Tri-state Seacoast Century

Posted on September 24, 2007 by Heather Munro Prescott

Here are Bridget, Tom, Nancy, and I are the start (sort of) of the Tri-State Seacoast Century last weekend. Since my parents’ house is right on the Maine end of the course, we decided to start there and then work our way south. It was a great day — a bit chilly and foggy to start, but the sun came out mid-morning and we had a great tailwind to send us back to York, ME. Will definitely do this next year, although next time I’ll use the chamois butt’r sooner!

Here’s a picture of Bridget and Tom enjoying the sunset on the boathouse:

And here’s another photo of us enjoying a post-ride dinner with my parents:

Reservations are currently being accepted for next year. Please book early and often!

Publicity for WGSS

Posted on September 7, 2007 by Heather Munro Prescott

Well, I made it through the first frantic week of classes — frantic mainly because I’m trying to get a jump start on programs for Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies. I’ve set up a Facebook group for WGSS — so far, 41 people have signed up. At least I’ll get to learn my students’ names sooner than usual!

As to programs, we already have Mary Jo Kane from the Tucker Center at University of Minnesota booked to give a talk in November. Then in the spring we have Guerrilla Girls on Tour performing “Feminists are Funny”. Hopefully this will all generate some positive energy for the program.

Back to School

Posted on August 29, 2007 by Heather Munro Prescott

A recent post on Dan Cohen’s Digital History Blog reminded me to update my blog and use it to brainstorm about ideas for using my recently acquired skills in the classroom! My idea for the week is to do some kind of riff on the uses/abuses of Wikipedia, similar to that described by Christopher Miller in the May 2007 issue of AHA Perspectives. At first I thought I would do this just for HIST 162 (the U.S. survey) but think I may do a version for each of my courses. Wish me luck!

Does this Count as Work-related Travel?

Posted on August 27, 2007 by Heather Munro Prescott

Here’s another photo from our Pacific Northwest vacation. As you can see, it was not all play — did some book shopping as well. I have no idea if I’m related to the owners or not. I guess I’ll have to go back to Scotland and/or Victoria to figure that out!

The page proofs are done

Posted on August 8, 2007 by Heather Munro Prescott

An update on the upcoming book, Student Bodies. Just sent the page proofs off the the press on Monday and am awaiting the index which was Fed Ex’d yesterday. This is getting really exciting! Hopefully this will sell better than my last monograph. . . at least you can buy it at a discount on Amazon! [speaking of which, there’s even an entry for the new book here].

Cheiron/EHHS Annual Meeting, wrap-up

Posted on July 25, 2007 by Heather Munro Prescott

As promised, I’m finally getting around to writing more about this. I’ve submitted an overview of sessions on childhood/youth for the Society for History of Childhood and Youth newsletter which will come out later this summer. [older issues can be viewed here].

Overall I found the meeting really interesting and the folks very welcoming — I like these smaller more specialized meetings. As I say in my SHCY review, I found Ian Hacking’s keynote to be particularly enlightening (for those who missed it, this was an expanded version of his article in London Review of Books.] he shows a great deal of empathy towards parents of autistic children, and more importantly individuals with autism.

Book Club: Yiddish Policemen’s Union

Posted on July 23, 2007 by Heather Munro Prescott

Our choice for book club last week was Michael Chabon’s Yiddish Policemen’s Union. Several of us were big fans of his earlier work, especially the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay. Compared to Adventures, this book is something of a mixed-bag. I thought Chabon was very successful in creating an alternate history and peopling it with believable characters and atmosphere. In this sense, I liked this better than Roth’s The Plot Against America (which we read a few years back). I found the use of Yiddish terms challenging but important to creating this fictional world. It would have helped to have had a glossary though — another book club member who is Jewish and is familiar with Yiddish although not fluent agreed that this was tough going at times. I wasn’t satisfied with the ending but overall found this to be an enjoyable read — an interesting take on the organized crime genre, with Orthodox Jews filling in for the standard mafioso. Could easily see this as a film. Any suggestions on whom to cast?

Vacation in WA and BC: Knitters are Everywhere!

Posted on July 20, 2007 by Heather Munro Prescott

Wayne and I just returned from a vacation in British Columbia and Washington. In addition to exploring various sites, and for me, local knitting stores, I found some fellow fiber addicts! Here I am on the Victoria Clipper from Victoria to San Juan Island, where I met three knitting sisters from Nebraska.

Dublin travelogue

Posted on June 30, 2007 by Heather Munro Prescott

Hi there,

For the benefit of family, friends, and anyone else who’s interested, here’s the narrative to go along with the pictures at my Flickr account.

