Historian: A writer, student, or scholar of history.

You guys, this course is so COOL. First of all, I am blown away by how even online, the professor has been able to create a fabric of comraderie among the participants, inviting each of us to address our memories of history courses in the past. We read each other's comments and add something here and there. The dialogue is open and honest- a lot of students hate history or do not remember ANYTHING from high school or university courses.

This is one of our first assignments:
In a nutshell: we will act the role of historian, identify a certain period in U.S. History- something we are truely interested in, and, using the book "History Matters" which is a guide to online research for primary sources: documents, audio and film archives, artifacts, photos, etc., we will start digging into the material and identify an explicit or implicit reference to 'happiness' or 'the good life'.

This text is full of the most interesting stuff- on EVERYTHING and ANYTHING you can imagine.

I am struck not only by how incredible it is to be going to school ONLINE, but also how fabulous the technology is when used as a tool in this way!

I have narrowed down my choices to:
Margaret Sanger Papers Project
Teach Women's History Project
Oral History digital Collection
Watergate Revisited
Performing Arts in America, 1875 - 1923
Emma Goldman Papers
By the People, For the People: Posters from the WPA, 1936 - 1943
Medicine and Madison Avenue

I mean, I wish I could be a student for life! How great that after all these years, I finally get it. When Greg was studying, he used to tell me about everything he was reading and I realise now that he was recalling the information, explaining it and therefore proving that he understood it. Esoteric Sophists, Hegel, Kirkegard, Kant, Thomas Aquinas-a parade of high thinkers! And how fun it was to listen. I learned a lot- his enthusiasm was contagious.

I explain things to Martin as he sits on the sofa blinking at me...

I am finding balance between work and study- my work load is less now and I have to strive to keep that delicate equilibrium.

I am a late bloomer!!!! Better to bloom late, than never! (Above; Photograph of a late bloomer.)