Let's Start at the Very Beginning

The idea of a blog, to me, is at once both an anxiety-ridden concept and one I must confess to being extremely curious about. I have never had a blog, let alone a diary, I don’t contribute to online forums, and I haven’t written letters since junior high. I am not a recorder, and I certainly don’t record my thoughts for the world to see. So, to quote Maria Von Trapp, “Let’s start at the very beginning, a very good place to start.” The beginning here, I guess, is me.

I was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia on a rainy Saturday in November 1983. Until June 29^th, 2009 I lived there. I attended Sacred Heart School of Halifax where I got a strong basis in academics, and then proceeded to make the rounds of local universities. Something Halifax has in spades. I started at Dalhousie University in September 2001 in a science degree, leaning towards, of all things, neuroscience and medicine. I very quickly realized that medicine was not for me, and instead followed my strong interest in environmental issues to Dal’s fledgling Environmental Programs department. I graduated in May 2006 with an unofficial minor in history and decided I wanted to become an environmental educator. I enrolled at Saint Mary’s University as a change of pace to get the rest of my requisites for a teaching degree. At Saint Mary’s I fell in love with history, and in particular Public History which I had first been briefly introduced to by Dr. Claire Campbell at Dalhousie. It was, however, Dr. Nicole Neatby at SMU who truly introduced me to public history and was integral in my introduction to oral history, social memory, and more specifically UWO’s public history program. At that point, I gave up on the BEd and my mind was made up- I needed a break, but I would apply to Western for fall 2009.

That, essentially, is how I ended up here, writing my first post in my first blog practically shaking in my seat. Hold on world, Becca Rahey has a blog, this could get interesting- at least as soon as I figure out what to write about.