Perhaps I am afraid of being a writer because I am afraid of being institutionalized.

If you’ve read any of my other Idaho posts, you know that there is much more to Idaho than just potatoes. With beautiful mountain ranges, crystal clear alpine lakes, rolling hills, and winding rivers, Idaho truly has it all. 1,760 more words

10 Spooky Ghost Towns in Idaho — The Traveling Spud

My research leads me to believe that Memoir, Poetry and Music tend to go together.

Great Quote by William Shakespeare

Great Quote by William Shakespeare — Tonya LaLonde

Title: The Name of the WindAuthor: Patrick RothfussSeries:  The Kingkiller Chronicle (Book 1 of 3+)Year: 2007Goodreads page: Link SYNOPSISTold in Kvothe’s own voice, this is the tale of the magically gifted young man who grows to be the most notorious wizard his world has ever seen.The intimate narrative of his childhood in a troupe of traveling players, his years spent […]

Patrick Rothfuss – The Name of the Wind — Raven の Nest

The Master of Arts in History degree takes you on an academic journey exploring the key historical events, people, and cultures that fundamentally shaped the world today. Through research, discussion, and analysis, you will obtain a knowledgeable perspective of how future societies progressed through time. Concentrations in this online graduate program offer you the flexibility of focusing on the most favored eras in history including American, Ancient and Classical, European, Global, and Public History. This master’s degree attracts professional educators, historians, and enthusiasts alike, and is also helpful in developing professional skills that include quality writing and communications, research and analysis, and the ability to present compelling arguments.

Note: When enrolling in this program, you will be asked to select either a capstone course or a supervised practicum as your end-of-program requirement. Some residency conditions may apply to the practicum option. View practicum requirements.

Degree Program Objectives

In addition to the institutional and degree level learning objectives, graduates of this program are expected to achieve these learning outcomes:

• Demonstrate a broad knowledge of historical individuals and events and the global complexity of human experiences over time and place.
• Distinguish the historical schools of thought that have shaped scholarly understanding of the profession.
• Apply persuasive arguments that are reasoned and based on suitable evidence.
• Evaluate secondary resources, through historiographical analysis, for credibility, position, and perspective.
• Assess a variety of primary sources, digital and archival, in the process of deeply researching the past.
• Generate research that makes original contributions to knowledge, through the use of advanced historical methods.
• Produce a high-quality research paper that meets professional standards typical for a conference presentation or academic publication.

Core Requirements:

HIST 500 Historical Research Methods

HIST 501 Historiography

Concentration in Ancient and Classical History:

HIST 531 Greek Civilization

HIST 532 Roman Republic and Empire

HIST 533 Late Antiquity and Byzantium

HIST 534 Medieval Europe

HIST 535 Renaissance and Reformation

HIST 597 Graduate Seminar in European History

HIST 611 Ancient Warfare

HIST 643 Ottoman Empire

Final Requirements:

HIST 691 Writing a Thesis Proposal

HIST 699 Master of Arts in History – Thesis

Of course, the only serious solution is the one that is almost universally rejected: the good old Great Books approach, in which a liberal education means reading certain generally recognized classic texts, just reading them, letting them dictate what the questions are and the method of approaching them—not forcing them into categories we make up, not treating them as historical products, but trying to read them as their authors wished them to be read. I am perfectly well aware of, and actually agree with the objections to the Great Books cult. It is amateurish; it encourages an autodidact’s self-assurance without competence; one cannot read all of the Great Books carefully; if one only reads Great Books, one can never know what a great, as opposed to an ordinary, book is; there is no way of determining who is to decide what a Great Book or what the canon is; books are made the ends and not the means; the whole movement has a certain coarse evangelistic tone that is the opposite of good taste; it engenders a spurious intimacy with greatness; and so forth. But, one thing is certain: wherever the Great Books make up a central part of the curriculum, the students are excited and satisfied, feel they are doing something that is independent and fulfilling, getting something from the university they cannot get elsewhere. The very fact of this special experience, which leads nowhere beyond itself, provides them with a new alternative and a respect for study itself. The advantage they get is an awareness of the classic—particularly important for our innocents; an acquaintance with what big questions were when there were still big questions; models, at the very least, of how to go about answering them; and, perhaps most important of all, a fund of shared experiences and thoughts on which to ground their friendships with one another. Programs based upon judicious use of great texts provide the royal road to student’s hearts. Their gratitude at learning of Achilles or the categorical imperative is boundless. Alexander Koyre, the late historian of science, told me that his appreciation for America was great when—in the first course he taught at the University of Chicago, in 1940 at the beginning of his exile—a student spoke in his paper of Mr. Aristotle, unaware that he was not a contemporary. Koyre said that only an American could have the naïve profundity to take Aristotle as living thought, unthinkable for most scholars. A good program of liberal education feeds the student’s love of truth and passion to live a good life. It is the easiest thing in the world to devise courses of study, adapted to the particular conditions of each university, which thrill those who take them. The difficulty is in getting them accepted by the faculty.

Allan Bloom, The Closing of the American Mind: How Higher Education has Failed Democracy and Impoverished the Souls of Today’s Students (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1987), 344-345.

I would like to thank the several writing teachers that I have learned from.

The Great Courses:

James Hynes. Writing Great Fiction: Storytelling Tips and Techniques.

Tilar J. Mazzeo. Writing Creative Nonfiction.

The University of Washington Professional and Continuing Education:

Theo Pauline Nestor. Specializes in Memoir.

Scott Driscoll: Specializes in Fiction.

Classes:

Terry Persun. Wrote Cathedral of Dreams and many others.

William Kenower. Wrote Fearless Writing.

I suppose I should just go ahead and write a book.

While working on my Certificate in Writing from the University of Washington, I had this method of making my way down to Seattle for classes. One of my stops was the parking lot for the University Bookstore. I befriended a homeless guy that would sit by the door into the bookstore. One day, I asked him if he would like to have his family tree done. He was both surprised and flattered and said that he had always wondered if his family could be traced back to the American Revolution. I took out some paper and got the basic information I needed and his cellphone number. I told him I would text him with what I found. After class, I went home and got to work on his family tree. After about twenty minutes I texted him and gave him the great news that I had indeed traced his family tree back to the Revolution. The next week I brought him a printed copy of his family tree. We still keep in contact.