Can your 9-year old kid help her rescuers?

June 23, 2009

This kid is from Heber, Utah — odds are he’s a Mormon, and he’s a Cub Scout.  Wolf elective #23 includes “Tell what to do if you get lost.”  But it’s an elective for a 7-year old, and in panic, a 9-year old may not remember.  We hope that this training will be part of the Outdoorsman requirement for a second-year Webeloes Scout, at age 10 or 11, but this kid wasn’t there yet.

Utah, showing Daggett County - from Pioneer, Utahs online library

Utah, showing Daggett County - from Pioneer, Utah's online library

So, this story from the Salt Lake Tribune is a morality tale.  One of the morals is that we need to drill our kids on what to do if they get lost, in the city, or in the wild:


Search crews found lost hiker, 9, after he left behind clues

Updated: 06/22/2009 10:51:25 AM MDT

Daggett County search crews found a missing 9-year-old hiker Sunday night thanks to a footprint, a granola bar wrapper, pieces of his raincoat and a backpack that he left behind as he wandered through the Ashley National Forest.Grayson Wynne’s first words to his father, Kynan: “Happy Father’s Day.”

Grayson, from Heber City, was hiking Saturday evening toward Daggett Lake to camp for a couple of days with his family when he was separated from the group.

Search and rescue teams, family members and volunteers — totaling more than 100 people — looked for Wynne on Saturday night and Sunday morning. Some rode horses or mules, others walked.

Grayson said he thought about his parents, prayed and cried while he was lost. He told searchers he spent the night under a log and didn’t get much sleep. He could hear searchers yelling his name but could not tell from which direction they were coming.

Searchers found a granola bar wrapper about 300 yards off of the main trail, and family members recognized the snack matched those Grayson had in his backpack. Rescuers also found a small footprint by a creek bed early Sunday, about 400 yards from the granola wrapper, the sheriff’s office said in a news release.

They later found Grayson’s black backpack, which he later told crews he left behind the night before because it was getting too heavy.

Based on Grayson’s belongings, Daggett County searchers said it appeared the boy was

following the creek, so they focused the rescue effort in specific areas along the water.A helicopter flew a bloodhound and her handler to the spot where the backpack was found. Before they could begin searching for Grayson, he heard the helicopter and headed for a meadow where he hoped the pilot would see him.

Grayson waved his last piece of yellow rain slicker to get the helicopter crew’s attention. He had been tearing the jacket apart and leaving behind chunks to trace his footsteps.

As he waved his slicker, two searchers rode up on horseback and found him in the meadow.

Grayson was taken to the command center, where he was checked by medical teams and reunited with his family. The boy’s feet were wet and cold, but he was in “good health and spirits,” the Sheriff’s Office said.

“This search was successful due to the many searchers and volunteers, and to Grayson for being such a strong little boy with a lot of common sense,” the Sheriff’s Office said in a news release.

I’m not entirely sure where the family was — in addition to the Ashley National Forest, there is the Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area in tiny Daggett County, in Utah’s northeast corner, for families to hike and camp in.

Daggett County was the last of the 29 counties in Utah to be organized, cut out of the much larger Uintah County.  I know the story well.  My maternal grandfather was one of the organizers of the county and the loser of the first election for sheriff (a great story of the power of women voting, for another time).  My mother was born in a the chicken coop her family lived in, in Manila, as her father was building what was to be the biggest house in the county (and the first with rooms set aside for indoor plumbing).

2 Comments | Boy Scouts of America, Geography - Physical, History, Maps, Utah | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

Folk Alley’s 100 essential folk songs

June 22, 2009

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First, the list.  Discussion and explanation later:

