Life & Self-Care
Process-based Goals Create Progress
Every time I write something, a well-meaning friend asks me that. It makes sense: audience is key.
2019
Fort Negley joined the UNESCO Slave Route Project, an interview with Lauren Collins of The New Yorker, co-authorship, digital humanities and television in the classroom.
The Writer's Life
Year End Reflections: What I’ve Learned
In a prior post I wrote about my dedication to reading this year and I am happy to announce that I did reach my goal of completing 40 books.
The Writer's Life
End-of-Semester Retreat & Reflection
I recently went on a four-day silent retreat at an abbey in Kentucky. Retreatants are given a simply furnished room to sleep in, and every day…
Life & Self-Care
Gratitude and Giving Back
Piglet noticed that even though he had a Very Small Heart, it could hold a rather large amount of Gratitude.
Life & Self-Care
The Best Workout is a Done Workout
The best dissertation is a done dissertation. When you turn it into a book, “Good enough” is good enough.
Art & Public History
A Cross-Campus Collaboration: Mariannes Noires
On Friday afternoon, I went on a student-led campus tour of Fisk University with Mame-Fatou Niang (Associate Professor at Carnegie Mellon…
Teaching
Television in the Classroom: An Update on How This Old Prof Learned A New Trick
A couple posts ago I wrote about a fabulous show I’d found on Netflix and the excitement it inspired in me to use television in the classroom,…
Life & Self-Care
Resolved: Let’s Move
I have never been the most athletic person. The only marathons I’ve ever participated in have involved reading books or watching screens for hours…
Art & Public History
The Role of Public Humanities in Reconciliation
There’s a type of generosity that exists, that causes me to tear up when I see it. It’s the type of generosity of spirit that is so magnanimous…
Books, Film & Reading
Goodreads: Finding Writing Inspiration Through a Monumental Year of Reading
Aging and birthdays are usually not a big deal to me which, now that I really think about it, likely stems from childhood.
Art & Public History
Working with Students on DH Projects
I have recently recruited 6 students to work on a digital archival exhibit at my university.
Teaching
To Do it Better: Teaching the History of Slavery
Note: I’m taking a brief break from my recent series on the women’s history course I’m teaching.
Art & Public History
Does your Digital Humanities Project Have a Mission?
Most of you know that among many of the hats I wear, one of my favorites is director of the Fort Negley Descendants Project , a digital humanities…
Teaching
Finding the Possible Value of TV in the Classroom
In addition to chemotherapy and radiation, self-care has been an important part of my cancer treatment.
Books, Film & Reading
Ananda Devi’s Painful, Poetic Prose
You continue to think about them, mull over the plot lines and character development, try to discern the ending’s “meaning”––especially when the…
Teaching
(Re)Designing Women
Part 3 in an ongoing series about Tanya’s fall elective on American women’s history. See Part 1 here and Part 2 here .
The Writer's Life
Collaborative Writing in the Humanities: Lessons in Co-Authorship
History is a relatively solitary field. The vast number of articles and books written have just one author, and many historians go their whole…
Life & Self-Care
Cancer and Contingency
It’s been a while. Perhaps you haven’t noticed, but I have. It’s been a while since I’ve been able to sit down and put my thoughts to paper and…
Teaching
Designing Women, Part II
Last month, I wrote about my initial work designing my Intro to History of American Women’s Rights this fall.
Books, Film & Reading
Political Literature: Marie NDiaye’s “Three Strong Women”
“…Why don’t they go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came.
Art & Public History
Subject Matter Expertise: Historians and Documentaries
Last month, I was approached by Joseph Hill, documentary filmmaker, about his current project on the United States Colored Troops (USCT) in the…
Life & Self-Care
The Sweet Solitude of Summer
When I was a kid, my mom would walk into my room to find me passed out amidst villages of Weebles , Barbie dolls, and race-car tracks.
Teaching
Designing Women (Part 1)
Readers, it’s summer. It’s that glorious time when teachers (like me) can kick back, relax, and just be in the peaceful bliss. (At least in theory.
Art & Public History
37208: How the Rest of America Could Be, If We Wanted
Midsummer 2019 was the day I moved into my first house. The sky blackened as I drove a carload of belongings there.
Books, Film & Reading
The Bookish Flâneuse in Paris
In her recent book , Lauren Elkin displaces the focus from the 19th-century flâneur —dreamed up by Baudelaire as someone who ambles aimlessly,…
Teaching
The School Year Ends
The summer ends and we wonder where we are And there you go, my friends, with your boxes in your car And you both look so young And last night was…
Art & Public History
News Round-up: Nashville’s Fort Negley Receives UNESCO Slave Route Designation
We are all still shook. Two years ago, Fort Negley , a Union Civil War fort built by enslaved and free black laborers, and defended by the United…
Books, Film & Reading
Sparkling Water and Chocolate Eclairs: An Interview with Lauren Collins
New Yorker staff writer Lauren Collins on her road from Vogue to Paris, how ideas find her, her start-to-finish drafting process, and the book on…
PhD & Post-Ac
Going Home
Facebook’s been reminding me that it’s been eight years since I defended my dissertation and got my job.
The Writer's Life
Writing the Maid of Honor Speech
Oh, not everyone takes paper up with them to make their maid-of-honor speech? One of the perks of being a writer is that you’ve always got words-…
Teaching
Final Projects
It’s the end of the semester, which means it’s final project season. When everyone has their eyes set on summer break (myself included), it can be…
Teaching
On Late Work and Penalties
Not long ago, I mentioned my school’s late work policy in passing on Twitter, and someone wanted to know more, suggesting I write about it here.
Art & Public History
When There is a Mission
This March, I took two trips for work that ended up having a profound effect on the way I see my job and my place within it.
Books, Film & Reading
Nadine Labaki’s “Capernaum”: Film Thoughts & Historical Background
In an attempt to elevate my self-care routine, I’ve started to take myself out on dates a little more often. I actually *love* to spend time alone.
Life & Self-Care
Reminder: Breathe
Raquelle’s recent post really resonates with me tonight. I’m writing here somewhat unexpectedly, but unexpectedness has been a theme around here…
Art & Public History
Double Your Digital Archive
Picture the scene: You’re one of the founders of an oral history digital archive. The archive, the Fort Negley Descendants Project (FNDP) , finds and…
The Writer's Life
When inspiration doesn’t hit, write.
I’m going to be honest. I struggled to write my post this month. It might have been the long to-do list leading into Spring Break (next week!), or…
Teaching
Legacies
While a lot of people are just getting into the swing of their semester , in my K12 world, our second trimester of the school year just concluded.
The Writer's Life
Writing a Trade History Book, Part 2: The Proposal
Click here to see Writing a Trade History Book, Part 1: The Introduction. When I wrote my first Non-fiction book proposals, with all of its…
Art & Public History
First Impressions 15 years in the Making
Ah, February. The month that heralds the final demise of the dreaded January and when I can consider my semester officially off to a successful start.
PhD & Post-Ac
From Dissertation to Book
After my defense—at 11:30AM on the day of the solar eclipse in 2017—, I felt a change in the cosmos.
Life & Self-Care
Persisting (slowly)
I’m not a person who moves slowly. Growing up, I spent many years taking piano lessons and practicing for hours.
The Writer's Life
Writing With A Day Job
I think it’s something every working writer struggles with. Most of my friends write, some of them full-time, and others on the side of a full or…
The Writer's Life
Writing Resolutions
I wasn’t surprised when Marie Kondo started trending on my Twitter feed. Not only did her show, “Tidying up with Marie Kondo”, recently debut on…