Balloons...Who Knew pt. 1

This semester I am working as a teaching assistant for a class about the history of aviation. Now, I like planes as much as any person, I mean who doesn't like planes! But I really have no idea about their history or the history of flight. To try and make up for this I am currently reading various books on aviation, beginning with the history of hot air balloons.

The topic of balloons is actually very interesting! The assigned book for the class is Falling Upwards by Richard Holmes. It is a very readable book, filled with stories and anecdotes beginning with the first barely successful flights of sacs filled with hot air and going all the way up until...actually I haven't yet finished the book so I don't know how it ends! But I do have some interesting things from what I have read so far, things I never knew existed!

The first hot air balloon was created by Joseph Michelle and Jacques Etienne Montgolfier.

They were a pair of French brothers who were in the exceedingly interesting business of making paper. In June of 1783 they put their prowess with paper to good use and turned some of this simple product into the very first hot air balloon. That's right, the first hot air balloon, complete with open flame, was made out of flimsy paper.
Their flight kicked off an air race in France, triggering the transition from air to gas balloons (hydrogen mostly). After the first successful floating of large balloons the phenomenon took off (get it). The balloons got bigger, most elaborate and would go higher and float longer. It was not an endeavour without challenges or dangers. New innovations, done in the name of science, caused many crashes or explosions. One such mishap occurred with a renowned French balloonist named Jean Francois Pilatre de Rozier. He tried to invent a type of dual balloon that combined a hot air component below a hydrogen ballon. Now for anyone who knows anything about hydrogen, when it is mixed with oxygen and placed over and open flame it tends to react badly. Needless to say this innovator did not last very long in the air.

The balloonist that I found the most interesting in this novel was actually a woman named Sophie Blanchard. This woman sounds like she was completely fearless! She was the wife (the young wife)

Sophie Blanchard standing in her small basket

of a ballooning pioneer named Jean-Pierre Blanchard. She was introduced to ballooning by her husband and continued after he died. She was the first woman to work as a professional balloonist! Her employer? Napoleon Bonaparte! He saw some of her exploits (which included night ballooning, aerial fireworks displays, skydiving and standing in a basket the size of a champagne bucket), and promoted her to the role of Aeronaut of the Official Festivals.  She had many close calls, including losing consciousness on many occasions, crashing her balloon in a marsh and almost drowning and almost freezing to death due to how high she floated. Unfortunately, her illustrious career ended when some fireworks ignited the gas in her balloon. It crashed into the roof of a house. The impact didn't kill her, but she fell out of the basket onto the roof, and then slid off to her death.  

One of the most interesting things that I learned from the novel was how hot air balloons were used in the American Civil War. This was the first time two opposing armies used an air force during battle. Balloons were more commonly used by the Union army as a way to scout enemy movements before and during battles. The Aeronaut (Balloon pilot) would use a small telescope or binoculars to track the armies movements and relay messages to the union generals. The Confederate army also used balloons. Most famously, because the army did not have as much money as the Union, the south supposedly constructed a small balloon made out of beautiful silk dresses donated by the belles of Dixie. This balloon, known as Gazelle, was actually just made out of silk dress material premade dresses. The below video explains more about it's use in the war!

This is only part one of a two part blog post. I am going to keep reading, and next week post about how the novel ends. Stay tuned for some more interesting facts about balloons!

“The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.” ― L.P. Hartley, The Go-Between

Hello all, and welcome to my second ever blog post!

I have now finished my first full week of grad school, complete with every class I am takign this semester, readings for all of those classes, my new TA position, a new part time job and a whole bunch of new friends! So much has changed, even in a week, which I suppose is tangible proof that studying the past is as important as it is messy! Like the titel of this post states, the past feels like a foreign country where everything is done differently, and this quote relates to everything I have been learning so far! This post is going to be a reflection of my second week, all of the new glorious challenges and changes that I have come across, and some of the things I have learned in just a week.

1. The readings never stop
So I am not exactly sure what I expected, but the readings seem to be never-ending! Two things that I have noticed about these readings though are that 99% of them are both crucial to the classes (and very interesting to read!), and that it gets easier! I attended my first "professional development seminar" on Thursday, where the upper year graduate students gave the new masters students some tips on how to approach the next year of school. One of these nuggets of wisdom, which I took to heart, was that the readings never ever let up...but the way that you read changes for the better. Even in one week I think that my reading has become much more efficient. Either that or I have so much more to do that my brain has decided that something needs to give. That is still under review.

2. With many friends come many responsibilities
One of my biggest worries coming into grad school, even more then the work, was making friends. It is not that I am antisocial, but coming to a new city where I only know a few people was daunting. Turns out I needed to worry about the exact opposite of this, even after only two weeks I can already see that socializing is going to have to be done strategically. So far though I have been able to get to know the amazing people in my program at Trivia night, Grad Club campfire and a Public History night on the town. I also have discovered that socializing happens when we are all in the office together (which happens on a daily basis). There is going to have to be balance between productive socializing, like in the office, and times when we just want to forget we are in school, but I have confidence in our ability to be awesome.

