I love David Sherlock’s post on the blog posts he didn’t write in 2017. It lets him set aside some rather unwieldy beasts, yet share what he’s been wrestling with. His never-posts range from education to gendered toys to ‘everything that is shit in academia,’ which is exactly the…
I still remember getting an apple, an orange, and a crisp two-dollar bill one Christmas. When my great-grandfather handed us each a piece of fruit, I carried it to the car, tucked my cold feet on the heater, and compared the crisply scratched apple with the spicy rumpled skin…
I’ll be back to Maine next week for Thanksgiving with my husband’s folks. It should be fun. The day after Amos and I got married, I met my new Aunt Beth. She brought out a long genealogy that outlined my husband’s mother’s family’s place in the world. These, of course, are…
I’ve previously shared what I know of modern Kazakh names, as have other authors. But what about ancestral names? My motivation here is a growing connection to the SCA, a group fond of historical fencing, archery, brewing, and crafts. These American hobbyists connect to European history by developing a historical…
I’ve been asked to present about my research process, so I thought I’d share here what I’ll be presenting to other librarians soon. Below are some of the steps I take when doing academic or nonfiction research; I’d love to hear if you have a different process. For printed…
You’ve probably heard of “culture shock,” that initial wallop when everything’s different. Some folks, like Debbie Stephens, hit a wall when they’ve “bathed and washed my hair in a bucket… eaten with monkeys, been roommates with scorpions… and eaten foods I can’t pronounce.” But you can also experience “culture…
As I mentioned, I recently tried being a guy on Facebook to see what would happen. But even as a guy, I still only see the ladies. Not that my lady friends try to be dominant; in fact, many are quite self-effacing. But with 400+ lady friends, the posts-photos-ads-articles all reinforce each other: inspirational…
Recently, I got fed up with being a lady on Facebook. The marketing. The advertisements for empowered baby clothes (“she’s a rocket scientist!”) and faintly healthy food (“try three papaya-sweet corn bars for only $12.99!”). I tried adjusting my ad settings, denying my prior interests in travel, science, and…
We’ve tried spreadsheets. We’ve tried task management apps. We’ve tried to-do lists. Yet my husband Amos* and I are terrible at making decisions. I, for one, prefer to ruminate… research… discuss every option with *all* my friends (surprisingly few are left…) …and then make weighted decision matrices to take…
“Do you need this?” I ask, holding up the ballerina music box. “…And this?” I hold up a handful of seashells and a crushed sand dollar in a plastic baggie. Julie shakes her head. I quickly sort things into piles, pulling her back into the room when she starts…