See Gus Read…and Time Travel

Here’s the deal. I’m a dog. And I like to read and travel through time. A few weeks ago, the fine people at UNC Press gave me this nifty time machine. (They think the blue goggles will distract me from the fact that it’s made out of old UNC Press books held together with duct tape. I play along.)

Since then, I’ve been just sort of hopping around–a couple days drinking mint juleps with some southern smarty pants types in Michael O’Brien’s Intellectual Life and the American South, 1810-1860; an afternoon trying out the chocolate-free recipes in Foy Allen Edelman’s Sweet Carolina; and yesterday, I tested my paw at a little car racing in Daniel S. Pierce’s Real NASCAR (though I had to ride shotgun as my feet would not quite reach the pedals). Yes, I’ve been called a Renaissance Man.

But my true passion is history–I’m this close to finishing my dissertation on the disintegration of the Tsarist autocracy. Anyway, the other day I was hanging back in North Carolina circa 1789; did you know that what is now Tennessee was ceded by North Carolina to the U.S. government in 1789? If you didn’t know that, you’re a disgrace–kiss my paws and get a copy of The North Carolina Gazetteer to study up. There will be a quiz later. Check in soon to see where…excuse me, when I travel to next.