Day 1 (6/23) — arrived at Dublin airport around 10am. This was a little behind schedule due to the usual Friday night backup on the runway at JFK. After having some breakfast (none offered on the plane), headed to the Tavistock Guesthouse on Raneleigh Road. The place is modest, clean and comfortable, and for Dublin, quite affordable (70 euros per night for a single). The guest house was about three blocks from St. Stephen’s Green, the Victorian park in the center of Dublin. I then proceeded up Grafton Street, one of the main shopping drags in Dublin. There are various street performers, musicians, and so forth along the street. The statue of the legendary (and most likely fictional) Molly Malone is one of the highlights of the street. I toured Christchurch Cathedral, which was pretty spectacular. I also went to the adjacent exhibit, Dublinia, which shows the city’s Viking Heritage. Since the Guinness Storehouse wasn’t much further (or so they said — turned out to be at least a mile), I headed over there next. This has got to be one of most popular attractions in Dublin (or Ireland for that matter). I waited twenty minutes just to get in the door, and then faced a line of at least fifty people waiting for tickets for the tour. I decided the wait and the price (14 euros) were too much and headed straight for the gift shop where I did some early Christmas shopping. My last stop of the day before heading back to crash was the excellent “gastropub” Bull and Castle, which serves gourmet Irish specialties and many kinds of beer, not just Guinness! Had an excellent Galway pale ale and roasted salmon with mashed potatoes. Yummy!

Day 2 (6/24).

After an excellent full Irish breakfast, I headed over to Trinity College to see the famous Book of Kells, an illuminated manuscript of the gospels from circa 800 AD. I’m glad I got there early because there were already thirty people there, and a bus load of French tourists arrived shortly after I got in line. As I waited, I had an interesting chat with a couple named John and Sally McKenna, who write a series called Bridgestone Travel guides on the best places to eat in Ireland. The exhibit on the Book of Kells was quite lovely, but equally interesting was an exhibit on the library on Ireland and the Great War. Did more shopping in the giftstore, then went to the National Gallery of Ireland. I especially liked the exhibit of prints called “The Fantastic in Irish Art.” On my way to the Guinness factory, I’d noticed that The Pale was having live music that afternoon so I headed over there for some entertainment and liquid refreshment. The performers were a trio by the name of Beggar’s Bush. I met some interesting folks, including someone from the Irish tourist bureau and a couple from Norway. I had dinner at another pub, Davy Byrne’s, a favorite of James Joyce and featured in both Dubliners and Ulysses.

Day 3 (6/25).

I had hoped to continue my exploration of all things Joycean at the James Joyce Cultural Centre. Contrary to the information in my DK guidebook, the museum was not open on Mondays! So, I went to the Dublin Writers Museum instead. This is a nice little museum, with great scones in the tea room! I then headed over to the Old Jameson Distillery, where I was selected to do a taste test comparing Irish, Scottish, and American whiskeys. Being of Scottish descent, I naturally selected the Scotch whiskey! More shopping, back to the guesthouse, and then off to the poster session/opening reception for the conference. Dinner that night was at Fallon and Byrne, an excellent restaurant and food emporium suggested by the McKennas.

Day 4 (6/26) — although this was the first day proper of the conference, I did head over to the Joyce centre first thing. It was pretty neat, although I think the Dublin Writers museum was better. Dinner that night was at Ely Wine Bar. This was highly recommended by the NY Times travel section and it was worth it!

Day 5 (6/27) — My paper session was first up. The presentation went really well — got excellent comments and great feedback. Heard some other interesting papers, the highlight of which was Ian Hacking’s keynote address. Dinner that night was at Bewley’s Cafe Bar Deli. I wouldn’t say this was the best in Dublin, but it was tasty.

Day 6 — after a last walk around St Stephen’s green, I headed off to the airport. Everything was on time, but it sure was a shock to come back to 90 degree weather after a week of chilly Dublin weather! Can’t wait to go back.

Cheiron/ESHHS Annual Meeting, University College Dublin

Posted on June 30, 2007 by Heather Munro Prescott

I just returned from the joint meeting of Cheiron and the European Society for the History of Human Sciences at University College, Dublin. The photo above is of the William Jefferson Clinton auditorium, where the meeting was held. I had never attended a Cheiron conference so this was a new experience for me. Everyone was very friendly and my paper went very well. I’ll have more to say about the specifics of the meeting soon. For those interested in seeing more photos of Dublin, go to my Flickr site.