Warning: text wall. I recently had an experience that has made me especially reflective. I'm posting the following primarily for the HS kids, undergrads and grad students--particularly if you're struggling right now--so hopefully my experience can give you some knowledge, inspiration, and hope.

Just the other day I finally heard back from my publisher concerning the blind reviews for my first book. There was only one review, but it was completely filled with praise. The book was repeatedly described as "excellent" and "path-breaking", and s/he particularly praised my writing and research. The publisher said that they have relied on this reviewer's comments many times before, and said that based on the strength of this review alone they are ready to give it the green light (they tried for months to get another reviewer but were unable). As you can imagine, this review was both quite a relief (I was pretty nervous about how the book would be received) and a source of great joy and confidence.

It's important to know that this review had added weight for me because this was my dream academic publisher--the publisher that, since I first started grad school, has impressed me the most by far. Many of my favorite books--and the books that aren't my favorite but which I hold in highest regard--were published by them. I was thrilled 2 years ago when they just accepted my book proposal, which, because of its somewhat uncommon (but not unconventional) nature, was rejected by many other well-regarded academic presses.

The most important part of this whole experience, however, is being able to look back at where I was academically when I was an undergrad. I was a horrible undergrad student. I failed multiple classes and graduated with a C average (though a C+ in my major, which I defensively and pridefully told people). Except for the classes in my major, I did not enjoy my undergrad classroom experience at all, and I was a bad student, even in the classes for my major. In fact, my major required us to take a major-focused course on WRITING and I repeatedly and consistently got the worst grades for my assignments, even after repeatedly going to the teacher and other students for help. I was so terrible, that during my undergrad years I was not only uninterested in grad school and advanced scholarship, I stood defensively against it as a gigantic waste of time. And after I graduated, I didn't read a book--any book--for about 2 years. At most I may have read a magazine article or 2, but I even doubt that.

The thing is though, I loved my topic (the academic study of religion--the whole field) and I recognized that history was important. I loved it so much that I realized that I would always regret it if I didn't try to pursue it.

I knew, however, that it was a real uphill challenge because I did so poorly as an undergrad that my grades and the fact that I couldn't get good recommendations from my teachers would seriously prevent me from doing anything. Plus I had a lot of other things going on in my personal life, including working and family troubles.

Not knowing what to do I took the bus over to a local community college and talked with some teachers about how I might go about pursuing my dream. We decided that the best thing for me was to start reading books in my field, start improving my writing, start learning a new foreign language, and work my butt off with a tutor so I could get a high score on the GRE, which might compensate for my grades. And that's what I did. I went to the community college's reference/student services center and found a tutor who normally worked with HS grads/dropouts trying to do well on their GED and SAT/ACT. I checked out GRE books from the library and we worked from those, and he lent me other books he used for his other students. I started doing an out-of-classroom course with the school's teacher who worked in my field--he would assign me books and papers. I religiously went to the college's writing center to work on these papers, letting those guys be as harsh as they wanted, and begging them for more advice. And I started studying a new language.

After about a year and 3 months, I took the GRE and I (amazingly) aced it, getting in the 97th percentile (and this was after 3 practice tests where I couldn't get above 88th). I developed strong relationships with all the people at the community college and they wrote my letters of recommendation. Then I applied and I only got into 1 school, but it was the school I wanted most because it was local. After 2 years at that community college, I was ready to go to the next level.

Once there, I continued to work my butt off (while taking a 20-hr/wk job at the school through work study and another 20-hr/wk job at a fast food restaurant--and doing this all on the bus). I continued to bug teachers for advice on everything and I continued to take all my writing assignments to the school's writing center.

By the end of my MA, I started to see fruits. I won a few school-based awards, I got accepted to a decent PhD program (again, though, I only was accepted at 1 school), and I had a few articles out that would soon be accepted by good academic journals. Then, I got HIRED by the school's writing center! Through the rest of my PhD, I continued to grind it out, and the results continued to reflect it.

