Footnoting History: Sisters (and Brothers) are Doing It for Themselves

I've been thinking - a dangerous past time, per Beauty and the Beast - and why not make my own podcast? Why wait for "Stuff You Missed in History Class" to realize how awesome I am? Plus, there's a lot of history to go around.

Realizing the amount of work that goes into this (they aren't using freelance writers for the heck of it!), I turned to some of my friends to see if they would be interested in starting a podcast series of some of our favorite stories from history and they are game. (More than game, but we like listening to ourselves talk).

Without further adieu, I give you Footnoting History, because the best stories are in the footnotes!

A weekly podcast will go live every Saturday, brought to you by a variety of historians and covering a plethora of topics! I, your fearless leader, will be giving the first one, titled "Lambert Simnel and Perkin Warbeck: Pretenders to the Throne? (Yes, yes, they were.)" and it will become available at noon ET on February 2, 2013 - Saturday (Groundhog's Day). Set your clocks!

More information, including a daily historical tidbit, is available on our facebook page and our twitter account (@HistoryFootnote).

If you have a topic or anecdote you always wanted to learn more about, put it in the comments and we'll see what we can do :)

My Campaign to work for Stuff You Missed in History Class

According to Oprah, if you want something you must put it out to the universe. So, universe, I want to work for Stuff You Missed in History Class.  As I detailed in my list of 'Plan B' options, it combines a great many things I love (research, the masses, education) and, to be honest, is now really my Plan A, but I'm still calling it a Plan B. (I get really attached to labels.)

Let's discuss the campaign:

1. Submitted CV and writing samples for freelance work. Have not heard back yet.

2. I am going to try and write up an account of some historical happening for this blog - albeit once a month as, you know, dissertation. Please let me know any suggestions you may have. I am going to try and limit to 1,000 words because, again, dissertation.

After discussing it with some other fans of the show and friends of mine, they had these suggestions:

3. Write really awesome comments on their site. Since their blog doesn't seem to have been updated since May, I will be focusing on FB.

4. Pitch awesome ideas. I'm not sure if this one should be limited to contacting them personally. Also, not sure if I should mention the campaign.

5. Try and find their emails to contact them personally about awesome ideas.

What do we think?

Universe?

What's My Plan B?

In my last post, I discussed the "adjuncting" life and why it might not be sustainable for me (and isn't sustainable for many). This issue is one that has been addressed in articles, such as "No More Plan B," which suggest that a PhD may lead not only to the academic/research route and that institutions of higher learning should start training their students for alternatives. Basically, (as many law school grads have found out in the past few years in their own field) there are lots of people holding doctorates and few available teaching positions.  Now, for those in the sciences, such as Bernadette from The Big Bang Theory, private companies come calling, but what of those of us in the liberal arts? I give you my own many plan B's:

1. Copy editor. Did you know I wrote "Become a professional copy editor" and, then, realized that it was too wordy and struck out three of them? Obviously, copy editor material. Plus, even though my grammar is not flawless, I must be better than a lot of people. I'm at least better than autocorrect. 

2. Paralegal. I did this job for a few years during and right after college. I could probably do it again.

3. Episcopal priest. Now, this position would require lots more schooling and I think I'd have to live away from home to go to seminary (none seem to be local), but I could be a copy editor or paralegal until the girls go off to college and, then, enroll. Also, I would need to convert.

4. Historical Fact-Checker for TV/Movies. I'm actually not very good at historical specifics, but I have a lot of friends who are and I think they'd help me if I went to them with a question. There is always google and wikipedia.

5. Stylist. I used to cut my friends' hair in college. One of them told me that when he became rich (direct quote about his post-graduation plans, "Fly like a rocket through the free-market economy") that he would bring me with him to keep his hair in shape. As far as I know, he has not become the next Richard Branson, so this path is also on hold.

6. Politician. Except I like people to like me. I am, however, very opinionated and always right.

7. Podcaster for What You Missed in History Class. I think I could get the NPR-like patter down. I actually sent in my resume and writing samples for a freelance writing gig for the parent program and we'll see if I hear back. If I'm being honest, which why not, this one is a true dream job, not just a Plan B.  I have long been a fan of Peter Laslett and his efforts to create the UK's Open University. I love the idea of making knowledge accessible to everyone. I throw it out to you, universe. Make it so.

The core issue here is passion. I was discussing this with my sister-in-law, who is a working actress, but is considering her options because acting doesn't provide a lot of stability or a steady paycheck, but we have both spent so long following our passions that it seems silly to shift out of gear now. So do I continue to adjunct in the hopes of landing a full-time teaching job at some point? Do I just cobble together lots of different part-time jobs once I have degree in hand? Do I hope that someone from How Stuff Works comes calling?

The Great Courses or First World Problems

I learned tonight that there is a company, which chooses some of the top professors in the world to record lectures and, then, sells these lectures. Now, I knew some schools did something similar - and often for free - and maybe it is the slick packaging, but I want many of the lectures sold by The Great Courses. No, no one paid me to say this, I have not received any copies of DVDs or CDs or digital downloads from this company and, as far as I know, I won't be. I just think it is super cool.

Here are probably the two things you need to know about me to understand why:

1. I love listening to old radio shows.  When I was little, one of my brothers received a set of audiotapes containing the story of the City of the Dead from the Adventures by Morse series. Not only did we have sleepovers listening to it (it was six hours long), but we also played it in the car during family trips to Florida.  Then, T and I had a long distance relationship for a number of years and I spent a good deal of my traveling time listening to a boxed set of Prairie Home Companion. Once I figured out iTunes, I downloaded classic radio shows, like anything with the Marx Brothers or the Great Gildersleeve or Abbott and Costello. One of my favorite holiday traditions is to listen to Stuart McLean's "Polly Andersen's Christmas at Home" from his Vinyl Cafe series and I downloaded many of his podcasts as well. I spent a good deal of time trying to get T to listen to these recordings whenever we took a long car ride together, but he wasn't as in to them, although he did appreciate the Car Talk CD I gave him after donating to a local NPR station.

"Dead men tell no tales ... especially after they've been incinerated!"

2. You might be saying, but, Mom in Progress, you are getting your doctorate - don't you think you need to step aside from academia in your free time? To which I say, "Radio Show!" except as a lecture about the year 1066. Now, these lectures could go one of three ways: (1) they are awesome and I love listening to them, (2) horribly boring, waste of money, (3) they are bad and I love mocking them.  Before moving and before children, my friends and I held "Medieval Movie Nights," where we would watch a, you guessed it, movie about the Middle Ages and we would mock it.  About a month before Q was born, my friends and I gathered to poke fun at the History Channel's miniseries about "The Dark Ages."  Ultimately, I feel like the odds are in my favor that owning these lectures would prove a positive experience.

The only trouble would be the cost (still in graduate school and CDs of lectures, no matter how entertaining, aren't really in the budget) and the fact that we don't take too many long car rides and, when we do, I'm now going to be up against T and Q. I assume, for the time being, that Z would roll with it. Maybe, when I start exercising (ha!), I can download them to my iPod?

Until then, a friend clued me in on the great (and free!) podcasts "Stuff You Missed in History Class." I listened to two today as the girls napped and I finished up holiday cards.

Anything you're really hankering for?