Historian, Writer, and Educator
I am addicted to podcasts. Much like the earlier 2000s were the golden age of blogging, it seems that today we are living in a golden age of audio. Podcasts crept into my life very unassumingly. I can’t even name the first one I ever listened to. But like the Netflix-induced binging of television series …
Continue reading "Five on a Friday: Podcasts for a Varied Life"
You may have noticed that things have been rather silent on the blog front lately. While not intentional, this silence has mostly been the by-product of a very busy year so far. So many good things are happening, but many of those things have needed lots of attention. After another packed teaching semester in the …
Continue reading "Hello from the other side … of summer research"
In our digital age, the contagion metaphor is often part of the language we use regarding the exchange of information. The most popular videos go “viral” online. We share culturally-relevant "memes" via social media that spread like the common cold. But such metaphors are nothing new, especially when applied to migration. As medical knowledge developed in …
Continue reading "Emigration as Epidemic: Perspectives on the Eighteenth-Century Scottish Highlands"
I am a reader. Since I was very young, I’ve had an affinity for libraries, for the smell of books, the crispness of their pages, and the music made by the words inside. As a historian, my career as a scholar compels me to read - both widely and deeply - in order to understand …
On a stifling, late summer evening in September, I sat with my family in my parents’ living room in the wake of Hurricane Florence. We had been without electricity for nearly a week. Windows were raised in an effort to take advantage of any breeze, light traffic on the main road nearby and evening insects …
