Three Things Thursday: Teaching, Reading, and Writing

This semester will be pretty hectic and I’m trying to maintain realistic expectations on what I can accomplish outside of keeping on top of my classes. My hope is that a certain amount of mindfulness will keep my expectations in check and allow me to continue to focus on what’s in front of me and temper my aspirational anxieties.

Thing the First

I’m teaching three new preps this semester: a new version of History 240: The Historians Craft, a new version of History 301: Medieval Civilization, and a dozen students in a practicum in editing and publishing. So far, the students have been amazing and even when the class hasn’t quite gone as planned, they understand that I’m doing the best that I can and that everything is a work in progress.

So far, my students in History 240 are doing a great job with some challenging readings. Today they face readings by Edward Said and David Armitage, and I’m guardedly optimistic. The students in my Medieval class face Eusebius’s Life of Constantine.

Thing the Second

I continue to struggle to find time to do research reading even though I have the immense good fortune to find time to read almost daily. This month, I’ve been reading contributions to the next issue of NDQ, a book manuscript for The Digital Press, readings for class, and to odd article.

What I want to finish is José V. Pimienta-Bey, Othello’s Children in the “New World”: Moorish History & Identity In The African American Experience (2002). This book is a reading of “Moorish” identity through the lens of a member of the Moorish Science Temple and a Ph.D. in African American Studies at Temple. This book will contribute to my work on Black pseudoarchaeology which continues to take on a more clear shape in my head even as I struggle to find time to read.

Thing the Third

The elephant in the room is the second volume of the PKAP series. As readers of this blog know, it’s nearly done. In fact, we’re now only waiting on one last chapter, some citation formatting, and the figures. To my mind, this is the lowest form of “writing,” but it nevertheless vital to producing a final manuscript.

I’m also getting excited to write something up that uses our ongoing efforts to digitize census data from Grand Forks, North Dakota. Just yesterday, I learned that the team at the University of Richmond had digitized the redlining maps for Grand Forks, ND. This not only provides us with a 1930 cadastral map, but also a lens through which to understanding the census data in the city. This will be particularly significant for understanding the city’s 1960s effort to enact urban renewal, which is an ongoing project.

In short, stay tuned.