New York - The Met

We visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art. My mother especially loves the Egyptian wing, so we lingered there.

But after a while, mummies get a little dull. It's dull with a touch of maybe-it'll-rise-up-and-smite-me, but still dull. So I found a bit of stairway to sit on (no benches at the Met!). Someone left the worksheet you see above.

Whoever this kid was, he's a bright one. He noticed all the little details on whatever he observed. What does he see? "vegetables, bread, goat or beef, squash, ribs, leaks [sic], onions." What does he think? "[He] has beer inside the jug." What does he wonder? "If these people are gods or pharohs [sic]"

Pretty good stuff. Too bad he left it behind.

New York - Woodlawn

Last weekend I flew to New York to speak at Woodlawn Cemetery. That's where Thomas Nast lies buried, alongside his wife Sarah (Sallie) Nast. Above, me with the main monument. The two graves are in the foreground.

Since Mother grew up in the Bronx, our hosts took a photo of the two of us, on "home ground."

We learned several interesting things at Woodlawn. For one thing, there are eight spots in the Nast plot but only Thomas and Sallie are there. Hmmm...

Also, if you look at the top of the main Nast monument, it's oddly pocked. We thought there must have been something there. The director of educational events at Woodlawn looked into it and YES, there was. It was a - are you ready for this? - Tiffany-designed silver vase. Naturally, someone popped into the cemetery and took it. Boo.

Bedtime Stories

So Iain knows I teach history. He understands this to mean that I am available - at any time - to tell him a story about something gruesome.

His favorites include the Battle of Monongahela, the Battle of the Bulge, Richard the Lionhearted, and slavery (the general outline of North American slavery as a lived experience).

Tonight I told him about Henry VIII and his first 3 wives. I left out the beheading. He wasn't particularly interested and kept asking whether I'd tell him about the Bulge again. No. This is the story. The only part he really liked was Henry getting poked with a lance and falling from his horse in a dead faint for an hour. That was ok. He was also mildly interested in the symptoms of congenital syphilis.

Finally, I explained that if he'd make do with this story tonight I would tell him about the Spanish Armada tomorrow night. "Elizabeth saved England from the greatest threat she faced prior to the Nazis!" I said.

"What are the Nazis?"

"The Battle of the Bulge is the Nazis."

"Oh. So Armada tomorrow night, Nazis Tuesday?"

Yes, kid. Conflict and tension every night at bedtime. You bet. Because there's nothing else in history, apparently. He'd fit right into a history department, circa 1952.

Overheard

"Dude, you should put a colon here. That would be cool."

"Hang on. I just need to look up some conjunctive adverbs."

Srsly. People who claim that "this generation" can't read or write need to go stick their heads in a bucket.

UPDATE: And, today, I walk up to two boys, giggling madly, and find that they are amused by a campaign poster from the McKinley/Roosevelt ticket. Of 1900.

Past, Meet Present

Beautiful and historic, if you're looking for it.

Big Changes

Wow. Not just a new kitchen island (Not done yet - pictures to come. Don't be greedy!), but house guests, then new neighbors (Very Special Neighbors), and a big whopping holiday.

Iain's ready. Not tanned or rested, but ready. So are the dogs:

Pillow sharing. A canine tradition in this house since 1998.

Everything else plugs right along. I had to postpone my Civil Rights lecture because my throat is sore. So we watched LBJ be all...Johnson-y instead.* For some reason, my students were particularly struck by the size of LBJ's ears.

The garden grows. It's 60 degrees here, sunny right now but calling for rain tonight. So those tiny seedlings in my raised bed should be happy as can be. This weekend I'm planting carrots and maybe shopping for some more herbs. Oh, and planting nasturtium seeds. I need to call our sprinkler guy, too, and get some irrigation for the beds.

All in all, much to do.

*Example: Images of Johnson picking up beagles by their ears, standing ULTRA-CLOSE to people, and showing off his gall bladder removal scar. That Johnson, he was a funny guy. When he wasn't bombing stuff.

Russian Dance Off

More information: here or here

This style of dancing would be a great way to train for fencing.

How Did We Win the Revolution?

Heh. Funny.

President Needs More Room in His Pants for His Nuts

Put This On: LBJ Buys Pants from Put This On on Vimeo.

Thanks Boing Boing!

Puking, Secession, Zombies. Not Necessarily in that Order

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
The South's Secession Commemoration
www.thedailyshow.com
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Ah, Jon Stewart I do love you so.

In other news, today a student brought me an apple pie. And another one brought me cookies. And two more gave me a thank-you for chaperoning: a gift certificate for gelato. I think my students want to fatten me up.

Iain stayed home from school today because he threw up his breakfast. After a droopy morning, though, he took a good nap and had a nice evening. Our fingers are crossed for tomorrow to be healthier.

We're currently hosting Charles' high school roommate, Devin. The two of them have been skiing twice already at Alta and plan to spend tomorrow at Solitude. Devin's ski experience before Saturday? Zero. Devin's plan for tomorrow? Blue runs. In other words, as usual he's a natural. When they're not skiing, they're downstairs playing board games and watching sci-fi/zombie/girl hero butt-kicking movies.

Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells...

I can't attest to the quality of the product, but I am delighted by the approach. Zazzle.com carries T-shirts with Ambrose Burnside's picture. And Thomas Nast cartoons of the mourning for Lincoln. And about a million other historical stuffs. On T-shirts. Because when you're a dork you want to fly that freak flag and fly it high, baby!

Psst! You can even get one with Charles Sumner's image on it. Not joking.

In other news, I chaperoned the Harry Potter-themed stomp (dance) last night. My job was to prevent shenanigans in the bathrooms. I proved wholly unnecessary, since everyone seemed to want to use the bathroom for its usual purpose.

Suck It, Whigs

I just love LOLPresidents. Seriously - how much fun can one have with presidential history? A lot! Just don't ask about Taft and that bathtub.

Historical Yuks

Gotta love that "hatchet-faced nutmeg dealer." Best president, ever.

Studio 360 Goes to Monticello

One of NPR's programs, Studio 360, visited Monticello recently. Their program offers a sense of why Jefferson is so complicated. It's 52 minutes long, but worth an hour of your time.

Sooo....Uh....Yeah. No.

I'm a subscriber to a listserv that allows teachers of AP US history to discuss their work. It's very interesting. Verrrry interesting. And, sometimes, it's disturbing.

The video above was the subject of a brief chat yesterday. Some teachers use it to introduce the Declaration of Independence.

I find the very idea horrifying. Take a little look at this thing. King George? A horrible, fat, grape-eating meany. Apparently, there's no such thing as parliament! The founders? They like to sit around the table stroking their feathers (!) and making angry faces. That is, when they're not rocking out, shirtless. [Yes, you read that.]

And content? Essentially none. Oh, wait. They imply that George denied Americans tea. Because that's accurate.

I'm torn between showing the video next week and inviting ridicule (fun!) or just moving on, shaking my head at the fact that somewhere, someone is using this in a classroom.

[EDIT: Per Megan, in the comments, the phrase "funky jig across the land" is now a part of my lexicon. US History will never be the same...]

Two Great Books

Above, the book I'm currently enjoying on my new iPod (I loves presents!). It's long, y'all. Really, really long. The book as an audio experience will last 28 hours.

BUT, all the material that's tangential (related, but not totally essential), consists of fascinating, carefully and thoughtfully synthesized descriptions of things you would otherwise really never know: a detailed history of Gibbons v. Ogden, the story of early steam-driven ferries in New York harbor...and I'm only in the very tippy top of part 2 (out of 5!).

Like TJ Stiles's wonderful biography of Jesse James (read it), this book has both penetrating insight and a loose, conversational voice. He's trained academically but writes with the kind of wit and fluidity more often encountered in journalism.


And second, but perhaps even better (much, much shorter) is this book by science journalist Deborah Blum. It's the story of the rise of forensic science in New York. Each chapter examines a different poison (cyanide, mercury, carbon monoxide...), explaining the ways that these poisons work, how they have led to deaths and murders, and how two men working at Bellevue Hospital managed to create modern medical examination out of will and brains.

But the best part is that the stories about murder and accidental death include within them stories about political corruption, Prohibition, scientific innovation (in forensic science but also gasoline production and other advances in chemistry and technology), immigration, gender, and class. It's all there, built into murder mysteries and courtroom dramas.

Both images are links, in case you're short of reading materials. Enjoy...

Beautiful

The Denver Post has a series of "blog" entries that republish old slide photographs. In this case, it's a series from 1939-1943 or so, many from Oklahoma, Maine, and Louisiana.

Above, an Oklahoma family has dinner in their dugout home. Notice the jars of pickles and preserves next to Mama, and the Karo syrup can on the table. Also, the milk is in that big jug next to Mama's elbow, and you can see how fatty it is from the film it leaves on the glass.

A colleague turned me on to these, and I've been absorbed in them ever since. Check it out.

Happy Loving Day!

History = change over time. And though history will often break your heart, there's no better basis for optimism. We can, and do, become better people - individually and as a nation.
Read all about it.

World Cup + Thomas Paine's "The Crisis" = Awesome

I couldn't get this properly sized for our template, but if you click on it you can watch it bigger, or in HD, or whatever floats your boat. Just savor the Valley Forge recruiting language used to stir up our soccer glands. What, you don't have a soccer gland? Sad. That's just sad.

Memories...

Ah, AP exams. I woke in the middle of the night, remembering one of my favorite of the amusing things students wrote.

[We're speaking here of things they wrote on purpose. That is, they took the wonderful adolescent sense of humor and inserted it into the exam, for example by writing that America won the Revolution because we're "Sweet!" Say it in a surfer voice for full effect. We loved these exams, because they lightened our mood and made the day bearable. Thank you, funny students.]

On one of my exams, and apparently many, many others, the student stopped halfway through and wrote, "Imma let you finish, but this is the best test of all time...of all time!" then resumed writing.

If you don't get the reference, see here. The Urban Dictionary also explains.