Blog Archive
The Magical Unicorn Roundtable, and How to Find It
At the Southern Historical Association last month, between stops at the beachside bars and breaks to fill out my Beach Blanket Bingo cards, I went to sessions. I know, it seems crazy. But after working at home or in cafés alone for months over the summer and fall, I needed to be . . .
Read MoreSHA 2016 Beach Blanket Bingo
This week, hundreds of academics will descend upon St. Pete’s Beach, Florida, ready to slather on the sunscreen, order some umbrella drinks, and talk about history at the Southern Historical Association meeting. In honor of this annual academic ritual, I offer participants the SHA 2016 Bingo Card. Click to download a printable . . .
Read MoreHistorians, TED Thyselves
The air is crisp. The leaves are falling. In New England there are cider donuts. All of this is delightful. And it means that it is – praise be! – the beginning of my Academic Conference Season. And you know I love to write about conferences. Should I go to them? What . . .
Read MoreHistorista’s Guide to the Writing Life, Part IV: Selling the Book and Signing the Contract
Well, hello there! My apologies for being incommunicado for the past few months. I’m sure you all have been doing some cool and crazy things. I have been traveling a bit and riding my bike a lot but mostly, I’ve been writing my book. And for those of you who have read . . .
Read MoreWatching and Talking About “Free State of Jones”
Free State of Jones. Directed by Gary Ross. STX Entertainment, 2016. In wide release, June 25, 2016. As I settled into my seat with my notebook, pen, bag of popcorn, and Junior Mints, I muttered to myself, “Please let this be good.” I was in the movie theater, with about twenty other . . .
Read MoreNotes from the Writing Life: To Conference or Not to Conference?
As I pack my bags to go to the Western Association of Women Historians conference in Denver, I ask myself: why am I doing this? I don’t need another line on my cv. In fact, I don’t even need a cv these days. And conferences are expensive. The plane flight, hotel, transportation . . .
Read MoreWhy Every Historian Should Watch (More) Television
In my first job out of graduate school, I team-taught an undergraduate seminar with an older, male colleague. On the first day of class, the students went around the room introducing themselves and talking about their interests. When it was my turn, I listed my interests as “Nineteenth-century southern history, American literature, . . .
Read MoreIs There a Future For Creative Academic Writing in Academia?
There’s been a lot of talk lately about how and why academics should write for “public audiences.” By this we usually mean that academics turn from the usual professional audience (fellow historians, in my case) and seek to engage non-academics who have an interest in the subject at hand. This discussion – . . .
Read MoreCampus Visit Horror Stories — And Why We Love Them
This is one of the most trying times in the academic year. Job candidates are feverishly monitoring the Academic Jobs Wiki and reading one another’s Facebook status updates for clues. “Did she just check into the Madison Marriott? OMG!” Successful job candidates, having received an invitation to campus, are trying not to . . .
Read MoreWhat Not To Wear … to your AHA or MLA interview
It’s that time of year again, people. The major academic associations in the fields of History (the American Historical Association) and Literature (the Modern Language Association) will be meeting this week/end in Atlanta (Ga.) and Austin (Tex.), respectively. There will be panels and receptions and live-tweeting. There will be coffee dates and . . .
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