There were many, many challenges along the way, not the least of which was dealing with teachers and other scholars in my field who gave me a hard time. In the past, these kinds of people, who I really looked up to, contributed to the destruction of my confidence and interests. (From my point of view it seemed like their issues with me sprang from their own egos, biases, and limited experiences, but I don't really know.) But I learned to just fight through it by working hard, keeping a positive attitude, trying not to retaliate directly to their various punches, and keeping on seeking out those who were willing to help. I can promise that I won't be like those bad ones--I encountered great teachers too, and I've learned to model myself after them. There were other struggles, plus I was still working and still living life--spending time with friends and family and getting engaged, among other things.

I know I've been blessed with some occasional good luck along the way--the most obvious is my getting a really good GRE score. But, like anything, I couldn't have taken advantage of this luck had I not already been A) eager to take advantage of it, B) knowledgeable of what to do with it, and C) trained to use it somewhat well. I spent far too many nights in freezing cold waiting an hour in the dark for a bus--knowing that even when it comes, I won't be relaxing on it but reading and/or writing the whole trip, I won't be getting home until midnight, and that I'd have to be out the door for the next day at 630 am--to say that I didn't play a role.

I say all this not to tell you that anyone can do what I did, but to just give you some hope that stuff like this does happen and some knowledge about how it happens.

Ten days ago, Dr. John Carrigg, Ph.D., passed away at the age of 93. He fought in World War Two in Europe as part of the 8th Armored Division. He received the Purple Heart. After the war, he returned to the US and got a doctorate in history from Georgetown. He went on to teach for more than half a century. He also farmed--using draft horses--and was involved in politics. He and his wife raised ten children. He was vibrant, friendly, demanding, empathetic, and devout.

As a professor, he encouraged me, he counseled me, and most importantly he just spoke to me as if we were equals. He was an inspiration. He also tested me...

I was a proud student. Arrogant, even. I knew my stuff, and I knew that I knew it. So as a sophomore I am confidently sitting in Dr. Carrigg's class, completely in my element. He was drawing a map. As it took shape, I recognized that he was drawing the eastern Mediterranean region. Finally, he circled a spot.

"Anyone know what this is?"

I looked around, and nobody raised their hand. So I did.

"Mr. [Last name]?"

"Gallipoli."

"Good! Do you know another name for it?"

He was testing me, but I was up to the task. "The Dardanelles." Take that!

Dr. Carrigg smiled at me. "Excellent, Mr. [Last name]." Inside, I was strutting. "But do you know another name for it?"

I panicked. My mind raced. I was silent for a moment, then inspiration struck. "Hellespont."

Carrigg's smile continued, perhaps even broader. "Good work, Mr. [Last name]."

I had passed the test. Or so I thought.

"But what else did the ancient Greeks call this place?"

I drew a complete blank. I had just given three names for the same spot on the map when nobody else in the class had given a single one. I concentrated as hard as I could but nothing came to mind.

He saw right through me.

"I knew I would find a gap, Mr. [Last name]. There's always a gap."

At this point, one might expect to be given the missing answer. Instead, he returned to his lesson. I sat there dumbfounded. He was plowing ahead, just like he did with those draft horses. Eventually I regained my composure and started taking notes again. When class ended he had a couple other students walk up to him, and I had another class to get to. I left the room, still in a daze.

Over the next days and weeks, I thought about what he said. There is always a gap. I hadn't failed, I had just been showed a gap in my knowledge. He hadn't castigated me for it, he just pointed it out and left me with that lesson. Giving me the answer would have robbed me of the lesson.

Years later, I had moved across the country. A map came up on the news. Before the newsreader could say anything, of its own accord a word was shouted from my lips. "Bosphorus!" I yelled it so loud that I startled my wife. Understandably confused, I related the above story. I thought of Dr. Carrigg and smiled.

The world is a better place for having Dr. Carrigg be a part of it. I am a better man for having known him.

I, and many many others, will miss him.

His brief memoirs of his WWII service are available here.

I applied to Boulder's Anthropology PhD program and finally heard back from them. I've been wait-listed. It is a little disheartening, but at least it is not an outright "no".