Folk Alley’s The 100 Essential Folk Songs

1. “This Land Is Your Land” – Woody Guthrie
2. “Blowin’ in the Wind” – Bob Dylan
3. “City of New Orleans” – Steve Goodman
4. “If I Had a Hammer” – Pete Seeger
5. “Where Have All the Flowers Gone” – The Kingston Trio
6. “Early Morning Rain” – Gordon Lightfoot
7. “Suzanne” – Leonard Cohen
8. “We Shall Overcome” – Pete Seeger
9. “Four Strong Winds” – Ian and Sylvia
10. “Last Thing on My Mind” – Tom Paxton
11. “The Circle Game” – Joni Mitchell
12. “Tom Dooley” – The Kingston Trio (Trad)
13. “Both Sides Now” – Joni Mitchell
14. “Who Knows Where the Time Goes” – Sandy Denny
15. “Goodnight Irene” – The Weavers (Trad)
16. “Universal Soldier” – Buffy Sainte-Marie
17. “Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright” – Bob Dylan
18. “Diamonds and Rust” – Joan Baez
19. “Sounds of Silence” – Simon & Garfunkel
20. “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” – Gordon Lightfoot
21. “Alice’s Restaurant” – Arlo Guthrie
22. “Turn, Turn, Turn!” – The Byrds (Pete Seeger)
23. “Puff the Magic Dragon” – Peter, Paul and Mary
24. “Thirsty Boots” – Eric Anderson
25. “There But for Fortune” – Phil Ochs
26. “Across the Great Divide” – Kate Wolf
27. “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down” – The Band (Robbie Robertson)
28. “The Dutchman” – Steve Goodman
29. “Matty Groves” – Fairport Convention (Trad)
30. “Pastures of Plenty” – Woody Guthrie
31. “Canadian Railroad Trilogy” – Gordon Lightfoot
32. “Ramblin’ Boy” – Tom Paxton
33. “Hello in There” – John Prine
34. “The Mary Ellen Carter” – Stan Rogers
35. “Scarborough Fair” – Martin Carthy (Trad)
36. “Freight Train” – Elizabeth Cotton
37. “Like a Rolling Stone” – Bob Dylan
38. “Paradise” – John Prine
39. “Northwest Passage” – Stan Rogers
40. “And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda” – Eric Bogel
41. “Changes” – Phil Ochs
42. “Streets of London” – Ralph McTell
43. “Gentle on My Mind” – John Hartford
44. “Barbara Allen” – Shirley Collins (Trad)
45. “Little Boxes” – Malvina Reynolds
46. “The Water Is Wide” – Traditional
47. “Blue Moon of Kentucky” – Bill Monroe
48. “No Regrets” – Tom Rush
49. “Amazing Grace” – Odetta (Trad)
50. “Catch the Wind” – Donovan
51. “If I Were a Carpenter” – Tim Hardin
52. “Big Yellow Taxi” – Joni Mitchell
53. “House of the Rising Sun” – Doc & Richard Watson (Trad)
54. “Kisses Sweeter Than Wine” – The Weavers
55. “Tangled Up in Blue” – Bob Dylan
56. “The Boxer” – Simon and Garfunkel
57. “Someday Soon” – Ian and Sylvia
58. “[500?] Miles” – Peter, Paul and Mary
59. “Masters of War” – Bob Dylan
60. “Wildwood Flower” – Carter Family
61. “Can the Circle Be Unbroken” – Carter Family
62. “Can’t Help but Wonder Where I’m Bound” – Tom Paxton
63. “Teach Your Children” – Crosby, Stills Nash & Young
64. “Deportee” – Woody Guthrie
65. “Tecumseh Valley” – Townes Van Zandt
66. “Mr. Bojangles” – Jerry Jeff Walker
67. “Cold Missouri Waters” – James Keeleghan
68. “The Crucifixion” – Phil Ochs
69. “Angel from Montgomery” – John Prine
70. “Christmas in the Trenches” – John McCutcheon
71. “John Henry” – Traditional
72. “Pack Up Your Sorrows” – Richard and Mimi Farina
73. “Dirty Old Town” – Ewan MacColl
74. “Caledonia” – Dougie MacLean
75. “Gentle Arms of Eden” – Dave Carter
76. “My Back Pages” – Bob Dylan
77. “Arrow” – Cheryl Wheeler
78. “Hallelujah” – Leonard Cohen
79. “Eve of Destruction” – Barry McGuire
80. “Man of Constant Sorrow” – Ralph Stanley (Trad)
81. “Shady Grove” – Traditional
82. “Pancho and Lefty” – Townes Van Zandt
83. “Old Man” – Neil Young
84. “Mr. Tambourine Man” – Bob Dylan
85. “American Tune” – Paul Simon
86. “At Seventeen” – Janis Ian
87. “Bridge Over Troubled Water” – Simon & Garfunkel
88. “Road” – Nick Drake
89. “Tam Lin” – Fairport Convention (Trad)
90. “Ashokan Farewell” – Jay Ungar and Molly Mason
91. “Desolation Row” – Bob Dylan
92. “Love Is Our Cross to Bear” – John Gorka
93. “Hobo’s Lullaby” – Woody Guthrie
94. “Urge for Going” – Tom Rush
95. “Return of the Grievous Angel” – Gram Parsons
96. “Chilly Winds” – The Kingston Trio
97. “Fountain of Sorrow” – Jackson Browne
98. “The Times They Are A-Changin'” – Bob Dylan
99. “Our Town” – Iris Dement
100. “Leaving on a Jet Plane” – John Denver

Folk Alley is the name of an online stream from Kent State University’s WKSU, an NPR-affiliated station that offers several genres of music and public affairs programs. A 24-hour stream of folk music is rare, and the programmers probably are among the best qualified to assemble a list like this — even though it is popularly voted. NPR described it:

Folk Alley, the 24-hour online stream of Kent State University’s WKSU, has never hopped on or off any folk-music bandwagons. Which, in turn, makes it a perfect place to explore the genre’s many permutations, from bare-bones acoustic protest music to the many forms of electric roots music that followed. Folk Alley recently spent eight weeks polling its listeners in search of a master list of “The 100 Most Essential Folk Songs.” The results — found here in the form of a printable list and a continuous music mix, streamed in no particular order — are fodder for debate, discussion and discovery.

You can listen to the songs on the list from the WKSU feed, here.

If you are a fan of folk music, you probably have a few bones to pick with the list, no?

It is a modern list.  It is heavy on compositions since 1960 — admittedly a heyday for folk music, and a great time that produced a lot of material to write folk songs about.  I wonder and worry whether some of these songs are really so much in the folk tradition.  I love the Byrds version of Pete Seeger’s “Turn, Turn, Turn,” a song my band covered years ago and which makes me yearn to be back in the band with Leon Anderson shooting out the dissected chords from his electric 12-string guitar.  But it’s a rock and roll song.  It’s a modern composition.

