History and My Story

Just a heads up that any comment that does not list the student’s name will be immediately deleted. Also any student comment that links to a URL will be deleted as well. This is a popular function on blog sites….people promote their own blogs by posting on other people’s blogs. Readers will [...]

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Kevin White sent me the link to this video.  It is from a 1995 performance by U2 and Luciano Pavarotti, the Italian opera singer who died this past September.  Back in 1995 Sarajevo was still under seige in the 3-way tug of war that was ultimately reconciled by the Dayton Accords which forced power sharing [...]

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Very happy for Jon Lester…although I had intended to correct essays while watching the Red Sox, but couldn’t concentrate when Lester was pitching.  It’s nice that he will be known for something other than “the guy who had cancer.”  I also haven’t been paying attention to the Red Sox yet this season….when they started I [...]

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This is just for fun, but appropriate since we are discussing the 9os in class this week.   It is amazing to think of all the technology that has developed since you, my students, were born.  Here is a spoof of what the TV show 24 would have looked like if it took place 14 years [...]

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One of our key terms has been in the news over the past few days.  It all started Thursday when President Bush spoke before the Israeli Parliament, known as the Knesset, on the 60th anniversary of the founding of Israel.  Here is what the President said:

Most people who heard the speech believed that Bush was [...]

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Today my darling Nora is 5.  To me 5 is the most perfect age.  As you know I’m raising 4 children ages 1-13 and I teach high school.  So I’ve had a lot of experience with the different ages and stages children go through and 5 to me is just perfect.  When they are 5 [...]

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While most people don’t expect a lot of change…remember you learned in class that Boris Yeltsin was once considered Mikhail Gorbachev’s protégé.  Vladimir Putin was Yeltsin’s protégé once upon a time.  History is unpredictable.
Video:Here is a link to today’s ceremony.  Not sure how to embed this because it came from BBC and not YouTube…feel free [...]

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  Here is a link to a webpage about this little girl and her famous letter to Yuri Andropov and his response.
Nightline covered her letter in 1985:

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Here is Hillary Clinton on the campaign trail talking about terms that you will see on your final exam….since you now know what she is talking about (you know, because you have taken my class) do you agree with the points she is trying to make? How are each of the terms above referenced in [...]

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Today is Cinco de Mayo and knowing my students they will try their hardest to get me off-topic and into a long discussion of the meaning of this holiday—and if they are skilled at the art of getting a teacher very OT, into a discussion of the perils of binge drinking.  One of the benefits of [...]

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