A man was cleaning out his father’s attic and found an assortment of taped interviews, notes and other items.  His father had planned to pen a book on racism in the 60′s but never finished the book.  Stephen Tull has discovered that one of the tape’s is an interview that his father had with Martin Luther King Jr in 1960.  The interview details King’s views on racism including encouraging the non-violent resistance movement.

Check out full details here: Source.

These photos were taken in 1959, according to LIFE.  Hauntingly, Hanneli commented that she had last seen Anne in 1945, weeks before Anne died and weeks before the camp was liberated.  While Hanneli was lucky enough to leave Bergen-Belsen, we know Anne was not, by a mere few weeks time.

For the full series of photos (only 6), click the LIFE link above.  Here are a couple of Anne’s friends, all grown up.  It is refreshing to learn that many of them went on to lead happy, healthy, long lives.  I plan to add this information into my lectures somehow.  I try to emphasize that history is not always historical and that current events have root in historical ones.  Seeing things like previously unreleased photos really drives that point home for me.  I love when that happens!

Hanneli and her family, 1959

Barbara Ledermann, 1959, in Maryland with her family

Here is proof!

At 75 years old, Joseph Pinsky enrolled at Kingsborough Community College in Brooklyn, New York.

Last month, May of 2012, Mr. Pinsky graduated from Kingsborough.  Congratulations, sir.

How cool is that?  Mr. Pinksy is a WW2 vet, and following the war, he worked for the post office.  When he graduated, his wife told him to find something to do to “get him out of the house” and encouraged him to go to school.  It took 10 years for him to finish his degree because of medical issues that plagued both he and his wife, but he kept going back and finished his degree this year.

Here is the best part: when he was asked what his plans were next, he explained that he was going for his BA!  I wish him the best. <3

This was captioned as the “Great Room” of a Bavarian estate in the late 1930′s.

Although these photos are titled as exclusive, it is note worthy that this is one of the many places Hitler lived over the course of his lifetime.  A book I have, Dictator Style, by Peter York, is a detailed look at dwellings of many of the world’s nastiest men, Hitler included, and the photos shown in that book and the photos here definitely do not show the same house/flat/estate, etc.

Here is Hitler himself entertaining in another room of the same estate.  The man in the photo was his personal Doctor.

The last one is the exterior view of the same estate.  It looks heavenly, almost too beautiful for someone capable of such hatred, violence, and murder.  I have mixed feelings looking at photos like these.  Seeing the interior of one’s home is very telling, with the bedroom being the most intimate, of course, like the Where Children Sleep post I shared a few months ago.  I invite you to look at that for a moment if you have one, it’s really interesting.

Here is the exterior view:

What do you think when you see photos like these?

Leave your thoughts below!

Check out a few below!  Keep in mind that it was the Nixon Admin that brought about OSHA, almost 40 years after projects like this were completed.

These photos came from an email that my boyfriend’s Mom sent to us.  Not sure of their origins (and the captions came with the photos) but let me know if you want the email to see the rest of the pictures, they are all just as amazing as the one below!

It was actually in this vain that I even started my religious studies to begin with, and would eventually Double Major in, along with History. I took “World Religious Studies,” or something to that effect, as a course during my first semester and I was hooked.

I took amazing courses on religion, I took Logic to fulfill my Math requirement, and I took a class called Extraterrestrial Life as a science requirement (Not nearly as cool as it sounds, I promise). I also remember, but did not take, a course that a Professor developed around all things The Hobbit and Tolkein, and I thought that that was pretty cool.I had no idea that one could major in religion or theology without the final intention of becoming a pastor, priest, or nun, something within the Church itself. I had no idea – and I came from a school with a vibrant, encouraging counselor (although, the woman never remembered my name was Lacey Chrystal. She called me Chrystal Lacey. For 4 years. There were only 50 kids per grade, there is still zero excuse for this, and yeah, I’m still a little bitter. In fact, as a teacher, I pride myself on remembering my children’s names, thank you very much) and I still didn’t know all of the options available at college.

Anyway, I may have taken some cool classes in my life, but the ones listed below all sound amazing! Check out a few courses and the locations, in case you’re looking for some cool electives at your local uni!  If you’ve taken any of these, I’d love to know more!

Choose from the following:

• Sociology of Fame and Lady Gaga, University of South Carolina (the course explanation pledges no Gaga music or videos, only using her to explain the impact of fame/society/celebrity.)
• Physics for Future Presidents, UC Berkeley (learn the physics of WMDs, among other cool blow-uppy-thingies. Technical jargon required.)
• Biology of Jurassic Park, Hood College (covers biodiversity, evolution, extinction, and more. Neat!)
• Joy of Garbage, Santa Clara University (learn what happens to the junk you call junk and throw out. How “garbage” is repurposed.)
• Disney Feature: Then and Now, UCLA
• The Phallus, Occidental College (pretty much what you’re thinking, unless you had to google phallus first.  Now it’s what you’re thinking.)
• Textual Appeal of Tupac Shakur, University of Washington (I found a CFP for a seminar held here too, very cool.)
• Fly Fishing, Montana State (A gym credit.  Hey, at least it’s outside!)
• Things That Go Bump In The Night, Hampshire College (psych class in fear – also sounds awesome.

