My name is Joy.
In August I moved from sunny Sarasota, Florida to Philadelphia in order to pursue my master's in Public History at Temple University. I completed a lot of exciting work in my first semester, but this may be the most exciting project yet. As a public historian in training, I am drawn to anything that makes history more accessible. Steemit is an exciting platform to share historical content to wide audiences while also providing potential monetary support to the history professionals (and amateurs alike) in Philadelphia. In our first class meeting, our professor said something that stuck with me: Philadelphia's history scene is overflowing with content, but lacking financial backing. Perhaps Steemit is one of the many necessary solutions.
I'm also drawn to Steemit as a public history tool because my historical focus involves technology. My undergraduate thesis centered on how citizens in the post-World War II United States received messages about consumerism through media, especially Hollywood films and radio. I then connected this exploration to how present audiences understand the post-WWII U.S. through viewing this same media. In other words, I asked how current perceptions of the past are influenced by media from the past. This interest connects with where I hope to take my research: understanding the role of contemporary media--especially film and podcasts--in historical education. Technology is an incredible way to share information and ideas, and thus has an astounding potential to influence historical education. Here's to discovering a new means of educating the public.
Now that I've gone over my historical interests, here's a little bit more about me.
I received my BA from New College of Florida, a small public liberal arts college in my hometown of Sarasota. It is a magical, strange place where instead of grades students receive narrative evaluations, most people don't wear shoes, and you're encouraged to wear costumes to graduation. I personally wore a T-shirt that had a picture of me graduating from high school.
So far I've been adjusting fine to the Philly cold. Here's me having a blast during the first snow of the year:
But just a week ago I was in on the beach in Florida walking my partner's adorable pug, Matzah Ball.
In my free time I walk dogs at the Pennsylvania SPCA and volunteer in the education department at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. I've also been writing and recording original music for most of my life, which you can check out here In college I was in a band called Kenny's Dads that you can also check out here.
Overall, I'm incredibly excited to be a part of the Steemit community and use it to #explore1918. I'll begin posting about 1918 in the next couple of days. Thanks for having me!
100% of the SBD rewards from this #philly5151 post will support the Philadelphia History initiative @phillyhistory. This crypto-experiment is part of a graduate course at Temple University's Center for Public History and is exploring history and empowering education to endow meaning. To learn more click here.