Daily Reflection

1. How did your choice of timespan (i.e., which specific 24 hours you were documenting) determine what kinds of artifacts were included?  Did you pick a “representative” day, or a “special” day?  How did that choice determine the type of evidence you collected?

The day I chose to document was representative of a typical day in my life. I am a firm believer that what you do every day is more important than what you do once-in-a-while. I am the type of person who likes structure, so my days are very similar, especially during a pandemic. Consequently, the artifacts that I chose are recurring characters in my life. Although they may seem very rudimentary, they keep my sane (especially the coffee) and bring me tremendous happiness given that they keep my days routine. However, I chose to reflect upon a Saturday in my life because my weekdays are largely consumed by schoolwork and would be much less interesting to document. 

2.  Which artifacts did you include, and why? Which artifacts did you leave out, and why? 

I chose to leave out school-related artifacts because the best parts of my day are the moments when I get to engage in what I like to call “recharge” activities. That is, the things that bring me happiness and allow me to decompress or recharge from the exhaustion of school and work. Although I often work on some schoolwork on Saturdays, I like to leave one day a week for these extracurricular activities. One of these activities is reading non-school books such as The Happiness Project, which I am currently reading. It seems serendipitous that this book is very similar to this day-in-my-life assignment. Although Gretchen Rubin documents a year-long project to achieve greater happiness, the reflective nature of the book is synonymous with the objective of this assignment: to reflect upon daily activities and determine how they fit into the larger, audience-oriented objective of constructing history. 

3. Briefly describe the narrative of the day only using the evidence you collected.  What does that narrative emphasize, based upon the evidence that was included in the archive?  What does that narrative leave out (and how might a person who isn’t you, but is using your archives, differ in their interpretation of the evidence)? 

Within the array of artifacts that I choose, I tried to include people, places, and things. The narrative of my day using the artifacts I chose occurs chronologically: avocado toast and coffee, The Friendly Fox, book, rosary, elliptical. While the place that some of these artifacts hold in my daily life may be obvious, others have more of a representative role in my routine. For example, the rosary encompasses some of the thoughts I routinely have throughout the day or values that hold rather than evidence of an activity in which I typically engage. The narrative may leave out some of the bad aspects of my day, such as taking my car to the repair shop or receiving my credit card bill. Although these things may also seem routine, I chose to leave them out because—as the constructor of my history—I can do that. Someone who is not me may see that I only included the parts of my day that bring me happiness and assume that my days are more positive than they actually are. Obviously, if something really influential happened, I would have included it regardless of whether it was negative or positive. However, I left out some of the more negative activities or items that could have represented my day because I think it is important to not dwell on negativity. 

4. Did this exercise bring to light any other (broader) issues about the nature of evidence in archives and he historical record that we can construct from it?

This exercise—along with the book I am currently reading—has made me more aware of the activities that I regularly engage in and the place that they hold in my routine. It has made me reflect on not only what I am doing but also why I am doing it. Many of the artifacts that I chose to archive found their place there because they bring me happiness and help me recharge, which is something that I make time for on the weekends. Reflexivity and self-awareness are important not only in prioritizing the little time that we seem to have during the day, but also in constructing the history of our lives. Although these items may not seem “historical” at first, I think that the repetitious and intentional nature of the activities in which I regularly engage make them history. This is my reality and, although it may be somewhat boring, these activities and items hold an important place in my routine for a reason and reflecting upon this has reaffirmed their role in my life.