This week in my internship, I communicated more with Holly about ideas and histories I would like to tell for a podcast for Florida Frontiers. As mentioned last week, the main idea I have as of now is the history of migration in Florida, specifically how that constant influx of different kinds of people is what made Florida such a prominent state, historically, socially, and even economically. However, I am not going to lie (I did say this blog will have personal confessions, so here it goes) and say that is the story I have always wanted to pursue, even before applying to the internship. For starters, Holly asked me for 3 ideas/stories, which is good! That means I won't regret not doing a story because the other one had more content, or was more feasible, etc. To give a bit of context, the reason Holly is asking for 3 ideas is because Florida Frontiers podcasts are around 30 minutes long, with the show being divided into 3 segments, telling 3 different histories about Florida. Pretty neat in my opinion! But the fact that I am not totally settled on my main idea (which speaks to how indecisive and conflicted I am as student...just ask any of my professors/teachers I have been grateful to be close with), made me think more about how sad it is that me as a Floridian, who loves history more than the average Floridian, still does not know what history about Florida I would like to research and tell. This begins my tangent (promise it is a meaningful one, I am a anti-bluff writer, as mentioned last week).
How is it that I have lived in Florida my whole life, been a keen student and observer of history, yet know not that much of Florida's history, at least to the level of other histories I have learned? I know quite a lot about U.S. history, domestically and in the foreign relations arena. I know quite a lot of Latin American history, and other history classes that I have exceed at. Now, this is in no way lowering those classes, as I enjoyed each and every single one of them, but I should also know quite a lot about the very own state I live in! And, it is not to say that Florida is one of these states that are quite and under the radar, hence the little knowledge. No! Florida is very loud, and prideful, and often times controversial. It has a unique position, physically, from any other state in the country. I want to know more about this history, which is why I am grateful to have this opportunity to explore it more on my own terms...but also why I am struggling to begin with (oh the irony). I even told Holly throughout our email thread this week, if this can be a story within itself-----the lack of teaching our own state history within the state's education system and the history behind what has led to it. I mean seriously, I do not know how it is now, but when I was going through middle and high school, there was no Florida history class. Let's see. When I was in 6th grade, the social studies class that was required was geography (I have heard it's different now, I think world history now, but don't quote me on that...can also explain why surprisingly people younger than me do not know there geography...yikes!). When I was in 7th grade, the social studies class that was required was U.S. Civics. When I was in 8th grade, the social studies class that was required was U.S. history. Fasting forward, 9th grade world history,10th grade European history (only history elective at my high school), 11th grade U.S. history, and 12th grade human geography (only social studies class that was left for me to take in my high school). No Florida history to be found. I mean why not take that 10th grade year where no history class is required and make it into a Florida history class? Or instead of two doses of U.S. history, why not turn the 8th grade version into Florida history? Point is, why aren't we being taught our own state history, and is there a reason behind it? Even in college there are not many courses that are about Florida history (there is history of the American South, which is a bit more specific. I recently found out that UCF offers a class called Sunbelt Florida, which seems interesting). This is what went through my head during this week as I try to find compelling, unique, and rich stories about Florida. I expressed these struggles with Holly, even telling her if it is possible to do a Zoom meeting, so we can discuss this in real-time. Unfortunately, she and Dr. Brotemarkle were not in the office this week because of a history festival going on this week, but she is more than happy to do so next week. In this same email thread, she said she was going to "brainstorm some sources [for me] pertaining to [my] podcast idea about immigration in Florida". No update on that yet, hopefully this can be done in our Zoom meeting next week, which will most likely be Tuesday or Wednesday.
I decided to take matters into my own hands, to try to make this week as productive as possible despite not meeting with Holly or having any official ideas for the podcast. A bit of backstory. I was lucky enough to come into contact with James Clark, a senior lecturer of history at UCF, during "UCF Celebrates the Arts" festival during mid-April (I thank Dr. Luis Martinez-Fernandez for introducing me to Dr. Clark). As we spoke, we talked about Florida history and I even expressed the same message you all just read about the lack of Florida's history in education. He told me that long ago, he taught Florida history, and is an expert of it, and I was amazed. Well, during this week, I remembered that encounter and search his name up to see if he had written any books about Florida history. BINGO! In 2000 (a bit outdated, considering what has happened in Florida in the past 22 years, but it'll do (a double parenthesis to state this, I can say that past statement because my entire existence has been within that time frame, so I am not contradicting myself of not knowing!)), Dr. Clark published a book titled, "200 Quick Looks at Florida History". It's like I struck gold! This is the perfect book for me, considering the timing and also the time I have to pick ideas for my podcast to get this internship officially going. I bought the book on Thursday, and have glimpse over the "200" topics, and I am excited to dive into each of them and see if I can gather any information on the topic I am already thinking about (immigration) or find inspiration for something more worthwhile! I informed Holly about this today, and told her my goal of finishing most of the book by the time of our meeting next week (at the least, finding 3 out of the 200 that will push me to pursue for this internship...which I like those odds, hopefully this does not lead me to "I do not know what to pick now, so much!")
See, I promise the tangent was meaningful to this week! Probably the wrong use of "tangent". You get the point though, hopefully. I thank Dr. Clark for researching and publishing about Florida's history, coming from a Floridian who would like to know more about the state he grew up and lived in, not only for this internship, but in general, as he's had this confession for a long time (as seen with the length of the blog).
I hope this week's reading was enjoyable to read! I hope there was not too many grammatical errors or runoffs because I have feeling there were a few here and there. Or too many parenthesis. Like I said last week, glad it's a blog and not academic paper! Excited to share what I found from Dr. Clark's book, and the progress I will make next week in this pursuit of telling something from Florida's history!
Thanks for reading!
SG
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