On Location | Indiana State Library

For the past couple of weeks, I've been researching and editing a history paper about Indiana Quakers and slavery I wrote last semester for an upcoming competition. My research led me to the Indiana State Library last Thursday, where I sat down with a letter from Levi Coffin and every Indiana Yearly Meeting Minutes record I could ever want. For three and a half hours I sat in a hard-backed wooden chair and poured over those minutes, thinking about the people who created them 180 years ago. A man across the aisle from me looked at several large maps intently, and stacks of other documents waited in the wings inside climate controlled rooms and drawers.

It's a beautiful thing, hundreds of documents waiting to be read by some twenty-first century person who prefers paper to pixels.

On Location | The Happiest Place on Earth

"The symbol of the Magic Kingdom, the symbol of Disney World itself, Cinderella's Castle is my favorite part of the park. My first peek was set under a rainbow sunset, melting a silky blue sky to orange watercolors folding towards the west. The light invited me inside, to a plaque placed at the entrance to the park  inviting all who entered to 'leave today and enter the world of yesterday, tomorrow, and fantasy.' I was more than willing to accept the invitation."