I'd honestly forgotten that I had this blog. Well, mostly forgotten, anyhow.
Where to begin, what to say? At long last I have completed my B.A. from Georgia State. I guess I'm officially allowed to talk about history now. That's a load off my back, for I was very concerned.
The current economic climate has forced me to scale back me participation in reenactments and living histories to a nearly nonexistent level. When employers consistently express their right to fire you (and willingness to do so with the current tsunami of job-seekers), one doesn't ask for time off to spend a weekend burning powder like its 1864. I am hot on the trail of a potential spot at the Atlanta History Center however, so stay posted regarding that.
My undergraduate history thesis at GSU was a study in non-traditional commemoration in the state of Delaware; it seems that a monument to thousands of previously unrecognized Delaware Confederates has been erected by a local branch of the SCV. After traveling to the state, I spent 5 days conducting oral history interviews with the major players in the monument movement, as well as various town officials and members of the historical society. It was a truly fascinating project and one that I hope to expand upon over time. I'm sure that I will divulge more of that study's findings here in the near future.
Tomorrow will find me 100 miles north of here, just south of the town of Fort Oglethorpe, GA. I'll be spending the morning and most of the afternoon tramping around Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park: there is a fourteen-mile trail route that I've mapped out (combining the park's "Historical" and "Confederate Line" trails). Also making its debut tomorrow is David Powell's The Maps of Chickamauga. This marvelous-looking series published by Savas Beatie also includes The Maps of Gettysburg and The Maps of First Bull Run. I'll admit to having not yet had much field use yet for the 1st Manassas title, but the Gettysburg edition has served me at that field splendidly before. I'm looking forward to increasing the series' reputation in my mind with tomorrow's sojourn. I'll let you know how it goes.
Finally, this summer (likely the only summer between now and the beginning of next spring's grad school programs at GSU) will see me diving into new books like I haven't been able to in years. Look for wish lists, book reviews, and maybe a little writing of my own. Currently on my nightstand: Wallace Hettle's Inventing Stonewall Jackson. I'm about halfway through right now, and this remarkably easy read has so far done a great job of showing how Jackson's early biographers created the apocryphal legends that we so cavalierly take today as fact. It makes me feel rather silly, actually, for being one of the masses to have left a lemon at Jackson's grave, but at the same time it at least reminds me that in following the legend, I have left my mark on an historical phenomenon in and of itself. The cult of Stonewall is alive and well here in the South.
Hopefully, the same can be said of this blog. I'll be writing again soon. Take care, friends.
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