Just checking in now that I have kicked COVID’s ass like the Greasers beat down the Socs back in the day. I never did really develop any symptoms. Lucky me. Meanwhile, my poor roommate suffered from fever and lost his senses to taste and smell… the smell thing is quantifiable. He totally burnt his lunch … More A Post-COVID Update
Wow. What a wild ride that was last night and into today. Rather than spam up my COVID blog with election stuff that might bore non-politicos to tears, here are my thoughts – some somewhat original, and others undoubtedly influenced by the insane amount of data and opinion pieces that I have read – on … More Election Post-Mortem
Well. I guess I am stuck at home for the next ten days, after getting a positive COVID test today (Oct. 27th, 2020). Errr, I mean, I have undertaken self-exile to scourge a pestilence and purify my soul. That sounds way cooler. I might as well record my thoughts as I go through this and … More COVIDtine – Ten (Update: Eleven) Days with Nothing but My Thoughts
This week’s reading, A Nation of Neighborhoods by Benjamin Looker, brought to mind some interesting topics of contemporary relevance. I chose to focus my three pieces on two separate topics, housing disparity in modern America, and local attempts at governance and community-building. The first article I decided to use is a study of home ownership … More Reporter of Relevance – A Nation of Neighborhoods
Sampling book reviews of Isabel Wilkerson’s The Warmth of Other Suns revealed mostly positive reviews from academic publications, though with one exception I was able to find. As well, perhaps due to its public success, the book was reviewed by widely accessible public sources, including the New York Times. Joe Trotter, reviewing for the Journal of American … More Isabel Wilkerson’s The Warmth of Other Suns Reviews
Conversation with Dr. Julian Lim, author of Porous Borders. 8 February 2019. Q1: Can you tell me about your process of writing Porous Borders? Length of time, number of drafts, writing habits, etc. The book started as a dissertation. Started research in 2007 (published in 2017) after completing comprehensive exams. Heavily based on archival research. The … More Interview with Dr. Julian Lim
One of the tasks I am responsible for this week as the Historiographic Guru is to trace the lineage of the author. Knowing as we do that Dr. Andrews studied with Cronon, this week was a unique chance to trace scholarly lineage in both directions from Cronon. The end result is 150 years of rich … More Nature’s Metropolis – Scholarly Lineage
I have way too much to do to be sitting here, transcribing my stream of consciousness. Perhaps it is because I have a book to read, assignment to write, seminar lead to plan, and paper to review for one of my students that I instead sit here… musing, pondering, and soon… pontificating. … More “Won’t Someone Rid Me of this Meddlesome Priest?”
This will be a long post, centered around my thoughts after last night’s State of the Union, and the upcoming Congressional election. Some numbers (taken from FiveThirtyEight.com) to begin. Bear these in mind. – Donald Trump is currently the least popular President at the 377 day mark of his presidency in the post-WW2 era. – A … More “I’m not afraid.” “You will be.” – SOTU and the 2018 Midterm Elections
The lab portion of the last couple of weeks in Digital History have been spent immersing ourselves in, and attempting to learn (or at least become more comfortable with) Python. Python is, according to their website, “a programming language that lets you work quickly and integrate systems more effectively.” After roughly three hours of working through Python … More Python, Programming, and Language
My encounter with Historic Geographic Information Systems (HGIS) software in this class is not my first. While not an expert in its usage, I had been exposed to the program earlier, as part of my work for Dr. Clifford at the HGIS Lab located in Kirk Hall. I have completed the older ArcGIS tutorials, and … More HGIS as Methodology and Tool
As I pondered what to do for my term project for Digital History this semester, I turned toward the First World War, still observing its centenary. Determined to do something related to the War, I had a preliminary conversation with Dr. Clifford about the approach I could take. He pointed me toward Story Maps, with … More Story Maps (ESRI) as a Digital Tool
Kevin Winterhalt 