Of course, it’s a modern composition from an ancient tune, Seeger says (“Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star”) with lyrics adapted from one of the oldest folk traditions we have (Ecclesiastes in the Bible).  A fair reading notes there is a lot of gray area there, with no bright lines.

Still, I think there are notable omissions that really should be there.

For example, the Shaker song, “A Gift to be Simple,” is as much in the folk tradition as anything there.  But it also is the inspiration for a wonderful classical composition by Aaron Copeland.  Shouldn’t it be listed just for that reason alone, let alone its influence on other singers, writers and songs?

One can make  a similar argument for “Greensleeves,” which inspired entire collections of folk versions and classical compositions.

I think history is slighted, too. I can see why “Yankee Doodle” might be overlooked, it’s so ubiquitous.  But should it be overlooked?  How about the Civil War song, “John Brown’s Body.”  What summer camper won’t sing something based on that this year?  Heck, if we’re including Neil Young’s “Old Man,” why not some Irving Berlin?  “Over There” and “You’re in the Army Now, Mr. Jones,” have no less stature in history and folk music.

How about a Stephen Foster tune?  “Camptown Races” alone should outshine 40 or 50 songs on the list.

Jackson Browne’s “Fountain of Sorrow” as a folk song?  If we allow him in, why not the Rolling Stones’ “Salt of the Earth,” even if you have to list it as a Joan Baez performance?

I’m wondering about the list of “100 Great Folk Songs that Didn’t Make the List?”

I’m also looking at my collection, and wondering if I shouldn’t rush to the local CD shops and internet to supplement some of these great songs on the list that I don’t have.  Somebody borrowed my Phil Ochs — 20 years ago?

What great folk songs do you know that are missing from the list, that probably ought to be there?  List them in comments — let’s not let our heritage be reduced to an inadequate list!  (The people at WKSU are really super — check out their own comments list, with a lot of suggestions for tunes that should be there, and others that should not.)

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16 Comments | History, History and art, Music, Music education | Tagged: , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

Maybe estimates of sea level increases are low; maybe climate change damage will be greater than expected

June 20, 2009

Eternal Hope at Daily Kos wonders what happens if the conservative estimates of sea level rise — the ones you usually see cited in the press — turn out to be way too conservative.  What happens if sea levels rise about double what some are estimating now?

If the severity and frequency of storms does not increase much, we may be able to accommodate the changes over time (though remember, some say we can do it easily).

How willing are the skeptics and denialists to tell cities and insurance actuaries that the fears of ocean-level increases are piffles?

Speaking of insurance:  Texas has been hammered over the past 20 years by unseasonal and much more-severe-than-usual thunderstorms, ice storms, straightline winds, tornadoes and hurricanes.  Home insurance rates skyrocketed.  State regulators argue with insurance companies about whether rate increases are justified.  Insurance companies cite claims for problems that did not exist earlier, and which may be blamed on climate change.  (How much excess mold will occur due to warming?)

Sometimes the arguments erupt into lawsuits and regulatory action.  One such argument drags on now, with up to a $1 billion in overcharges at stake.  How much of the fight from the insurance companies comes from their fears of the effects of global warming?

4 Comments | Climate change, Disasters, Economics, Global warming, History, Politics, Texas | Tagged: , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

What they’re saying about our 2 millionth Eagle

June 19, 2009

St. Paul Pioneer Press ran an article today on Anthony Thomas of Lakeville, Minnesota, the Scout designated the 2 millionth Eagle Scout.

Caption from the St. Paul, Minnesota, Pioneer Press: Anthony Thomas, 16, of Lakeville, will encourage other Scouts to work towards the Eagle rank. (Pioneer Press: JOHN DOMAN)

Caption from the St. Paul, Minnesota, Pioneer Press: Anthony Thomas, 16, of Lakeville, will encourage other Scouts to work towards the Eagle rank. (Pioneer Press: JOHN DOMAN)

In a sort of luck-of-the-draw deal, Thomas has been named Scouting’s national youth ambassador for Scouting’s 100th anniversary in 2010.  He’s scheduled to meet with President Barack Obama, to ride in the Rose Bowl Parade in Pasadena, and for dozens of other less well-known affairs.

On Wednesday, he helped Northern Star Council celebrate the opening of a new Scout Camp, at Fort Snelling, Minnesota.

It was a special day, according to coverage at Northern Star Council’s website:

History was made as Thomas was introduced as the BSA’s two millionth Eagle by Minnesota State leaders. Making the presentation were Associate Justice Christopher Dietzen, Representative Kate Knuth and Representative Cy Thao.  Each shared their reflections on the importance of Scouting in their lives and then read a Proclamation from Governor Pawlenty declaring June 17 as “2 Millionth Eagle Scout Day” in Minnesota.

Scouting began awarding Eagle badges in 1912 — Thomas Eldred was the first Eagle.  The 1 millionth Eagle was awarded in 1982, 70 years later.  It’s been 27 years for the second million.  About 100 million boys are or were Boy Scouts since 1910.

You’d think this news would be a bigger deal.  Why isn’t this news going farther, faster?

Send this to your local newspapers and television stations — ask them to make a note of Thomas’s achievement, to encourage local kids.

