Indeed, I realize it as been months since I last posted, but I’ve had an incredibly productive and educational summer. Here are the highlights that I hope to expound upon more in the future:
– I had 3 summer courses, which finished up my coursework portion for my PhD program!! I took 2 Advanced projects and an interdisciplinary education course.
– I traveled. A LOT. Highlights include:
– Los Angeles, CA – I went to the Getty Villa in Malibu – I have a review all written up in my head, and hopefully my more structured fall schedule will allow me to write more about it.
– Las Vegas, Nevada – It was Vegas! I also took time to look at several ancient/world history related things (Luxor, Caesar’s Palace, Forum Shops) in relation to Margaret Malamud’s article about the use of history in unusual settings. Again, I have all kinds of thoughts and pictures from this and hope to share those this fall as well.
– Toronto & Niagara Falls, Ontario – Part of an advanced projects in public history and cultural geography. I developed a walking tour of Toronto, and I assure you I put the leg-work in to that project. I will post it here soon, and I hope that anyone reading this enjoys walking approximately 25-30 miles over two days as much as I did.
– I worked as interim education coordinator for the best historic site with the absolute best staff and most incredible boss and coworkers for most of the summer. I learned lots and got some great projects out of it. I also got to meet a baby goat, Snickers.
– Perhaps most exciting (yes, even more so than LA and Vegas AND the baby goat) was passing both my written and oral PhD Qualifyinf exams this week! I am officially a resident now.
– Which leads me to the next exciting thing… I’ve been preparing to teach my first very own class this fall – World Civ 1. I’ve put a lot in to it, and I think it’s going to be fun! Next semester I will teach Explorations in Public History for my 2nd residency semester, and I already have a million ideas to mull through for that class.
Hope this post explains my absence to some extent! I plan to post more regularly throughout the school year as I have done in the past. I have a ton of material to talk about from the summer, and I am positive that the residency year will provide plenty of fodder for the blogging machine as well. Also look for plenty of portfolio and CV updates full of my summer work!
Teaching begins tomorrow…. send us all the best of wishes (and a prayer for finding a parking space)!
Katie Stringer Clary, PhD 