Sara K Joiner: Moving and Finding History

Remember the Alamo!

photo by Sara K Joiner

As a lifelong Texan, I know a great deal about Texas history. Students in Texas study their state's history in fourth grade and seventh grade and also cover the Texas governmental structure in government classes in high school.

We take our history seriously in Texas.

And now I've moved to Indiana. Even as someone interested in history, the upper Midwest of the United States is the part of the country I know the least about. It's a little disconcerting to move to an area that's that unfamiliar.

So imagine my surprise when I learned that 2016 is the bicentennial of Indiana's statehood. What a great opportunity to learn about the state's history. If Indiana's bicentennial celebrations are anything like Texas' sesquicentennial celebrations were in 1986, I ought to have ample opportunities to learn about my new state.

The local television station will be showing Bicentennial Minutes, and the local history museum will have exhibits.

I couldn't have picked a better time to move to a new state. Maybe I'll even find out what a Hoosier is!

Sara K Joiner is the author of After the Ashes. She is also a librarian and is experiencing her first real winter in a cold northern climate.