My American Revolution
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My American Revolution is a book that is (1) about the history of the American Revolution in the place where it kicked off that is not Massachusetts; and (2) about history and New York and how we think about both or either every year, after each of the earth's revolutions around the sun. The New Yorker called the book "historically fascinating and deeply personal." The Boston Globe called it "strange and beautiful." The Minneapolis Star-Tribune called the author "a true poet of living history history as well as a consumate subversive, showing us how the recoveries of the abandoned past are essential for liberty and justice."
A sousveillance revolution!
A lot has been written on Maurice Sendak lately – and drawn. Here is illustrator, graphic designer and author Christoph Niemann’s illustrated remembrance from the New York Times Magazine. In “Wider than the Sky,” Sendak was quoted, in 2006, as saying that his “gods” were Herman Melville, Mozart and Emily Dickinson:
I believe in them with all my heart. I have a little, tiny Emily Dickinson book that I carry in my pocket everywhere. She is so strong. She is such a sexy, passionate woman. And when I am anxious, or worried about something, I read her words and I feel at peace.
Here is an Emily Dickinson poem:
‘Twas such a little—little boat
That toddled down the bay!
‘Twas such a gallant—gallant sea
That beckoned it away!‘Twas such a greedy, greedy wave
That licked it from the Coast—
Nor ever guessed the stately sails
My little craft was lost!Vija Celmins - Ocean Surface (1983) - Drypoint on paper
(Source: likeafieldmouse, via thewindthatblows)
The story of the first use of Venn diagrams in 1712. Complement with 100 diagrams that changed the world.
(Source: , via thewindthatblows)
Did you know that numerous astronauts have hailed from in and around the Watchung Mountains, especially in and near Montclair, New Jersey? Meanwhile, here is an astronaut talking about a light festival while in space. Wassail, alright!
WFMU link via @_waterman
Click here to listen to a discussion with Peter Quinn on My American Revolution at the Tenement Museum. Bonus: Sullivan screws up the guitar while his daughter attempts to sing the theme song for his book, Who Knows Where the Time Goes, written by Sandy Denny when she was 20.
A satirical song that combines the whiteness of our Founding Fathers with the all-time most popular Irving Berlin-composed Christmas song!
George Washington was a white man
Adams and Jefferson too
Abe Lincoln was a white man, probably
And William McKinley the whitest of them all
Was shot down by an immigrant in Buffalo
And a star fell out of heaven
I’m dreaming of a white President
Just like the ones we’ve always had
A real live white man
Who knows the score
How to handle money or start a war
Wouldn’t even have to tell me what we were fighting for
He’d be the right man
If he were a
I’m dreaming of a white President
Someone whom we can understand
Someone who knows where we’re coming from
And that the law of the jungle is not the law of this land
In deepest darkest Africa nineteen three
A little boy says, “Daddy, I just discovered relativity.
A big eclipse is coming
And I’ll prove it. Wait and see!”
“You better eclipse yourself outta here, son
And find yourself a tree
There’s a lion in the front yard
And he knows he won’t catch me.”
How many little Albert Einsteins
Cut down in their prime?
How many little Ronald Reagans
Gobbled up before their time?
I don’t believe in evolution
But it does occur to me,
What if little William Howard Taft had to face a lion
Or God forbid, climb a tree?
Where would this country be?
I’m dreaming of a white President
Buh buh buh buh
‘Cause things have never been this bad
So he won’t run the hundred in ten seconds flat
So he won’t have a pretty jump shot
Or be an Olympic acrobat
So he won’t know much about global warming
Is that really where you’re at?
He won’t be the brightest, perhaps
But he’ll be the whitest
And I’ll vote for that
Whiter than this?
Yes
Whiter than this?
Yes
Whiter than this?
Yes
Whiter than this?
Oh yeah
The Colin McEnroe show did a serious & funny segment on the American Revolution in Connecticut, where the tourism slogan is “Still Revolutionary.” Click above to listen. The opening, featuring Chion Wolf, is worth it for me. Also included, Connecticut state historian, Walter Woodward, and David Collins, reporter for the New London Day, who previously did a great show on fountains.
A revolution, or a number of them, rather.
The weather was hazy and mild the Sunday after Thanksgiving in 1960, reaching 61.8 degrees in Manhattan. The Monday newspaper reported pleasant weather and rush-hour crowding on the rail and bus terminals, belying the announcement of a nationwide death toll of more than 400 from traffic accidents over the course of the four-day weekend. Photo: Robert Walker/The New York Times
Today’s strangely warm weather in NYC is reminiscent of conditions around this time in 1960, too. Here’s to making Mondays a little more pleasant.
(via thewindthatblows)
