Twitter talk quoted: replying to @DavidGillaspie Museums are shit places to gain an understanding of history because colonizers build and fund them. T. Roosevelt is famous for that “Only good Indian is a dead Indian” quote, but apparently not famous enough. You are an old white man with a colonizer perspective. Some nerve. Me: Hey […]
HISTORY LESSONS? WHO SKIPPED THAT CLASS
October 13, 2020 by
History lessons come the hard way. All the dates and names pile up. We give up on history, and stop paying attention when history reads like a phone book. But once the connections hit and we start linking names, dates, and places, we seek out history lessons. I walked between the Portland Art Museum and […]
HOPEFUL HISTORY THE OREGON WAY
September 14, 2020 by
Opening a book to find hopeful history is pure folly. It’s not history if all the good and bad parts get the whitewash treatment. Too often Oregon history is a mashup of wagon trains and farmers, of noble people of the land, salt of the earth, staking out new ground on behalf of their godly […]
HISTORY MATTERS MORE THAN OPINIONS? USUALLY
August 2, 2020 by
History matters when someone starts explaining things beyond their grasp. If you don’t understand the basics of a single topic, then everything sounds authoritative. So how is it possible to tell the difference between a crackpot and a legitimate source? If you trust a blogger who gets with it an a daily basis, you’re on […]
PORTLAND FOX THEATER HISTORY UP IN THE AIR ON A RAINY DAY
April 3, 2020 by
For Portland history, or any history, like the Fox Theater history, the events remain the same. It’s the interpretation that changes. This is why you trust your sources in regard to what you hear and believe, and what to reject. Primary sources make the difference. But what is a primary source? Take this, for instance:
OLD PORTLAND BECAME NEW PORTLAND RIGHT AFTER I MOVED THERE
April 2, 2020 by
The term Old Portland usually applies to the city with pictures of a flood, like the flood of 1861, or the floods of 1894, 1948, 1996. By the way, it rains in Oregon, sometimes a lot. Will that ever change? No, but attitudes will change, have changed. But that’s not the Old Portland on boomerpdx.
THE HISTORY WRITER YOU NEED, THE STORY YOU GET
March 29, 2020 by
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.
OREGON HISTORICAL: JOB THREE OF FIVE
March 21, 2020 by
Oregon Historical is the third of a five part series inspired by a twitter post asking to list five jobs. From mill work, to army medic, a museum job was a perfect fit. The idea started from three thousand miles away.
BEARD LIFE: WHY ADDING OREGON HISTORY TO THE STORY MATTERS
February 15, 2020 by
In the middle of every February it’s always the same: Oregon’s birthday, Valentine’s Day, and a celebration of beard life all at the same time. This year I brought some extra beard life to the chocolate and the lemon birthday cake. They both wore well.
HISTORY BEGINNER: COMMON BASICS FROM UNCOMMON BLOGGER
October 15, 2019 by
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 […]
