The Historical Dinner Party

I am unaware if this is a common conversation among history geeks or if this is just something me and my friends have spent far too much time wondering about, but one of the first entries I planned for this blog (it has taken me nearly 6 months to actually get around to writing it) was that of my ideal Historical Dinner Party. It is my answer to the question that at least the history geeks I know have pondered at length: Which historical figures, from any time or place, would you invite to a dinner party and why?

I decided, as I often do, to take this a few steps further; to pick my guest list based on their interactions with one another as much as their interactions with me; to go so far as to plan out a menu which is both slightly historical and completely vegetarian; even to plan my outfit. (It's a men's suit with a lacy blouse, combat boots, and flapper-red lipstick, if you are wondering.) So come along and join me at this (admittedly sort of ridiculous) dinner party.

A Not-So Recent Trip to Ainsley House

As anyone who knows me knows, I love the 1920s. I dressed as a flapper for my high school senior prom, I included a character from the 1920s in my most successful fiction work, I have a '1920s' tag on my tumblr, I regularly imagine myself and Sarah as flappers in 20s New York City, and I cut my hair in a bob style in honour of the flappers and bright young things of the roaring twenties.

I also love local history. Wherever I am in the world, I seek out the stories and monuments of local events and characters. Considering what my job is, this should come as a shock to no one.

There is a place in Campbell, not too far from my work, which combines these two interests, that I had to see one last time before leaving California. And that place is Ainsley House, which I went to visit not too recently - actually, on 22 April.

This is going to be a photo-heavy post, not a text-heavy post.

What's Going On In My Life Right Now

As I'm in the midst of graduation fervour (I graduated college! My brother graduated high school!) I haven't quite had the time to do up a nice, long, well-planned blog entry. But just in case any one of you is wondering what else is going on, here is a short list:

• Memorial Day weekend is always a busy weekend at the Winchester Mystery House, and with the recent announcement regarding the movie, we don't expect that to change. But this weekend's business will be helped by the fact that Sarah is home for the summer and just got hired to work with me!
• I have begun inventorying all my stuff so I can later cull it. Once I start listing my extensive Transformers collection on eBay, I may post a link here in case anyone wants some vintage Autobot action. (I went through a huge Transformers phase as a teenager. Don't ask.)
• Currently reading: the Ron Chernow biography of Alexander Hamilton, which I've wanted to read for two years now and so far it does not disappoint.
• Planning future blog entries, such as "The Historical Dinner Party", one on my not-terribly-recent trip to Ainsley House, and possibly one on the Jersey Devil
• At some point I need to get my flight changed to a later date
• I'm also planning a three-day trip to San Francisco in early July, to say good bye to some of my favourite places in that city.

 Hopefully things calm down soon!
~N~

Mexican-American History in Downtown San Jose

Finals is coming up quickly - my last finals season as an undergrad, and in less than three weeks I'll have graduated! Yikes! - and because of this I have been absolutely swamped with schoolwork. Thus, this blog proooobably won't update again until after finals. (I'm still in shock that they're already here, to be perfectly honest.) I do have ideas for future blog entries, though, including one about a recent trip to Ainsley House, so hopefully I won't take too long to write that one up!

Luckily for me, at least one school assignment translates rather well to blog format. Because recently for a history class, I was required to take a self-guided walking tour through downtown San Jose and visit spots picked by my professor that related to local Mexican-American heritage. (And please do excuse the dorky selfies - believe it or not, they actually were part of the assignment.)

Now, one thing I'm looking forward to immensely about New York is moving to a place with so much history, but that doesn't mean San Jose is without its own equally fascinating history! The Mexican and Spanish presences here go back to the 1770s, back when New York was still paying taxes to King George III. And so I actually was pretty excited about this assignment, even if it is not my own culture. Hopefully at least one person out there is just as excited about what I discovered...