#so eleanor breakup no. 1 happened in '14/'15 whatever

[jlf23tumble]

What does coachella I will survive make you think?

It makes me think thoughts about break ups!

[malglories]

for the history asks (prepare urself), 1-29, 31, 35, 47, 60-65 (im so sorry)

hahah omg, this has to go under a cut. i’m only going to answer the questions which truly interest me, as i want to get off my laptop and read before i go to sleep!

1. historical role model?

she’s not a role model, per se, but a curiosity, a fascination, and an idol, someone whose identity i’ve perhaps molded to my own that is not faithful to who she was. joan of arc.

6. favorite historical fiction book? so so so hard to choose. alias grace.

8. favorite tv show based on historical events, but not really faithful to real life? the borgias

9. favorite musical based on history? les mis

10. favorite movie based on history? all of them are period dramas - moulin rouge?? a royal affair? anna karenina?

14. favorite female monarch? cleopatra

15. favorite war leader? alexander the great

16. favorite controversial leader? napoleon

17. favorite feminist pioneer? christine de pizan

21. which leader do you think would make the best spouse? franz joseph i of austria? married to sisi? a completely unique woman but also completely unsuited to royal life, and he just let her do whatever the fuck she wanted for the most part

26. do you think we’re going to repeat history because we haven’t learned from it? yes.

28. which historical figure do you think has been the most fictionalization and elevated to a godlike status nowadays? all the founding fathers.

31. how was your interest in history started? i truthfully have no idea -- it’s always been a part of me. but i loved reading those scholastic books about all the various women in history. cleopatra: daughter of the nile was my favorite. i was also into that animated show about the american revolution? omg it was called liberty’s kids.

47. favorite queen/king of england? eleanor of aquitaine

60. are you interested in cults and sects? interested, yes, but i haven’t studied them in depth

63. opinion on marriage as a political move? it’s against our sensibilities now, but for thousands of years it was how the world worked. it’s interesting to study, especially the best and worst case scenarios.

64. best history joke you’ve ever heard? that tweet by @ shutupmikeginn:being 28, 2016: i’m not ready for a relationship28, 1816: i have 13 kids28, 1000BC: i lived a good life, thrice i ate a berry and once a pear

65. opinion on the history taught in schools today? i think they make it too formal, and formulaic. history is incredible, it’s interesting, it’s composed of people just like us with thoughts, feelings, ambitions, embarrassments. people who are silly, eccentric, spiteful, loving, brave, cruel. i think if you don’t like history, it’s because you haven’t been taught it in the right way.

it is important to know important events, but the focus should be more on the people who made those events happen, i think. the weird relationships, the dramatic breakups, the lifelong friendships, the incredible greed, the anger that led to extremism: history is the story of humanity, so it should be the humans at the heart of it that are the focus.