Valentines Day stuff! Also, BRAND NEW EXPERIMENTAL HISTORY MEME!

[beboots]

 Good evening, everyone! Happy Valentines day, for those of you who celebrate it! 

First, a brief link recommendation. If you've never heard of Postsecrets, you should definitely check them out: essentially, people send in anonymous postcards with their secrets on them. Some are sad, some are quirky, some are touching, and all are absolutely awesome. This week they have a Valentine-themed series of postcard secrets for you to look at. This one was my favourite: 


Furthermore, the Edmonton Journal (which, along with the National Post, I read almost every day to keep up with news about the world) apparently held a contest for the best Edmonton-themed Valentines cards, most of them poking fun at the city. This particular one was my absolute favourite, mostly because I had to cross that bridge five days a week to get to Fort Edmonton this past summer. It was murder during rush hour when it was down to one lane. >_<; It's been under construction for at least two and half years.

For more, see here!

As a side note, I did celebrate this Valentine's Day as a single person. Here's hoping that I shall find my true love in the coming year! :) I should mention that I mostly enjoy Valentine's Day because it also doubles as my dearest mother's birthday! We have flowers and chocolate about the house, then, regardless of the state of our personal lives. :) Happy birthday, mother mine! Now, tomorrow is the holiday I look forward to even more than the events of St. Valentine... Cheap Chocolate Day! Celebrated: wherever chocolate is sold!

On a final note... I actually began writing this post in response to the lovely surprise left for me at atla_valentine. I hadn't realized that people would leave me messages! :)  They made me smile. Therefore, my original plan had been, in response to people writing lovely flattering things about the history dorkery that goes on in this journal, to write a post about some of the crazy little tidbits I've been learning about in my History of Translation class... which just so happens to be what I'm studying for at the moment (even as I procrastinate reviewing for the midterm to write this post). I'll get around to that very soon! It will still happen!

I did, however, just have a thought. Maybe I could do something completely and utterly crazy and unprecedented. I could... do a history meme. I want to share the love with you guys. I love telling historical anecdotes; I like to think I got quite good at it while working at Fort Edmonton. Maybe no-one will want to play with me. I will still tell crazy history stories to the world! Just give me a direction, guys. :) What do you want to hear?

It shall be a shameless effort at trying to emulate the cool kids (YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE), only instead of fanfic, it will be random history tidbits, in the style of the posts that have appeared in this journal before.

THEREFORE, what I resolve to do is ask you, the readers, for history prompts! Ask me a historical question: anything you like. For instance: "who is your favourite member of European royalty and what was the most interesting thing they ever did?" "What do you think is the silliest reason a war ever started?" "What is the most unusual historical artifact you have ever seen in person?" "What can you tell me about Canada's participation in such-and-such a war?" It can even be something like "tell me the craziest thing you know about the 17th century/the bubonic plague/aboriginal history/etc., etc., ad nauseam." I shall even search for an appropriate image to accompany the historical blather! 

If I don't know the answer to your question, I resolve to use my research skills and access to university databases to find the answer! You may get more coherent history squee if I've heard of the topic before, though. I have studied European history across the ages, some East Asian history, and lots of Canadian and American history, but still, don't let that limit your selection! I suspect that if you ask me something about the history of medicine or the French or English languages you will get extra-long anecdotes. Indulge your curiosity, and I will try to be interesting in return! :) 

Comments

[beckyh2112.livejournal.com]

If you were going to do a World History course of two university semesters, what would you cover to make it truly world history? Why?

/probably not quite history but it is something I am curious about

[beboots.livejournal.com]

You know, that's a really tricky question. I was once in a seminar class that spent three hours straight discussing this question. It's difficult to cover "all" world history in even a 1,000 page textbook, and even then you skip over so much stuff... Hmm...

