history pragmatic historian writing

Thoughts on Blogging in 2021

I am creeping up on my 15th blog anniversary, come September 8, 2021. Fourteen-plus years! I can’t believe it’s been that long or that I’d still be in love with this format after all this time. (Here’s where I started.) Periodically over these years I’ve done a bit of naval gazing about the topic of blogging, usually triggered by something I’ve read. Such is the case with this post. I recently read a great blog…

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history ideas pragmatic historian preservation

Preservation Idea for Vintage Light Fixtures & Lamps

Hubby and I are having a couple of rooms in our house rewired, the back porch, which we are making all-season, and an upstairs bedroom that has no outlets. (The house was built in 1894 and when we moved in, there were only 2 outlets in the entire upstairs.) We had an electrician over last week to explain the project to him and get a price on it. As we were talking over our plans…

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design history pragmatic historian product packaging

Scented Toilet Paper, Pastel Toilet Paper

Early on in the COVID-19 pandemic, when people were faced with a lockdown for several weeks, there was a run on toilet paper, paper towels, and facial tissue. Entire sections in stores where these were kept were empty. Strict limits were put on the number people could purchase at any given time. For months, there were gaps on the toilet paper shelves. Where there used to be several options for purchase, you were lucky if…

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history museums pragmatic historian preservation

Whose History Belongs to Whom?

As per usual, existential questions related to the history field have bubbled to the surface on Twitter. I’ve got two of them to discuss in this post. They appeared on Twitter within a week of each other and though they were posted separately by different people, they speak to each other. The first existential question was raised by applied math professor Chad Topaz. I know Chad personally because he was my daughter’s advisor at Macalester…

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history observations pragmatic historian

Let’s Not Wait for History to Make Judgements

Throughout the four years of the Trump regime, as report after report came out about corrupt, unethical, possibly illegal, democratic-norm-breaking behavior, joined by an incessant number of lies, conspiracy theories, threats, and nasty comments, there has been a common refrain on Twitter. “History will not judge these individuals well.” As though merely pointing out how future people will look back on this time, shake their finger, and say, “Tsk, tsk,” and individuals currently engaging in…

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