first impressions

As someone who has, to put it lightly, uhh…unusual tastes in the history I study, I have struggled to find a “better half" who will tolerate my quirky interests. Here’s an example if you’re wondering what I mean by “quirky.” My mom and I were talking about weddings and cliché proposals. I said that I would absolutely hate it if my boyfriend (we’re talking imaginary here - as if that’s going to happen any time soon) proposed to me on Valentine’s Day, my birthday, Christmas, or New Year’s Eve. So, she then asked me what my ideal proposal scenario would be.

Without missing a beat, I said, “June 6th, the Normandy beaches, preferably on the Omaha or Utah sector.”

Then she dared to ask what day the actual wedding would occur on.

Again, without missing a beat:

“May 8th of the following year, to commemorate Victory in Europe Day…and grandma’s birthday.”

I’d really need to find the right man to make that happen. The right man who would just get me enough to make those scenarios happen. Someone who wouldn’t be afraid to take my quirkiness on, but accept and love me for it. I could be wrong, but I doubt there’s a man out there who would do all that for me…just to make me happy. Now you’re probably wondering, my goodness, are all of these posts going to deal with sappiness and heartbreak?

To answer your question: no, they are not. I think, however, it’s okay for me to talk about my (lack of a) romantic life because I want you, my readers, to know that:

It is absolutely okay to be yourself. I have thought, for years, that I need that better half to define me. That myself isn’t good enough for this world. I’ve only recently come to the conclusion that no, I do not need a better half. I can be my own better half. I can be a better me and let the world take me as I am. I am happy with the way my life is turning out so far. I’ve finally embarked on the path I’ve wanted to take. I’m using my historical nerdiness in a relevant field. I am a teacher, sharing my passion for the subject to a varied pool of students from all walks of life.

I teach Language Arts to preteens, hoping to instill the value of reading in them while they are still young. I teach world history to college students - most of them are in my class to fulfill general education requirements. I, however, have some older students that are there to prove to their family members that it is never too late to get a college education. It makes me feel like I am making a difference as a teacher by being that educator who will help them prove that no, it is certainly never too late to learn.

If there’s not a better half for me out there, wanting to stand by my side and be my cheerleader as I become a seasoned educator, then that is his loss. I know I have achieved an iota of self-fulfillment by doing what I do best - sharing my love for learning and history…and I get to do it in a professional realm.

That still doesn’t mean I don’t hold on to hope that my better half is somewhere in this world - whether he’s somewhere where I live in northern Virginia, an ocean away in Ireland…

Waiting. Just waiting. For me. Little, unremarkable, unashamedly nerdy me.

Once upon a time, I thought I had found my better half. I thought this would be the guy who would give me that Normandy beach proposal. I thought I was going to marry this man - I prayed that he would ask me to be his wife. I had dreams of us blissfully married; our days filled with history, books, being underpaid teachers, living in a cozy house with our cats…and eventually, our children.

I was wrong. I was so so wrong. It took me a long time to get over him. Sometimes I do wonder if I truly am over him. Part of the reason I started writing about my historical endeavors was because of him. I began to put our story to paper - the two history nerds in love - as a way of coping with the heartbreak. The writing process has finally helped me get over him.

So, I offer y’all First Impressions, a vignette of the day I truly believed I met my better half:

I’m pretty sure I was in love with him from the moment I caught him smiling at me during the first class session of one of my graduate history seminars. I walked in the room with my friend Christina, and I could feel a gaze on me instantly. This bearded guy, wearing a black and red checkered shirt and glasses. I took him in…his adorable freckles. His mirthful brown eyes. His floppy dark hair, sprinkled ever-so-slightly with grey. His good-natured grin.

Just him, really.

He wasn’t trying to play coy; that was a definite. Not with the way his gaze remained fixed on me.

So, I take back my earlier sentiment: I know I was in love with him upon our first meeting.

