Tag: history
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Burning DVDs in 2025
This evening I successfully burned two DVDs for the 40th Anniversary of the Mint Hill Historical Society, which is coming up on Saturday. For several years now I’ve been volunteering with the MHHS, helping with oral history interviews and their website. For Saturday’s event, they want to play a silent slideshow of 1087 photos on…
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Teaching Local History
These are my notes from Liz Davis’ presentation “Local History: Universal Truths – Exploring and enriching Hometowns at the March 24, 2025 NCMLE ‘Middle School Matters’ Conference. MY THOUGHT AND REFLECTIONS ARE IN ALL CAPS. Liz teaches at Pollard Middle School in Chatham County Schools Liz grew up in Wilmington and knew very little about…
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Reading Wish List
Long form reading may be a relic of the past for younger generations in US society and culture for a variety of reasons, but I still believe in both the power of reading and its importance in our shared civic culture. For a number of years now, I’ve maintained a public aspirational reading list on…
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Learning About Russia
The Russian-initiated war in Ukraine is continuing into its second year, and it’s hard to believe not only the harsh and cruel realities of that conflict which are ongoing, but also the dismal prospects for both regional and global peace at this point in human history. (March 2023) It’s a good time for all of…
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Podcast477: Remembering Wild Bill Hickock and Calamity Jane in Deadwood, South Dakota
Welcome to a special episode of “Moving at the Speed of Creativity,” recorded from the Mt Moriah cemetery in Deadwood, South Dakota on June 26, 2021. Members of our family went on the “Boot Hill Tours Historical Tour of Deadwood,” and I audio recorded the culminating portion at the graveside of both Wild Bill Hickock…
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Political Philosophy and Media Literacy Cornerstones
Propaganda and disinformation can have real, destructive effects in society and government. That is one of many lessons we can draw from the past week in Washington D.C., when we saw large numbers of protesters storm the United States Capitol building on January 6, 2021, in a riot which resulted in deaths, injuries, as well…
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Reflections on Comancheria, Identity and Frontier Terrorism
I never thought much about my own family bloodlines and ancestry until we moved to Oklahoma in 2006. As I got to know teachers and school staff members in my role (at the time) working as an “education advocate” for AT&T, I learned that all public schools in Oklahoma have “Indian Education” programs and students…
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Learning About Early Pottawatomie County, Kansas History
Today I had an opportunity to share several presentations at the Kaw Valley Academy of Technology and Education (KVATE) in St. Marys, Kansas, 30 minutes from Manhattan where I grew up and my parents live. On the way back, I saw a sign just west of Belview for an Oregon Trail historical marker. Often when I’m…
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Lessons Gleaned from the Life of Joseph Priestley
Tremendous benefits await those who generously share their ideas with others. Leaders should not shy away from the challenges of developing professional expertise in multiple domains. Regular collaboration and networking over excellent food and drink can prepare the mind as a fertile field for the cultivation of life-changing thoughts. New technologies can present novel opportunities…