One of the most important uses of history is to use it to work ourselves out of predicaments we are facing RIGHT NOW. It’s easy to assume that because history is about what happened in the past, we can set it aside. That it has nothing to say to us now because conditions were different in the past. Except that humanity seems to cycle through the same sorts of challenges even when presented with what…
It’s Indepence Day in the United States. Historian Heather Cox Richardson has a marvelous newsletter to mark the occasion, one that reminds us to live up to our highest ideals in this country, rather than sink into our lowest manifestations of a society. We haven’t been doing a good job of reaching the ideals of life, liberty, equality, or the pursuit of happiness lately. There’s a sliver of people who would rob the majority of…
I’m writing this post on January 3, 2021, just after an hour-long recording dropped from The Washington Post of Donald Trump trying to pressure Brad Raffensberger, Georgia’s secretary of state, into overturning the presidential election so that Trump could win. I’m writing my posts for January and February early and scheduling them because I’m expecting a lot of work over the next few months. By the time this post publishes at the end of January**,…
Dear Government Goons of Trump – Forgive me for not being more specific in addressing you, but when you showed up to peaceful protests in Portland last month without identification and ready to bash heads and teargas people, “goon” is the kindest word I can think of to describe you. Can we talk about your behavior the last few years? Supposedly, you goons are from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which also heads up…
I follow a fabulous #twitterstorian on Twitter. A #twitterstorian is simply a historian on Twitter, one who is willing to share history on the site. This particular #twitterstorian writes such impressive history threads that I’ve been moved to recommend her. She is Heather Cox Richardson and she describes herself as a “Historian. Author. Professor. Budding Curmudgeon.” (In this day and age, I, too, proudly belong in the Budding Curmudgeon Club.) Heather’s Twitter threads are not…