Was She Or Wasn’t She?

If you’ve been hanging out in the on-line places where history and science–and, occasionally, the history of science–intersect over the last week or so,* you’ve read articles with tiles that are variations on “a female Viking warrior confirmed by genomics”–the title of the scholarly article that first appeared in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology…

Read More

The Blackbird Sings

Several weeks ago My Own True Love and I had the pleasure of hearing a musician* play the oud and talk about its role in the multi-cultural mixing pot that was Islamic Spain. I sat and nodded my head in agreement as he talked about the spread of the oud through the Islamic world, and…

Read More

In which I get a sneak peak at Ken Burn’s The Vietnam War

Last night I accompanied my friend Scottie Kersta-Wilson–writer and artist-extraordinaire–to hear Ken Burns talk about his new series The Vietnam War, which will air on September 17 on your local PBS station.* Burns is an appealing speaker. It was fascinating to hear how his team works to tell a story. The depth of the research.…

Read More