Eric Christensen – Mary and Jeff Bell Library Blog

Movie Review: Everything Everywhere All At Once

Post author:Eric Christensen
Post published:September 6, 2022
Post category:Books & More Hello, from the Staff

For the IDEA (Inclusivity, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility) Committee blog this month, I am going to talk about a new film that touches on several aspects of marginalized groups. I am a big fan of cinema. I am about 180 films into the Internet Movie Data Base’s Top 250 films as ranked by users. I can appreciate the highest of highbrow Oscar bait, and the most ridiculous spectacle you can imagine. I like stories, which is part of what compelled…

A Word About Autism & Neurodivergency

Post author:Eric Christensen
Post published:June 22, 2022
Post category:General Hello, from the Staff

Trigger warning for suicide and mental health situations. When talking about diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility, neurodivergency is a bit of an underdog. There are not always immediate visible indicators that a person is neurodivergent or autistic. Much as some chronic pain sufferers without visible handicaps are treated, being neurodivergent can trap a person in a world where everything feels wrong, but they are the only one who knows it. What is autism? It is not a disease; it is…

Blücher is a Bad Name for Warships

Post author:Eric Christensen
Post published:June 7, 2022
Post category:Books & More General Hello, from the Staff

While many residents of Corpus Christi are familiar with the German pioneer family of surveyors, the Blüchers, the famous family name also lived on in Germany simultaneously. The Blüchers had been landowners and nobility for hundreds of years when Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher was born in 1742, a little over 100 years before his kin would arrive on the unsettled Texas coast. Blücher would go on to match Paul von Hindenburg as the most highly decorated Prussian-German soldier in history.…

Snakes! & The Bluchers

Post author:Eric Christensen
Post published:October 19, 2021
Post category:Behind the Scenes Hello, from the Staff

Corpus Christi is home to an incredible diversity of flora and fauna, and the region is the preferred habitat of many species of snakes. Several of the local snakes are venomous, such as rattlesnakes, coral snakes, cottonmouths, and copperheads. As such it is always advisable to be aware of your surroundings as you walk the TAMUCC Hike & Bike Trail, or any of the local parks. The following recollection of pioneer snake encounters was recently discovered in the Mary and…

Blucher Family Stories

Post author:Eric Christensen
Post published:April 23, 2021
Post category:Behind the Scenes Books & More Today's Special

There were not a lot of reasons to celebrate in 2020 (except maybe on New Year’s Eve), but the Special Collections & Archives Department at the Mary and Jeff Bell Library got one extraordinary piece of good news as Autumn approached: We were awarded a $25,000 grant to process our Charles F. H. von Blucher Family Papers collection. With our graduate assistant Andrew Karnes working exclusively on processing this priceless collection of three generations of Blucher family papers, many previously…

The Longoria Affair

Post author:Eric Christensen
Post published:August 28, 2020
Post category:Behind the Scenes Books & More Today's Special

It has been a challenging year for the residents of Planet Earth. We’ve all had to make adjustments to nearly every facet of our lives. The United States has been at war with itself over its past and for its future. Undeniable fundamental and systemic racism is being laid bare, and it is an unfortunate part of our culture that we will continue to have to confront and correct. An example of it sits in our own Special Collections Archive…