Good god—it’s been more than two months since I last blogged. It’s that time of the semester. Paper deadlines and exams swoop down upon undergraduates. Students cry in my office and, quietly, at the back of my classroom—but not about the course. Even the usually-stoic-in-class veterans are teetering. One student veteran recently pointed out that […]
[Continue reading...]An undergraduate experiment in digital humanities, part I
February 15, 2012 By
We’re into week five of my Women in America: The Western Experience course, which means it’s time for students to start to get serious about the final project. Since some Clutter Museum readers showed interest in how the project progresses, I thought I’d provide an update. To review: my 40 undergraduates will be building an […]
[Continue reading...]Add the Words, Idaho
February 12, 2012 By
Everyday life in Boise is similar to that of many of the places I’ve lived or visited. There are ridiculous numbers of big box stores and chain restaurants, late-1970s suburbs featuring ranch-aspiring homes of mediocre construction and design, sprawling new suburbs, a downtown that appears to be on the upswing, too many crappy supermarkets to […]
[Continue reading...]A confession, with roses
February 3, 2012 By
At this point in winter last year, Boise was cold, cold, cold. I recall still being in a California frame of mind and heading out to prune the rosebushes in late January or early February, Sunset climate zones be damned. It started to snow. As much as I love my job here, that moment likely […]
[Continue reading...]All manifestoed out, part II: admitting graduate students edition
February 2, 2012 By
As promised, here’s another mini-rant, or rather series-of-questions-whose-answers-would-likely-lead-me-to-mega-rant. And with this one, I’d really like your assistance. Because I’m one of only two faculty in my department whose specialty is officially “public history”—mind you, we all practice one form of it or another, but I have been anointed by my position description—pretty much all the […]
[Continue reading...]All manifestoed out, part I
January 25, 2012 By
I was just reading about how young Assistant Professor Newt Gingrich was booted from his History department and dumped unceremoniously on Geography because he was thinking too much about the future for a professor of history. I fear I may be coming across as a bit Gingrinchy this week, as I just realized it’s only […]
[Continue reading...]Because we don’t already have enough to do or worry about
January 9, 2012 By
The boy has become an even bigger target for bullies, and it has moved into physical altercation territory. Fang explains. Feel free to return here to The Clutter Museum to offer suggestions based on your own experiences as a child or parent. Your stories and solutions are appreciated! Image by Barnaby Wasson, and used […]
[Continue reading...]One junior historian’s to-do list
January 6, 2012 By
Thanks in part to the Modern Language Association and American Historical Association conferences, there’s a lot of talk in the blogosphere and on Twitter right now about what university faculty work should look like, public perceptions of faculty work, and how humanists and historians might think more broadly about how their research and careers intersect […]
[Continue reading...]Trying not to freak out: spring course edition
January 4, 2012 By
What do you get when you mix iPads, old taxidermy, hair ornaments, and a near-complete disregard for one’s own pedagogical tradition? My spring course, History 346: Women in the American West. It’s the first time I’ve taught the course, and I’ve decided to throw caution to the wind. Thumbnail 40 students, upper-division History, cross-listed with […]
[Continue reading...]Silent retreating
December 31, 2011 By
With all my references to Havi Brooks’s practices, sometimes I worry about coming across as a Fluent Self cultist, but the second half of 2011 has been challenging for me in a number of ways, and I find myself reaching deep into Havi’s wide-ranging toolkit of emergency calming techniques, reflective writing prompts, and sovereignty-preservation exercises. […]
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