And look, so I say this every Sept., I say it cause it's the damn truth: German unification is boooorrrrriiinnngggg.
German unification (1871!) is so boring, it's the kind of boring that you want to protect others from, even strangers. You know, like today I was thinking to myself: how I need a new bra, but I was like--hey, I just bought three bras in like, December--and then I was like--gee, what happened to those three bras? Oh, well, one got chewed up by the dryer....etc.
That information about my bras is so boring that I would not tell it to anyone, in order to not subject them to such a boring story. Except for CC. For some reason she is exempt from this and I told her about the bras. We were on a long drive, anyway, so maybe it was just nice to have something to talk about.
But I would not tell even CC about German unification. It is that boring.
The irony is that I have to tell people in my class tomorrow about it because basically, they are paying me to tell them about it, in violation of my own sense of human fellow-feeling.
10 comments:
you should definitely tell your kids how boring you think german unification is. how ironic that less than 70 years those same germans would shock the world with the blitzkreig.
Why don't you teach them about the Franco-Prussian war? At least that way you can tell them how Parisians ate horses they were so desperate. Put those Frenchies in their place!
Did they for real eat horses? That could be good.
But don't the French eat horses in peacetime, too?
Last time I taught it, I totally said something like, "This is sort of boring and dry, but stay with me--we will get through it!" I dunno if that helped.
At least you didn't tell them Germany unified through a barter system with heavy priest involvement.
Oh, and yes, the horses story is true. Yet another gem I learned in AP Euro that carried me through graduate school.
http://www.historyhome.co.uk/europe/unific.htm
The Aztecs didn't have money per se, but they had a complex system of barter, with heavy priest involvement, very much like the system by which they chose their ruler, come to think of it.
They did eat horses! Plus goats, rats, cats, etc. Thanks CBAM. I will be sure to mention that and the fact that according to that website, the leader of Paris escaped in a balloon.
Do not eat the dog, donkey or horse! DO NOT EAT! It's an adventure any way!
I mentioned that the Parisians ate horses, rats, cats, etc. The class seemed unmoved by this.
I should add that I asked my students what about German history in particular they're interested in, and one woman said, "unification and bismarck."
YSA Burie, you didn't lecture on the first day, did you?
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