In my previous post I wrote of my excitement at only having three more classes to go. Upon further reflection I find myself scared, and a little sad. Going to school has given me so many things. An increased vocabulary, something to do on wednesday nights, and various subjects to obsess on.
This semester I am taking three classes. The least obvious of which is a history class that focuses on America at war from1600-1895. Since the discovery of the North American Continent in the 1500's, the story of North America has been one of conflict. Conflict between the Europeans and the indigenous peoples, conflict between the europeans, conflict between the new americans and europeans, and finally conflict of americans versus americans. The history of America is, and has been one of conflict.
I have always been interested in History, mostly because I consider myself to be relatively ignorant of it. It was somewhat serendipitous that I found this opportunity to take this class.
I have only been in the class for a few weeks, and already the professor has managed to break all illusions of what our conception of history. Humans have a tendency to romanticize and embellish events to make them fit a preconceived notion of how things should be. Most of the things that I learned in elementary school fall into this romanticized version of history. The pilgrims and the indians didn't get along all that well, and they most certainly did not celebrate thanksgiving with turkey and stuffing. I think it good to have one's conception of history be completely and totally changed once in a while.
"Current Obsessions"
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