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THE HISTORY WRITER YOU NEED, THE STORY YOU GET

Every history writer has a To Be Read stack of books. I like to think most people have the same stack. The difference for a writer is most of their books To Be Read explain how to write. I’m finally able to say they helped me. How? Thank you for asking.

HISTORY BEGINNER: COMMON BASICS FROM UNCOMMON BLOGGER

Long stories blur into each other the more they’re told. Eventually a common thread emerges. I’m a history beginner, you’re a history beginner, we all be history beginners. If you don’t agree, then visit a new place, a place where you don’t speak the language, a place with different food, where you essentially throw yourself […]

FASHION FORWARD: HOW TO DRESS AMERICA

Lady Liberty greeted my in-laws when they sailed on the Queen Elizabeth from England to Canada showing them how to dress America. She wore the same frock then as she does now with diagonally draped material pinned to her left shoulder and her bare right arm raised overhead holding the torch of liberty. It’s been […]

HISTORIOGRAPHY: THE HISTORY OF HISTORY AND WHO GIVES A GOOD RIP

I saw a question on twitter, a summary of a question a history grad student asked their advisor. “Who will read my thesis besides you?” The answer they got back: “No one, because it won’t matter to anyone else but you and us.” The unnecessary slam the professor included? “Put a ten dollar bill in […]

Chain Of Command From The Bottom Up Point Of View

After you’ve lived in a chain of command culture the picture clears up. It’s not about being over-burdened, neglected, or picked on.   It is about preparing to be a better link in the chain. Not exactly another brick in the wall, a chain is more active.   Or it’s preparation to leave the chain […]

A TIME LONG AGO AT A HIGH SCHOOL FAR FAR AWAY

North Bend Oregon High School, class of 1973. What’s so special?   Like later generations staking their claims to, ‘the first digital generation’ or ‘the first paperless generation’ or ‘the first generation raised on video games,’ the generational niche of 1973 is ‘the first modern generation.’   Born of the roaring ’50’s with TV dinners […]

Travel Bans From History, Who Should Be Banned

    Travel bans tend to be specific in terms of where to go and where not to go.   Travel bans say one thing: Don’t go there, girlfriend. Stay away, pal.   Like a dress code in the NY disco dancing prime time of the late ’70’s, while punk rock was getting ready to […]

PROFESSOR JIM JEFFERIES EXAMINES SOUTHERN HERITAGE WITH OLD MEN WHO WRITE BOOKS AND ONE WHO GIVES THEM CONTEXT

  If it takes an outsider like Jim Jefferies to explain things in America, the story doesn’t change, just the angle of interest. Jefferies reminds me of history professors from a few small discussion classes seniors took to graduate, symposiums. They’d show up slightly tanked, looking like they woke up in the same clothes they […]

PORTLAND RENTS A LIFESTYLE, WHO PAYS THE FREIGHT

  One solution to rising Portland rents   At first tiny apartments got the shit because they went up in neighborhoods with streets jammed by normal parking. Now the micro havens are a solution, a reason for a drop in the rent crisis. And those bikes? Millennials and bikes and small apartments? It happens. Add […]

NPR AMERICAN HISTORY FAILS

Is There A Future For American History? NPR Says Maybe. A history joke: “This is George Washington’s Ax, the one he used to chop down the cherry tree. The head’s been replaced five time, the handle eight, but it represents the same space.” After you stop laughing you’ll see the history problem: the ax isn’t […]