What came after Paul Revere’s ride? The Battle of Lexington, and the Battle of Concord.
Longfellow’s poem, “Paul Revere’s Ride,” was written in 1860, 23 years after Emerson wrote “The Concord Hymn” for the dedication of the monument to the Minutemen at Concord Bridge.
1 Comment | 
1776, America's founding, American Revolution, History, literacy, Literature, Poetry, War | Tagged: American Revolution, Battle of Concord, Bill Clinton, Concord Hymn, History, Literature, Poetry, Ralph Waldo Emerson | 
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Posted by Ed Darrell
Almost.
Least creepy of the animated YouTube versions I could find, and not a bad reading (though I wish some readers would pay more attention to the text and less attention to meter and rhyme).
What do you think?
So, early on the morning of April 19, Paul Revere finished his ride. John Hancock and Samuel Adams had been alerted, and so had the Minutemen who had pledged and practiced to defend the arsenals laid in to defend colonists against British tyranny . . .
Leave a Comment » | 1776, America's founding, American Revolution, Poetry | Tagged: 1775, America's founding, American Revolution, Concord, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Lexington, National Poetry Month, Paul Revere's Ride, Poetry, Shot heard 'round the World | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Signe Wilkinson, Philadelphia Daily News, March 17, 2010 - Texas education board cuts Enlightenment from curriculum
Signe Wilkinson cartoons for the Philadelphia Daily News. She won a Pulitzer for political cartoons in 1992, the first woman to win that award (about time!).
Leave a Comment » | Cartoons, Education, Education quality, Social Studies, State school boards, Texas | Tagged: Cartoons, Curriculum, Education, Enlightenment, Political cartoons, Politics, Social Studies, state board of education, State Standards, Texas | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
April 25, 2010, is World Malaria Day.
Malaria plagues too many nations, still. Between 400 million and 500 million people in the world get infected with one form of the malaria parasites every year. About a million die, most of those children. Death disproportionately strikes pregnant women, too.
World Health Organization (WHO) chart on the life cycle of malaria
Advances in medicines and advances in controls of the insects that help transmit the disease led to several campaigns to eradicate the disease over the past 60 years. Malaria no longer torments most of Europe and most of North America, but it remains a serious, economy-crippling disease across Africa and Asia.
Malaria also poses as a political football. Over the next couple of weeks you can find dozens of articles on valiant efforts to fight malaria, including the RollBack Malaria Campaign, and efforts by the Gates Foundation and histories of the work of the Rockefeller Foundation. But you can also find a pernicious political campaign against malaria fighters and “environmentalists,” claiming that DDT is a magic potion that could have ridded the world of malaria by killing off all the mosquitoes, if only that great mass murderer, Rachel Carson, had not imposed her will on the unstable dictators of African nations who did all they could to prove to Ms. Carson that they were environmentally friendly by banning DDT.
All of that is a crock. But we see it every year.
It’s already shown up in the formerly-known-as-accurate Wall Street Journal, European edition. (Please watch — I may have more to say on that piece, later.)
Over the next two weeks I will ask myself a hundred times, why do these people fiddle with trying to impugn scientists, physicians and environmentalists, while fevers burn in the brains of children across Africa and Asia?
With action, hope is that we can save the million lives lost annually by stopping malaria, by 2015. Please consider joining the effort.
You should wonder about that, too. If you find a good answer, please let me know.
4 Comments | Africa, Asia, DDT, Disease, Health care, History, Malaria, Public health, Rachel Carson, Science | Tagged: Africa, Asia, DDT, Disease, Economics, geography, Health care, History, Malaria, Public health, Rachel Carson, Science, World Malaria Day | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Mike Luckovich on Texas education board gutting social studies standards, March 18 or 20, 2010 - Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I found this brilliant Mike Luckovich cartoon from March 18, just in time for the anniversary of Paul Revere’s ride, and the anniversity of Longfellow’s poem, “Paul Revere’s Ride.” What will SBOE members be reading for poetry to their kids, on April 18?
Leave a Comment » | Education, Social Studies, State school boards, Texas | Tagged: Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Education, History Revisionism, Mike Luckovich, Social Studies Standards, state board of education, Texas | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Pat Oliphant on health care legislation as Obama's Waterloo, March 23, 2010 - Washington Post
How’s that “make health care Obama’s Waterloo” working out for you, Sen. Demint?
Didn’t expect Obama to be Wellington at Waterloo, eh?
See Steve Benson’s take, below the fold.
