June 3, 2022
A screenshot of an article from the Smithsonian on one of my topic proposals.
It's check-in day! Today's prompts are: What questions do you have as you narrow and decide on your topic? What interests you that you want to write about?
I'm not entirely sure what questions I have yet, about the topics. I guess my main questions will revolve around narrowing my topics and choosing ones that have the potential to be worthy of publication. I have a tendency to lean toward more "serious" subjects, so I am trying to come up with a mix of both. I have goals to write multiple blog posts this summer, so hopefully I can make that happen. I've been reading up on the blog and its impressive, the wide range of topics covered.
As far as interests go, I have a few that I have been playing with.
I have taken an interest in jailhouse lawyers recently. The current legal issues surrounding law library/legal research access for prisoners, but also the history of jailhouse lawyers, especially at the bigger prisons during the 1930's-50's.
I have been exploring some of my ancestry recently and I've come across things that have piqued my interest. What life was like at specific Japanese internment camps, for example. Two of my grandparents were incarcerated at two different camps, with two entirely different experiences. I visited a camp in Montana a few years ago and learned that many Italians were also incarcerated alongside the Japanese. I also have a great-great grandmother who was sold as a slave in the Mississippi. And I have a great grandfather who came through Ellis Island. This may not be the appropriate platform for these stories, but interraciality in America is something that interests me greatly.
I was recently working on a case brief involving decency laws and it had me rabbit holing historical decency laws and those that are still in effect. For example- the case was City of Seattle v. Buchanan, and a law in Atlanta was referenced that prohibited mannequins from being undressed in storefront windows because men were getting distracted and causing accidents. Shockingly (or not?), this law does not appear to have been removed yet. Got me thinking about other "weird" laws that are still in the books as something interesting to write about.
Oher topics that come to mind are- whether cows are considered domesticated, maritime law and deep-sea exploration ("treasure hunting), why is removing bird eggs/nests illegal, differing state laws on exotic animal owning, weird cases involving changelings and how this happens, foods that originated in America, why don't we use people's ears for identification. These are random, and I could keep going, but just to give you an idea (on my long very long email- sorry!).
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