It’s a shame that ALL school work isn’t done electronically now because look at all of this paper I am recycling this morning:
I literally rolled out of my bed at 7AM (set my alarm today!) and started sorting through my trunk, a place where I put stuff that needs to be saved. But I decided that ALL of my school work didn’t need to come with us to another state. I’m recycling most of my reports and smaller assignments and just saved my notes (to study for the RD exam!)
I also found a selection of my best work from Davidson. Since I was in high school I’ve saved my top papers and tests from each class. My mom still has my high school work (and just sent me an IM last night that I need to sort through that at Christmas 
) but I still have all my college work. I sorted through that and just kept the best of the best – my history papers. I focused on women’s history and usually chose topics that reflected women, marriage and gender themes –
My favorite paper I wrote was on the Society of Revolutionary Republican Women during the French Revolution
‘Cause I got an A (and A’s were VERY hard to come by at Davidson!)
But my senior thesis will always hold a place in my heart. I wrote about Lucy Stone, who is known for taking the word "obey" out of her wedding vows and keeping her name upon marriage. Those who follow her are known as Stoners, and I am part of the club for sure
Here I am with Lucy in Boston!
After an hour of sorting I was hungry!! Karen just visited Matt’s grandmother and aunt in Oakridge, TN and brought us back some of Aunt Donna’s bagels from The Hot Bagel Co.
I topped half of an Oatie with a tiny ripe mashed banana, Nuttzo and pumpkin butter
Mmmmm…gooooo!
Plus two clems
And some grog. All caff, which is probably why I’m about to bounce off the wall right now!!
I don’t really feel that full after this breakfast, but calorically it’s probably comparable to my normal ones!
Gather article on group exercise!
The More, The Sweatier
Back to "work" 
{ 54 comments… read them below or add one }
The banana and nuttzo sounds delicious. I definitely have a soft place in my heart for my senior thesis topic, too. It was about Marc Antony between the time of Caesar’s death and his own suicide. I think when you spend so long with a historical figure it’s hard to grow attached.
mmm that bagel looks great with pb and banana!
jenna
I kept alot of papers from college too, should probably go through those!
Good luck sorting and organizing.
I finally got rid of alot of my schoolwork when we moved into our new house in May. It is refreshing!
I got rid of a lot of stuff when I moved in with the husband. It was hard to let it go, but I only kept the important stuff, so I can honestly say that I don’t miss it!
Oh, schoolwork… joy!
your breakfast looks tasty, and I love the clementines! I must get my hands on some.. Have a great Monday!
I still have yet to part with four banker boxes filled with my university notes and I’ve been out of school for a bit longer than you! Before you recycle, make sure to remove any of your personal information (shred if you have to, then recycle). I’m particularly security conscious, I thought I’d pass this bit of friendly advice on to you.
it’s so hard to let those papers go! I kept a handful of my favorites and put them in a binder. Of course, every time I move I think “why do I still have these?”
Have you considered scanning your papers that way you wouldn’t have to carry them around?
I consider myself a Stoner as well! She was an incredible woman.
Your so good to go through all your paper work. I still have so much stuff from undergrad and grad school! I NEED to thin it out! I have moved that stuff to three states!!!
That bagel looks so yummy! What a great combo! My mom has been asking me to go through my college stuff too…it’s currently in a few crates in my parents’ basement…in case I need the stuff again someday
I love Lucy Stone. I did the same exact thing – removed obey and any subservient language from the wedding vows and I kept my last name when I got married.
That bagel looks awesome!
Seeing you clean out all your CLEAN stuff is intimidating me!!! I have 39024809384 times more stuff than you and WAY LESS motivation. Oh yes, I have all of my school work that needs to be canned!
i love to throw stuff out and i remember in college what a great feeling it was to get rid of all my papers at the end of the semester. including the ones i needed. hmm.
My friends and I would have a burning ceremony for all old papers and books we couldn’t sell back to anywhere. Loved it
I definitely keep papers I got good grades on. I also kept all my acceptance letters from my applications to graduate school (that, and job offer letters). Whenever I need a boost, I pull that folder out and dig right in
I love Lucy Stone – studied her a great deal in college as well in my women’s studies courses! Even though I took my husbands name (well, I kept my maiden name as my middle name), I am a staunch feminist.
Thankfully, I married a man who is basically a male feminist! He was totally on board with me keeping my maiden name, and actually, for the first three years of our marriage, I did! I only changed it recently, mostly because I want to have the same last name as our future kids. However, it has always been so great to know that he supported me and did not care whether I took his name or not.
I admire that you are cleaning stuff out now. I don’t even do a good job of getting rid of useless stuff as I am packing and upnpacking, let alone months in advance!
My mom has a box of my stuff too
I have piles of paper to clean up too….I thought I might need them some time later, yet it seems I didn’t look at them at all in these three years
nice brekkie!
Love the Boston picture!
I never saved any of my work but now sometimes I wish I did!
at first i thought your breakfast was a baked potato!
have a great day, you stoner you! 
I love major cleans because you inevitably find relics from your past that blow your mind. Pictures, papers, artwork, etc. It’s fun to look back on yourself and see past accomplishments and recorded memories. I took a US History course in college with a women’s emphasis and it was so great and enlightening. Despite the fact that we’ve not yet had a female president, it’s amazing to see how integral brave, boisterous women from history were to the successes and formation of our country. I really want to read your thesis, it sounds interesting!
Anyway, back to food…ha, love the clementines! Such a great, quick dose of Vitamin C.
