Casey's Patch Collection

Luckenbach, Texas

While on the NEH grant summer excursion with my dad and teachers in 2006, we stumbled upon Luckenbach, Texas.  Waylon, Willie, and the boys weren't there that day, but they did have a sign noting their population of 14, if I remember correctly.  They also had a nice old general store, in which I found this patch.  I'm sort of busy tonight packing to move to my new apartment, so I'll just leave y'all with the words of Waylon Jennings:

There only two things in life that make it worth livin'
Is guitars that tune good and firm feelin' women
I don't need my name in the marquis lights
I got my song and I got you with me tonight
Maybe it's time we got back to the basics of love

Let's go to Luckenbach Texas with Waylon and Willie and the boys
This successful life we're livin' got us fueding 
Like the Hatfields and McCoys
Between Hank William's pain songs, and Newberry's train songs
And blue eyes cryin' in the rain out in Luckenbach Texas 
There ain't nobody feelin' no pain

So baby let's sell your diamond ring
Buy some boots and faded jeans and go away
This coat and tie is choking me
In your high socitey you cry all day
We've been so busy keepin' up with the Jones
Four car garage and we're still building on
Maybe it's time we got back to the basics of love

Let's go to Luckenbach Texas with Waylon and Willie and the boys
This successful life we're livin' got us fueding
Like the Hatfields and McCoys
Between Hank Williams pain songs,and Newberry's train songs
And blue eyes cryin' in the rain out in Luckenbach Texas
There ain't nobody feelin' no pain

Let's go to Luckenbach Texas with willie and waylon and the boys
This successful life we're livin' got us fueding
Like the Hatfields and McCoys
Between Hank Williams' pain songs,And Jerry Jeff's train songs
And blue eyes cryin' in the rain out in Luckenbach Texas
There ain't nobody feelin' no pain

LBJ State Park and Historic Site

During the summer after I graduated high school in 2006, I journeyed again with my dad and about 40 middle school and high school history teachers on an NEH Teaching American History Teachers grant summer bus tour. On this trip we visited a number of historic sites all across Texas. On our way to Lyndon Baines Johnson's Presidential Library in Austin, Texas, we made a stop at his boyhood home in the Texas Hill Country near Johnson City.  

In 1965, LBJ donated the land where he grew up to the State of Texas and is now part of the LBJ National Historic Park. The park includes several sites including a visitor's center, his boyhood home, the Johnson Settlement, LBJ's first school, the "Texas White House," the Johnson Family Cemetery, and a beautiful field of wildflowers commissioned by Lady Bird Johnson.  

LBJ's great-grandfather settled there in 1860, and LBJ lived in his home near the original settlement until he graduated high school in 1924. LBJ's first school is located on the ranch, which is also the site where he signed the landmark Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965. After Johnson was elected president, he built his Texas White House so that he would have a place to come home to during his administration, and Lady Bird Johnson lived there until her death in 2007. It became open to the public in 2008. LBJ had a deep attachment to his home in the Texas Hill Country and was laid to rest there at the Johnson Family Cemetery in 1973.

Jefferson National Expansion Memorial

The Jefferson National Expansion Memorial in St. Louis, Missouri is operated by the National Park Service and comprises the Gateway Arch, the Museum of Westward Expansion, and the Old Courthouse. This is yet another historic site for which I could deserve two patches - I've been here once with my parents and sister and another time with my dad on a Teaching American History Teachers grant summer excursion.  

The idea for the Gateway Arch was conceived in 1948 by architect Eero Saarinen, and was constructed in 1963.  It stands at 630 feet and serves as a monument to the spirit of the western pioneers.  You can actually take an elevator (or walk the stairs) all the way to the top, and on windy days it will sway up to 18 inches!

Below the arch underground is the Museum of Westward Expansion.  My dad always made sure that we were kept occupied on the bus to and from historic sites, so on our way to St. Louis he had us watch Ken Burns' EXCELLENT PBS documentary, Lewis and Clark.  The museum contains many artifacts and has some very well developed exhibits that tell the story of the Lewis and Clark's Corps of Discovery.

On the patch you'll see in the center what is known as "The Old Courthouse."  In 1847, Dred Scott filed suit against his slave owner for his freedom after having lived with his master on free soil for almost nine years.  The first two cases took place at the Old Court House, and in 1857 Supreme Court Justice Roger B. Taney finally dismissed the case, arguing that black people, both free and slave, had no rights under the Constitution because they were of "inferior order."  This ultimately led to abolitionists in the North becoming more active and vigilant in their cause.  Frederick Douglass knew after the decision was made that slavery had to end as soon as possible, for his sake and for every free and enslaved African American in the United States.

 

Omaha Beach, Normandy

During the summer of 2008, I studied World War II with the University of Southern Mississippi's British Studies Program.  Most of our time was spent in London, but for one week we visited Normandy, France to study the D-Day campaign that took place in June of 1944.  Before we arrived in Normandy, I had just finished reading Cornelius Ryan's The Longest Day, published in 1959, which documents the events leading up to, during, and after the Normandy landings on 6 June 1944.  I don't like to romanticize battles and war because the reality of war is that is that it is brutal and deadly and often unfair to the unfortunate people who have to risk their lives and die.  But as I walked along Omaha Beach that day, I lifted my thoughts in thanks to all those who sacrificed their lives there on D-Day  

At the same time there was another feeling of thanks that hit even closer to home for me. I walked and remembered everyone who had influenced me to want to study history.  I didn't know at the time, but all of those for whom I was thankful that day would also have a direct influence on me choosing LIS for my master's degree, which would eventually lead me to Boston to land a job working for the most well-known history documentary series in the United States, American Experience.

