Illumination.

Why Illuminated Past?  I’m a firm believer in the importance of exploring the reverberations of the past in the present. I did my BA and MA in history (and recently threw an MLIS onto the degree pile), and now work as an archivist at a special collections library, processing history in the form of correspondence, photographs, and other goodies.

I’m a former Northern Californian that drank the Southern California kool-aid. (My freeways all have “the” in front of them now – I take the 5 to the 110 to the 10.)  I’m living through a love affair with Los Angeles and all its quirks and magic.

I love travel but don’t like flying, so road trips are pretty much my jam.  When it comes to sightseeing, the older and the tackier = the better.  I like highfallutin’ culture, but I ultimately feel much more at home in places textured by the sands of time.

I love genealogy.  I’m really from nowhere in particular, and my ancestors came to the U.S. from many different places around the world.  I mostly see myself as an American first, and then more specifically a western American person. (The header for the blog is a photograph of some of my Oklahoma folks – my great great grandparents Lemuel Jack Hickman (1877-1957) and Minerva Ella Rasberry Hickman (1880-1950) are the ones seated in the photo.)

I love TV and go through binge watching phases.  I like to think about the ways TV teaches and the ways TV reflects society.  When I was a kid I Love Lucy taught me that it’s better to tell the truth from the start, because no matter how hard Lucy tried to hide things, Ricky always found out about Lucy’s shenanigans in the end.  Cut the stress and get straight to the real talk.  Thanks TV!

Finally, I can get a little feminist ranty at times when I need to get my frustrations out about the pitfalls of being a woman in modern American society.  I’ll never burn my bra (cause I sure as hell need that support, are you kidding me?!), but women’s healthcare issues and the historical perspectives of all sorts of women’s issues get me fired up.  (Though don’t get me wrong, I’m pro-everybody – we are all in it together folks!)