Big news from the world of history...

Today marks the 20th anniversary of the Chinese government's response to the Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests and hunger strikes.



Today will no doubt go down as an historic day for other reasons as well.  President Obama became the first United States president to address the Muslim world.  Hopefully his ( Read more... )

We arrived in DC after about six hours of open road driving, got lost, but in so doing managed to escape the horrors of the subway, and swam upstream with the raging current of humanity to the Mall by about 7:00AM

Though the weather was cold, our spirits were high!  We were excited to usher in a new era of hope and possibility for our great nation.

( Read more... )

I'm very excited, I'll be leaving Long Island this eveningaround 11 PM with four of my colleagues, and fifty students to drive down to DC and witness Obama's inauguration tomorrow.

I'm very excited.  As a student of history, I cannot explain how totally jazzed I am to be able to actually be a part of history rather than studying it.  And to be able ( Read more... )

This is a cross-posting of my many thanks to the people who helped make this year's Mid Winetr Feast a success.

( Read more... )

My tenth grade AP World History students and I have embarked on an exciting endeavor.  We are working with Invisible Children to build a school in northern Uganda.

We have a little over a month to raise our funds, but they are hard at work planning events like a winter walk-a-thon, and a screening of the Invisible Children Rough Cut.

Invisible ( Read more... )

This message is for all of you with small children,

Mattel has issued a really bg recall of toys whose paint has a very high lead content.  If you have children, please check this link and make sure that all of their Mattel toys are safe.

http://service.mattel.com/us/recall/default.asp?recall_id=52430

Please check, many of these toys are popular ( Read more... )

Let's keep in mind the people for whom the struggle for a life free from terror, and war is still just a dream...

...and lets remember that one person can make a difference!

Mohandas Gandhi, Lech Walesa, Benjamin Franklin, Mother Theresa, Aung San Su ( Read more... )

I think it is time for us to voice our opinions, take a stand, let the people in charge know that genocide is not something we can tolerate, not even when it is occurring on the other side of the world.

The situation in Sudan is growing appallingly worse every day.  The fragile truce that had been negotiated seems to have deteriorated.  The ( Read more... )

These are the things that go through my mind...

It is funny how similar Ivan the Terrible and Peter the Great were.

Both inherited the throne at a rather young age
Both saw family members killed as a result of palace intrigues
Neither liked to have his authority questioned
Both fought wars against the Swedes
Both killed their heirs
Both died without heirs ( Read more... )

I've been reading a lot of work by the Philosophes of late, and I find myself wondering where we've gone wrong as a society.

Tolerance, equality, liberty, all falling to the wayside in the name of security.  Are these to be the times that try men's souls?

Why is it that we can look critically at the past, but not the present.  Why do we loose the ( Read more... )