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Steve Nash’s MOOC
I’m a mediocre pick up basketball player that is in below average to poor shape. I’m not the first pick in the draft or even the first pick on the playground. Steve Nash is a two time MVP of the NBA. Steve Nash can teach you basketball better than I can……all things being equal. But…
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UNL Job Data
Ask and ye shall receive Dr. Pannapacker: Okay, it might not be exactly what he asked for, but I took the titles on the history department’s placement data provided for 2003-2004 through 2011-2012 graduation classes and the Proquest database of dissertations (for the listed advisor) to examine the placement of UNL’s recent PhD graduates (You…
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Home of the Reuben
Later this month, Frank’s Kraut will officially name Omaha “The Home of the Reuben Sandwich.” While this title may seem like a humorous footnote in the city’s story, I would suggest it is indicative of the changing nature of Midwestern cities’ identities. Omaha’s first identity was as one of the Gateways to the West. The…
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Value of the Humanities
I’m glad to see the AHA has taken to rounding up links to articles that defend the humanities. As budgets get crunched, humanists must assert their position and reaffirm their importance in modern society. It’s a work in progress, so I hope this blog post looks laughably outdated in a short amount of time. But…
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The Art and Craft of History
A while back, probably months at this point, I tore a bit of an article out about the artist Ken Price. What struck me was his quote, “A craftsman knows what he’s going to make, and an artist doesn’t know what he’s going to make.” The craftsman part of the quote stuck with me because…
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DH Forum
Attending part of UNL’s Digital Humanities Forum last Friday, a rather simple concept struck me as deeply important. As scholars, how certain are we of our conclusions? What percentage? Using a specific measurement, can we express our certainty? In a sense, historical arguments are mostly circumstantial. Historians use sources to describe societies, ideas, and events,…
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BRB
I’m currently working on not failing my comprehensive exams. Be back in February 2013. Hopefully….
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Does size matter?
How big exactly is a small city? This came up at my panel at the Urban History Conference (and rightfully so, it was organized around the theme of small cities). Being a notion central to my research, I have thought a bit about what exactly it means, making some notes about what other sources have…
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Stuff Good Teachers Like
I have been fortunate enough to participate in UNL’s Preparing Future Faculty program this summer and fall. Throughout the process I have reflected numerous times on teaching, specifically my own thoughts on teaching and my experiences in the classroom (as an undergraduate and graduate student in addition to as a teaching assistant). I am lucky…
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Where am I from?
Where are you from? A simple question, well sort of. Even though it is a seemingly innocuous question, asking where some one “comes from” actually looks to discover the initial impressions of a person by situating them culturally as well as geographically. There are plenty of social stereotypes centered around geographical location. Like it or…
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Brian Sarnacki 