Thesis Things

Sometimes I write about happy things, sometimes I write about sad things. BUT, I do try to type about things relevant to me because at the end of the day, isn't that what most blogs are? Anyway, the latest adventure I'm launching on is called 'Writing a Thesis'. You see, I'm in the Honors college at my undergraduate institution and as I go into my senior year, I'm expected to write a thesis and defend it in April. If I don't do it, I don't graduate from the Honors college. Almost only counts in horseshoes and something else I've forgotten.

Why am I telling you about this now? Well, today is the lucky day I get to write my thesis statement. Basically, I'm talking about Argentina and Guatemala. Back in the 70s and 80s, they had a rough time politically. Like, they killed a lot of people. But from all this horribleness came a few good things and I'm choosing to focus on one in particular: CSOs created by and for women.

What is a CSO you may ask? Well, its an acronym for Civil Service Organization which you could probably google and understand it better than I do. ANYWAY, it may come as a surprise but with a few token exceptions, women weren't too active in the political climates of their countries, ESPECIALLY in Guatemala where a big chunk of the population didn't even speak Spanish but instead, a language indigenous to their regions. Now, I had known about the Argentine 'Dirty War' from the start of my Latin American Studies education but I had no clue about what had happened in Guatemala. Which is actually horrible. I couldn't read the primary sources in one sitting. I cried a few times. I can honestly say it was emotionally exhausting research. But these groups of women chose to stand up for themselves, and their rights. For the rights of their children and their disappeared/deceased families. They truly are inspirational. The Madres are relatively well-known in the international community but the Guatemalan widows are still largely confined to Guatemala. They don't receive aid. No one really knows about them despite the fact that over 200,000 indigenous peoples were killed just because. Over a quarter of a million children were left orphaned. And it's not even considered a genocide despite the fact that what happened to these people more than qualifies it for that term.

Basically, my thesis is focusing on answering the question: why? Why did they develop so differently? I'm procrastinating writing this in fancy terms AND, if you happen to be desperate for a thesis idea, I already turned in the proposal so people would know if you stole it! HOWEVER, if for some reason you want to know about either of these groups or their histories, feel free to do some Googler-research but just be warned: it isn't happy.

MOVING ON, the first football game of the season is Friday which, coincidentally is the day I have to go out of town to pick up the pottery J and I painted on our anniversary. Wait, did I tell you what we did for our 2 year? No? I'll get to that soon, I promise :)

Happy sleepings, everyone!