Category: Culture
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Remembering the Pioneer: Neil Armstrong
I’m enjoying a quite Sunday morning sipping a few mugs of well-prepared, freshly ground coffee. This follows an already satisfying early weekend and restful night. My mood, however, is rightfully tempered by yesterday’s passing of Neil Armstrong who was very much a part of my boyhood. Born in 1961, the year both the USSR and…
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Critical Thinking, History and Dissent
In these days where skills not readily measured by standardized tests are under-taught, teaching critical thinking skills has become something of a subversive act. Still, dedicated teachers know the importance of developing such skills among their charges. One of the most engaging means of taking history students to the levels of evaluation and synthesis is…
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The Faults of Others
Officially, I’ve been a volunteer guide at the Levi Coffin House State Historical Site since 1974. I tagged along with my mother who was one of the original guides for the site and then our Scout Troop began diligently manning one or two rooms as docents of which I was a regular volunteer. The house…
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Starting Out
Growing up where I did, I find it hard to imagine that I wouldn’t be deeply drawn to American History, and yet, few others who shared the same geographic circumstances of my childhood are similarly inclined. I was surrounded by physical reminders of some of our nation’s earliest and most significant developments and those places…