Tag: writing

Talking History

A Golden Ticket: Employing Hypothetical Situations and Questions in the History Classroom

Rosie Click I always loved “choose your own adventure” books as a kid—the excitement of picking right, the risk of picking wrong, the seemingly endless possible combinations of choices and variety of satisfying endings. In some of the books, the perfect ending, known as the “Golden Ticket” ending, can only be achieved by choosing the exact correct combination of paths. The history of the “gamebook,” … Continue reading A Golden Ticket: Employing Hypothetical Situations and Questions in the History Classroom

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Talking History

The Anthropocene Comes to an End: Humans and Nature 

 Zhenhao Yu The Anthropocene is the period of time when humans influence their natural environment in many ways, such as prehistoric agriculture, the Columbian Exchange, the Industrial Revolution, and nuclear power. Although many scholars are debating which historical event marks the beginning of the Anthropocene, I argue that the term Anthropocene itself is problematic in understanding global history, and essentially, the relationship between humans and … Continue reading The Anthropocene Comes to an End: Humans and Nature 

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Talking History

Making Race, Minting Guineas: Why Four Countries Share a Name

John Ramming Chappell In September 2021, a military coup unseated Alpha Condé, Guinea’s president since 2010. The same month, the United States renewed efforts to capture Antonio Indjai, an ex-general and drug-trafficking suspect living in Guinea Bissau. Meanwhile, the U.S. government announced that $27 million seized from Teodorin Nguema Obiang Mangue, Vice President of Equatorial Guinea, would be used to buy COVID-19 vaccines for the … Continue reading Making Race, Minting Guineas: Why Four Countries Share a Name

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Making History

The History of Masculinity in China

Zhanhao Zhang In 2020, during the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, committee member Si Zefu  criticized male teenagers for being too “feminine.” The Ministry of Education responded by promoting physical education and research on the influence of popular culture on the “feminization of male adolescents.” Suddenly, the concept of masculinity (阳刚之气) and its traditional meanings became a hot topic on Chinese social media. Many people, … Continue reading The History of Masculinity in China

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Talking History

We Said, They Sed: Accents and When We Spell Them Out

Casey Donahue Accents are identities, and everybody’s got one.  With pinched vowels or dropped consonants, we give hints to each other about our home, heritage, class, gender, and age. But how would you spell your accent? Do your trademark pronunciations sound as the dictionary says they should? If not, do you ever spell your shibboleths differently, changing get to git or smart to smaht when … Continue reading We Said, They Sed: Accents and When We Spell Them Out

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Writing History

Steering Past “The Ivory Tower”

Devinie Lye-Ukwattage Ivory Tower: “an impractical often escapist attitude marked by aloof lack of concern with or interest in practical matters or urgent problems” The term Ivory Tower has an unusually long history. Dating back to antiquity, the phrase has been associated with everything from saints and poets to giant white buildings (surprise!). Today, the Ivory Tower is a metaphor that describes an unaffordable, inherently … Continue reading Steering Past “The Ivory Tower”

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Writing History

Making History in a Covid Haze

Loren Galesi This Covid year has made me feel closer to the past. More exactly, it’s made me feel like I have a better chance of getting close to an unfamiliar past. The strange months dividing my old and new normals have made me more aware of my distance from history, from all past lives and past normals. Any doubt I might have had that … Continue reading Making History in a Covid Haze

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