Category Archives: Historian in the World
Removing the Confederate Flag is Not Nothing
After I heard about the horrific church shooting in Charleston on June 17, I have to say that the last thing I would have predicted is a wholesale, bipartisan war on the Confederate flag. I expected the brief, heart-wrenching, and … Continue reading
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Have I mentioned I grew up in Brothertown?
Due to a very happy arrival in our family, Brian and I were legally required to cool our heels at my parents’ house in southern Oneida County in central New York, where I grew up. Our enforced (albeit highly enjoyable) 3-day visit … Continue reading
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A Declension Narrative of Paperwork
Of all the contributions that historians can make to contemporary public discourse, I think that reflective skepticism about declension narratives is one of the most important. Historians define “declension narratives” as any story of change over time that trace a secular … Continue reading
In Case We Doubted that Scholarship is Social
I have just returned from the Annual Meeting of the American Association of Geographers in Chicago. I’m obviously not a geographer, but I got an opportunity to talk about my work on the print culture of geographical knowledge in the … Continue reading
Yik Yak is the Id of the University
It has been a tumultuous 24 hours at UMW, since the Virginia State Police rolled in last night and arrested some protesters who had been occupying the administration building for the past three weeks in an attempt to get the … Continue reading
Millennials Should Learn Trades, Say College Educated Writers
This NPR piece, and other like it based on the arguments of economist Anthony Carnevale of Georgetown University, have been making the rounds on my social media over the past few weeks. The NPR journalist, Chris Arnold, builds on Carnevale’s work to argue that … Continue reading
Posted in Historian in the World, The Aspiring Handyman
Tagged Higher Education, media
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Obama Agrees With Me
Back in October, during the catharsis after Virginia gay marriage legalization, I argued that “the political momentum for gay marriage has built so quickly because it has become a treacly feel-good issue for liberal politicians who want to deliver a … Continue reading
Independent Upstate Has a Name
Secession movements have a rich history in New York State. Alexander Hamilton, a politician who made no small plans, began by threatening to push for New York City’s secession from the broader state during the New York’s ratifying convention in … Continue reading
I Couldn’t Have Said It Any Better Myself
With the latest news out of the Sixth Circuit in Cincinnati, the march towards a national resolution of the gay marriage question has hit a roadblock. By a 2-1 majority, a 3-judge panel of the 6th circuit upheld gay marriage … Continue reading
A Special Halloween Post
It’s that time of year again: Halloween, and map quizzes in my US History survey. These two events converge in the single most common undergraduate typo: the labeling of the “Eerie Canal” through upstate New York. Reliably, every year a … Continue reading
Posted in Historian in the World
Tagged Canals, Erie Canal, Halloween, History, Rust Belt, Upstate, Utica
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