I really love looking at old schoowork, especially from college! I seriously love cleaning clutter too. I always say it’s my dream job to help people throw away their crap!
And I always thought you were cool Kath, but after hearing about your thesis and women’s history studies, you are even more rad in my eyes!!
Yeah, you would think the same number of calories would equal the same amount of fullness, but it doesn’t! Oh well, looks tasty
I always kept all my papers too
I really need to sort through them!
On my agenda for Thanksgiving week – cleaning out my old room at my parent’s house. I’m pretty sure I’m still hoarding clothes and papers from junior high! And I’m 25….
I LOVE pumpkin butter. It needs to become a year-round staple
Kath, I think I like you 100x more now because of that Lucy Stone paper! Rock on. I’m not getting married any time soon, but I get a lot of crap from my family when I tell them that I plan on keeping my last name.
Kath, I love your blog. I saved some of my best papers from college and grad school, too! Glad to know I’m not the only one!
I need to do lots of paperwork cleaning out myself!
That goo sure looks good
That’s so impressive about your papers. Your organization astounds me every time. I have no idea where any of my high school or college papers are. Ha.
That looks like a delicious combination.
I’m just the opposite of you with papers — as soon as term ended, mine always ended up in the recycle bin. I have a few on my computer from senior year that I inexplicably won’t delete but there’s no reason to keep… hmmm…
I LOVE browsing through my old projects from elementary school for a few laughs! It’s so amusing to see how I spelled(nasal as nazul?!), what I was passionate about(saving lost cats…), and the accompanying illustrations.
I had a hard time sorting through all the work I kept from HS and college when I moved too. I kept some and those I had electronic copies of I got rid of the graded ones. But it was hard.
I am embarrassed to say I didn’t know who Lucy Stone was until this post. Do you have your paper in file format?
I just collected a HUGE garbage bag filled with papers from the last 4 1/2 years. We had to make a portfolio with certain assignments that was just graded last week so I had plenty of papers to get rid of. It feels so good to get rid of the stuff you don’t need. I need to clean out my wardrobe and donate old clothes. It’s sort of therapeutic..well, after you’re done sorting! Maybe not during.
Such a pain to go through everything but SO nice that you have a lot of time to prepare. It feels really good to get rid of things!! We tried to donate or recycle AS much as possible. Back to Colorado today….byee
That’s such a nice thing that you saved your papers :O). I definitely did not, but now when I need writing samples I regret that a lot!! I’m sure it’s fun to read over them a few years later too!
I have kept all of my papers and tests where I aced them too. I work in Oakridge TN and that is where I am writing this comment from
I had no idea you were such a feminist! I LOVE it! Now quit this learnin’, get in the kitchen, and fetch yo man a beer!
I think I was part of a different kind of stoner club back in college. Lol. I couldn’t resist!
How neat that you saved those papers! It’s always fun to go back and look at the hard work and time we put into those assignments. What an interesting topic for your thesis!
I keep my best papers and assignments too. I’ve had classmates reference them for their own reports and such – pretty cool!
Having moved a number of times, and of course having taken my best essays etc with me, I certainly know how hard it is to throw them out! It seems such a shame to throw something out that you have spent hours / days working on! I may still have a huge box in our garage full of papers etc hehe I guess I will have to sort it out at some point
Do you try to eat foods depending on what season they’re freshest? I love clementines this time of year, they’re so juicy and plentiful! Looks delicious.
i love seeing your old papers! i was a music and women’s studies major – for some reason i was crazy enough to do TWO senior projects – a piano recital AND a paper about the composer, fanny mendelssohn (who is felix mendelssohn’s sister). man, school seems so far away to me….
I may be a weirdo, but I actually enjoy the writing process. To me, writing a letter, essay, paper, thesis, or what have you is like creating a work of art, and gives me a huge, satisfying feeling of accomplishment.
I honestly had never heard of Lucy Stone until I read about her in your blog (science major!). I got married in an ultra-conservative Lutheran church, so I said “obey” in my wedding vows. But I mentally crossed my fingers when I said it.
I’m too independent (stubborn, hard-headed?) to let my husband boss me around, love him as I do.
It is such a great feeling to “purge”, especially when you are moving!
We recently moved from the Bay Area (CA) to TN and I had to mention that we are temporarily living about 35 miles East of Oakridge, TN – small world! We will eventually buy a home in the Chattanooga area – Love it here!
This is my first comment – I found you through Jenna’s blog and have really enjoyed following your blog as well…………. =)
Take Care!
Oh Lordy that bagel looks good! I just ate dinner and I swear I’m hungry after reading your blog!
Danielle
I love rereading old papers! (But only the good ones! haha) I like to think of ridiculous titles
Now I’m off to write more papers that I can reminisce about in a few years. Oh grad school, can’t wait to be done!
I’m a Stoner too
Heather,
Keep it!! And hold your ground. It was one of the best decisions I’ve made.
Runeatrepeat,
I do somewhere…on a disc! I can hunt for it if you want to take a look.
Lee,
HA! Knew someone would allude to that
Kelly,
Yep! I have no palate for berries right now.
TraciJ,
Welcome!!
Kath
I have SUCH a hard time throwing away old papers and school work. Its like “but i worked soooo hard on this how could I possibly throw it away??”. But I guess you will keep creating more memories (and for you, there have clearly been more papers).
That’s cool about the thesis too… I give people who write those a lottt of credit!
I took obey out of my vows and I changed my middle name to my maiden name so I could keep it without the hassle of a hyphen.