It's been a long time

I haven't written an academic paper since 2011, so it's quite a formidable task to gather sources, write citations, and assemble everything in a way that's easily digestible. I've been poring over old papers I'd written, MLA style journals, and as many other sources I can find, but it's still tough. The cool part is that I'm not bound by the expectations or schedule of a professor, but the flip side is that I have no specific rubric to adhere to. I'm quickly understanding how Dan Carlin's Hardcore History podcasts stretch to 8 hours or more: It's not just the topic at hand, it's all of the events around the topic at hand, the hows and the whys, and the greater historical context that gives your readers (his listeners) the best understanding. And, to reiterate my intro post, I'm simply looking for light, fun topics! I have no desire to write volumes on World War I, like Carlin does. I'm looking for something a little deeper than "Holland's worst-kept secret, the Itty Bitty Bar," but not too much deeper. And, that's the difference: Context.

In a classroom setting, you've got the context of the lesson plan. When I studied History Of The UP at Northern Michigan University, the one-page history digests that we wrote were presented in the context of the class. I needn't have gone into extreme depth explaining the whos, whys, and whens, as we'd already covered all of that. All I needed to present to my professor and classmates were the hows and the whats. But, with this blog, I myself am learning quite a bit, so I need to assemble who, what, when, where, why, and how for myself.

Hang tight, actual content is forthcoming as soon as I can get it wrapped up.

Comments

Junk Food Review: Chocolatey Payday.

I saw an ad on my Instagram page for a chocolate-covered Payday bar. Jokingly, I took a screenshot, and posted it on my stories asking the question "Isn't this just a Baby Ruth?" A friend responded by saying that no, a Baby Ruth is peanuts surrounding caramel and chocolate-flavored nougat; the chocolate-covered Payday is peanuts in caramel-flavored nougat, dipped in chocolate. Now, candy bars are made from a few common ingredients: Chocolate, peanuts, nougat, and caramel. Chocolate and nougat is something like a 3 Musketeers. Chocolate, nougat, and caramel is something like a Milky Way. All 4 makes a Snickers bar. Chocolate and Peanuts is a Mr. Goodbar. Chocolate and caramel is either a Caramello or a type of Milky Way. Peanuts and caramel (no chocolate) is a Payday. And, chocolate, peanuts, and caramel led to the confusion that took me down the road to writing this article in the first place. I did what any sane person w...

The Eddie Bentz Bank Robbery

Prohibition is one of the most storied periods in American history. Urban myths and legends abound nationwide, with tales of folk heroes like Al Capone, Babyface Nelson, and John Dillinger. Tall tales are woven around organized crime, wild bootleggers, underground saloons, and well-dressed gangsters. There's something uniquely American about the DIY ethos of taking matters into your own hands, making illegal alcohol, and selling it through clandestine channels; stickin' it to the man like those in the illegal alcohol industry did. These stories are immortalized in movies like The Road To Perdition and Public Enemies, as well as TV series like HBO's Boardwalk Empire and, well, PBS's Prohibition. Many lakeshore towns in Western Michigan have tales of organized crime and bootlegging. Easy access to Lake Michigan meant that bootleggers had easy access to boat routes, safely out of reach of authorities. Booze was funneled in from Canada, then taken by boat to cities all aro...

What's The Deal With Charlie's Dump?

Charlie's Dump, the Georgetown Soccer Bowl, and Rosewood Park all describe the same common area in Jenison, Michigan, at the northeast corner of 20th Ave. and Rosewood St. It's, simply put, a giant pit surrounded by residential subdivisions (and lately, a nice playground). It was our local sledding hill. It was where we'd go in the winters. Every year, it seemed, one kid would come to school with a broken arm. There were low-key "gangs" that would push and shove you if you went down the wrong side of the 4-sided structure. And, late at nights, the bad kids (you know, the ones who would smoke cigarettes underneath the Rush Creek bridge on 12th Ave. or ride BMX bikes behind the Pizza Hut on Baldwin) would tip over the port-a-potties and push them down the hill. Starting at the rim and going down the hill, there's a bump about halfway down that served as a launch ramp for kids on sleds. The really cool kids could manipulate their sleds mid-air, doi...

Tulip City Dispatch

Search This Blog