I didn’t think that first day back to school would have me instantly falling for some guy I’d never even spoken to. I honestly thought I’d be on my own in that seminar. Christina, of course, was with me, and at least I’d be able to make some snarky commentary with her underneath our breaths during whatever lecture we’d have, but really, the class was meant to be an independent research project. Maybe I’d have to make some awkward small talk with the other students at some point in the semester. Cultivating relationships? Nah. I was beyond caring about that in grad school, and this class was giving me the opportunity to work (mostly) independently.

I liked relying on myself. I liked being alone. Alone meant I could focus on getting a good grade; the class was a “capstone.” You needed to pass to meet all requirements in the MA program. The final paper was worth 60% of my grade—I knew it would be hard work. I didn’t need (but probably secretly wanted) the distraction of a man to prevent me from doing thorough research and writing a concise, well-mapped thesis.  I didn’t want to take the risk of having someone break my heart in the middle of the semester, causing me to have an emotional upheaval, and jeopardize my work. With my track record, I knew that’s exactly what would happen. 

(Just sayin’, men are absolutely, the worst distractions.)

But that evening, when my professor asked each of us to introduce ourselves, had me pray to God that I’d get to know the man who smiled at me. No distractions weren’t an option anymore. Who was he?

Name. Concentration. Ideal topic that we would base our final papers on. That’s what we were forced to tell the class as we went one by one around the classroom to speak.

I barely paid attention to everyone else. I didn’t even care; everyone was like, I’m so and so who just loves America so much, that I made my concentration American history!

Those damn Americanists. Where were the European historians at? I get it; we’re in America, but still…

So it’s this one other guy’s turn. He’s the epitome of tall, dark, and handsome. Couldn’t resist staring at him for a moment; he was total eye candy. Still, didn’t even care to note his name. He said he was interested in Scottish history. Okay, cool…decided I wasn’t interested. My eyes followed back to my man. I waited like an impatient sod, desperate to hear his response. If it was Europe, that was it. We were soulmates.

Finally. It was his turn.

“My name is David. My concentration is European history—”

Oh, thank God.

“And I’m interested in researching about Oscar Wilde and the sodomy charge that was brought against him.”

Interesting, I thought, as I processed what he’d just said. I myself would not have decided to research about Oscar Wilde in a history class. I think it’s because I relate Wilde too often to a literary background that I forget that yes, the charges that were brought against him would have had historical impact. As I continued to dwell on his topic (and how much I really wanted to ask him about his research), I completely ignored everyone else’s turn. Before I knew it, I had to speak.

I cleared my throat, aaaand…

“I’m Kate. My concentration is European history (there were like, five of us in the room, compared to the nine Americanists—clearly, we were the minority, but whatever), and I would like to study the libel trial against the Irish nationalist leader, Charles Stewart Parnell.”

Boom. That’s right. Go Ireland. My professor commented on my topic but I can’t even remember what he told me. My mind was elsewhere.

I dared to look at David.

(Wasn’t even paying attention to Christina, who was now telling the class about her research project.)

And he was still staring back in my direction.

(Those pretty brown eyes.)

Class ended at nine that evening. Tall, dark, and handsome, to my surprise, flagged me down. Wanted to know more about my fascination with Parnell.

Especially was wondering why I hadn’t signed up for the “Ireland in War and Revolution” course that he was in.

Honestly, I had wanted to. My favorite professor was teaching it, and he’d told me about the course before I’d signed up for fall semester classes the previous spring. The truth was, I was craving a different area of Europe to study (as much as I loved Ireland), so I told him that I opted to take “Stalinism” (of all topics) with my second favorite professor in the history department instead.

And I was barely paying attention to him. I was trying, not-so-subtlety, to look for David, but he’d walked out ahead of me and this guy, who politely introduced himself as Josh (glad he did, because I really didn’t remember his name from the classroom introductions.)

Like the nerd I am, I continued to ramble to Josh that I wanted to learn more about Stalin… because I loved discussing rhetoric in totalitarian governments (truth) and that was the reason I hadn’t wanted to take the Ireland class (double truth). My history obsessions are sooo seductive, I know. I thought Josh would be turned off after that (he probably thought, wow, this girl’s a weirdo, let me walk away from her slowly), but no! He continued to walk with me to the quad. Josh was talking up his interests in Scotland (…meh), but said he had an interest in Ireland, and then I’m there correcting him when he merely referred to the Provisional Irish Republican Army as the “IRA.”

