I am a recent graduate of the public history graduate program at Rutgers University. I currently serve as the digital media coordinator for the Mid-Atlantic Regional Center for the Humanities, where I wrangle bloggers and tackle our social media platforms.
In the last two years I've created an oral history database using StoriesMatter for the Salem County Historical Society, collected data on school group attendance for the education department at Cleveland's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and I've digitized the Balch Institute Ethnic Images in Advertising Collection at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. I volunteer at the Alice Paul Institute in Mt. Laurel, New Jersey and the Digital Center at HSP.
In my spare time I am often silly and irreverent.
Catching Elephant is a theme by Andy Taylor
fyeahhistorymajorheraldicbeast:
No thumb’s up from recognizable historian in field? Goes back, too.
Endnotes not linked to page numbers but partial quotes? Drop that book like a hot potato.
Selexyz Dominicanen Bookstore by Merkx + Girod
To take advantage of the massive volume within this 800 year old Dominican church, Merkx + Girod designed a multi-level black steel structure to contain the majority of the bookstore’s books. Ingeniously, what was once the alter now features a cross-shaped table where anyone can pull up a chair and enjoy a good read.
design: Merkx + Girod
(Source: interiorslibrary)
LGBTQ* Novels To Keep On Your Radar
The Perks of Being a Wallflower - Stephen Chbosky
What is most notable about this funny, touching, memorable first novel from Stephen Chbosky is the resounding accuracy with which the author captures the voice of a boy teetering on the brink of adulthood. Charlie is a freshman. And while’s he’s not the biggest geek in the school, he is by no means popular. He’s a wallflower—shy and introspective, and intelligent beyond his years, if not very savvy in the social arts. We learn about Charlie through the letters he writes to someone of undisclosed name, age, and gender, a stylistic technique that adds to the heart-wrenching earnestness saturating this teen’s story. Charlie encounters the same struggles that many kids face in high school—how to make friends, the intensity of a crush, family tensions, a first relationship, exploring sexuality, experimenting with drugs—but he must also deal with his best friend’s recent suicide.
With the help of a teacher who recognizes his wisdom and intuition, and his two friends, seniors Samantha and Patrick, Charlie mostly manages to avoid the depression he feels creeping up like kudzu. When it all becomes too much, after a shocking realization about his beloved late Aunt Helen, Charlie retreats from reality for awhile. But he makes it back in due time, ready to face his sophomore year and all that it may bring. Charlie, sincerely searching for that feeling of “being infinite,” is a kindred spirit to the generation that’s been slapped with the label X. —Brangien Davis
I fucking love this book. It was one of my favorites in high school.
This book. I wish I could have read this book in high school, but I’m too old for that. I read it at 33 and it still changed me. I get that squirrelly, butterfly feeling in my stomach just thinking about this book… a charge of excitement at the prospect of reading it again and a sense of hopeful foreboding because I know how it ends.
Yesterday my copy of Wildwood by Colin Meloy & Carson Ellis arrived. Also, I started playing the chinese fiddle, or erhu. I’m kind of in nerd heaven right now.
Seen in St. John’s, Newfoundland. I kept thinking, “no spoilers!”
I give this book a very strong `no’ for a vast swath of readers, unless you are a communal hippie chomping on granola worshiping the Earth Mother and planning on inciting violence to destroy the society you rejected long ago.
Amazing Amazon reviewer on WILDWOOD, out 8/30. Pre-order HERE if you fit the above description. (via colinmeloy)
*swoons* Sign me up.
I want to read (most of) these.
It is so incredibly unfair that so many interesting looking books have been written, and I lack the time to read them all.
Book question
I’m starting my internship in the coming weeks, and part of the process is to craft a suitable project and accompanying bibliography of relevant materials. The project is exciting, I’ll be archiving oral history videos for a local historical society, using Past Perfect and the Stories Matter software. While I’m learning how to manage the programs, the oral histories and the physical objects and ephemeral materials the interviewees submitted, I’ll also be writing the procedural manual for future volunteers. The society has a small staff, and will rely heavily on community volunteers to watch the videos, tag them, and archive them using the software. I have to figure out how to make the process understandable, useable and “friendly.” I’m pretty stoked to say the least. As far as my bibliography goes, I’m looking for books/chapters/articles on digital archiving and working with or training volunteers. I have a good start on the archiving side. Does anyone have any good suggestions for books on volunteers?
Judith Viorst and Ray Cruz: Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day
Because I needed a bit of silliness today.
Born Losers: A History of Failure in America
Because I went on about it yesterday, I felt the urge to lay out just why Born Losers by Scott A. Sandage is worth reading. Hopefully this is convincing and not just another bit of flotsam on the internet that makes you want to cry.
In Born Losers: A History of Failure in America, Scott Sandage “tells the story…of unsung losers: men who failed in a nation that worships success” (p. 3). He quite eloquently traced the tales of men who strived, pushed the limits of their abilities to get ahead and simply fell flat. But really, what is Born Losers “really”about?
