Monday at SLIG: shifting gears

(Thanks to Christy for the invitation to guest-blog here during this week of the 2011 Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy.)

I've found myself switching gears again on my second SLIG trip . . .

. . . from the wet snowy Midwest to crisp dry Utah (well, not always so crisp with the inversion);

. . . from smaller-scale cities to monumental Salt Lake City with its endless blocks, double-wide streets, and mountains!;

. . . from the Allen County Public Library to the Family History Library (at least one and maybe two orders of magnitude!);

. . . and now on the first day, from intense research (learning how NOT to use a digital camera on microfilm) to intense instruction (learning how much I do NOT understand evidence) to intense conversation with friends about both of the above, as well as the state of the profession. Two years ago we were big-eyed newbies, now we all have responsibilities beyond sitting in class. Two of my classmates from the 2009 SLIG have joined the august ranks of the evening lecturers.

I'm taking Tom Jones's Course 9, "Advanced Methodology," so naturally I thought he had the best line of the day:

"Evidence does not exist in the absence of a research question."

Maybe you had to be there. I'm glad I am.

-- Harold Henderson
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