More news stories:

Other resources:

5 Comments | Boy Scouts of America, Citizenship, Eagle Scout, Good Deeds, History | Tagged: , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

Typewriter of the moment: Alistair Cooke for the BBC

June 19, 2009

Alistair Cookes typewriter, displayed at BBC headquarters, Bush House, in London - Photo by Jeff Zycinski

Alistair Cooke's typewriter, displayed at BBC headquarters, Bush House, in London - Photo by Jeff Zycinski

Alas, our students now are too young to remember Alistair Cooke’s hosting of “Masterpiece Theater” on PBS, and of course, back then the BBC America service — if it existed — was available only to shortwave fanatics or people  who traveled a lot to the British Isles.

Perhaps more than anyone else other than Winston Churchill, and maybe the Beatles, Alistair Cooke tied England and America together tightly in the 20th century.  BBC’s other writers are good to brilliant, but even their obituary for Cooke (March 30, 2004) doesn’t quite do him justice:

For more than half a century, Alistair Cooke’s weekly broadcasts of Letter from America for BBC radio monitored the pulse of life in the United States and relayed its strengths and weaknesses to 50 countries.

His retirement from the show earlier this month after 58 years, due to ill health, brought a flood of tributes for his huge contributing to broadcasting.

Perhaps for Cooke, from Cooke’s broadcasts, we could develop a new variation of the Advanced Placement document-based question:  Broadcast-based questions. Heaven knows his Letter From America provided profound material on American history:

BBCs famous broadcaster Alistair Cooke, painted by June Mendoza (copyright Mendoza - www.junemendoza.co.uk)

BBC's famous broadcaster Alistair Cooke, painted by June Mendoza (copyright Mendoza - http://www.junemendoza.co.uk)

3 Comments | Advanced Placement, DBQ sources, foreign affairs, Freedom - Economic, Freedom - Political, History, History audio sources, Politics, Technology, Travel, Typewriters | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

Juneteenth 2009

June 19, 2009

[This is mostly an encore post, from 2008 — fyi.]

Oldest known photograph of a Juneteenth celebration, in Austin, Texas, in 1900 - Austin Public Library image

Oldest known photograph of a Juneteenth celebration, in Austin, Texas, in 1900 - Austin Public Library image

The Texas State Archives offers a succinct history:

Juneteenth, celebrated on June 19, is the name given to emancipation day by African-Americans in Texas. On that day in 1865 Union Major General Gordon Granger read General Order #3 to the people of Galveston. General Order #3 stated “The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired labor. The freedmen are advised to remain quietly at their present homes and work for wages. They are informed that they will not be allowed to collect at military posts and that they will not be supported in idleness either there or elsewhere.”

Large celebrations on June 19 began in 1866 and continued regularly into the early 20th century. The African-Americans treated this day like the Fourth of July and the celebrations contained similar events. In the early days, the celebration included a prayer service, speakers with inspirational messages, reading of the emancipation proclamation, stories from former slaves, food, red soda water, games, rodeos and dances.

The celebration of June 19 as emancipation day spread from Texas to the neighboring states of Louisiana, Arkansas and Oklahoma. It has also appeared in Alabama, Florida, and California as African-American Texans migrated.

In many parts of Texas, ex-slaves purchased land, or “emancipation grounds,” for the Juneteenth gathering. Examples include: Emancipation Park in Houston, purchased in 1872; what is now Booker T. Washington Park in Mexia; and Emancipation park in East Austin.

Celebration of Juneteenth declined during World War II but revived in 1950 at the Texas State Fair Grounds in Dallas. Interest and participation fell away during the late 1950’s and 1960’s as attention focused on expansion of freedom for African-Americans. In the 1970’s Juneteenth revived in some communities. For example, in Austin the Juneteenth celebration returned in 1976 after a 25 year hiatus. House Bill no.1016 passed in the 66th legislature, regular session, declared June 19, “Emancipation Day in Texas,” a legal state holiday effective January 1, 1980. Since that time, the celebration of Juneteenth continues across the state of Texas with parades, picnics and dancing.

Texas State Library Reference Services 3/95

Celebrations across Texas started last Saturday, and will continue for another three or four days, I gather. Thought it’s an official State of Texas holiday, few people take it off. So celebrations are scheduled when they can be.

The great mystery to me is why the holiday seems to have spread so far outside Texas. Juneteenth is based on a uniquely Texas event — it involved notifying only the slaves in Texas that they had been freed. Celebrations go much farther today, even to places the Civil War didn’t touch.

Resources:

1 Comment | 1861-1865, Citizenship, Civil Rights, Civil War, Emancipation Proclamation, History, History images, Holidays, Slavery | Tagged: , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

Typewriter of the moment: Hemingway’s, at Key West

June 18, 2009

The man wrote, wherever he was.

Hemingways typewriter at Key West, Florida - Stefan Möding, copyright

Hemingway's typewriter at Key West, Florida - Stefan Möding, copyright

Ernest Hemingway often wrote standing up at his typewriter.  Obviously, here in Key West, he wrote sitting down.  At every home, it appears, he had a typewriter.

In Key West, early on in an apartment near the Ford dealership, where they awaited the delivery of the Ford purchased for Hemingway and his wife Pauline, by Pauline’s Uncle Gus, Hemingway wrote most of A Farewell to Arms, published in 1929.

