Thomas Harvell-DeGolier

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Worked on 11 assignments, created 0, named on 12 bylines for Trinitonian.

By + 4 others for Trinitonian - 5 min read

Farewell to the Past

photo provided by Thomas Harvell-DeGolier I’ve found my academic home at Trinity studying history. The department is dedicated to helping students and is filled with amazing people. Over my four years, I’ve grown to really appreciate the history faculty as they’ve guided my growth as a historian. This is my thanks to them. Jason Johnson, a historian of modern Germany,...

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By + 5 others for Trinitonian - 5 min read

From Tiger to WildCat

Photo credit: Genevieve Humphreys

Illustration by Genevieve Humphreys Deciding where — and whether — to go to graduate school is a hard choice. You have to create a curriculum vitae (CV), polish up a writing sample, solicit letters of recommendation and — of course — write a personal statement for each school you apply to. And revise, revise, revise. Much like a good paper,...

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By + 7 others for Trinitonian - 3 min read

History with a Tweet

Photo credit: Genevieve Humphreys

Illustration by Genevieve HumphreysHistorians are an active community on twitter and even have their own self-applied appellation, #twitterstorians. Academic historians also share information while engaging with their fellow historians and the public. And sometimes you learn they may really, really like birds. “Twitter offers value on a number of different registers. I think, for me, one of the most significant...

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By + 6 others for Trinitonian - 4 min read

Singers of Wealth and Privilege

Illustration by Andrea Nebhut Over the past week, schools from Yale University and the University of Southern California to Stanford University and the University of Texas at Austin have been embroiled in a college admissions scandal. During these scandals, rich parents — including Lori Laughlin of "Full House" fame and numerous others — have allegedly bribed college coaches and rigged...

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By + 7 others for Trinitonian - 3 min read

Historians offer perspective

Photo credit: Andrea Nebhut

Illustration by Andrea Nebhut History and historians are important in understanding the contexts of our modern world. They help us place movies and political events into context, and without the careful study of the past, myths that the Civil War was about anything other than slavery would still remain unchallenged. From the Washington Post's "Made By History" to the twitter...

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By + 7 others for Trinitonian - 4 min read

We must listen to Native American experiences

Photo credit: Genevieve Humphreys

Recently, while reading "Fault Lines: A History of the United States since 1974," a new book by Kevin M. Kruse and Julian Zelizer, professors of history at Princeton University, I was struck by the absence of Native voices in their discussion of modern U. S. political history. While Kruse and Zelizer's new book is excellent, the absence of Native experiences...

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By + 6 others for Trinitonian - 4 min read

The Witching Hour

It’s the witching hour, folks. With recent reboot of "Charmed," and a reimagination of "Sabrina the Teenage Witch," a president with scandals and a controversial new member of the Supreme Court, one could say that the 1990s are back. With this backdrop, the increased presence of witches in popular culture appears to be a commentary on the need to dismantle...

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By + 7 others for Trinitonian - 5 min read

The fallacy of boys will be boys

Photo credit: Andrea Nebhut

“Boys will be boys.” Four short words that are commonly used to excuse actions that can hurt someone grievously for a lifetime. And when a woman comes forward to testify, to share the truth about the harassment and the trauma she faced, she is slandered as remembering her trauma wrong — as if the memory didn’t constantly replay in her...

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By + 6 others for Trinitonian - 4 min read

Watergate and Fox News: Echoes of the past

Shocking revelations and event after event revealing duplicities from the White House that leave the nation glued to their screens watching investigations unfold — though these details correspond with the present Trump drama, this account is about Richard Nixon. Reading Stanley L. Kutler's "The Wars of Watergate: The Last Crisis of Richard Nixon," one is struck by the sheer length...

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By + 7 others for Trinitonian - 5 min read

The End of the Straight Talk Express

One of my first political memories occurred during the 2008 election night when I thought John McCain, the former senator of Arizona, was winning because of all the red states on the map. Like most 11-year-old children, I didn’t really understand the electoral college. Time went on, and my political allegiances shifted, but I never lost a grudging respect —...

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