3. Parking, freeze punk!
This week I started my "part time" job, and by "part time" I mean 4 hours a week. I have worked one shift doing parking enforcement on campus and I discovered that four hours of walking around campus making sure everyone has proper permits is actually a welcome break! It is a great way to get to know the campus and get some exercise. The people I work with are great, and I get to make some extra money while taking a break from school work. Who knows how this will work out later on in the semester when assignments start, but for right now I'm loving it.

4. School work and Classes
I have now had at least one of all of my classes and I can say with confidence that I am in the right program. In my digital history class have been discussing the use of technology in academics, the concept that my generation is the "technology" generation and how to make an effective podcast. Fun fact: coming up with a podcast topic is almost as hard as coming up with a blog name! I am excited to continue work for this course, because as a newly budding public historian, being able to work with many kinds of software's and programs will be invaluable.
The second class I had was social memory. It was an AMAZING class! It is going to be SO much work! I have learned that social memory is essentially what society as a collective remembers about historical events and people. This class fell very close to the anniversary of 9/11, and this seemed to be almost fate, because much of the discussions centred around what we remembered about that day. One important question was raised: can you differentiate your memory of the event from all the information you have learned since then. Some of us answered yes, but evidently the answer is no. An event, once experienced, can never be experienced again. Only the memory can be re-remembered and therefore it is subject to constant change and alteration no matter how hard you try to keep the memory the same. This topic is complex, it is sometimes controversial, and there are no right answers. I am in love. This is why I went into grad school. I am so excited about the upcoming weeks in this class and the things I am going to learn!
The final class was public history, which is getting more interesting by the week! This week was oral history, and how interviews and primary accounts can be very important. It relates to our first assignment in that class, assisting with videos and conducting first hand oral history interviews.

Just like in the past, grad school can sometimes feel like a foreign country. There are different rules, expectations and sometimes even what seems like different languages. I am excited to keep learning about how to navigate this new world and become a master of history.

And so it begins...

Well…I survived my first day of graduate school…barely. Hour and hours of preparation, orientations and meet and greets admittedly did not prepare me for the avalanche of new information, new people and a campus that is the size of the small city that I grew up in! There were a few things that I managed to reflect on after my first day that I want to share in this, my very first blog post!

I am so excited about the work that I will be doing! I was presented with projects and assignments that will not only will give me invaluable skills moving into the world of careers, interview questions and endless cover letters, but will also allow me to leave a mark on the community. I am most excited to dive head first into these major assignments and show what I can do. This is also what I am most nervous about. This work matters. When I was writing endless undergraduate essays and assignments, that work only really affected me, and my academic success. But these assignments affect not only myself, and my future job opportunities, but the community, and the professionals who are relying on me for quality work. The importance of these assignments is a double edged sword, a chance to sink or swim.

This relates well to what I want to accomplish during the next year of this program. There are many different goals that I set before beginning this next chapter of my life. Personally, I want to be able to grow as a student. My undergraduate studies were successful, but I dedicated the majority of my time to my studies and did not have a balance when it came to socializing or taking care of myself. The importance of balance was emphasized over and over during the orientations, although admittedly somewhat contradicted by the sheer volume of work that was then assigned! Nevertheless, as a personal goal I want to be able to work towards this balance, and make my masters an enriching experience.

Academically, I want to be able to take every assignment and learn from it. Even having only been to one day of class, I can already see that there is a wealth of knowledge and skills at my disposal, and I think it is my job as a developing student to embrace that. I know there are going to be times when I don’t want to read for a class, or when I feel like I can’t do any better on an assignment, or when I really don’t want to revise my essay for the fourth time. My goal as a student is to remember during those times why I chose to pursue graduate level education, and in the end be able to continue improving the quality of my work. Essentially, I want to make an impact during my time in this program. I want to be able to explore things I find interesting and discover things I had never before considered (such as blogging, thank you Digital History!). So far, every person I have met and every class I have attended seems to be designed to challenge me, but ultimately help me achieve these goals.

When I was preparing to apply to this program, I received nothing but encouragement from my professors, mentors and friends. I heard over and over how suited I was for graduate school, how it would be challenging but it would be the best time of my life. I came into the first day with determination and confidence, and I left feeling slightly (ok, maybe more than slightly) deflated. This is going to be hard! However, I once received advice from someone that I held very close to my heart; if it were easy, everyone would do it. What makes it hard is also what makes it worth it. I am looking forward to seeing what this year brings, being part of the amazing community that is my program and moving forward into the world of public history!