A honeymoon hiatus

This weekend I am getting married. The next three weeks I will be on my honeymoon in Tahiti and Moorea. As a result the blog will be on a bit of a hiatus.

It is temporary, however! When I come back there will be a renewed effort as I have decided to devote myself, full-time, to writing. This means a much greater engagement in the blog and social media.

I have a couple of projects in the works and cannot wait to share my research and experiences in my quest to brush off the dust of more history now!

Erika Franz, M.A.
"Tell me and I forget, teach me and I remember, involve me and I learn."
~Benjamin Franklin
erikafranz.wordpress.com

1987 NFL replacement players – a generation of fans doesn’t know about them, but to the players, it doesn’t matter. They’re part of history. – ESPN

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=6642330&ex_cid=MyESPNToday_TopStory

As we reflect on the arbitration and whether or not we’ll have an NFL season, an NBA season or an NHL season, ESPN invites us to reflect on the lucky few, the scabs, the would-be pros who filled in for the likes of Dan Marino (so he could wear a really awful shirt).

It is an interesting reflection, like the USFL, on the players who don’t make it pro and what life they lead.

Another really interesting refection on this side of sports–the side and the players that history forgets–is the film, Pelada.  A reflection on the world’s soccer players who didn’t play pro.

Visualizing Early Washington: A Digital Reconstruction of the Capital ca. 1814

YouTube – Visualizing Early Washington: A Digital Reconstruction of the Capital ca. 1814.

Above is a trailer, if you will, for an extraordinary masterpiece in historical imaging technology.  University of Maryland, Baltimore County’s Imaging Research Center (IRC) has existed since 1987 with the goal of exploring and expanding the possibilities imaging technology.  In a multi-disciplinarian collaboration with historians, geographers and cartographers, and thousands of IRC man-hours produced a program that allows one to view the fledgling Capital City and surrounding horizons for the first time with accurate topography and approximate buildings and farm lands, based on available sources, circa 1814.  For those of you a little rusty on your American History, this means we get a view of the city as the British would have seen Washington DC when they set fire to the capital and the White House during the War of 1812.

This is the exciting kind of collaborative project perfect for the university community, but possible even if to a lesser extent at other stages of education.  Not only does it offer students the opportunity to model professional collaboration–indeed, sometimes to participate in professional collaboration–it expands minds to what is possible in a multi-disciplinary approach.  In other words, it is good for academic fields, professionals, students and institutions!

VERY COOL!!