Winter Graduation, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA 21 December 2016The moment I received my MA in my hand will always be one I cherish. It was in that moment that I knew I was satisfied with the decision I made to pursue history as my career.H… — **Winter Graduation, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA**
**21 December 2016**
*The moment I received my MA in my hand will always be one I cherish. It was in that moment that I knew I was satisfied with the decision I made to pursue history as my career.*
*Have I regretted it? Not even for a second.*

You’re probably wondering what the purpose of this website is. To be honest, I still haven’t figured it out yet myself. I suppose I can say this has always been an idea of mine - to write about my exploits as an amateur historian since…well, my sophomore year of college.

I was required to take an Informational Technology course as a fulfillment of the general education requirements at George Mason University. I wasn’t looking forward to taking the course everyone seemed to complain about. I heard many humanities majors struggled with the course work, but I also knew it had to be done.

Thank goodness for the Center for History and New Media (CHNM). That year, the CHNM decided to offer a “humanities-friendly” IT course that would meet the requirements for the IT credit. Another bonus? It also offered me upper-level history elective credit. I enrolled as a student of this first course - HIST 390: The Digital Past. I spent my spring semester learning about how one could successfully pursue a degree in history thanks to a growing technological age. History, for those of you who believe it to be a “useless” major, will only continue to come alive thanks to the innovations the historians at the CHNM have created.

(Just saying - Zotero rocks! Digital humanities are a thing - and they are here to stay!)

I enjoyed my time in that course. It was challenging, but I loved bringing the past and the future together to question the role of history in our “modern” era. The digital humanities will thrive because of our willingness to adapt and use technology to benefit our research.

(Another bonus: we didn’t have to pay a dime for a textbook. Everything was available as a free resource!)

A requirement of the program was to create a blog via WordPress. We didn’t have to pay for a premium account - the freebie one would be enough for the course. We had to post weekly blogs about whatever the topic was on the syllabus. The blog would eventually feature our final research project - whatever historical topic we wanted to pursue. What kinds of preservation paths would we take to archive our research? What sorts of digital innovations (Google Earth, Daytum, SlideShare) would we use to present our findings?

So, I suppose this website is my way of continuing a preservation path - but now, I don’t have to do it for a grade. I have numerous historical interests. I teach it at the college level, I want to teach it at my middle school, and I hope to eventually go back and pursue a PhD. I love to talk about it, so why not feature it here? I’d like to offer online editing services too; anyone needing help with Turabian citations? I’m your girl. Want a suggestion on a new historical book? Ask me. Debating whether or not to pursue history? Needing questions about the application process for a graduate degree? I lived it, breathed it, and was criticized for it: trust me, I’ve got advice.

I invite you to drop me a line with any ideas you might have for me to feature…or any questions you have. All I can say is: I’ll do my best to answer them.

Until then…

Many happy returns,

-Kate