Lunch With James

Linda Burton posting from Edmonds, Washington while traveling between Salem, Oregon and Honolulu, Hawaii –“I’ve been interested in politics as long as I can remember,” James recalled. “I used to hand out political flyers for my father when I was five years old.” James and I are sitting in my favorite red-booth spaghetti place in the Wallingford neighborhood, not too far from the University of Washington. I first met James at the University where he taught a class I took several years ago. And now, because James has agreed to serve on the Board of Directors of Capital Cities USA, we’re discussing business. The “historian’s way of looking at things” is the important niche James fills on the Board. You know, that nit-picking three-part method historians insist on using to explain the world – (1) multiple perspectives (2) a variety of sources and (3) critical analysis. It’s much easier to make a surface-level snap judgment about the events of life, and most of us do that, most of the time. But James is a context person. It’s not just what, it’s what led to the what. Go wide, then narrow in. Understand the influences of the time. Look at some of the things James has focused on since developing that interest in politics at his father’s knee; you’ll see what I mean. » read more