Why I love History….

The reason I love history is that our understanding of the past is always changing.   This discipline offers the opportunity to reveal new characters, twists and turns, tragedy and successes if you are willing to search for the ‘hidden figures’ and agents who were part of these stories.   My childhood was spent in New England and Puerto Rico and in both places I could feel the weight of history.   My New Hampshire house was a two hundred year-old farm house with no heat in the upstairs.   The upstairs ceilings were only seven feet tall too!   Generations of farmers had harvested fruit from the orchards and trout from its ponds.  Across from the farmhouse is a Christmas tree farm and families have come to the farm for many generations to claim and cut their tree and establish new Christmas memories with their families.   I love local history!  When I vacationed in Puerto Rico to visit my mom’s family, the streets and fortresses of San Juan reminded me that generations of people had lived, worked and died all around me contributing known and unknown stories.  I always felt and still feel today that if I think and work hard enough, I can find some of the unknown stories and bring them to light.   I cannot wait to see what unknown stories will be illuminated by the students of this class.