Greetings everyone,

It has been some time since I have written a blog, so bear with me through this “test run” post. What’s worse, WordPress is a whole new beast now compared to five years ago, although the AI features are quite helpful at times.

For those of you who followed my previous blog, Southland Railroad Stories, I have switched to this site and plan to resume writing history blogs as I find time. Speaking of time, you may be wondering where I have been and what I have been doing for the past few years. Let me tell you, to say life has been a roller coaster would be putting it very lightly!

I’ll spare you all the craziness and jump right into some of the positive steps I have been taking. In May 2025, I completed my undergraduate degree in History at Southern New Hampshire University. This was a big accomplishment for me. I always said that if I could just find the time to complete a bachelor’s degree, I would be satisfied.

Well, I wasn’t.

Within just a few days of finishing my capstone project and final exams, before I even had my degree in hand, I was already looking into graduate schools.

This brings me to where I am now in my academic journey: a graduate student at Western Kentucky University. No, I have not relocated to Kentucky and still live in good ol’ East Tennessee. In the modern world we live in, many colleges offer some sort of hybrid or online option for students. This is wonderful, especially if you are forced to juggle work and adult responsibilities alongside attending classes, as I have been doing for the past few years.

Now, would I prefer to attend classes in person? Absolutely! But this is the only way I could do it given the circumstances.

As I said earlier, this is more of a test blog to get a feel for how things work again and see what’s changed. I will be back soon with posts on local history, coal mining, traveling, and, of course, railroads.

Best,

Craig