Saturday, March 10, 2007

I enjoy when I discover new blogs. It's even better when it's due to the interesting comments of our visitors.

Well, many of you may be familiar with The Speculator from the comments. It turns out that his blog is written with a mind towards history and politics. Two things I kinda like. And he is suffering through grad school in history. I've been there pal. In fact, until I write my dissertation, I suppose, technically, I'm still there.

But enough with introductions. Go check out his weekly blog. This week he explains the difference between fascism and communism, even breaking down the latter as it has been practiced in certain countries.

I fear he's wasting his time, as this is way too much intellectualizationizizing for any mouth breathers from the Right who might stumble across his site. Nonetheless, it is informed and interesting.

Go check it out.

7 Comments:

At 11:52 PM, Blogger Cliff Schecter said...

Mr. Speculator, tell us more about your political/history interests.

 
At 1:06 AM, Blogger Ashen Shard said...

Yay! Thanks for the recognition ... I guess I should clear up any confusion over my screen name which I switched (in order to avoid confusion) back to one I use to post on other blogs.

The title of the blog, for history and English geeks, is in reference to publications The Spectator and The Tatler and similar broadsides/magazines. They were part of a revolution in the sharing of information, entertainment and opinion in the 18th and 19th century, and I see blogs as the electronic extension of that revolution.

The purpose of my blog is mostly to get my thoughts down, whether or not anyone reads them, they are there. And I apologize for any rambling, I tend to try and condense the knowledge I've gained from almost six years of college courses I have taken, books I have read, etc. into something resembling a coherent post.

And since I mention in my bio that I am working on my Masters thesis, maybe you Cliff, or others here may take interest in it. I'm writing about the term served in Congress by Gerrit Smith (1853-1854). Not many people have heard of him, and if they have it is in connection with the John Brown Raid. He is quite an interesting figure, and frustrating for a researcher since his handwriting is much worse than chicken scratch.

Anyway, I hope that everyone enjoys reading some of the thoughts that I always have floating around that I'm actually able to get together and post.

BTW Cliff, I'm just curious, have you started your dissertation and/or do you know what you will be writing it on?

 
At 8:53 AM, Blogger Cliff Schecter said...

Hey Ashen,

You may call yourself whatever you want here :)

Seriously, I have enjoyed your posts and have been meaning to link. I must admit to knowing Gerrit Smith, but not most of the details.

I am a US since the Civil War guy, and I have not written my dissertation, but have done much of the research (the rise of the Far Right-neocons, theocons, corporatecons, over the last 30 years).

I have not written it because I got The Real McCain book deal, and with a young kid I gotta make some money right now. But I will get back to it, and as a neocon, some of my McCain research should be useful.

 
At 10:05 AM, Blogger Cliff Bostock said...

You guys need to write your damn dissertations and be miserable like the rest of us who went through this torture! At least, be glad you're not working on doctoral dissertations!

Love your work, Cliff. Keep it up.

 
At 12:10 PM, Blogger Ashen Shard said...

Thanks again for the link. I'm glad others find my posts relevant and interesting. This will only be a great encouragement for me to continue blogging my thoughts.

Cliff, if you are interested, and have time, I can point you to some books on Smith. There aren't many, and some are so old you can actually get them free electronically. The lack of research on Smith is actually one of the things that attracted me to studying him. Every historian needs their niche.

When I was an undergrad, I was thinking about going into Korean history for the same reason, but then learned I had to learn not only Korean, but Japanese and Chinese. Not a hurdle that someone who is poor with foreign languages is going to be able to clear.

 
At 8:29 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hello. And Bye.

 
At 10:32 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

hm... attractive post

 

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