The house was purchased later.  I can’t tell — some say he used here a Royal Quiet DeLuxe.

Pauline and Hemingway divorced in 1939.

In Key West, visit the Ernest Hemingway Home and Museum.

2 Comments | Books, History, History and art, History museums, Literature, Technology, Typewriters | Tagged: , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

Two million Eagle Scouts

June 18, 2009

Without editing, here’s the press release from Boy Scouts of America:

Minnesota Teen Named 2 Millionth Eagle Scout

Anthony Thomas to Represent 97 Years of Scouting Tradition and Honor, Serve as Youth Representative at BSA 100th Anniversary Events

Eagle Scout Anthony Thomas, Lakeville, Minn.

MINNEAPOLIS – June 17, 2009 – To describe one Minnesota teenager as “one in a million” is an understatement – by half. The Boy Scouts of America (BSA) today announced that Anthony Thomas, 16, of Lakeville, Minn., has been named the 2 millionth Eagle Scout since the first Eagle badge was awarded in 1912.

Eagle Scout is the highest attainable rank in Boy Scouting and requires years of dedication and hard work. Scouts must demonstrate proficiency in leadership, service, and outdoor skills at multiple levels before achieving the Eagle rank. Fewer than 5 percent of Boy Scouts earn the Eagle badge.

Anthony, who will be a junior at Academy of Holy Angels in Richfield, Minn., has been involved in Scouting since age 7. A member of the Northern Star Council’s Troop 471 at Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in Burnsville, Minn., he credits Scouting for his love of the outdoors and commitment to service. Adopted from Korea, Anthony volunteers as a counselor to Korean adoptees at Camp Choson. He also is active in his church and recently lettered in Service at his school. Anthony will spend part of his summer in New Orleans to help with ongoing cleanup work from Hurricane Katrina.

“Anthony represents everything that the Eagle badge stands for: character, integrity, leadership, and service to others,” said Bob Mazzuca, Chief Scout Executive, Boy Scouts of America. “It is fitting that we honor the 2 millionth Eagle as we prepare to celebrate 100 years of service to the nation.”

As the 2 millionth Eagle Scout, Anthony will serve as a youth ambassador for Scouting by participating in upcoming BSA’s 100th Anniversary events such as the Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, Calif.; the BSA’s annual Report to the Nation in Washington, D.C.; and the National Scout Jamboree in 2010.

“I’m honored and humbled to be selected as the 2 millionth Eagle Scout,” Anthony said. “The Eagle rank represents excellence and leadership at every stage of life, and I will do my best to honor those Eagles who have come before me and to encourage other Scouts to pursue the Eagle Award.”

In addition to the 21 merit badges required to earn Eagle rank, each Scout must complete an extensive service project that he plans, organizes, leads, and manages before his 18th birthday. For his project, Anthony designed and constructed devices to help train service dogs for Helping Paws of Minnesota, which provides dogs for disabled persons to further their independence. A key component of his project was to raise awareness for the organization and its mission. He accomplished this by arranging a service dog demonstration for his troop and coordinating a kick-off drive to encourage his fellow Scouts to earn their Disabilities Awareness merit badge.

Anthony’s parents, Jim and Cheryl Thomas, are active Scouting volunteers. Anthony also has a younger sister, Allison. In addition to Scouting, Anthony enjoys snowboarding, track, soccer, and playing the guitar.

“The fellowship of Eagles celebrates the milestone of the 2 millionth Eagle Scout,” said Glenn Adams, president of the National Eagle Scout Association. “Each Eagle represents a life of service to others and to the communities where Eagles live and work. We congratulate Anthony Thomas and look forward to working with him to help encourage other Scouts to pursue their Eagle.”

About the Boy Scouts of America
Serving nearly 4.1 million young people between the ages of 7 and 20 with more than 300 local councils throughout the United States and its territories, the Boy Scouts of America is the nation’s foremost youth program of character development and values-based leadership training. For more information on the Boy Scouts of America, please visit www.scouting.org.

###

Facts about Eagle Scouts

  • The first Eagle badge was awarded in 1912.
  • Fewer than 5 percent of all Boy Scouts earn the Eagle rank.
  • The 1 millionth Eagle Scout milestone was reached in 1982.
  • In 2008, a record-high 52,025 Scouts earned the Eagle badge.
  • In 2008, Eagle Scout service projects provided $16 million in service to communities across the nation (based on national volunteer hour value of $19.51).

    • Leave a Comment » | A Good Story, Boy Scouts of America, Eagle Scout, History, Patriotism | Tagged: , , , , , | Permalink
    Posted by Ed Darrell

    National History Day live webcast – June 18, 2009

    June 18, 2009

    Oh, gee, we’re running late:  The National History Day competition live webcast is this morning.  Go here: http://www.history.com/classroom/nhd/

    And watch this, if you’re too late for the webcast.

    Leave a Comment » | History, Technology, Technology in the classroom, Television | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
    Posted by Ed Darrell

    Typewriter of the moment: Steve Allen

    June 17, 2009

    I miss Steve Allen.  I miss “Meeting of Minds.”  I miss finding out what Allen would be up to next.

    Steve Allen at his typewriter, well before 1999

    Steve Allen at his typewriter, well before 1999

    An Olivetti electric?  Anyone know for sure?