The results of one of the larger research grant competitions in Canada were apparently sent out today, so there are hundreds of us eagerly awaiting the sound of the mailman -- if only to have our hopes dashed for another year, or to have to suddenly start planning to move to a different city or something in the fall.

The granting agency's office is only a five-minute walk from my apartment, but I still have to wait on the mail. This is going to be a rough weekend.

This year at the AIA, I went to one of the poster sessions and saw one on reinterpreting some of the iconography on Trajan's Column. In short, she showed that when you look closely and with a comparative eye, some of the figures were, in fact, women. She then related this to archaeological research in Britain that recovered women's shoes and the like. This is quite interesting because as much as we have always known there would be camp followers the artistic depictions argue that there was also a more official role for women in the army.

Anyway, I have had fun watching this story develop. About a week after the conference articles popped up in pop science publications like Discover, and increasingly mainstream publications have been running stories. Just last week I saw an article about it in the New York Times.

So last wednesday someone over in R/ACMilan asked me about the history of AC Milan Football club's supporter groups. I did some digging on the internet, sent a round of e-mails and Facebook messages to old friends, collected what I found, and came up with this answer. I'm rather proud of my (completely non-academic and not at all peer reviewed) research, I thought I'd share it with the historians.

Well, you'd be forgiven for the mix-up; the Fossa dei Leoni were the oldest Ultrà group in Italy: They were founded in the 1960's! Starting out as a group of friends that met on Ramp 18 of the Curva Sud, by the 1970's they were famous in all of Italy, and had moved from Ramp 18 to being behind the goal in the Curva Sud. Before 2005, when you entered that part of the stadium, it almost seemed like you were descending into a literal "Lion's Den"!

All the original Italia Ultras groups were founded in imitation of the Fossa dei Leoni. Unfortunately, after Juve-Milan in November 2005, some Juventus fans stole the Fossa's banner senza onore; an unsurprising move for the ladri. I guess they weren't satisfied with the scudetti their team stole on the pitch. The Fossa went to the police to get it returned. However, in Ultrà culture, dealing the the police is unacceptable, and the Fossa faced pressure from other AC Milan Ultrà groups to disband. You should know, however, that some people say that the cooperation with the police just was an excuse to pressure them into disbanding; the Fossa hadn't endeared itself to the other groups and to the club management, in part due to their near-monopoly on scalping ticket sales (the larger they are, the harder they fall...) and in addition, the Fossa, which had a large left-wing element, had poor relations with some of the new groups that formed after Berlusconi bought the club.

Indeed, up to the 1980's, Milan's fans were historically working-class and mostly left-wing. Inter Milan, on the other hand, was the fashionable team of the Bourgeoisie, which tended to be more conservative. However, AC Milan Ultras groups were never officially affiliated with any political orientation, and nowadays, both Milan and Inter have completely non-political fanbases. And although they were never officially affiliated with politics, it is worth noting that AC Milan's current biggest supporter group, the Brigate Rossonere, does have a name that recalls the Brigate Rosse or "Red Brigade", an Italian anarchocommunist terrorist group active in the 1970's (made all the more significant by the fact that the Brigate were formed by the union of two other Ultras groups at the height of the Red Brigade's activity). Along with the Brigate Rossonere, who are the lead Ultrà group, the other big one is the Commandos Tigre (literally, "Tiger Commandos"), which was also founded in the 1960's. It's also worth mentioning the Guerrieri Ultras Curva Sud Milan, which collects some, but not all, of the old Fossa dei Leoni members. Then there are the Alternativa Rossonera who are the poster boys for the Club Management (they were founded in the 1990's, when Ultras groups were declining, with the quiet support of the management). The last three Ultras groups are Estremi Rimedi, Vecchia Maniera and Ultras 1976.

The ultras group leaders meet at Via Sacco e Vanzetti in Sesto San Giovanni, a suburb of Milan, where they plan the banner that will be carried into the stadium. Some of my old friends from the stadium complain that the Brigate Rossonere leaders decide pretty much everything among the Ultras, but this seems pretty natural as they're the largest group (and some also complain that they're the most aggressive, having carried out stabbings and other violence in the past, but in such a large group, there are bound to be bad eggs).

