I have two digital cameras, both of which came into my possession six years ago. I have a handy little Canon PowerShot SD700, a little thing which I bought before leaving for Scotland because it was the best camera in the store when it came to taking pictures of things through glass and I wanted…… Continue reading I (might) need a New Camera
Year: 2012
Open Source Cookies
(Alternate title: and now for something completely different) A common stress-relief activity among grad students is baking, apparently. I’m not much of a baker, but I do have one or two recipes I enjoy making. I am particularly fond of Will Shetterly’s Finest-Kind Cookies, which he describes as “an open source recipe.” (Shetterly is a…… Continue reading Open Source Cookies
Talk About Memory
I’ve posted before about the events of 9/11/2001, my experience(s) of it, and how my undergraduate studies emphasized another 11 September, in 1973 in Chile. It seems every year when this day rolls around I’m in a situation with new people and we all share the “where were you stories.” It’s a ritual, a bonding…… Continue reading Talk About Memory
Parlez-vous code?
This semester I am continuing the trend of taking a digital (history) class. Although we’re calling it clio3, the name is properly Programming for Historians. The code and other work I generate will be going up in its own little corner of my webspace. Hopefully I will finish the semester the proud creator of a…… Continue reading Parlez-vous code?
History in Unanticipated Places
Yesterday my priest started her sermon with a version of the origin of Labor Day. She focused on the life and work of George Pullman, particular those actions which contributed to the 1894 strike. The sermon was also rooted in the readings, particularly James 1:17-27. (( She likened Pullman to someone who has turned from…… Continue reading History in Unanticipated Places
Old Haunts, New Views
This summer I’m working on a project which has to do with the history of the National Mall. It has been fun to learn more about a part of town with which I’m so familiar. Although I’m not a DC/Northern VA native, members of my family have lived in and around DC since the 1960s and…… Continue reading Old Haunts, New Views
A Poem for Graduates and Soon-to-be-students
The last few days were a series of graduations on campus, and today were the 148th Commencement Exercises at my alma mater, Vassar College. This time of year always brings to mind a poem by Nancy Willard, from A Visit to William Blake’s Inn: Poems for innocent and Experienced Travelers. It’s a book I particularly associate…… Continue reading A Poem for Graduates and Soon-to-be-students
New Cities and New Civilizations
One of the things I love about (the idea of) attending conferences is getting to cities or parts of the country you might not visit otherwise. Admittedly, I’ve only been to a handful of conferences prior to this one, and only one was in a city I had never visited (VAM, AASLH in Richmond; SIHC…… Continue reading New Cities and New Civilizations
My Oldest Friend
My oldest friend, by which I mean the friend I have known the longest, leaves the country today. She is off on her first posting as an employee of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), and over the next twenty or thirty years she will get to live in all sorts of interesting places.…… Continue reading My Oldest Friend
Historical Hypochondria
I have begun to wonder if historians, or at least history students, don’t suffer from a similar problem to that experienced by medical students. Medical students often start to self-diagnose with various ailments during the course of their studies, especially when confronted with list after list of symptoms. They find themselves ticking off symptoms and…… Continue reading Historical Hypochondria