33 Comments | Cartoons, Health care, History, Political cartoons, Politics, Santayana's ghost | Tagged: Cartoons, Health Care Reform, History, Pat Oliphant, Political cartoons, Politics, Santayana's ghost, Steve Benson, Waterloo | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Fitting and appropriate.
U.S. Postal Service stamp commemorating Longfellow and the poem about Paul Revere's Ride, from 2007 - image from Bowdoin College: The stamp by artist Kazuhiko Sano features an older Longfellow based on a photograph taken around 1876. The background pictures evoke Paul Revere’s Ride with a glimpse of the steeple of the Old North Church, where “a second lamp in the belfry burns” to indicate the arrival of the British by sea.
Longfellow’s poem about the ride of Boston patriot Paul Revere turns 150 years old this month — and April is, as it is every year, National Poetry Month. April 18 is the date for the ride given in the poem.
Better, there is a blog devoted to the 150th anniversary of the poem. It’s covering the poem and activities to commemorate the anniversary.
Oh! We’ve already missed this morning’s reenactment along the road — better hustle down there for this afternoon’s activities:
Saturday, April 178:30amBattle Road ReenactmentWhenSat, April 17, 8:30am – 5:30pmWhereMinute Man National Historical Park, Concord and Lincoln (map)DescriptionMinute Man National Historical Park, in partnership with hundreds of Colonial and British reenactors, celebrates the opening battle of the American Revolution with a day full of exciting living history activities. At Hartwell Tavern in Lincoln, from 9:30 to 5:30, you will have the chance to talk with reenactors and park rangers, see a historic home and tavern that stood witness to the events of April, 19, 1775, and enjoy a variety of 18th-century activities including demonstrations of musket drill, artillery, crafts, and games. At 8:30 am, the Commemoration of the North Bridge Fight in Concord shatters the peace of the countryside with the sounds of marching men and musketry. British and Colonial Reenactors, Park Rangers and Volunteers bring the fateful morning of April 19, 1775, to life in this stirring commemoration of “the shot heard round the world.” Parking for North Bridge events is on Monument Street; the NPS staff will direct you. At 12:30 pm, the Bloody Angle Tactical Demonstration features hundreds of British and Colonial Reenactors encamped at the Hartwell Tavern and Captain William Smith house in Lincoln. They will stage a running tactical weapons demonstration along a half-mile of the original Battle Road. Hartwell Tavern is located on Rt 2A in Lincoln; NPS staff will direct you to parking.1:00pmLongfellow and “Paul Revere’s Ride”1:00pmPatriot Fife and DrumWhenSat, April 17, 1pm – 3pmWherePaul Revere House, 19 North Square, Boston (map)DescriptionEnjoy a lively concert of music that accompanied colonists as they marched, danced, wooed their beloveds, and waged war. David Vose and Jim Snarski provide fascinating insight into each selection they perform. Free with museum admission: adults $3.50, seniors and college students $3.00, children ages 5-17 $1.00. Members and North End residents admitted free at all times.
Was the poem historically accurate? No, and here’s the reason why.
Is the poem worth using in your classroom?
Of course it is. Why else would I tell you?
Here, see my earlier post about the poem. And this one about the “shot heard ’round the world.”
3 Comments | America's founding, History, History and art, Poetry | Tagged: April 18 1775, History, History Commemoration, Longfellow, Paul Revere, Poetry | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
So, Maggie Thatcher, his boss, also rejected Christopher Monckton’s preposterous claims against the science of climate change?
Who knew?
It’s clear Christopher Monckton doesn’t know . . . much of value.
Sorta disappointed Peter Sinclair didn’t go after Monckton’s preposterous insults of Jackie Kennedy and Rachel Carson, but there’s only so much debunking one can do in a limited period of time, and so much of Monckton’s work requires debunking, even cries out for debunking.
Is there anything Monckton claims which is not hoax?
3 Comments | Climate change, climate_change, Cost of Green, Environmental protection, Glaciers, Global warming, Green Politics, Hoaxes, Science, Voodoo science | Tagged: AIDS Denialism, Christopher Monckton, Climate change, denialism, Environmental protection, Glaciers, Global warming, Hoaxers, Hoaxes, Science, Voodoo science | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
No Marian-Madam-Librarian for these people.
The Hot Librarian had an adventure with a dancing banana. And Foxy Librarian gets the giggles from porn titles.
Just What IS It About Librarians?
Don’t even get me going about Judge a Book By Its Cover.
(Oh, and are you looking for a mnemonic on how to remember Van Buren as the 8th president?)
