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The Introduction

HELLO!  My name is Jill, but if you're reading this, good chance you already know me somehow.  But I guess a couple things first.  Um, I play tennis, I like to swing dance, and one of my guilty pleasures is watching Hilary Duff movies on rainy days.  It's raining today, but I ran out of Hilary Duff movies, so I'm watching Gangs of New York instead.

But enough about me.  There's a point to this post, and to the blog.  Ever seen those road markers that blurb a little about a person, a place, or an event?  Around NC, they're grey and somewhat bland.  They're what people call Historical Markers, and they're also all over the country (except for Arizona, unfortunately, unless Wikipedia is wrong).  I used to live in DC, and I never really saw any there; but then again, the Mall has like 10 museums, so I guess why bother?  But when my parents and I moved down to Chapel Hill (where I am now), I always thought it was cool that history still lingers among the modern community, even if it's in the form of little, grey, bland reminders.  All up and down streets, in towns and villages, and sometimes just randomly on the side of a US route.

So I decided, why not look for these?  Each sign reminds us a small, tiny part of our history.  I may not live in Virginia, but I do like Brunswick Stew (originated from Brunswick County, just north of the NC state line).  And while each sign only holds one or two sentences, I can use this blog to go a little further in depth and see how it affects me or my current circumstance (or how it will not).  But here's a catch:  I only have so many hours in the day, and so much money on my hands.  Ideally, I would road trip all over the country and take pictures of each myself.  But if everything went as you had imagined, life and the world would be slightly boring.

Anyways, my point is that I need help in finding these things.  This is a long-term project; there may be a month or two between posts.  But I think between me and you all, we can cover each and every marker.  All I ask is you send me pictures of you, my friend, with the marker.  I can do the research behind it, not a problem.  This will be...AWESOME!

EDIT:  I just realized that my contact information isn't well-spotted here.  Send these pictures to jakiyama@gmail.com, and please tell me where you found the marker!

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