They had different names. The PIRA, the faction that emerged during the Northern Irish “Troubles,” was the one we were discussing, and I always get so pissed when people just call them as the the “IRA.”

(Nitpicky, yes, I know.)

But on our way to the quad, I saw out the corner of my eye, someone lighting up a cigarette. Oh eww, secondhand smoke. Gross. I turned my head from Josh, and looked at the offender.

David. Trying so desperately to get his lighter to work. The flame met the cigarette just as I locked eyes with him again for probably the sixtieth time that night.

He looked at me guiltily, and it was sooo awkward that I just turned my attention back to Josh. We walked past David, and I felt like a total jerk.

Ugh.

(I was a fool. In love.)

And it would be another week before we saw each other again.

(Double ugh.)

Until next time…

Many happy returns,

-Kate

the modern day flapper

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The middle school I work at just announced we would be doing a “spirit week” at the end of February. I am usually the teacher that doesn’t participate, but the themes for this spirit week grabbed my attention. On Thursday the 28th, we are having a ‘blast from the past’ day. We get to dress up as our favorite decade. My mind immediately gravitated to:

flapper.

I asked my work bestie if she would don a glitzy, fringed 1920s Gatsby style dress so we could be twins that day. She agreed. We’ve gathered all the pieces we need to look like 1920s fashion plates. Amazon was the perfect place to get our dresses and gloves. I already had shoes and sparkly headbands. Our hair is relatively short - I only need to flat iron it to make it look more like a flapper’s bob, and hers is curly enough to represent the famous Marcel wave. We made the right decision for our decade. It didn’t take much effort to get the outfits ready.

My friend, however, asked if I would do her makeup because she doesn’t really wear it. I can go from no makeup to full face whenever I feel like it, so she thinks I’d be able to recreate a 1920s makeup job.

Uhhh…

Am I a professional makeup artist?

That is a no.

Am I scared of looking too vampy in flapper style makeup for school?

That is a yes.

So while I may not be trained to recreate a professional, 1920s true flapper look, my makeup skills are more than decent enough for us to play the part without scaring off our students. I was able to find the right balance between vintage and modern. I decided to keep three key features of the flapper look to maintain the integrity of the makeup:

1. An entirely matte finished face.

2. Dark lips with cupid’s bow intact.

3. Heavier, smoky eye.

Numbers two and three, however, would be modified for a more modern approach, but still visible enough for people to say yes, they are from the 1920s.

The Process Begins

Always, always, always set your eye makeup first to let any fallout occur before applying foundation. I did, however, decide to apply my primer so it would sink into my skin while I did the eye makeup. What you use to prime is up to you. My skin does have redness, so I rely on a green primer for color correction. I also didn’t want any sort of natural redness to pop through my foundation and blush if I didn’t use my primer. I use the Makeup Forever Step 1 Skin Equalizer Primer (Sephora, $37) for my everyday makeup. I used it for this tutorial as well. All I did was dab it on my fingers and apply it with my tips - no brush is necessary.

My arsenal of literal eye candy - everything you see here was used to attain a smoky eye.

Eyes

I started my eyes by applying a mattifying base to my lids. I always use the MAC Cosmetics Pro Longwear Paint Pot in Painterly (MAC Cosmetics, $22). It is the perfect nude pink base that looks gorgeous on its own, but serves as a strong, blendable base color when I use other eye shadow palettes on top of it. The paint pot lives up to its name - it does go on as a cream, so make sure to let it dry for about a minute before continuing your process.

I reached for my Marc Jacobs Eye-Conic Multi-Finish Eye Shadow Palette (Sephora, $49) in The Night Owl (you’ll see it on the Sephora website renamed as Edgitorial). This is where I decided to add my darker color out from the middle to the outer corners of my eyes. I used the shade “We’ll See” - a milk chocolate matte finish that I blended until I was satisfied that I did not look like I got punched in the face. I cannot do a decent smoky eye, so I get wary when the shades are insanely dark like “We’ll See” is. I then took another brush and blended a lighter shade from the palette to start giving my eyes some depth. I used “Take a Memo,” described as a pale peach matte, and blended it all across my eyelids.

