History

I'm an historian. I'm an historian not just by what's on a piece of paper from a university I attended. No, I fell in love with history at a young age. I cannot pinpoint when exactly this happened. Maybe it was grammar school when we learned about the pilgrims at Thanksgiving. Or maybe in Sunday school learning about Jesus and his time. All I know is I wanted to know more.

In high school, I especially enjoyed world history, learning about the early civilizations. Mesopotamia,

Byzantium, Greece, Rome, even early Europe and Prussia.

At university, I began my studies in Middle East studies. More of an Interdisciplinary Humanities degree that I had to create myself. I was able to incorporate some of my varied interests into the degree such as Byzantine Art, Philosophy, and such. I even took a year of Arabic after completing my French language requirement. Thus earning my Bachelor's degree from Michigan State University. 

I completed my Master's Thesis on The House of Wisdom and the Arab world's contribution to science. That was an endeavor that I kind of began my senior year at MSU. I learned quite a bit about al-Khwarizmi, al-Jabir, and others who translated and improved upon the greeks and romans work of the day.

Did you know algebra came out of Baghdad? The man in the image above is al-Khwarizmi, the father of that very math! And one of the scientists from bayt al-hikma.

Now, I teach American History at a local college part time. I enjoy teaching history. I love being in a classroom. My favorite part of our history is the founding of our great country. Colonial America is fascinating. 

Someday I would not only love to visit the Middle East, but also teach a Middle East survey course.