Besides this patch, I only brought one item back from Normandy with me.   I gathered a gallon bag full of sand from Omaha Beach, and upon my return to Mississippi I divided that bag of sand into individual glass containers, which I gave to the people who had been a direct impact on my decision to study and love history.  Among those were first and foremost, my Uncle Craig "Bowie" Davis, as well as Mr. Steve Clyburn, Mr. Terry Joe McKenzie, and Coach Eddie Rials.  

 

SLISters Geaux toux Chicago

In August of 2011, a group of my fellow SLISters (SLarchivists to be precise) and I journeyed to Chicago, Illinois for the 75th annual Society of American Archivists conference.  Not only did we go to the conference - our primary purpose for attending was to represent LSU SLIS by presenting our poster "Student Chapters: Meeting Expectations and Providing High Quality Experiences" at the student poster session.  Our research consisted of a 33 question survey which we sent out to every student and recent graduate of the 61 LIS programs in the United States and Canada.  We asked students about why they did or did not join a student chapter of their professional association of choice, as well as what they hoped to gain from their membership and if those expectations were met.  From our research, we gained a better understanding of how to better meet the needs of LIS students in student chapters, as well as how to recruit future students into student chapters.  Our group included Lisa Juengling, Nicole Pye, Rebekah Laurent, Jimmy Williamson, and myself, accompanied by Felicia Thomas, fellow SLarchivist extraordinaire.  

It was an amazing week in Chicago and at SAA!  We stayed in a fantastic condo on the 47th floor of a brand new high-rise with a view of the city and Lake Michigan; we indulged in Chicago deep dish pizza (even though Mac Scarle scoffed at our restaurant choices); we visited the Art Institute of Chicago and the Field Museum, and we all got our first taste of presenting at a national professional conference.  

To be honest, I came back from Chicago bragging most about the folks whose hands I got to shake, including several of the "high priests" of the archival profession - Mary Jo Pugh (author of Providing Reference Services for Archives and Manuscripts), Rand Jimerson (author of Archives Power, focusing on the archivists' role in preserving the collective memory), Gregory Hunter (Developing and Maintaining Practical Archives, a work also known by some as the Archivists' Bible), Julia Marks Young (remember Boles' and Young's Black Box Theory of archival appraisal?), among others! 

Yep, it was a great experience, and I can't wait for SAA in NOLA next  year!

Penobscot River White Water Rafting

This weekend I went white water rafting on the Penobscot River in Millinocket, Maine.  I had my fingers crossed that they'd have a patch for me to add to my collection, and sure enough, they did!  The whole weekend was amazing, thanks to this guy by the name of Nate who I think is really awesome and super.  He planned the whole weekend and coordinated our campsite and rafting trip, and everyone who went on the trip had a blast, including Nate, James, Pranay, Tim, Vivek, Marjena, Milan, and myself.  

Besides having the opportunity to raft Class 5 rapids (one of which is considered the most technical Class 5 rapid in the United States), camp in the woods, and have an excellent lobstah meal on our last night at camp, the best part about the weekend was the company with whom I spent it.  I moved to Boston three months ago without knowing anyone, and I am so grateful to all of those who have been so kind to me and have made me feel so welcomed.  Every patch has a story, and the story that I'll remember about this patch, besides us totally owning those rapids yesterday, has all to do with the folks who were there with me when I got it.

 

 

Nantahala River White Water Rafting

Since I'm heading north toward Maine today on a white water rafting trip down the Penobscot River, I figured I'd post my white water rafting patch.  If I had written my collection development policy to collect a patch each time I visited the same place, I'd have probably 8 of these patches.  The Nantahala River is a class 4 river in North Carolina that I've rafted several times with my family - a few times in the large raft and a couple times in a single person duckie. 

The most memorable time that I rafted this river was when we took my then 68-70 year old grandparents.  By the end of the trip, my grandmother (mamaw in Mississippi speak) had been lying down on the floor of the raft the entire time, and my grandfather (papaw) had thought that the goal had been to paddle away from the rapids!  Needless to say, it was a pretty anxiety-filled trip down the river for me, but I'll never forget it!

I've got my fingers crossed that the folks at the Penobscot River rafting have a patch...

 

The Birthplace of Rock N' Roll

Any of y'all ever been to Sun Studio in Memphis, Tennessee? For those of you who are unfamiliar with Sun Studio, this is where folks like Howlin' Wolf, B.B. King, Little Milton, Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, and Jerry Lee Lewis recorded albums throughout the 1950s.  And in August of 1953, an 18 year old Elvis Presley walked into Sun Studio and asked to pay to record a couple songs.  When the receptionist, Marion Keisker, asked Elvis who he sounded like, he replied, "Well, I don't sound like nobody, ma'am."  So Sun Studio is where Elvis began his career to become the King of Rock 'N Roll. 

The last time I visited Sun Studio was when my pops was a grant administrator for the Teaching American History Teachers NEH grant.  During the summers, I'd get to accompany him and about 30 middle school and high school history teachers on bus tours for a week at a time.  On this trip, we went to Memphis, Little Rock, St. Louis, Kansas City, and Hannibal, Missouri.  More patches to come from this trip... :-) 

 

Lighthouses of Maine

This is a relatively new patch that I acquired on July 4, 2012 in Portland, Maine.  My wonderful new friend Samantha Turner invited me to spend the 4th of July with her and her mom in Maine, and we took a tour of the Casco Bay off the coast of Portland.  We got to see 4 lighthouses while on the tour, and it was a lovely (if a bit chilly!) day.  As we were returning to the harbor, folks began shooting fireworks to commemorate the occasion.