Last semester I took a course with my grandfather. Seventy-four years old, he drove an hour each way twice a week to attend a second year university course in the history of European Society from 1789-1945. Afterwards he took me out to dinner, and those meals allowed me to learn about my grandfather in perhaps a greater way than I ever had before. Equally important, I learned from him. One dinner stands out. We had just learned about the French Revolution, and while I in no way seek to undermine the widespread significance of that event, it felt as though I had learned about it so many times that there was little more to gain from a historical point of view. And perhaps in that sense I was right. But that dinner led to a discussion of how people could be motivated to such extreme acts of violence, and an eloquent discussion of love by my grandfather. While at face value love may have little to do with the French Revolution, that dinner (as well as those that followed) reiterated to me that while history is of the past, its influence upon the present remains significant. And so that is what I wish to do for you: connect the past and the ideological in some way with my life, and perhaps with yours. I have no idea where this will lead me, but I hope to enjoy the journey.
Sincerely, Abigail Quinnley
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