Previously, I've written about how feeling the need to prove my own worth led to overcompensating a little (a lot,) and that friends suggested that a I had the ability to achieve a degree. Then, I wrote about my dearly held ambition to write ancient history for a general audience. And most recently, I wrote here about the invaluable community I have found on Classics Twitter.
The planets aligned to make all three topics align today. Facebook memories tells me that it is exactly four years since I flew into Campania, armed to the teeth with facts, with two archaeologist friends. I was so nervous that they'd underestimate my knowledge that I'd gone completely overboard with preparatory research. My dear friends noticed that not only had I enjoyed researching the trip and sharing my knowledge with them, but that I was actually quite good at it. Without their nudging, I would never have enrolled at university.
Since my last blog post, I have published an article on a website named Bad Ancient, where historians answer questions from the public and bust a few myths along the way. I wrote about the existence of female gladiators. I plan to make Roman spectacle my focus, so I was thrilled to be able to write about gladiators in a place where people would actually read it. I'm so proud that I wrote something worth publishing.
Of course, nothing would have been published had Dr Owen Rees not taken a chance on me. He took a risk with the reputation of his website by giving a platform to an untested undergraduate, and I hope I did him proud.
And that, I supposed, was that. I had produced an article that I worked hard on, and someone else liked it enough to publish it. Not a bad start to my public history career. But then today, I was told to go look at the brand new wikipedia page for the Dover Street Lady, whom I'd mentioned in the article. This wiki page was written as part of the Women's Classical Committee's campaign to to create or improve wikipedia entries about female classicists and women from antiquity.
Blow me down, right there in the wiki entry is a quote from my article, complete with footnote. I am in a bibliography! I couldn't quite believe it. These are entries written by experts in our field, and one of them read my work and liked it enough to cite it. Pinch me!
If this post seems like a humblebrag, please understand that it isn't. It wasn't that long ago that I was on the outside looking in, convinced that I would never be good enough to be a historian. This blog was created to document my progress as I work hard to achieve my goals, and having my first published piece cited by a group of historians doing wonderful and vital work on Wikipedia - I couldn't be happier.