Which class would you choose??

Let me know in the comments!

PS: Check out the full list from Mental Floss!

I love teaching History and will continue to do so as long as I can.  Luckily, with my MA, I can be at a Community College or at a private school.  I currently work at an office where I’ve been gaining transferable skills, like writing marketing emails and managing a website, even learning some basic HTML along the way.

In the Spring of 2013, my s/o will graduate with his second BA with plans to go to Grad School for Physical Therapy.  We may try to stay in North Texas, where we are now, but Austin, Texas has plenty of appeal, too.  Other states to do, for that matter, including Massachusetts (where all my friends are and many family members are in CT), and California (frankly because it’s gorgeous), North Carolina (for me, I’ve always wanted to live there for some reason), and others.  There are also plenty of states where I would NOT want to live, which pretty much includes anywhere it snows.

Anyway, when/if we move, I want to do something new, too.  That something is: counseling.

For the past two semesters, I worked at a High School in Arlington with a great group of kids.  Although they were knowledgeable in many things (including American History, thank you), many of them didn’t have concrete plans for life, post-highschool.  Some wanted to go to college, a few ultimately knew what they wanted to be later in life, but the majority seemed undecided.  That, it and of itself, is totally fine – they were juniors at the time.  However, what bothered me is that it seemed as if many of them were not aware of the choices available – 4 year program, 2 year program, certificate program, vocational program…private loans, personal loans, financial aid, work study, subsidized or unsubsidized loans, grants, and scholarships…live at home, live in a dorm room, find an apartment, be on a meal plan, cook for oneself, rent a room in a house, go in state, go out of state, go out of the country, junior year abroad, internships…and more.

The more questions they asked, the more interested I became in helping them find answers.  One student wanted to be a rapper, and while that is an excellent end goal, he was also interested in music production and management.  I directed him to a school in Florida, Full Sail, where he could be exposed to all the elements he mentioned.  He was actually unaware that a degree in music production could be obtained and could lead him into a successful – and fun – career later on.

After two semesters of this, I decided that I, like my students, wanted to embark in a new direction too, something I am unfamiliar with – counseling/life skills for high schoolers.  I am not exactly sure of the job I want, if it exists, or how I’d market myself, but I think a MA in counseling is my next step.  I need to do more research, but putting it down on paper is pretty exciting.

Anyway, the new direction of the blog will reflect my new direction as well.  I still plan to update with school related things, especially historical stuff for now, as history is and will always be my first love.  But, I don’t think the Ph.D. in history is my calling at the moment – I think that a MA in counseling will be, instead.   I am excited, scared, and ready to make some moves.

Any thoughts?

xoxox,

The assignment is to find a piece of news that is both historical (chronological to the current semester’s class) and present in nature.  At the beginning of the semester, I presented an example.  Just this January, for the first time, a Confederate submarine, the HL Hunley, was exhibited to the public.  I presented some info about the first submarines used (the “history” part of the assignment) and then showed them photos, like the one below (thank you, Reuters), of the sub now (the present part of the assignment.)

Isn’t that cool?  The point of the assignment is two fold.  One is to get a brief experience with public speaking, and the second is to show that history is hardly ever in the past.

So far, students have discussed the Titanic auction, the history of MLK Day, the current cruise ship tragedy compared to a strikingly similar 1880′s accident (google that, it was quite a great presentation), and a tennis playing student discussed the history of a tournament that is going on today, and ended it with a short clip of his favorite current player.  They were all creative and personalized to the student and his or her interests, so far they are exceeding expectations. Love when that happens!

With that said, I sort of cornered myself.  Since they are giving presentations, I can’t tell them about all the cool stuff that I read.  I suggested my favorite history news channels to them – history news network, George Mason’s history news page, and others, so hopefully they are reading the same awesome material that I am.  If I cannot share with them, I am going to have to write here more often!  Looking forward to it!

I am revisiting the ideas with this blog.  Hell, I am revisiting my ideas about my own life, and as I am sort of muddled for the moment in my thinking, my blog goes update-less.  I am going to try to find one of those “contact” type themes to use as the front of this site and the blog as another page. I’m not entirely (read: at all) sure how to do that, so we will see about that idea.

I have a few projects in the works but none that can be aired here. I’ll update when I can.

Peace,

Lacey