    Steve Allen invented “The Tonight Show” on NBC, and was its first host.  It would have been great to have heard his opinion of Jay Leno’s leaving, and Conan O’Brien’s taking over.

    Leave a Comment » | Biography, Books, Heroes, History, Technology, Television, Typewriters | Tagged: , , , , , | Permalink
    Posted by Ed Darrell

    Gambling to make government work, in Cave Creek, Arizona

    June 17, 2009

    It helps that it happened in a small Arizona town, in the desert, with a colorful name.  You cannot imagine such a thing happening in Yonkers, New York, nor in West Bend, Wisconsin.

    A deadlocked election for the Cave Creek city council came down to a draw from a deck of cards, a poker deck carefully shuffled by a robed judge.

    Cave Creek, Arizona, Judge George Preston, shuffles cards to breal a deadlock between Thomas McGuire, left, and Adam Trenk. New York Times photo by Joshua Trent

    Cave Creek, Arizona, Judge George Preston, shuffles cards to breal a deadlock between Thomas McGuire, left, and Adam Trenk. New York Times photo by Joshua Trent

    We get the story from The New York Times:

    Adam Trenk and Thomas McGuire, both in blue jeans and open-collar shirts, strode nervously into Town Hall with their posses. There stood the town judge. He selected a deck of cards from a Stetson hat and shuffled it — having removed the jokers — six times.

    Mr. McGuire, 64, a retired science teacher and two-term incumbent on the Town Council, selected a card, the six of hearts, drawing approving oos and aws from his supporters.

    Mr. Trenk, 25, a law student and newcomer to town, stepped forward. He lifted a card — a king of hearts — and the crowd roared. Cave Creek had finally selected its newest Council member.

    “It’s a hell of a way to win — or lose — an election,” Mr. McGuire said. Still, it was only fitting, Mr. McGuire and others here said, that a town of 5,000 that prides itself on, and sometimes fights over, preserving its horse trails, ranches and other emblems of the Old West would cut cards to decide things. A transplant of 10 years from Yorktown Heights, N.Y., north of New York City, Mr. McGuire said he knew things were different here when not long after arriving he walked into a bar and found a horse inside.

    Marshall Trimble, a cowboy singer, folklorist and community college professor who serves as Arizona’s official historian, said, “We are pretty tied to our roots here, at least we like to think so.”

    Hans Zinnser, in the venerable Rats, Lice and History,  relates the story of an eastern European town where such ties are broken by lice — the two candidates put their beards on a table, and a louse is placed between the men.  The man whose beard the louse chooses is the winner.

    Of course, this makes it difficult for women to participate in government fully.

    Cave Creek is a typical cowboy, American town.  Deadlocks in government can be resolved by a game of chance.

    Government teachers, history teachers, go get this story and clip it — it’s a good bell ringer, if not a full lesson in democratic republican government.

    So, as the state’s Constitution allows, a game of chance was called to break the deadlock. The two candidates agreed on a card game (alternatives from the past have included rolling dice and, on rare occasions, gunfights).

    Mr. Trimble said a cutting of the cards or roll of the dice had decided ties a handful of times in Arizona local elections. Tie-breakers have also been tried in other states, including in recent years in Alaska and Minnesota, said Paul Fidalgo, a spokesman for FairVote, a Washington group that monitors and advocates for fair elections.

    Mr. Fidalgo said the group objected to random chance as the decider of election outcomes.

    “Definitely not a democratic ideal, to say the least,” he said, suggesting, among other ideas, that the tied candidates engage in one more runoff.

    That was ruled out here as too expensive, and besides, this was much more fun, as Mayor Vincent Francia made clear, clutching a microphone and serving as M.C.

    “Originally we thought of settling this with a paintball fight but that involves skill, and skill is not allowed in this,” Mr. Francia said to laughter.

    Did you ever think that the ability to shuffle a deck of cards would be a job skill for a judge?  There’s a reason law students play poker in the coffee lounge, and all weekend!

    There’s more.  Go read the Times. This is also why the New York Times is a great paper, and why we cannot function without “mainstream media.”  Who else could have brought us the story?

    More resources:

    4 Comments | Elections, Government, History, Politics | Tagged: , , , , , , , | Permalink
    Posted by Ed Darrell

    President Obama on the necessity of science

    June 16, 2009

    Many Americans took great pleasure in Barack Obama’s noting the importance of science, and the importance of heeding science, in his inaugural address.

    In April he attended an annual meeting of the poobahs at the National Academy of Sciences, one of the world’s premiere science organizations and the backbone and guts of the science movement that drove American prosperity and security in the 20th century.  Historians will want to note especially the history President Obama recounted in the first few minutes of the speech.

    Can we use video for DBQs in AP courses yet?  Here’s one to use.

    Tip of the old scrub brush to Blue Ollie.

    Leave a Comment » | History, Politics, President Obama, Presidents, Science | Tagged: , , , , , | Permalink
    Posted by Ed Darrell

    Fake quotes in prize-winning essays

    June 16, 2009

    Rational Rant crashes into some use of faked and edited quotes in prize-winning essays and speeches.

    Nothing new to careful observers.  Several of the Usual Suspects™ bad quotes turned up.