I think that I'd organize it along themes - history of ideas, technology, politics... I'd definitely want to talk about more than the Great Men of History and the Wars They Fought. I'd trace women's history too... and I'd be sure to barely talk about Europe in the whole first semester. Really, not much went on there except for some conquering and fighting amongst themselves until like the 1400s... China, India, Egypt, the Middle East and other places were MUCH more interesting for the longest time.

I think that I'd probably split it at about 1500, although that in itself is a very Euro-centric way of looking at things... Crazy things were beginning to happen in the Americas, Europeans were getting a bit more expansion-happy... More things were being written down. (Yay printing press! But even so China had already been there, done that...)

The second half of the course would talk a LOT about colonialism. Europeans seemed to get their sticky fingers in everywhere. I'd still talk about places like China and Japan outside of the context of the minor missionary influence. The Ottomans were badass too. Only in the last few weeks would I talk about the 20th century. One of the things I dislike about some history courses is that they place so much emphasis on stuff that happened, well, A) in medieval Europe (especially when so much cooler stuff was happening elsewhere! Well, the plague was pretty cool in a horrifying kind of way and they did build some very pretty churches and illuminate some lovely manuscripts BUT I DIGRESS) but also B)the impression that everything that happened in the 20th century was somehow RADICALLY DIFFERENT IN EVERY WAY than what had happened before and so we must spend SO MUCH TIME on talking about these things, and I really disagree. I mean, yeah, there's a lot to talk about, but in the larger scheme of things... There's a "modern" veneer to it, but I don't see the 20th century as being particularly unique. Lots more ways of recording things and large numbers of people doing stuff (oh, population growth...) and lots of horrific wars and people doing horrific things to each other... But weren't the religious wars in Europe in the 1600s also devastating and examples of total war/genocide/etc.? They may not have had helicopters and brought-to-you-live-in-your-own-home news teams, but...

Also, talk about other genocides besides the holocaust. Yes, it should definitely be addressed. Nie weider. But I definitely feel that other tragedies, such as the horrific events of Rwanda, need to be addressed more in school too. Learn from the past so that we might prevent such tragedies. (Not that the past should be studied solely for the benefit of the present, but...)

(Um, did I answer the question? Maybe. I'm not sure! Feel free to ask me to elaborate/ramble more. ;) )

[beckyh2112.livejournal.com]

That is very interesting. Thank you!

(I think you answered the question just fine. It is something I have mulled over for a while, since I am annoyed at how much my world history courses seem to be centered on two continents.)

[beboots.livejournal.com]

Exactly! I wholeheartedly agree. If you want world history "done right", the closest thing I've found recently was an amazing podcast by the BBC called "A History of the World in 100 Objects." I think that in the first 50 objects there were only like 3 from Europe, because again, not much was going on there for the longest time. I would highly recommend a listen. The producer essentially picked 100 objects from the British Museum and told a history of the world through them. Super interesting.

[beckyh2112.livejournal.com]

I think I actually have that bookmarked, I just have a hard time focusing on audio things. Too much of a tendency to tune them out while working on something else. I will try to get back to it, though!

[beboots.livejournal.com]

I do a lot of driving, especially in the summer, and every day during the rest of the year I have to commute by bus for 45 minutes or so to university, so podcasts work out really well for me. When I drive, I swear podcasts have saved me from becoming enraged by traffic: I don't feel so bad about being stuck for an extra 10 minutes in construction if I'm learning something, you know? ;)

[beckyh2112.livejournal.com]

Sadly, my job is only fifteen minutes away from me, and that's only when traffic is bad. Otherwise I'd consider burning some podcasts to CD to listen to.

[beboots.livejournal.com]

I see. Take up knitting or beadwork to fiddle with as you listen? ;) It's one of the ways I've been zenning-out lately when the schoolwork stress gets to be a bit much. ;)

[beckyh2112.livejournal.com]

That is a possibility. I might load some podcasts on my mp3-player to listen to when the weather gets nicer and I'm out gardening.