writing
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Spray paint tags on urban walls. Inky scrawlings in restroom stalls. You thought those were modern problems? Oh, no, no, no. The Oregon Trail is covered in graffiti. Those pioneers etched their names and initials on anything that didn’t move. How do you think Wyoming’s Names Hill and Register Cliff got their names? You can still…
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Do time travelers suffer jet lag? I’ve spent entirely too much time in the 19th century lately, plunging down research rabbit holes and popping back up all dazed and desynchronized. I’ve never been much of a souvenir collector, but I don’t know what else to call the bits and bobs banging around my brain after…
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I’m deep into old words these days — Gold Rush and Victorian-era slang, 19th century dictionaries and troves of etymology treasure. I lost an entire afternoon to Merriam-Webster’s fantastic Time Traveler the other day. It sorts words by the first year they were used in print, whether it’s 1613 (alimony, dungaree) or 2025 (vibe coding).…
Jackie Burrell, Writer 