Chief Interests:
History in general, American, World, Lesbian, Women's, Social/Popular, Sex/Gender studies, Human impact on environment, Religion/Beliefs studies, Military (includes wars), Political, Memory/Memorials/Monuments, Historiography/Historicity, Anthropology/Archaeology, Science/Technology, Geography/Cartography

Particular Interests:   Social history of "the ordinary", development of belief systems, and whatever topic I'm reading about at the moment.  I also "haunt" old cemeteries collecting samples of memorial art (Saint-Gaudens is one of my favorites) and to pay my respects to the famous and not-so-famous interred there.

Live in different time:   I would like to have lived in the Ural Mountains/western Siberia area when Christianity first arrived because I would like to see how the existing beliefs of the people collided, resisted, or changed to accommodate this new belief system.

Figure to meet:   A shamaness from the time period I mentioned above. I would want to ask her how she accessed other dimensions and how she helped her people adapted to the geopolitical forces evident at the time.

Lessons:   Vote, vote, vote, vote, vote!   Ignorance and apathy about the political system by the general populace breeds misguidance and fear.  The other lesson would be for young people to pay attention in their history classes in school.  When a person doesn't understand what has happened in the past, they're more likely to mistake a current situation as being novel and so they don't use the lessons learned in the past to avoid making a similar mistake again.

Favorite sites:   Little Big Horn, Crow Agency, Montana--It took seeing the incredible vastness of the landscape to understand how big of a blunder Custer and his men made by attacking a village of old people, women, and children without making a thorough assessment of where the warriors were and how the immense expanses of the terrain deceptively would hide large numbers of mounted warriors.   The Smithsonian Institution (all museums)--I worked there for a number of years and thoroughly enjoyed being a part of the research and display of exhibits.  I could list about a hundred more sites, but I'll be good!

Future visits:   Most of them are here in the USA.  I'll go out of my way to visit a national park or site!   But, if I need to choose, it'd be where Lewis and Clark reached the Pacific Ocean.  Or, Chaco Canyon to muse about the disapperance of the Anazasi.  Or, to any of the salt caverns in Europe.  Or, those sites along the "Trail of Tears."  Or,...

Past times:   Reading,  designing t-shirts,  maintaining an on-line store,  giving my little dog a hard time (he's such a card!),  learning to play the bodhran and guitar,  learning Spanish,  having better luck with a rock garden than growing actual plants.

Preferences:   Love the news shows!  I really appreciate the foreign news services because I can get a better picture of what's happening in the world than when I just listen to/watch the American sources.  As I am on the Internet just about everyday,  I have a really good list of favorite links at Honey Pot Links.   (Caution!   You might have to log in again if you navigate away from the profiles.)   I also spend a lot of time watching the History Channel, Turner Classic Movie Channel, Independent Film Channel, Sundance Channel, and Fox Movie Channel.

History movies:   Dances With Wolves,  Little Buddha,  Kundun,  Glory,  Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India,  The Mission

Something new learned:   I'm currently reading a book (Poplorica, Martin Smith and Patrick Kiger) where I'm learning about "kitsch," Georgeous George, the development of the air conditioner, how "thin" became popular, the rise of the perfect lawn, pantyhose, the electric guitar, and other very cool topics.

Last comments:   I'd like to finally get my archive of photos I've taken of different sites cataloged and installed on-line!

Capsule:   My students tease me about enjoying foreign movies that are subtitled ("reading" isn't their idea of relaxing).   I also get a kick out of telling people I make "pilgrmages" to what they think are odd places--like the Lowell, the Springfield (MA) Armory, the Pony Express terminus in Independence, MO, Uncle Sam's Grave, and Oregon Trail wheel ruts.