I'm always interested in reactions to particular facts about my historical figures and topics. With a new topic like Thomas Jefferson, I'm doubly curious. Here's what they visibly and audibly reacted to--- Jefferson liked to hum or sing to himself. By all accounts, whenever you met Jefferson on the street, his estate, in his house, and so forth, nine times out of ten he would be softly humming or … [Read more...]
April 21, 2011 by
April 15, 2011 by
I found a news story that didn’t make much of a splash. A professor of disaster planning at Tohoku University in Japan commented recently that research shows “it takes about three generations of people to forget.” Professor Fumihiko Imamura was referring to the communities affected by the Japanese earthquake and tsunami earlier this spring. After three generations, people forget or lose track of … [Read more...]
April 15, 2011 by
The Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 is one of my newer modules. And as so often happens, I encounter something that is quite surprising in the process of researching and delivering the session. Just so you know, the quick summary of the event is that the Soviet Union moved nuclear missiles secretly to Cuba. The move placed hostile weapons at the hands of clear U.S. adversaries within easy reach of … [Read more...]
April 13, 2011 by
Think history is a field of dispute for buffs, re-enactors, and History Channel freaks? Think again. Huge money can be involved. Just look at the ongoing conflict over the people involved in one way or another with the start-up and launch of Facebook. They're arguing over who did what to whom and when--at stake are millions and billions of dollars and an equivalent amount of pride. They're … [Read more...]
April 5, 2011 by
Walk the talk--that's a cliched way of saying that your decisions should be reflected in your actions. I also think that the way in which you express this link or connection is very important. Eleanor Roosevelt's slamming down of that folding metal chair in the middle aisle echoed in more ways than one. She let everyone know where she stood. She also was doing what she could do; she had no formal … [Read more...]
March 30, 2011 by
A wonderful thing about self-employment is creativity. You think about doing it, and then you do it. That's exactly what will happen soon with the front page of my website. As of now, along the bottom of the front page you'll see a handful of images. Click on each image and you'll hear a short audio clip from me. I want to change that. So, I'm convening a meeting of Historical Solutions LLC to … [Read more...]
March 30, 2011 by
My river analogy has a new current. I've said before that A is when you begin a career or school. Z is the end point, your departure, graduation, termination, or whatever else completes the experience. For that matter, A can be the start of anything and Z its end; in between A and Z the River flows with all sorts of changes and continuities mixed and mingled. In your life overall, all of these … [Read more...]
March 30, 2011 by
As I've written elsewhere, my presentation on generational differences was warmly received. Since then, I've given more thought as to the effect of generatioalism on teams. Think of the teams in your organization, or the team of which you're a part. What does it mean for the team leader if he or she is a member of a particular generation? What does it mean if he or she belongs to one of the five … [Read more...]
March 18, 2011 by
Jack Boylston was the five-year old son of Dr. Zadbiel Boylston. The elder Boylston was a devoted and loving father. I can scarcely imagine what it must have been like to watch his son wince with the process of inoculation and not knowing whether he would live or die as a result of what I, as his parent, was doing to him. Think of looking into the face of your child as you cut the little arm, rub … [Read more...]
March 18, 2011 by
I debated and debated about building one of my videos from the recent and current disaster in Japan. You probably have received it by now, so you know the outcome--I did it. My hope is that the video doesn't come off as exploitative or some version of know-it-all, armchair quarterbacking. I do think the point is worthwhile about the scale of the 1721 smallpox epidemic overlaid on our current … [Read more...]
