I Got Funded!

I have some thrilling news! Well, the fact that anyone is reading this blog at all means I was indeed given money by my University to do this project so that's a built-in spoiler. But this is the first post I update in real-time because I got an email last night confirming that I was awarded funding for this corset project! 

The notifications didn't go out on time (it was supposed to be August 3) and I initially assumed they didn't approve my application because nothing was announced so I went to bed a truly sad ball. And my birthday was the next day and still, there was nothing. A few days later the research office sent a notice that final decisions had yet to be made and that applicants would be notified either way sometime the next week. So I was quite the nightmare person to be around while I waited. And then yesterday I got an all-caps message from my amazing faculty advisor asking if I saw the email. Before you know it, I was standing in the kitchen happy crying into a half-eaten peach and screaming into my phone at my friends and family. And I'm not even mad because the committee gave me some really great feedback as well as the green light to do something I absolutely adore. 

I'm simply elated that I can talk about this in greater depth and share this project with you lovely people. And I had so much help to get here!

Thank you to my mom, dad, kid brother, and extended family who listened to me talk constantly about corsets for over a year. My mom and dad especially were kind enough to review and advise me on my proposal materials and what to include in my research. Thank you to Daniel Porter and one of my best friends Alex Ziegler who shared what they did for their own URCO applications and subsequent projects and gave me advice and encouragement throughout. I really appreciate it! My amazing friends gave me so much strength and support while I was writing my proposal. Emily, Alex, Samuel, Sofia, Brooke, and if I forgot to mention anyone I am so sorry. You are all amazing and I thank you. My incredible faculty advisor Dr. Diaz is an absolute rock star who backed this project and me as a person. I will find a way to embroider John Brown or Tommy J. (Thomas Jefferson) on something for her by the end of this. She also let me do little talks in her Civil War and Reconstruction class a while back and is one of the people who got me interested in nineteenth-century history. Tammy Proctor, thank you for approving the budget. Also, I am grateful to the Office of Research for this amazing opportunity and the USU History Department for supporting it. 

I also want to thank the Academy. And I feel God here in this Chili's tonight. 

Let's make a corset!