The Life of Yergeny Yevfushenko
By: Dylan Hebert (History ’17)
One of the great Russian poets of the twentieth century, Yevgeny Yevtushenko died in Tulsa, Oklahoma on April 1st of this year at the age of eighty-three. A descendent of the deported leaders of a peasant rebellion, Yevtushenko was born in a small town stationed along the Trans-Siberian railway in the Irkutsk region of Siberia. In a town called Zima, or in English, “winter,” the climate of Zima is harsh even by Siberian standards, with temperatures ranging from -55 degrees in the winter to +100 degrees in the summer. In 1937 at the age of five, Yevtushenko’s family experienced great turmoil with the official declaration of both his grandfather’s as enemies of the people and their subsequent arrest in Stalin’s purges.
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Student Major Profile: Interview with Seth Browner
By Chelsey Crabbe (History, ‘17)
This week, I wanted to spend some time getting to know our fellow a little better hoping that I could give some much-deserved publicity to a well-respected peer of mine to the rest of the Trinity community. Therefore, I decided to ask him a few history-related questions playing to the common theme of being a History major.
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So You Majored in History?: A Personal Reflection
By: Callie Prince (History ’17)
I knew I wanted to be a History major in college before I had even decided which school to attend. I pictured myself taking classes only relating to my favorite subject, 20th century Europe, and simply memorizing dates, names, and battlefields. I assumed that I would graduate with a complete knowledge of that time period and would ultimately be the perfect candidate for Jeopardy if they ever did a show simply on World War II. Alex Trebek would commend me on my extensive knowledge after naming me the winner. Yet, to this day after an almost completed major in History at Trinity, I would not call myself an expert of anything, even my thesis. I have only taken one history class that was directly related to World War II and I feel as if I am leaving Trinity with even more questions than when I entered. And I could not be more thrilled to say so.
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Study Away: Studying History at Irkutsk State University
By: Dylan Hebert (History ’17)
Studying abroad in Irkutsk, a small industrial city in Eastern Siberia, one of my greatest and most rewarding challenges, was taking a mainstream history class with Russian students at Irkutsk State University (ISU). While everyone has different objectives when they study abroad, for those who want to get as much as they can out of the experience, I wholeheartedly recommend that they take a regular class from their host university. Studying abroad through the Middlebury International Language Program, I had taken history and other subjects in Russian with ISU professors before, but my other classmates were also English speaking Americans from the Middlebury program. Taking a mainstream Russian history class with ISU students was much more intimidating.
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Job Hunting With a Trinity History Degree
By: James Barrett (IDP, History, ’17)
Job hunting is the worst. I don’t think it is going too far out on a limb to say that there is nothing good about it (other than the possible euphoria one feels when they actually get a job, I’ll let you know if that’s the case when I get there.) For the last several months I have been applying for full-time teaching jobs at independent high schools. Writing cover letters, personal statements, and teaching philosophies have become second nature at this point. While the education field and different schools, in general, have their own application procedures, there are certain skills that I have learned through being a Trinity history student that have helped me immensely (I can’t say they have helped me land a teaching job yet, but I remain confident they will eventually.)
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Visiting Lenin in Red Square
By: Dylan Hebert (History ’17)
Vladimir Lenin may have died on January 21st, 1924, but to this day, his body remains on display in the Lenin Mausoleum on Red Square. Lenin himself wanted to be buried at St. Petersburg’s Volkovskoye Cemetery alongside his mother, two sisters, and brother in law, but his request was not granted. The decision of whether or not to bury Lenin has frequently resurfaced in years since.
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Belgorod, Russia: Visiting the Battle of Kursk Museum
From February 16-23rd I was part of a USA hip hop delegation (‘Under the Curtain’) to Russia due to my role as a faculty advisor to the Trinity Chapter of Temple of Hip and the annual Trinity International Hip Hop Festival. Sponsored by the United States Embassy in Moscow, I accompanied Trinity undergraduate student Cam Clarke (Philosophy and Human Rights), three Hartford-based hip hop artists, and one hip hop organizer from World Hip Hop Market. We visited Moscow, Belgorod and Togliatti. Although our days were mostly filled with travel, lectures, and workshops, we did get the chance to tour each city and learn about their respective local histories.
History Department’s Senior Thesis Presentations 2016-2017
This academic year, the History Department has nine honor thesis writers. Elizabeth, Sedona, Callie, Dylan, Elm, Chelsey, Eleanor, Seth and Andrew will be presenting on their research on Wednesday, May 3, 2017. The presentations will take place at Seabury Hall 215 (Trinity College), starting at 9:00 a.m. History Thesis Writers, History Majors, members of the History Department, and members of the Trinity and Hartford community are invited and encouraged to attend this special event. A five minute Q+A will follow each presentation. For the full schedule, continue reading….
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A Historic Tour of Hartford: A Bucket List
By: Chelsey Crabbe (History ‘17)
As a senior inching towards graduation, I’m realizing that my friends and I still have not fully experienced Hartford. There are restaurants, events, and places still to be discovered in these shorts weeks leading up to the 21st of May. Specifically, my interest in history has largely been under-utilized within the Hartford context having never been to the Mark Twain House and many other historic locations. Trinity students never realize until the very end that Hartford does indeed have it…I’m not exactly sure what “it” is, but there is a certain charm to this place I’ve called home for four years. Especially in terms of history, Hartford was once an “it” town, a booming insurance capital, a place of both industry and creative, attracting literary giants like good ol’ Samuel Clemens. Therefore, I’ve decided to compile a bucket place of places to explore before my time here in Hartford is up. Hopefully, younger Trinity students will follow along and explore Hartford before they, too, are seniors nearing graduation.
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D.B. Cooper and the Hijacking of Northwest Airlines flight 305
By: James Barret (History ’17)
For my final paper in ‘HIST 344: America’s Most Wanted’ taught by Professor Greenberg (a course that all history majors should take), I will be writing about D.B Cooper’s infamous hijacking of Northwest Airlines flight 305 and extortion of $200,000. Although the Cooper case has many different elements, one that I will likely not be able to address in my paper due to the parameters of the assignment is the aftermath of the hijacking. The way I see it, the general public’s fascination with Cooper comes down to two major questions: Who was this man? And perhaps more importantly, did he survive his skydive into a cold rainy night somewhere in the woods north of Portland, Oregon? I will certainly work to answer these questions, or at the very least put together a guess in the final paper. But a third question has been bugging me lately and it is much more abstract. What exactly does the world gain from a story like Cooper’s? And furthermore, what would happen if there became definitive proof as to who this man was and what happened to him? Similar questions have been asked before, specifically by The New York Times Geoffrey Gray. Gray and I reach similar conclusions but differ slightly, I see Cooper as interesting because all the options are still on the table. Gray believes that Cooper enthusiasts will lose their drive if they know what all went down.