I started thinking about this post in 2011, Captain America: The First Avenger came out. The movie came out the summer before I started my PhD program, and Clio Wired in particular made me think about how digital tools could make history education more accessible on the move. It was a sort of thought experiment:…… Continue reading Teaching History to Captain America
Category: 20th century
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
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
History in Films: X-Men First Class
Tonight I saw the movie X-Men First Class. What follows are some thoughts about the use of history in the film, all put behind a tag so that those who haven’t seen the film can keep themselves spoiler-free if they want to. Before the cut, I want to state for the record that I am,…… Continue reading History in Films: X-Men First Class
11 September
This day had a huge impact on my undergraduate life. 2001 was the beginning of my sophomore year of college, in New York State, only about 2 hours by train from New York City. My parents and sister were in northern Virginia. When I finally understood the scale of what had happened, I knew it…… Continue reading 11 September
My Grandfather
My paternal grandfather died on Saturday. He turned 87 at the beginning of this month. I’m doing my best not to focus on the loss, on the fact that (more than likely) whoever I marry will never have met my wonderful grandfather, and think instead about what time I did have with him. After all,…… Continue reading My Grandfather
One man’s past is another man’s present
The last two days I have heard things on the local NPR station which very clearly brought to my attention how things I consider to be very much The Past are still The Present for others. The first was not a full story, but the lead for a story later on (which I didn’t hear).…… Continue reading One man’s past is another man’s present