    The trouble with these quotations, which are central to the theses of both pieces, is that all of them are fake. And by fake I don’t mean, please note, that they had a word off here and there, or that they were a popular misquoting of something Washington or Franklin actually said or wrote—I mean that they were out-and-out fakes, words put into their mouths by somebody else with an axe to grind. (And even worse—a number of them were actually misquotations of the original fake quotation.) Here are the seven, in all their glory:

    It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians, not on religions, but on the Gospel of Jesus Christ! (falsely attributed to Patrick Henry)

    It cannot be emphasized too clearly and too often that this nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religion, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ. For this very reason, peoples of other faiths have been afforded asylum, prosperity and freedom of worship here. (falsely attributed to Patrick Henry)

    He who shall introduce into public affairs the principles of primitive Christianity will change the face of the world. (falsely attributed to Benjamin Franklin)

    The reason that Christianity is the best friend of government is because Christianity is the only religion that changes the heart. (falsely attributed to Thomas Jefferson)

    The future and success of America is not in this Constitution but in the laws of God upon which this Constitution is founded. (falsely attributed to James Madison)

    It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and the Bible. (falsely attributed to George Washington)

    It is impossible to rightly govern a country without God and the Bible. (falsely attributed to George Washington)

    It’s difficult to get students to attribute quotes with proper citations.  Students are mightily confused by the notion of plagiarism.  We teachers need to work harder to get them to verify what they quote, and to offer appropriate citations.  Since these quotes can’t be cited, students should have discovered the errors as they wrote.

    One of the offending pieces was written by a high school junior, the other by a 10-year-old.  There’s time to make them savvy (but will anyone do it?).

    Do we need to give judges, of essay and speech competitions, sheets of the quotes that most frequently show up, though they are faked?

    6 Comments | Bad Quotes, Bogus history, History, Voodoo history, Writing, Writing history | Permalink
    Posted by Ed Darrell

    1943 – What the First Amendment means when saluting the flag conflicts with religion

    June 14, 2009

    Historic irony: On Flag Day in 1943, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its decision in the case of West Virginia vs. Barnette.

    Billy Gobitis explained why he would not salute the U.S. flag, November 5, 1935 - Library of Congress collection

    Image 1 - Billy Gobitas explained why he would not salute the U.S. flag, November 5, 1935 - Library of Congress collection

    The case started earlier, in 1935, when a 10-year-old student in West Virginia, sticking to his Jehovah’s Witness principles, refused to salute the U.S. flag in a state-required pledge of allegiance.  From the Library of Congress:

    “I do not salute the flag because I have promised to do the will of God,” wrote ten-year-old Billy Gobitas (1925-1989) to the Minersville, Pennsylvania, school board in 1935. His refusal, and that of his sister Lillian (age twelve), touched off one of several constitutional legal cases delineating the tension between the state’s authority to require respect for national symbols and an individual’s right to freedom of speech and religion.

    The Gobitas children attended a public school which, as did most public schools at that time, required all students to salute and pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States. The Gobitas children were members of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, a church that in 1935 believed that the ceremonial saluting of a national flag was a form of idolatry, a violation of the commandment in Exodus 20:4-6 that “thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, nor bow down to them. . . .” and forbidden as well by John 5:21 and Matthew 22:21. On 22 October 1935, Billy Gobitas acted on this belief and refused to participate in the daily flag and pledge ceremony. The next day Lillian Gobitas did the same. In this letter Billy Gobitas in his own hand explained his reasons to the school board, but on 6 November 1935, the directors of the Minersville School District voted to expel the two children for insubordination.

    The Watch Tower Society of the Jehovah’s Witnesses sued on behalf of the children. The decisions of both the United States district court and court of appeals was in favor of the right of the children to refuse to salute. But in 1940 the United States Supreme Court by an eight-to-one vote reversed these lower court decisions and ruled that the government had the authority to compel respect for the flag as a key symbol of national unity. Minersville v. Gobitis [a printer’s error has enshrined a misspelling of the Gobitas name in legal records] was not, however, the last legal word on the subject. In 1943 the Supreme Court by a six-to-three vote in West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, another case involving the Jehovah’s Witnesses, reconsidered its decision in Gobitis and held that the right of free speech guaranteed in the First Amendment to the Constitution denies the government the authority to compel the saluting of the American flag or the recitation of the pledge of allegiance.

    There had been strong public reaction against the Gobitis decision, which had been written by Justice Felix Frankfurter (1882-1965). In the court term immediately following the decision, Frankfurter noted in his scrapbook that Justice William O. Douglas (1898-1980) told him that Justice Hugo LaFayette Black (1886-1971) had changed his mind about the Gobitis case. Frankfurter asked, “Has Hugo been re-reading the Constitution during the summer?” Douglas replied, “No–he has been reading the papers.”1 The Library’s William Gobitas Papers showcase the perspective of a litigant, whereas the abstract legal considerations raised by Gobitis and other cases are represented in the papers of numerous Supreme Court justices held by the Manuscript Division.

