American Historical Association essay by William McNeill “Why Study History”.

"Memory is not something fixed and forever. As time passes, remembered personal experiences take on new meanings. A bitter disappointment may come to seem a blessing in disguise; a triumph may later turn sour, while something trivial may subsequently loom large-all because of what happens later on. Collective memory is quite the same. Historians are always at work reinterpreting the past, asking new questions, searching new sources and finding new meanings in old documents in order to bring the perspective of new knowledge and experience to bear on the task of understanding the past. This means, of course, that what we know and believe about history is always changing. In other words, our collective, codified memory alters with time just as personal memories do, and for the same reasons.”

I remember reading McNeil's Essay during my undergrad historical methods class and being struck by the same quote. I recall thinking about how often we are told, "These are the best days of your life" as children and teens and how we felt those who were telling us this were wrong. Now looking back through the rose colored glasses of nostalgia, those were the best days of our lives. We struggle with bills and family, work and home life, and wish for those easier times all the while the older generation is telling us, "These are the best days of our lives."

Dr Dan Dourghty, head of the LSSU History Dept where I received my BS, often said the greatest enemy of the historian is memory; so much of history relies on what we choose to remember. He would talk about the great and happy memories he had as a child growing up in Ireland during WWII and how his memories were a stark contrast to the poverty and terror the war really brought to his homeland. So while he lived through and experienced firsthand WWII in Ireland, he could not give a full picture of what life was like because of what he chose to remember.

Topics of Interest

For the first week of class we were required to type up a small statement on a topic of research that interested us and then list five sources from AMPU's online library that could be used in researching that topic. Anyone who has known me for any length of time will tell you that there is nothing like a good revolution to get me going. It is often a toss up as to whether I am a historian or a revlutionary, but I like to see myself as a revolutionary historian.

When I say I am interested in revolutionary history, I truly mean revolutionary with a small r, it is not a typo. I enjoy the study of all revolutions, not so much the actual fighting and war often associated, but the causes of the revolution in the first place as well as the effects they have on society following the upheaval. To look at a revolution from an economic or religious point of view and try to determine what exactly was the trigger, to study the changes in society leading up to the revolution helps give more insight than simply reading about who fought who where and who won in the end. Then this insight can be used to gage the health and well-being of the world around us in an effort to predict and, to a certain degree, control revolutions in today’s society.

There was also a bit of a disscussion going on about the nature of historical texts, how they could be boring and difficult to read. First, as a former history teacher, I agree, history texts, as in text books, are boring beyond all belief, but I disagree in the statement made that students are not interested in history. Over the years I have had several high school students, often co-workers, tell me that history is one of their favorite subjects, if only it were presented better in school. Second and this is where it gets tricky, I disagree, old history texts are great to read and I love them. I find too much of modern history is defined by politics, and while I know that politics influenced historians of the past, they still wrote clear and concise accounts of events that often happened within a couple generations of their lifetime. In regards to the language they wrote in, how easy would it be for Gibbons to read Max Hastings’ account of the Falklands War.

I will gladly admit however, that like all historians, I am biased. As an Ancient and Classical History Major, I enjoy nothing more than spending half my day having to look up Latin or Greek phrases that the historians of the day used at random, or trying to wrap my head around an account of a Viking raid written in Old English.

March Madness

While I realize that this is just a rant, and nothing will ever come of it, I have to put it out there, March Madness is all wrong. Don't get me wrong here, I like and follow college basketball, nit the NBA. I think the NBA is a bunch of over-paid whiners and drama queens who never outgrew middle school.
I think the NCAA brackets for the tourney are a bit "fixed" and need fixed. There are 32 Div I conferences. I think to truly fix the problems with March Madness every Conf Champ should get a spot, there is about half of your teams. Next anyone who won a regular season championship that isn't already there gets a spot. After that any spots left are filled lottery style, everyone else gets their names put in a hat and somebody, possibly the President of the United States, picks names to fill in the rest of the bracket.
Everyone should then be seated based on their overall season record, best records get the higher ranks. So in truth, you could be one of the lottery teams and if your record is good enough you could be a #1 ranked team.
No more who you played and how much money you bring to the table, it is all based on how well you play.

Moving On

It has been over a year since my last post here, not something I am very proud of, but I am back and will attempt to be a more frequent visitor to my own blog. As the title says, I am moving on, in more ways than one.

I have set a few goals for this year, the first of which it to post more frequently. I also want to improve my physical health by dropping 25 lbs and taking 5 minutes off of my 5K time. I am going to base the running time on this years Chamber Chase in contrast to last years race.

I am also, after a 10 yr delay, returning to school. I will be starting my MA in Ancient and Classical History at American Public University in April. So if nothing else you will be reading a bunch of my school posts and papers.

I will admit I am a bit nervous about returning to school, but I am also better able to deal with the anxiety. In 1997 I officially returned to school after 5 yrs off while I was in the Army. I thought the difference in age and the time I had spent away from school would make it difficult for me to keep up with a younger generation. I was wrong, where they had youth and a better understanding of the school setting, I had age and guile. I did just fine. Here I am 10 yrs later looking at much the same situation. At 38 yr old I have to learn to navigate an online classroom and electronic library. But I am ready. I haven't had my brain turned off for the last decade, I have continued to read and study, just at my pace and on topics I picked. Now it is time to take the knowledge and experience I have and show it off a bit to a younger generation.

