

Rediscovering Something Old in Something New: Thoughts About My New Fuji X-T1 and Life
From left to right: Sony SLT-A77 with 16-50/2.8 zoom, Fuji X-T1 with 23/1.4R, and Honeywell Pentax SLR with 28/2.8 lens – circa 1965. Photo taken with an iPad! “It looks like it is from the ’80s.” That was the first thing my wife said about my Fuji X-T1 as I excitedly handed it to her. She didn’t mean it as a compliment. The blow to … Continue reading Rediscovering Something Old in Something New: Thoughts About My New Fuji X-T1 and Life

The Larder Hits the Shelves
My essay “Italian New Orleans and the Business of Food in the Immigrant City: There’s More to the Muffuletta than Meets the Eye,” appeared in the 2013 volume The Larder: Food Studies Methods from the American South. In it I discuss the methodology I developed in that became the basis for the Documentary and Oral History Studio at Loyola and how it came to shape … Continue reading The Larder Hits the Shelves
Merry Christmas!
It “sneauxed” on the campus of Loyola University on December 5, 2012. Okay, not really. Every year, the Office of Student Life stages an event on the Horseshoe where a company comes in and makes a giant pile of fake snow. The process functions something like a snowball machine. Since the start of the fall semester, I’ve been organizing Loyola’s new Documentary and Oral History … Continue reading Merry Christmas!

Gray Lady Down!
(my apologies to the late Charlton Heston for the title) Sunday morning provided me with the opportunity to combine two interests – building implosions and cameras. I think I’ve recovered fully enough now to tell the tale! The old Pallas Hotel in New Orleans had never been a commercial success, and for as long as I’ve been coming to the city it has loomed over … Continue reading Gray Lady Down!
Essay Collection Now Available
It has taken a surprisingly long time to get into print, but Fordham University Press has at long last released The Great Task Remaining Before Us: Reconstruction as America’s Continuing Civil War. I’m honored to join so many fine historians who have contributed to this work and would like to thank the ceaseless efforts of Paul Cimbala and Randall Miller to see it through to … Continue reading Essay Collection Now Available
Look at what arrived on my doorstep!
After like what seemed like forever, Johns Hopkins has sent me copies of the book! I am told it is now available some places. Continue reading Look at what arrived on my doorstep!