Close-up of the Marc Jacobs palette - this beauty deserves to have its own photo. “Take a Memo” is the shade right in the middle. “We’ll See” is two shades to the right of “Take a Memo.”

I was craving, however, a little color so as to match the delicate blush shade of my dress. So I said goodbye to my Marc Jacobs palette and dug out my Tarte Love, Trust and Fairy Dust (Sephora, $39) one - filled with shimmery and delicate plums and pinks. With a new brush, I blended a mauve matte shade called “Frolic” in the bottom halves of my eyelids, and then finished off my eyes with another palette. I used the NARS Pro Palette Duo in Sugarland (NARS Cosmetics, $25). Sugarland has two colors; a golden shimmer and a beautiful and ethereal orchid. I topped off my eyes with the orchid selection…and my pseudo-smoky eye was set.

I did a quick liquid liner with my Tarte Tarteist Double Take Eye Liner (Sephora, $24) and avoided a cat eye, as that would be anachronistic with my decade. I only lined the tops of my eyelids, and then coated my eyelashes with my new favorite mascara, NARS Climax (Sephora, $24). I was debating getting false eyelashes…but figured that would definitely make the look “too much” for the school day. Luckily, the mascara coats on evenly, allowing for multiple applications to make the eyelashes appear long and luscious.

Setting the Face

My fallout was dusted off. My primer had set. Hello, foundation. Using a damp Beauty Blender (Sephora, $20), I decided to practice my tutorial with my Clinique Stay-Matte Oil-Free foundation (Sephora, $27). I didn’t want to waste any of the foundation I use on a daily basis for a practice run. The Clinique foundation, however, would still give me the same effect I was looking for: matte, dull, and doll-like. When I do my makeup, I will be using my reliable Make Up For Ever Ultra HD Invisible Cover Foundation (Amazon, $56 - my shade is Y245). This is a medium coverage matte foundation that can easily be built up. The HD formula makes it perfect to be filmed or photographed - it was the foundation of choice by the Downton Abbey makeup artists to make the actresses playing Edwardian aristocrats look flawless on screen during an age where makeup usage was minimal (read: none at all).

Do not be afraid to go heavier on your foundation for this look. When I examined my face, I realized I’d actually missed some spots (especially around my nose) because I was afraid I would look too caked on. The nice thing about the Beauty Blender is that it does allow the user to control and spread out the foundation easier. Once my foundation was applied liberally all over my face (do not forget to apply at the jawline and into the neck to make your face smooth and even!), I took my Sephora Pro Precision Powder Brush #59 (Sephora, $38) and dipped it into my holy grail of setting powders…

Starting from the left: The Clinique foundation was the choice I used to do this tutorial, but I’m going to rely on my Makeup Forever foundation for the final look next week. To the right of that bottle is the Laura Mercier powder that really gives me the “vintage” vibe I’m trying to achieve. Below are the face tools: my Beauty Blender and Sephora powder brush.

Ladies, if you know your makeup and you’ve guessed what it is, then you’re absolutely right. The Laura Mercier Translucent Loose Setting Powder (Sephora, $39) is perfect for obtaining flawless makeup. I use it everyday, and knew that this would be the only setting powder I’d use for this look I am trying to achieve. The feature I like most about this setting powder is that it does not cause the dreaded “flashback” when being photographed. It keeps my face matte and fresh all day, even during a humid Virginia summer. I blended this into every nook and cranny on my face to truly get the right aesthetic.