Hopefully they can keep up.

"Someone needs to man up..."

Ain't that the truth brother. For those who haven't heard, there is a very interesting story on Yahoo! News today about Andre Hall, a Pittsburgh resident who came home from vacation to find that the city had demolished his house. Now for a bit of back story on this, Hall had bought the house as a condemned property in November and had 6 month to make it livable. He had installed new windows and had a bunch of drywall stacked for installation after the holidays. The plan was for him, his girlfriend and her five kids to move into the house within three weeks. Now they will all continue to live in his one-bedroom apartment. His thoughts on the matter, "Someone needs to man up and take responsibility for this."

I couldn't agree more, and while many may feel the contractor who did the demolition should be to blame, I feel the city of Pittsburgh is at fault. They should have made sure the demolition orders were clear, and they should have had someone on site before the first swipe was taken at the building. Instead they, through their negligence, allowed this man's home be destroyed, postponing and possibly ending his shot at the "American Dream" of owning a home. But to call the actions of the City of Pittsburgh negligent is to light, I feel this is a case of Criminal Negligence as it directly resulted in the loss of Andre Hall's house and the hours and money he had put into making it livable. Instead of having a live and vibrant neighborhood, the City of Pittsburgh has an empty lot.

There should be some form of restitution paid for this, and I can think of nothing better that the City of Pittsburgh replacing the house they destroyed. By that I do not mean they should give Hall back the money he paid on the house plus what he had invested into rebuilding. I mean they should build, to Hall's specifications, a new 1600 sq foot house. Not just because they destroyed his, but because in destroying this house they have not only taken away Hall's dream of home ownership, they have also taken the dream of a better life from Hall, his girlfriend and her five children, who must continue to live in his ONE BEDROOM apartment.

The worst part of this is that in reading the story, Yahoo! reports that this is not the first time something like this has happened in recent history. Apparently it is quite common. Every time I read or hear a news story like this it saddens me for two reasons. First is that as a homeowner and someone who has worked very hard for all I have, I know what it is like to have that sense of pride and dignity that comes from belonging, and I can;t imagine what it would be like to have that taken away.

The second reason I am saddened is every time I read or hear a story like this I am concerned for the safety and welfare of the rest of the population. If the people we chose to lead, govern, and protect us are this careless, are we safe. The City of Pittsburgh Solicitor's Office is investigating the incident, what's to investigate. Last week the house was there, this week it isn't. End of investigation, "man up" and build the poor guy a new house already.

To Quiet Too Long

I almost made it, but in the end I wasn't able to sit by any longer. Some quack in Florida wants to burn a Quran, and We the People, here in the Land of the Free, were suppose to be outraged.

Why?

Was it because this man was using the destruction of a religious book to make a political statement, or was it because his statement was of an anti-Muslim nature?

Either way, we may not like what he planned on doing, but we must stand up and support his actions, least we all take part in a greater tyranny, the infringement of this man's right to the freedom of symbolic speech. We have stood up for the right of people around the world to burn the American Flag in protest to American actions and ideals. We allow the wearing of the American flag on clothing, regardless where and how it is worn, but when a person steps forward and announces his plan to burn the Quran in protest of plans to build a Mosque in New York City.

I personally think, as I stated earlier, that this guy is a Quack, with a capital Q. Yet I can not in good conscience stand by while he is denied his right to free speech. The US Legal System has countless times ruled on the validity of symbolic speech (ie Tinker v Des Moines, US v O'Brien, Texas v Johnson).

If we can burn a flag to protest our governments actions, and we can burn any book we want, no matter how much it makes is look like a Nazi, then this man has every right to burn the symbol of the Muslim people, and anyone who thinks otherwise is sadly wrong.

Remember, it may not be the right thing, but is the free thing.

WW I Memorial

For those who haven't read the recent news, the last surviving US WW I Veteran, Mr Frank Buckles, is part of a group lobbying Washington DC to have a WWI Memorial erected on the National Mall. While there is a monument tot hose who served and died in WW I, the Liberty Memorial, it is located in Kansas City Missouri. Just last year the US Senate declared the Museum at the Liberty Memorial the official national museum to honor WW I.

Now here is my personal thoughts on this matter. While there are memorials to WW II, Korea, and Vietnam on the National Mall, there is not one for WW I. Why not have one for WW I? And then there is the other issue at play here; the last surviving US WW I Veteran has ask for a Memorial to his comrades-in-arms and we need to have Senate Hearing to decide the issue.

Just build the thing already. After what this man gave to his country in not just one, but two world wars (he was taken as a prisoner of war by the Japanese in WW II and held for three years), there should only be two questions, what do you want and where do you want it?

As a veteran myself, and someone who has great respect for those who came before me, I feel a deep sense of sadness and, at the same time outrage that this is what we must go through to honor the heroes of our country. What a sad commentary on the state of our nation, when someone as distinguished as Mr Buckles must be paraded before the nation in such a fashion to simply pay respect to those who died to preserve not only our freedom, but the freedom of those around the world.