(Video clip from the movie “The Music Man,” Meredith Willson’s brilliant musical play.)
Leave a Comment » | Humor, Libraries, Life, Memory Tricks, Mnemonics, Presidents | Tagged: Dancing Bananas, Humor, Librarians, Libraries, Life, Porn Titles | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
When he interned for our office, he was such a clean-cut, return-missionary sort of guy. Steve Benson’s cartoons continually push the envelope for what is acceptable in an editorial cartoon, not exactly what I had come to expect from his early work with conservatives. A welcome surprise.
This one was probably quite controversial in Phoenix, don’t you think?
Steve Benson in the Arizona Republic, on the Affordable Care Act and President Obama, April 2, 2010
22 Comments | Barack Obama, Cartoons, Health care, Political cartoons, Politics | Tagged: Arizona Republic, Cartoons, Health Care Reform, Obama, Political cartoons, Politics, Steve Benson | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Seriously.
Especially if you’re a libertarian, anti-Obama, tea-partying American who thinks you’re living in a handbasket travelling faster than you can imagine to the place you claim to most fear. Go read Oh, For Goodness Sake!
If you can’t read this stuff and smile, you need to spend more weekends teaching Cub Scouts how to post, retire and fold U.S. flags.
Especially you, Orly Taitz.
Or, you may be a simple, rational person. Read it for the grins, kicks, and take-downs of tea-bagger, birther, and general nudnik error.
Leave a Comment » | Accuracy, Internet, Journalism, Weblogs | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Leave a Comment » | Humor, Politics | Tagged: Humor, Politics | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
April would be a great month to study the Civil War, what with all the Civil War anniversaries of high import.
April 14 is the anniversary of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. April 9 is the anniversary of Lee’s Surrender at Appomattox Courthouse, and April 12 is the anniversary of the attack on Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor.
But of course, we studied the Civil War in our U.S. history classes last fall, in the first six weeks, as a review of what the students were supposed to get in 8th grade.
In your classroom, how do you deal with anniversaries when they are out of the current course of study? How have you seen it done well?
The Surrender, by Keith Rocco – image from National Park Service, via Pillar to Post
Notes:
Help others remember history:
Below the fold, the identities of the soldiers in Rocco’s painting above.
Leave a Comment » | 1861-1865, Abraham Lincoln, Civil War, Education, History | Tagged: Civil War, Classroom Schedules, Curriculum, Education, History, Lesson plans, Lincoln's Assassination | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
The frequently quotable Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., circa 1930. Edited photograph from the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. Original photo by Harris & Ewing. LC-USZ62-47817. Copyright expired.
I like paying taxes. With them I buy civilization.
Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., attributed. (see Felix Frankfurter, Mr. Justice Holmes and the Supreme Court, Harvard University Press, 1961, page 71.)
Did Holmes say that?
The quote was all over the internet in early October 2008 (and later), after New York Times op-ed writer Tom Friedman noted it in his column criticizing Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin for her assertion that paying taxes is not patriotic.
I found reference to the quote in a book about eminent economists, through Google Scholar:
Eminent Economists: Their Life Philosophies
By Michael Szenberg
Published by Cambridge University Press, 1993
320 pages
On page 201, Szenberg refers Holmes’s view of “taxation as the price of liberty.” In a footnote, he points to Justice Frankfurter’s book. The quote is dolled up a little. According to Szenberg’s footnote:
More precisely, he rebuked a secretary’s query of “Don’t you hate to pay taxes?” with “No, young fellow, I like paying taxes, with them I buy civilization.”
Frankfurter is a reliable source. It’s likely Holmes said something very close to the words Friedman used.
This is mostly an encore post.
Urge others to give a dime and give a damn for civilization:
8 Comments | Famous quotes, Good Quotes, Government, History, Quotes, Taxes | Tagged: Civilization, Famous quotes, Government, History, Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., Quotes, Taxes | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
April 13 should be a holiday, don’t you think? Religious Freedom Day, or Public Education Day, or Self-evident Truths Day — something to honor Thomas Jefferson.
Catherine Sherman wonderfully explains why we should celebrate Jefferson’s birthday. Go see.
2 Comments | Freedom - Political, Freedom of the Press, History, Thomas Jefferson | Tagged: Declaration of Independence, founders, History, Thomas Jefferson | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
You are currently browsing the Millard Fillmore's Bathtub blog archives for April, 2010.
Ed Darrell on Texas's Colorado River
Come on in, the water's fine. Come often: Cleanliness is next to godliness.
Millard Fillmore's Bathtub 