History Matters, part 2

History Matters, part 2

Hi folks -- after getting off to a great start at Notorious, PhD's place last Monday, the discussion of Judith Bennett's History Matters: Patriarchy and the Challenge of Feminism has moved to over to Historiann's blog. Come and join in the fun. Even if you haven't read the book, there's a lot of good discussion. And don't forget, next week, the conversation continues at Tenured Radical, and then here the week after!

That's Hedley

That's Hedley

There's a documentary on right now I'd really like to watch. Cinema's Exiles: From Hitler to Hollywood. I'd always known about people like Peter Lorre and Billy Wilder, but I hadn't realised just how many others had come over. Apparently, most of the cast of Casablanca, for example. And there's lots of interesting stuff on Ernst Lubitsch and how influential he was, really an important node in the network of emigrés and exiles. Must try to catch this sometime.

Medievalist Priorities?

Medievalist Priorities?

Just had one of those 'wow' moments. I'm being bored stiff by yet another piece of academic writing for this chapter dutifully reading another important article auf deutsch when I realise that I have read the same piece of information a couple of times in a couple of different ways. Do you know want Edmund E. Stengel was doing on March 12, 1944? He was giving a speech on the history of Fulda, in Fulda, to celebrate the 1200th anniversary of the founding of the monastery.

In March. 1944.

It's a really good reminder, I think, for all of us, especially those of us who teach. Horrible, world-wrenching things can be going on around us, and yet people do just get one with their work. Even historians.

Holocaust Tarot Deck -- Discuss

Holocaust Tarot Deck -- Discuss

I'm strangely calmly preparing for Monday. I'm pretty much on top of what I'm doing next week, although I have to do some review and put together some PowerPoints of maps and suchlike -- and write a couple of lecture outlines, but I feel very comfortable with knowing what's going on. Easing into the Methods class was a good choice. I have a draft of LDW's book to read and comment on, a postdoc app to write, a job app to start working on, and an article, a book proposal and a book review in the pipeline, plus a publisher in Germany to nag. So I may be a little in denial about how much I've got to do. I also have to start reviewing what I need to do for my T&P portfolio, because it's due in a year.

So I have little of interest to talk about concerning the Middle Ages. Instead, via Gill Polack, I bring you a set of Tarot cards created in the Allach concentration camp. I honestly couldn't look at all of them. They are strangely beautiful, though. Like Gill, I don't know enough about Tarot to understand why the particular images might appear on particular cards. But they seemed the kinds of things that smart people like you all might want to talk about. Me, I find the different layers of horror and belief fascinating, but haven't processed much farther than that. What do you think?