Inspiring Excitement and Passion about History and the Humanities
Many of you know that I geek out on Renaissance English History. I still have a “bucket list” to do to get an advanced degree in it, but for now, I do what I can with books and travel. If you haven’t checked out my Renaissance English History Podcast yet, please do. And tell a…
On Tuesday of this week we went to our pediatrician’s office to pick up paperwork for Hannah’s labs, which we needed to get done before her appointment next week (I lagged on doing them and then lost the paperwork – typical me). Instead of the calm doctor’s office, things were really somber, and they were…
I’ve said before that I’ve been clearing out my physical books the past few years; it’s my goal to eventually have my library only on my kindle, because then, when we move, I can just pack all my books in one teeny tiny box. I’m down to about 2-3 shelves, and working my way through them….
I lived for several years in the UK, and it’s still one of my favorite places where I spend much of my time. Some of my dearest friends are in London, along with some of the most special and meaningful spots for me. One of those places is Glastonbury, which is a mystical new-agey sort…
Personal share here: My dad is from formerly East Germany – Leipzig – and came to the US when he was a teenager in the 1950’s. By the time I was born, in the 70’s, he had stopped speaking German very much other than when he was having an argument with my grandmother. I grew…
If any of you are into early music, and you have sirius radio, there is a wonderful program called The Millennium of Music, on Symphony Hall, channel 76, at 11am eastern/8am pacific on Sunday mornings. I generally catch it in snippets when I’m on my way to walk Hannah at the lake. The host, Robert…
Recently I read a book about Ernest Shackelton’s Endurance journey to Antarctica, which started out as the first expedition planned to cross the entire continent, but wound up instead trapped in pack ice when barely starting out. After spending nearly a year drifting in a giant circle with the tide in the Weddell Sea, in a fair…
I’ve talked a lot about the Old Music I love – the English choral evensong tradition, and Renaissance polyphony from the Flemish composers like Gombert, and even the Grandaddy of them all, Palestrina. But what many casual choral enthusiasts don’t realize is that there is a huge upsurge in amazing choral music being composed now…
Because I spend a lot of time reading online publishing news, I kind of thought everyone’s heard about Oyster and Scribd, the two main ebook subscription services. I was recently reminded that most people don’t have their head stuck in digital publishing news the way I do, so I thought I’d talk about them here….
In my quest to turn my library completely digital and get rid of all my paper books, I’m finally catching up on some of the books that have been on my shelf for years, and one of those “finally” books is Hildegard of Bingen: The Woman of Her Age by Fiona Maddocks. There’s a theme…