Alan N. Kay's Blog, page 2
December 8, 2019
October 6, 2019
Impeachment and Trump
Dictators Kings and Presidents: Impeachment and President Trump: what can he learn from our past?
It seems kind of odd to me that everybody is talking about President Nixon again. And still others, with a little more knowledge of the past, are also talking about Clinton and Johnson, who also were impeached (but not removed; a two part process.)
This article courtesy of Alan N. Kay The History Cart. Please follow us on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/NeitherKingN...
If President Trump wants to avoid impeachment, why look to the guys who did it wrong? That’s like learning how to be a quarterback by studying all the guys who got pulled. I am going to study Tom Brady.
What first caught my attention however during all this impeachment talk was not a story of the past, it was a story of the present; from across the pond as they say. How ironic is it that today, the United States of America has a government system that is closer to a monarchy than the one we left: Great Britain?
I came across this article recently about how the British government compares to the United States and found it quite illuminating. It is no wonder Trump sometimes is confused with a dictator.
https://www.historyextra.com/period/m...
The British government despite the fact that they have a monarch (or maybe because of it), has a much weaker executive than we do. The Prime Minister is not a separate branch of government. He is not elected directly by the people as our President is and he does not hold nearly the kind of power Trump does.
Why does President Trump constantly overstep his bounds and get called out by Congress? Because he is charge of an entirely different branch of government and the lines are not always clear.
It is really weird that our government was set up this way. We had just broken away from a King. Why set up a government with a leader that was so King like?
The answer is easy and you Broadway fans are not going to like it (or maybe you’ll love it!). It is in large part due to Alexander Hamilton.
Hamilton of course is an intensely fascinating man. I will soon be posting many more blog posts about his life as well as a podcast or two. And before you say that he lived in a different era where men acted differently, let me remind you that Hamilton slept with another woman while his own wife was pregnant and paid off the husband of the other woman so he could continue the affair. But don’t get me started on the founding father’s behavior or we could be here all night.
Now this is where we can begin to see the lesson President Trump (and all of us) can learn from. If I am looking for the Presidential equivalent to Tom Brady the answer is easy: George Washington. Not because he was first, but because he was one of, if not, the best. (That is also a discussion for another time that I will definitely have!)
The main reason Hamilton and Adams and so many other founding fathers were able to get away with giving so much power to one man was because that man was Washington. No one was trusted more than he was. Everyone knew, that Washington would never turn into a king. Indeed he had already been offered something like it more than once. Ironically, if Washington had not been so trustworthy, perhaps the President wouldn’t have been given so much power and Trump would not be in such hot water. For that story on Washington read:
https://www.heritage.org/commentary/t...
Washington was one of the best leaders the United States ever had. (The only President to be elected unanimously!) But it was not his brains or his bravery or his political know how that made him a good leader: it was his character. When Washington stepped down after two terms, King George III of England, who Washington had defeated in war, proclaimed him "the greatest character of the age."
And Napoleon, in exile after being overthrown lamented "They wanted me to be another Washington."
Is this what we want of Trump: Another Washington? Well, it would be nice. But Washington is not the only one who can give us advice during this time.
Trump is of course frustrated at the process. He is calling for the head of the whistleblower. He believes this is a witch hunt. He has hired a lawyer. Well, you know
.
What the President probably doesn’t realize is that he is not just fighting the Democrats and Nancy Pelosi. He is fighting our system of government, our checks and balances. He is a CEO put in a position where there are many checks and balances to the power he is trying to wield. Who wouldn’t be frustrated? Every President has been.
But again to look for advice, we can turn to men like Kennedy, a President dealing with Communists at home, nuclear missiles in Cuba and Civil Rights battles at home. Talk about pressure. In the midst of the many criticisms Kennedy was facing, he bravely recognized
““Without debate, without criticism no administration and no country can succeed and no republic can survive.” April 1861
President Trump is not known for his toleration of other opinions. Unfortunately, few men had made it very far politically without being willing to tolerate an opinion or two they disagreed with.
Or we can look further back to Thomas Jefferson who in 1800 had just emerged victorious from one of the most contentious elections in our history (much more contentious than any in the modern age by the way.) After mudslinging and attacks that make FOX and CNN look like a kindergarten playground, President Jefferson bravely announced to a divided nation:
"…every difference of opinion is not a difference of principle. We have called by different names brethren of the same principle. We are all Republicans, we are all Federalists. If there be any among us who would wish to dissolve this Union or to change its republican form, let them stand undisturbed as monuments of the safety with which error of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it."
President Trump is not the only one who can learn from Jefferson’s words and Jefferson is not the only President to remind us that despite all of our differences we are all still Americans. What unites us is so much stronger than what divides us.
So perhaps, if he, and we, look back on the good things our Presidents have said and done, and learn how to better work together, then maybe we can go forward.
Thanks for listening,
Alan N. Kay
It seems kind of odd to me that everybody is talking about President Nixon again. And still others, with a little more knowledge of the past, are also talking about Clinton and Johnson, who also were impeached (but not removed; a two part process.)
