It’s 2 am in the morning and I’m thinking about The Bedford. Go figure.
My mind immediately reverts back to the conversation that was held in class yesterday. Usually I wouldn’t think of such text being so interpretative, intuitive, and even archival. However, today my mind was expanded due to the many elements of the Bedford that are overlooked. When I picked up the book amid previous classes, I automatically assumed that it was just a small printed book containing many words that can be helpful to those who need them. When glancing over The Bedford, I blanked. Even when looking at some of my group members when they unpacked the features of the book, I remained puzzled. Not to presume, but I could guess that many of my peers were as perplexed as I was when asked to do a simple task, that of which being scanning a dictionary.
It was not until Professor McCoy asked us to search for archives within the Geneseo campus was when my mind progressed. As my group members and I explored through the Integrated Science Center (ISC), casually stopping at Books and Bytes and finally coming to distinct conclusions in Newton, that was the point when things became clear. I discovered that archives are implied and can provide meaning for literally anything. Some archive examples from class were fingerprints, your mind, flyers on a bulletin board etc. Archives are equivocal, they do not just carry one interpretation. When realizing that, I thought back to scanning through The Bedford. The Bedford may just be a dictionary to some, but it conveys so much more depth than people give it credit for, as do archives. Both provide an understanding of the things in society that are uncertain. My recognition of that translates to Moran’s Interdiscplinarity. He revises my own claims of the Bedford and archives being multifaceted by stating that “it is better to [question] than to carry on doing what we’ve always done” (102). Before yesterday’s class, I would have never thought of The Bedford as interesting. I did not begin to think of The Bedford as more than what it is, until after I started to question and remained open to multiple interpretations, instead of just sticking with what I know. If I stayed close minded throughout the class period, I wouldn’t be writing this at 2 am.
It has become apparent to me that life doesn’t make sense. Life makes room for you to find your own meaning. As observers of the world we all must read between the lines to “question” and to find the significance of our own archives.
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