From the desk of Broderick Mitchell --
One fun thing about working in a library is that when students come in wanting to learn something, I usually end up learning something, too. A student came in last week looking for information on the history of - get this - the history department. It's wild to think that the students who were learning history when the university started in the late 1800s are now historical figures in this person's research. They're not prominent historical figures, but you get the idea.
There wasn't much about the department's early days, but plenty of recent ephemera that will be of interest in another 60-to-70 years. As of now, it's taking up space in a file cabinet. One item that caught my eye was a brochure from about eight years ago that was produced by the marketing group the university wasted money on. A quote on the back of the tri-fold brochure made me laugh:
"Our history department is one of the largest on campus."
I understand the intent of that statement, but one could read this and wonder, how many history departments are on campus? What would it be like to have competing history departments? How would they entice students to sign with one department over the other? Incentives? One hundred free bonus points you can add to any grade? Field trips to historical markers in the area? Maybe it's a type of history. "Come Meet the Mesopotamians!" boasts one, while another chides "Making American History Great Again." Ooof. That still sounds hokey.
I remember being in grade school years ago and having the odd assignment of promoting one of your classes. It was as if the class was for sale, or you were recruiting new members - like it was a club or something. It sounds unbelievably silly all these years later, as does the slogan I came up with for Mr. Ramirez's history class:
"Presently Bringing the Past To Your Future!"
Item! We received a memo this week announcing that the elevators in our building will go through a maintenance cycle soon. They repeatedly pointed out how at least one elevator would always be available. Imagine the chaos if all the elevators on campus were out of service simultaneously. The sudden rush of everyone trying to use - let alone locate - the staircases. It's a scene from a disaster movie or a trending TikTok video. Few people use the stairs today as it is. I take the back staircase to the rear parking lot and can't remember when I passed a student. I can't say I see many faculty or staff, either. It was likely last fall.
I caught the last 15 or so minutes of Return of the Jedi earlier this week. I don't know that l like these movies anymore.
Dalcy and I plan to make a tagine with arugula, sour orange, and white fish this weekend. It's a recipe we've never tried before, and we're excited to see how it turns out. When we came up with the idea, we were tired and wondered why we didn't see any tagines in Casablanca—you know, the film. Or did we miss seeing one? It's a mystery we're hoping to solve this weekend.
Are there any movies featuring a tagine? Let me know.
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