I am committed to becoming a historianAs a Ph.D. As a student of U.S. history, I would like to continue exploring the intersections of culture and economics in U.S. history, especially as it relates to working-class life and consumption. Although I have now committed to becoming a historian, my academic background has been quite varied. Disillusioned by the often reductionist truths of physical science, I transferred from the College of Engineering to State College after my freshman year. As an undergraduate, I not only majored in history, but also concentrated in mathematics, especially as it pertains to economics. For a year, I worked as an economic research assistant, and later, I worked on a joint project with the Federal Reserve Bank and the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) doing empirical research on labor economics. During the summer following my freshman year, I received a research grant from Columbia, the Edwin Robbins Prize, for my senior thesis: "Organized Labor in New York and Resistance to Prohibition: The 'No Beer, No Work' of 1919". A forgotten moment in labor history, it was a fascinating intersection of culture, gender and class, examining the messy boundary between “economic” and “social” life. Some local trade unionists adopted a catchy slogan, “No beer, no work,” with the intent of fomenting a nationwide general strike in an attempt to save the saloon, galvanize class consciousness, and lead workers into a labor party. The strike more than failed; it never happened. However, highlighting relationships between primary documents excited me like nothing I had ever done before. Although I continued to work at the Federal Reserve the following year, I knew that the methods of the historian, and not those of the economist, were what I wanted to pursue in my graduate work. This year I received a Fulbright grant to research working-class history at the Federal Reserve. University of Toronto. Currently, my research focuses on the rise of Canadian nationalism in Toronto within U.S.-dominated unions after the Second World War. I will examine how anti-communist discourses have constrained and/or enabled nationalist movements within the trade union hierarchy and how this has affected transnational power relations and local economic/political action. My abstract is being considered for a conference on transnationalism, Crossing Borders, to be held in February at the University of Toronto. I also plan to present a paper, based on my undergraduate thesis, on working-class resistance to prohibition at the New Frontiers in Graduate History conference at the University of York in March..