20 page research paper, which is going to be my first real research paper (at a college level, I did one in High School).

I decided to do mine on Decree 770. Basically after Communist Romania legalized abortion the birth rate fell dramatically and the government freaked out. So in 1967 Romania outlawed abortion and contraception. Due to this the birth rate rose something like 100%... then a lot of women died while getting illegal abortions.

So it's a really interesting topic, but there's not all that much written about it... oh sure, I found a bunch of books about Communist Romania and Nicolae Ceaușescu (= Leader of Communist Romania).

My Stack Of Books

But those books only mention Decree 770 in passing... For example, the big one on the bottom is a giant Anthropolgy book. I'll probably only use 5 pages from it (probably less since it's so big). I've only got one book that's entirely about Decree 770... so I was starting to get worried about this paper.

Then I remembered / rediscovered JSTOR.

So many papers! And they're all about my topic... and only my topic!

JSTOR to the rescue! I'm actually really looking forward to reading this bad boys.

Reason #2
This is a much smaller reason for me being frazzled. It's just a tiny little 4 page paper for my Women In Chinese History Class... but it's due next Thursday, I haven't really started it and my adviser is the teacher of the class. I don't have any fancy pictures for this reason, although I did think about finding a picture of a freaky bound foot. *shudders*

Reason # 3
Doctor Who. Specifically The Doctor Who Role Playing Game System. I'm going to be running a Doctor Who Game on Sundays... the first meeting (mostly just to make Characters) is this Sunday at 5:00.

Check out my awsome dice bag which uses the 4th Doctor's Scarf Pattern!
(It's different colors on the other side)

To run said game I need to write up a sort of cheat sheet for myself so I know what's happening and then make a sepearte cheat sheet for quick refrences to what dice to roll for what action.

This is going to be the first real game I've run. I ran a one-short over J-term to get my DM's License from Renegades, the D&D / RPG Club on Campus. It's still going to be a small game (probably only 5 players max) but it's going to be bigger then anything I've run before.

Reason #4
Working on / writing Scilicet... (Latin for "That is to say...") Which you can read HERE. (Read it! You'll make me feel special!)


Scilicet... is a Batman / Superman / Justice League / DC Comics fanfiction I'm working on. The basic idea is that the story takes place in an Alternate Universe (aka an AU) where Bruce Wayne (Batman) was born Rachel Wayne (thus Batwoman)... and this "simple" change creates a lot of changes, not only for Gotham but for the Justice Leage and, more importantly, for Superman.

Currently Scilicet... is 12 Chapters (roughly 93 pages) long and according to my estimates that's roughly 1/3 how long I think it's going to be.

I'm really enjoying writing this fic. Mostly because it's the first thing I've written where I'm trying to go for slow and subtle build up, as opposed to quickly getting to the climax. (Ugg, I think that counts as a pun...)

Also, this is the first time I'm writing a Het (meaning man/woman) fanfiction as opposed to a slash (meaning man/man) fanfiction. Writing about a female main character keeps throwing me for a loop... but I'm still enjoying it.

I'm also enjoying it because I'm a sneaky bastard. (Or should I say a sneaky bitch?) Part of the storyline of Scilicet... is a section of the main character's (Rachel Wayne) past that she keeps hidden from everyone, so it's a really big deal when she tells her romantic interest about it.

I believe that is all... so to recap
-Long Rant About Lenin vs Stalin
-Reason #1 = 20 page paper on abortion in Romania
-Reason #2 = 4 page paper for Women in Chinese History
-Reason #3 = Running a Doctor Who Role Playing Game
-Reason #4 = Writing Scilicet... a het DC Comics fanfiction.

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go work on either Reason #3 or Reason #4.

Until next time, I remain,
~The BJC