With my blush brush, I then applied my Charlotte Tilbury Cheek to Chic Blush in Ecstasy (Sephora, $40) on the apples of my cheeks and dabbed a little on my nose. I hadn’t used Charlotte Tilbury products in my makeup routines until this past October when I got my makeup done at Sephora. I was impressed by the quality and color of the blush my makeup artist used on me. I asked her what product it was. Once she said it was Charlotte Tilbury, any doubts I had about buying her products disappeared. Into my shopping basket it went. I like that you can apply it fairly heavily (without looking tacky!) if you’re trying to play dress up - I used it when I did my makeup for Halloween. I was Mary Poppins, and the blush really did help pull the look of my costume together. I looked more like her character, and less like myself.

Charlotte Tilbury products can easily be used for every day cosmetic wear, or if you’re trying to get a more dramatic look when using makeup for a costume/fancy event!

Eyes (Again)

I decided that my bottom lashes needed definition. Instead of using a pencil eyeliner, I used a trick another Sephora makeup artist taught me. I grabbed a small, angled eye shadow brush and carefully dipped it into the one of the shades from the Tarte palette I’d used earlier. I picked the shade “Wonder,” a matte plum color, and I softly lined my bottom lash line with eye shadow. This trick gave my eyes a soft and glamorous finish. Using a pencil liner would’ve made the final look too harsh and vampy.

Lips (Finally)

Did you know that there is a woman who is dedicated to recreating lipstick colors of the past with modern and better quality cosmetic ingredients? If you didn’t - you do now. Bésame Cosmetics, founded by the cosmetic historian Gabriela Hernandez, sells accurate reproductions of popular lipstick shades from decades past. Bésame first became famous for their signature red shades, but the cosmetic line has expanded into skincare, perfume, foundations, and eye shadows. Bésame now has lipstick shades from the 1960s and 1970s, which are representative of the neutral trends popular of the time.

My best friend purchased my first lipstick for from Bésame for Christmas a couple years ago. She knew of my love for the 1920s, and gifted me the shade 1922: Blood Red (Bésame Cosmetics, $22). When applied with a heavy hand, this shade is as flapper as it gets. We’re talking Theda Bara vampy. What I wanted to maintain with my lips was the cupid’s bow, rather than the full-blown color, so this meant lining them. What I love about the Bésame lipsticks is that they are designed to use as a lip liner and a lipstick. The tips of the lipstick are chiseled. This allows the user to line with the slanted, pointed edges before taking the flatter end to fill in the rest of the lips.

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I lined with the lipstick first and then blotted my lips together to help spread the color. Then I gently dabbed a coating of the lipstick to fill in any gaps, but I did not apply it like a normal tube of lipstick. This method allowed for me to easily define the cupid’s bow and make the lips red, but not too red.

Taking It All Off

It took me the better part of twenty minutes to make sure my face was clean and cleared of my chiseled on makeup. I started to take off the warpaint by wiping my face with my Cetaphil Gentle Makeup Removing Wipes ($6.20 on Amazon, via Cetaphil’s website) and then cleansing it with Biore’s Charcoal Cleanser Micellar Water (Amazon, $8.20). If you have a facial brush, like a Clarisonic or Luna, I recommend you use that with your usual facial cleanser to do a nice, deep clean once you’ve removed most of it with the wipes and micellar water. Then, moisturize as usual and you’ve entered back into the twenty-first century.

I’m pretty sure flappers wish they had these products back then to take off their makeup…

Final Result of the First Tutorial

My “modern day flapper” look…minus the sparkly dress & heels…

I usually don’t like posting photos of myself because I am nowhere near good enough with my makeup application, but I did want to share how my first attempt came out. I’m pleased with the outcome; however, I want to practice it a couple of more times. I want to be more sure of my application the day I need to do it on, and feel comfortable doing my friend’s makeup. My goal is to streamline the process so I do not spend an hour dedicated to painting my face.

What I’d like to end with is that history truly can be found in anything, even something so vapid as makeup application. I don’t think I’d look like a flapper if I didn’t try to study the makeup trends that the flapper look comprised of. The challenge was to bring the look into the modern day. By learning about the key elements of the look and incorporating them into my makeup job, but deciding where I could tone them down, I truly can transform into the modern day flapper.

Until next time…

Many happy returns,

-Kate

greetings & salutations

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