    1. Quoted in H. N. Hirsch, The Enigma of Felix Frankfurter (New York: Basic Books, 1981), 152.

    John E. Haynes and David Wigdor, Manuscript Division

    Second page, Billy Gobitiss explanation of why he will not salute the U.S. flag - Library of Congress

    Second page, Billy Gobitas's explanation of why he will not salute the U.S. flag: "I do not salute the flag not because I do not love my country but I love my country and I love God more and I must obey His commandments." - Library of Congress

    Supreme Court justices do not often get a chance to reconsider their decisions.  For example, overturning Plessy vs. Ferguson from 1896 took until 1954 in Brown v. Topeka Board of Education. In the flag salute/pledge of allegiance cases Justice Hugo Black had a change of mind, and when a similar case from West Virginia fell on the Court’s doorstep in 1943, the earlier Gobitis decision was reversed.

    Writing for the majority, Justice Robert H. Jackson said:

    If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion, or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein. If there are any circumstances which permit an exception, they do not now occur to us.

    Jehovah’s Witnesses, and all other Americans, thereby have the right to refuse to say what they and their faith consider to be a vain oath.

    And that, boys and girls, is what the First Amendment means.

    Resources:

    10 Comments | Advanced Placement, DBQ sources, First Amendment, Historic documents, History, Religion, Religious Freedom | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | Permalink
    Posted by Ed Darrell

    Flag Day, 2009 – Fly your flag today

    June 14, 2009

    June 14th marks the anniversary of the resolution passed by the Second Continental Congress in 1777, adopting the Stars and Stripes as the national flag.

    Fly your flag today.  This is one of the score of dates upon which Congress suggests we fly our flags.

    Flag Day 1916, parade in Washington, D.C. - employees of National Geographic Society march - photo by Gilbert Grosvenor

    Flag Day 1916, parade in Washington, D.C. - employees of National Geographic Society march - photo by Gilbert Grosvenor

    The photo above drips with history.  Here’s the description from the National Geographic Society site:

    One hundred and fifty National Geographic Society employees march in the Preparedness Parade on Flag Day, June 14, in 1916. With WWI underway in Europe and increasing tensions along the Mexican border, President Woodrow Wilson marched alongside 60,000 participants in the parade, just one event of many around the country intended to rededicate the American people to the ideals of the nation.

    Not only the anniversary of the day the flag was adopted by Congress, Flag Day is also the anniversary of President Dwight Eisenhower’s controversial addition of the words “under God” to the Pledge of Allegiance in 1954.

    (Text adapted from “:Culture: Allegiance to the Pledge?” June 2006, National Geographic magazine)

    The first presidential declaration of Flag Day was 1916, by President Woodrow Wilson.  Wilson won re-election the following November with his pledge to keep America out of World War I, but by April of 1917 he would ask for a declaration of war after Germany resumed torpedoing of U.S. ships.  The photo shows an America dedicated to peace but closer to war than anyone imagined.  Because the suffragettes supported Wilson so strongly, he returned the favor, supporting an amendment to the Constitution to grant women a Constitutional right to vote.  The amendment passed Congress with Wilson’s support and was ratified by the states.

    The flags of 1916 should have carried 48 stars.  New Mexico and Arizona were the 47th and 48th states, Arizona joining the union in 1913.  No new states would be added until Alaska and Hawaii in 1959.  That 46-year period marked the longest time the U.S. had gone without adding states, until today.  No new states have been added since Hawaii, more than 49 years ago.  (U.S. history students:  Have ever heard of an essay, “Manifest destiny fulfilled?”)

    150 employees of the National Geographic Society marched, and as the proud CEO of any organization, Society founder Gilbert H. Grosvenor wanted a photo of his organization’s contribution to the parade.  Notice that Grosvenor himself is the photographer.

    I wonder if Woodrow Wilson took any photos that day, and where they might be hidden.

    History of Flag Day from a larger perspective, from the Library of Congress:

    Since 1916, when President Woodrow Wilson issued a presidential proclamation establishing a national Flag Day on June 14, Americans have commemorated the adoption of the Stars and Stripes by celebrating June 14 as Flag Day. Prior to 1916, many localities and a few states had been celebrating the day for years. Congressional legislation designating that date as the national Flag Day was signed into law by President Harry Truman in 1949; the legislation also called upon the president to issue a flag day proclamation every year.

    According to legend, in 1776, George Washington commissioned Philadelphia seamstress Betsy Ross to create a flag for the new nation. Scholars debate this legend, but agree that Mrs. Ross most likely knew Washington and sewed flags. To date, there have been twenty-seven official versions of the flag, but the arrangement of the stars varied according to the flag-makers’ preferences until 1912 when President Taft standardized the then-new flag’s forty-eight stars into six rows of eight. The forty-nine-star flag (1959-60), as well as the fifty-star flag, also have standardized star patterns. The current version of the flag dates to July 4, 1960, after Hawaii became the fiftieth state on August 21, 1959.

    Fly your flag with pride today.

    Elmhurst Flag Day 1939, DuPage County Centennial - Posters From the WPA

    Elmhurst Flag Day 1939, DuPage County Centennial - Posters From the WPA

    Elmhurst flag day, June 18, 1939, Du Page County centennial / Beauparlant.
    Chicago, Ill.: WPA Federal Art Project, 1939.
    By the People, For the People: Posters from the WPA, 1936-1943

    7 Comments | Flag ceremony, Flag etiquette, Fly your flag today, History, History images, World War I | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
    Posted by Ed Darrell

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