“If everybody was satisfied with himself, there would be no heroes.” – Mark Twain The more I learn, the more I know history is a funny line of work. Modern historians rarely grasp the ambition or ability to rise to the prominence of their subjects. Their archives are scant sought. The effect is humans writingContinue reading “Heroes”
Tag Archives: history
“We Want Fred!:” UGA’s Reaction to Kent State, 1970
May 6, 1970- Shattered glass flew into Park Hall from several windows. Outside, a few thousand students and citizens demanded attention from U.G.A.’s president Fred Davison. When he sent anybody he could convince to face the angry crowd in his stead, they violently broke into the academic building. Four thousand voices rose into the coolContinue reading ““We Want Fred!:” UGA’s Reaction to Kent State, 1970″
In Floating Fragments: The Great Freshet of 1840
Monday, May 25, 1840– The turbid waters of the Oconee swelled. The artery of a nascent Athens community revolted. The rains began that afternoon and created an injurious effect: the Greatest Natural Disaster in Athens’s History. For days it rained relentlessly. Banks gave way in the Oconee and Savannah watersheds. Milledgeville (then the state capital), Augusta,Continue reading “In Floating Fragments: The Great Freshet of 1840”
Requiem: A Word I Finally Know the Meaning Of
Don’t get me wrong, I love words. They are powerful tools for education and emotionalism. Writing is an art-form. Words are the medium. I recently took the GRE. The experience made me question my love of words. Some words, such as “Agog,” seemed to defy the standard Greek or Latin root transcription. Mostly, it seemedContinue reading “Requiem: A Word I Finally Know the Meaning Of”
The Curse
Becoming a specialist creates a curse. An engineer cannot stop trying to figure out how things work. A psychologist cannot have an average conversation. A historian cannot live entirely in the present, a condition which annoys my friends and family to no end. Because much of history is bleak, darkness follows me. Knowing what mostContinue reading “The Curse”
Windshield History: A Car’s Eye View, Athens-Augusta (Part 1)
Every Wednesday I drive to Augusta, Georgia. The city is less interesting than the trip. It’s just under a two-hour drive from Athens. The trip is a course in southern environmental history. Athens is the liberal oasis of the south. Sure, corporate mongers tear down historic buildings to build parking decks. The university acts purelyContinue reading “Windshield History: A Car’s Eye View, Athens-Augusta (Part 1)”
O’ Wilderness, Faith Where Have You Gone
Some shout at the environmentalists, “Why waste time saving trees when people starve and nations are crumbling?” I say the same cause for the crumbling of nations and starvation of their people is the cause of the eradication and abuse of our wild neighbors. An underlying ignorance is woven throughout our American culture. It isContinue reading “O’ Wilderness, Faith Where Have You Gone”
Much of Nature
When I drive down the freeway I often watch the hills as they roll on either side of me. Rather than focusing on their present, barren, condition my imagination soars with ideas of how they must have been. Instead of forty foot billboards I see hundred foot Chestnuts. I see oaks as big as housesContinue reading “Much of Nature”
A Magnificent Oak
It is the most magnificent oak tree I have ever seen. On the route from my home to the gym is a homestead featuring a wooden house painted yellow with a very old brick fireplace. Directly in front of the house is a stump at least nine feet in diameter. I want to stop eachContinue reading “A Magnificent Oak”
Anthony Sadler 