Welcome to A Tree Left Standing. My name is Joshua Wachuta. I’m a public historian and web designer from southwest Wisconsin. I use this site as a web journal to share photography, maps, and writings about history, literature, technology, or any topic that draws my interest.

The Name

A tree left standing
From a grove that has been cut away…

Laura Case Sherry, “An Old Settler”

A Tree Left Standing is a title that stands for preserving memories, learning from the past, and conserving the planet that we all share. It comes from the poem “An Old Settler” by Laura Case Sherry. The poem is not my favorite — Sherry wrote many better ones — but the opening lines work well as a metaphor for this blog.

I began this site under the title Acceity in 2008. My activity since then has waxed and waned, and the blogging landscape continues to change with the fast-paced World Wide Web. Still, after over a decade, this site is still here: a tree left standing, a reminder of things I’ve thought and done. Even after some pruning it has become a gnarly old thing, with many circumlocutory branches waving insults to our declining attention spans. But I hope it is a tree that will continue to grow.