Welcome to JHistorian’s Historical Musings! For those of you who may not know me, my name is Johnathan Hayward, and I’m a recent graduate of Westmont College in Santa Barbara, CA. At Westmont, I majored in history while developing a keen interest in theatre. I’ve done a bit of acting, as well as directing a few small pieces. For my culminating research project in history, I examined the formation of political parties in early America, specifically looking at the Jay Treaty’s role in creating two distinct political groups within American society. The research paper was around 25 pages, and probably the most important thing which that experience taught me was just how little I know about history.
There are a few reasons for why I’m starting this blog. I suppose that’s probably a good thing. First of all, I want to have a place to put my thoughts down relating to history and current events. But hopefully it doesn’t end there. Ideally, I would love to get feedback from you, the reader, about historical topics and what makes history exciting for you. Thinking about my own future, I have been wanting to somehow merge my interests of theatre and history, and find a fascinating medium through which to present history to the average person. Lately, I have wondered if this might take the form of documentary. It is possible, but documentary work is still a relatively unknown field to me, so I would need to find out more about it.
Without saying more and risking boredom on your part, I will end with that. Hopefully, the following entries will be somewhat self-explanatory. I hope you enjoy it, and most of all I hope that you’re able to develop a profound interest and respect for history. The idea of this blog is still morphing within my own mind, so it is quite likely that the format may change a bit. But the core question is the same….Why does history matter, and what makes it exciting?