Whig Hill

things and stuff

I had a long post written up about academic conversations, public history, reading books, anxiety, and my heart, but decided it was obtuse, obnoxious, poorly written, and unclear, so I'm sparing you. Lucky you.

Feeling better. The fever went away last weekend but I had headaches most of this week and felt altogether lethargic. In fact, today is the first day I've really had any energy. This is the third time I've had a debilitating fever since I got diabetes. Before that, I never got sick. Diabetes compromises the immune system like that. Bike riding is the best thing yet I've found to combat the blood sugar levels. But life has conspired keep me off the road for the last six weeks. Three weeks ago, the front tire blowed up real good and I took it to the Bicycle Chain for a fix. They said a week for the parts. It's been two and a half weeks now and I went in this morning and they had no record of my order. New order and another four or five days. Infuriating. Every time I go in there I feel like they're condescending to me. Assholes.

I'm half way through a two week teaching workshop at GTCC. Learning all about active learning, collaborative learning, and all the other current trends. This is tedious. Mostly because I have to drive to Jamestown, North Carolina every day. I do have a place in Greensboro and will be moving in on August 7. Until then, I've been packing slowly, throwing away lots of stuff, and had a pretty successful yard sale last weekend.

Alright. I play this song quite often on the radio. I'd like the SOC Rovers to play it, but I think the euphonium and trombone players would probably hate me. I don't want them to hate me.

	Fanfare Ciocarlia - Asfalt tango
	Found at skreemr.com

this is cool

This came from the Nasher:

The Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University is seeking talented writers to contribute to its blog site. Blog posts will focus on subjects including Nasher Museum exhibitions and programs, visual and performing arts, new media, design, film, music and more. We are looking for writers who will volunteer their personal perspective on what’s exciting in the art world in North Carolina and beyond. Nasher Museum Blog writers will receive a complimentary membership to the museum.

For consideration, please submit a current CV and a 500-word writing sample or links to current writings and blogs to [email protected]

This is freakin' awesome. They're doing it right. If I wasn't moving from Durham and leaving the museum field, I'd be all over this.

Sick

Came down with a fever Monday afternoon and I've been laid up pretty bad since. Went to the doctor today and he couldn't pin it down. Not flu, not bacterial menengitis. Said fevers and headaches this time of year usually mean Rocky Mountain spotted fever. At this point, I've only got half the symptoms (no rash), but those could still develop. We'll see. So I'm on an antibiotic and haven't eaten or slept for two days. This sucks. Lizzie doesn't like it either. She's barely been outside and was up on the bed trying to dig me out from the covers earlier. That would have been funny and cute except  it kind of hurt. Doctor said I can expect a couple more days of this.

	Two Gallants - despite what you've been told
	Found at skreemr.com

Actual News

Well, here goes: I can’t have a foot in both worlds. I need to devote everything I have to school and a new career. So I’m leaving my current job, taking a temporary teaching position at a community college in Guilford County, and moving to Greensboro. I’m happy about the first two, but am distraught about leaving Durham. In fact, the anxiety about this transition has been giving me some real bad days lately. But it’s getting better.

Anyhow, I’m still looking for a place in G’boro and it’s not so easy when you have requirements like cheap rent, not a dump, first floor or no stairs, takes dogs, nearby Lizzie-walking areas, and within bike riding distance of one of my two schools. I’ll be making the move sometime between July 18 and August 8. If you have any leads on apartments or houses, let me know.

God, I love this stuff

"One purpose of Before Jim Crow is to demonstrate the analytic impossibility of isolating “politics” from these other “social” realms. This emphasis on the futility of distinguishing political and social concerns represents more than simply a desire to blend the insights of social and political history. A central theme of this book is the instability of social categories. By this I mean first the difficulty of pinpointing the boundaries between such categories as political identity, gender identity, and racial identity. But more important, in pointing out the instability of social, political, and cultural categories in Readjuster Virginia I mean to mark the points at which one category (say, partisan identity) cannot be constituted except through another (for example, racial identity). Rather than simply juxtaposing categories such as race, class, and gender, I try in this book to uncover and explain the dynamic interrelations among categories and to underscore the reliance of any one on a variety of others for definition and formulation within a particular setting."

out with the redneck pig old men

bye-bye, jesse h.

	Sonic Youth - Chapel Hill
	Found at skreemr.com

No reason for this

The subject of Tom T. Hall came up earlier...

	Tom T. Hall - That's How I Got To Memphis
	Found at skreemr.com

weekend

So I went to my first cw event in a long time last weekend. Gettysburg. Better than I thought for a variety of reasons. Good to see and catch up with friends, especially the old Virginia pards. The event itself was routine, the fights average to suck. (My philosophical friend TTH said Sunday's scenario "made my penis soft". It was terrible.) The  neatest thing was--while forming up for Saturday evening's fight--a vicious storm front moved in. First the darkness, then the howling winds through the trees; down the line you could hear other re-enactors hooting and yelping and as soon as the rain hit us, we started in with the same noise. That was cool.

This was the first time I've been "in the field" in full campaigner mode with the diabetes. I was certain there would be trouble, but actually, I didn't have any trouble at all. I sweated my ass off and, because I haven't ridden the bike in a month, stretched and stiffened every muscle in my body. And I'm amazed I emerged unscathed by poison ivy, because that stuff was everywhere.

So I was back on the bike today and rode six miles. Got to be ready for the next one.

Nina Simon sums it up for museums

The internet sure is breaking out in some good stuff for museums these days. What Nina Simon just posted about museums in the 21st Century is about the most cogent and compact articulation of many of the problems, opportunities, and trends facing us these days. Many of my friends and colleagues and I talk about these things all the time but many of the institutions we all work for simply do not even recognize these issues, let alone discuss them. Sigh.

The popular option at this time is to try to beat the experiential competition and ignore the Web-based cultural shift*. This translates to higher ticket prices, more blockbuster exhibitions, and less community engagement. I contend that we will be more successful, and tremendously more interesting, if we take another path.

A path that will lead to...

a safe, comfortable live venue for discourse about content...The people who congregate on the Web to talk about books and artifacts are looking for places to meet in person, and we should welcome them. They want expert support, and we can provide it. They want to sit on couches and make noise at 9pm, and we should offer that. They want to make and share videos and stories and exhibits about our assets, and we should assist and reward them. We can consciously create platforms that enable broad, meaningful engagement —excellence and equity—and transform our visitors into ardent, active users.

That's a wonderful vision, isn't it?

*The "Web-based" here is integral to understanding it, but main point is that there is a "cultural shift" happening.