Fanny Fern and the New York Ledger: 1856-1857 explores one of the most successful periods in the career of Fanny Fern, who in the mid-nineteenth century became the highest-paid newspaper columnist in the United States, writing for the widest-circulated publication of its day.
“…So, if the simple folk truly “sit around and wonder what Royal [or at least genteel] folk would do,” then Wood, with Bailyn’s help, and Bushman have painted a convincing picture of American identity…”
Calling Jenny, or My Blogging Reservations
I feel like I’m in ninth grade. I pick up the phone to call Jenny, the upperclassman who I’m “hardcore crushing on” (ninth grade Jake’s words). As I dial each number and my finger hovers over the final digit of her phone number I think of all the things that could go wrong. Perhaps I’ll stammer myself into a near-immediate awkward silence. When I tell her who’s calling maybe she’ll insist that she knows nobody by that name. With these awful possibilities in mind, I hang up the phone without making the call.
This sad but true story from my high school experience resembles my first attempts at blogging. Each time I set up my blog, I sit with the “new post” screen open and think about what I want to write. Possibly more important, I consider what other people in history or, more broadly, the humanities want to read. And like Jenny who never got to talk to me, you never get to read me—until now.
While I’ve gotten over the first-post hurdle, content and consistency still concern me (though, I have alliteration pretty much covered). I’m not certain what I am going to write about as I straddle the fine line, or vast chasm, between professional academia and the personal, academic blog. Growing out of this concern, once I figure out what to write, how will I gather the discipline to write with any regularity? These are the insecurities I carry into the blogosphere. So, while I work through my early reservations, enjoy this blog that tentatively deals with cultural and gender history whether the next post is in one week or one year.
