family observations

Can’t Stop Thinking About The Umbrella Academy

A quick thought … Hubby and I have now watched all 10 episodes of The Umbrella Academy, a Netflix series about a family of siblings who have special powers but are highly dysfunctional due to their wicked-cruel father. The production on the show is outstanding, as is the writing. I know this because after every episode, I kept thinking about the show and the open questions it left in my mind. Even with the final…

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history museums pragmatic historian

Libraries Versus Museums

A recent CityLab article caught my attention: Should Libraries Be the Keepers of Their Cities’ Public Data? A quote from the article: “As far as how private and public data should be handled, there isn’t really a strong model out there,” says Curtis Rogers, communications director for the Urban Library Council (ULC), an association of leading libraries across North America. “So to have the library as the local institution that is the most trusted, and…

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history pragmatic historian

History Is Infrastructure

The museum where I work sits on a high bank of the Mississippi River overlooking the confluence of a creek with a bridge. The riverbank is severely eroding and we are looking for natural solutions to that erosion so as not to endanger the museum building. In discussing this erosion with someone who deals with protecting the river, it was suggested that we talk about how this erosion will affect the bridge. Why? Because governmental…

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