AC Milan's Ultras tend to get along well with the fans of Brescia Calcio, ever since we celebrated winning the Scudetto in 2004 the same match the Brescia fans celebrated Roberto Baggio's last professional match (however, Brescia's long stay in the Serie B has cooled the friendship, and current status reports are mixed: some say the official "Twinning" has ended, other assure me that it's alive and well). Apparently, there's also a Twinning with Reggina (It seems like a rather unlikely coupling; I can only speculate that the head of an Ultrà group had relatives in Reggio Calabria). There's also an official twinning with Sevillia after the Eupropean SuperCup match in which the AC Milan players and fans honored Puerta, a Sevillia player who had unfortunately died. However, the Ultrà aren't that adamant about it, some saying they might as well do without.

Back in the day, the fans were also twinned with Bologna (both being staunchly historically left wing) and Como (rather more unexplainable, but I guess many Milanese have summer houses on lake Como). However these twinnings have officially ended. A twinning that turned into a rivalry is the twinning with Genoa (again, kind of weird. I can only assume it's explainable by many Milanese going on vacation in Liguria) which turned into a rivalry in the early 1980's when both teams were battling relegation, and fights between Ultras groups resulted in two deaths. There also was a twinning with Napoli, as many Neapolitans immigrated to Milan. However relations between AC Milan and Napoli became strained when both teams were challenging for the title in the late 1980's, and the friendship ended. There also was a twinning with Verona until Milan lost two scudetti by losing to Verona, and the fans going full-on Fascist didn't help either (Hellas Verona Ultras are the most hated in Italy). That's what I gathered from asking some of my friends who still go to the Curva Sud, but as with all "Pop Culture History", reports vary depending on who you ask. I do seem to have written a lot, forgive my wall of text! I might make this a post on my own if enough people are interested. And if anyone would like to add anything, feel free to! Remember, I was never an Ultrà, and you don't need to be one to go to the curva sud!

Yes, this is totally me tooting my own horn. Technically counts as history though and it's awesome.

I originally came to university with hopes of getting a history degree, but since then decided I really want to become a doctor and majoring in behavioral neuroscience is easier for the premed route. But now I'm 1/3^rd of the way through my first semester without a history course and I'm really missing it.

I'm sure this doesn't mean much, but it feels good to share it with people who understand how great history courses are.

Hi all. My grandfather fought on a PT (patrol torpedo) boat during WW2. He served first in the Aleutians and then in the Pacific, fighting the Japanese. Unfortunately he died when I was young, and was largely unwilling to discuss his experiences while he was alive. I want to learn more about what that was like.

My first question is, does anyone have suggestions for good books that deal with the topic of PT boats? Second, if I do not get answers in this thread, is it appropriate to start a separate topic about this?

I'm beginning the application process for a Masters Degree in Local History at the university of Leicester. Utterly terrified and struggling to think how I will afford it and balance it all with my work, but it's gonna be fun.

It's the school holidays, so I'm having even more horrific Disney Channel shows inflicted on me than usual. The last one had an episode centring round a Renaissance Faire, which even the "nerdy" character thought too lame for words. Ye Olde English was mangled, duels were fought with pool noodles and so on. Obviously this was a kids' "comedy" show, and was exaggerated for laughs, but it seems to be the general opinion of media I've seen that it's essentially just LARPing.

We don't really have Renaissance Faires in England, so what are they actually like? Is there any actual historical re-enactment going on, or is it just a bunch of Special Snowflakes wafting around talking about dragons and hobbits, while inserting -eth and -est in all the wrong places?

Where do you read your contemporary news?

I'd assume that the average reader here is well-informed on current political and world news. It's tough to find good sources, I use realclearpolitics.com, which I love. Where do you get your news?

What did the brothers and sisters of kings do with their lives if they weren't trying to usurp the throne?