Hello and welcome to my travel blog. For this blog I will be posting as I travel and photograph war memorials, cemeteries and commerations for my NEH sponsored Teaching Development Fellowship for which I will be creating a teaching website and database. You can follow my travels and travails across the U.S and Europe and of course Texas and wherever my research leads me. I will post pictures and descriptions of my experiences for those who want to follow my progress.
I have long had an interest in military history and especially the lives of the people who go to war. How societies remember and commemorate their times of greatest crisis can provide a window into that society and its emotions. War cuts across all people and nations and is part of the study of humanities and by better understanding its effects we can better understand ourselves. Nations create monumental commemorations that show power and majesty and communities erect commemorations to remember their local loved ones. Size, design and placement all factor into what the memorial is attempting to portray or the emotions it seeks to evoke. Sometimes the commemorations provide a place to remember or for loved ones to gather, and all memorials serve to remind us of the ultimate sacrifices that so many have made. So follow me as I spend my summer (and beyond), examining these rememberances, both large and small.