This article courtesy of Alan N. Kay The History Cart. Please follow us on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/NeitherKingN...
If President Trump wants to avoid impeachment, why look to the guys who did it wrong? That’s like learning how to be a quarterback by studying all the guys who got pulled. I am going to study Tom Brady.
What first caught my attention however during all this impeachment talk was not a story of the past, it was a story of the present; from across the pond as they say. How ironic is it that today, the United States of America has a government system that is closer to a monarchy than the one we left: Great Britain?
I came across this article recently about how the British government compares to the United States and found it quite illuminating. It is no wonder Trump sometimes is confused with a dictator.
https://www.historyextra.com/period/m...
The British government despite the fact that they have a monarch (or maybe because of it), has a much weaker executive than we do. The Prime Minister is not a separate branch of government. He is not elected directly by the people as our President is and he does not hold nearly the kind of power Trump does.
Why does President Trump constantly overstep his bounds and get called out by Congress? Because he is charge of an entirely different branch of government and the lines are not always clear.
It is really weird that our government was set up this way. We had just broken away from a King. Why set up a government with a leader that was so King like?
The answer is easy and you Broadway fans are not going to like it (or maybe you’ll love it!). It is in large part due to Alexander Hamilton.
Hamilton of course is an intensely fascinating man. I will soon be posting many more blog posts about his life as well as a podcast or two. And before you say that he lived in a different era where men acted differently, let me remind you that Hamilton slept with another woman while his own wife was pregnant and paid off the husband of the other woman so he could continue the affair. But don’t get me started on the founding father’s behavior or we could be here all night.
Now this is where we can begin to see the lesson President Trump (and all of us) can learn from. If I am looking for the Presidential equivalent to Tom Brady the answer is easy: George Washington. Not because he was first, but because he was one of, if not, the best. (That is also a discussion for another time that I will definitely have!)
The main reason Hamilton and Adams and so many other founding fathers were able to get away with giving so much power to one man was because that man was Washington. No one was trusted more than he was. Everyone knew, that Washington would never turn into a king. Indeed he had already been offered something like it more than once. Ironically, if Washington had not been so trustworthy, perhaps the President wouldn’t have been given so much power and Trump would not be in such hot water. For that story on Washington read:
https://www.heritage.org/commentary/t...
Washington was one of the best leaders the United States ever had. (The only President to be elected unanimously!) But it was not his brains or his bravery or his political know how that made him a good leader: it was his character. When Washington stepped down after two terms, King George III of England, who Washington had defeated in war, proclaimed him "the greatest character of the age."
And Napoleon, in exile after being overthrown lamented "They wanted me to be another Washington."
Is this what we want of Trump: Another Washington? Well, it would be nice. But Washington is not the only one who can give us advice during this time.
Trump is of course frustrated at the process. He is calling for the head of the whistleblower. He believes this is a witch hunt. He has hired a lawyer. Well, you know
.
What the President probably doesn’t realize is that he is not just fighting the Democrats and Nancy Pelosi. He is fighting our system of government, our checks and balances. He is a CEO put in a position where there are many checks and balances to the power he is trying to wield. Who wouldn’t be frustrated? Every President has been.
But again to look for advice, we can turn to men like Kennedy, a President dealing with Communists at home, nuclear missiles in Cuba and Civil Rights battles at home. Talk about pressure. In the midst of the many criticisms Kennedy was facing, he bravely recognized
““Without debate, without criticism no administration and no country can succeed and no republic can survive.” April 1861
President Trump is not known for his toleration of other opinions. Unfortunately, few men had made it very far politically without being willing to tolerate an opinion or two they disagreed with.
Or we can look further back to Thomas Jefferson who in 1800 had just emerged victorious from one of the most contentious elections in our history (much more contentious than any in the modern age by the way.) After mudslinging and attacks that make FOX and CNN look like a kindergarten playground, President Jefferson bravely announced to a divided nation:
"…every difference of opinion is not a difference of principle. We have called by different names brethren of the same principle. We are all Republicans, we are all Federalists. If there be any among us who would wish to dissolve this Union or to change its republican form, let them stand undisturbed as monuments of the safety with which error of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it."
President Trump is not the only one who can learn from Jefferson’s words and Jefferson is not the only President to remind us that despite all of our differences we are all still Americans. What unites us is so much stronger than what divides us.
So perhaps, if he, and we, look back on the good things our Presidents have said and done, and learn how to better work together, then maybe we can go forward.
Thanks for listening,
Alan N. Kay
September 11, 2019
Remember Pearl Harbor
Remember Pearl Harbor!
No, I didn’t get my dates confused. I know what September 11th means. All of us do; or most of us.
(This article comes from the Facebook Page called “The History Cart” Please feel free to visit it at
https://www.facebook.com/NeitherKingN...
Thanks! Alan N. Kay )
Do you realize that every student in school this year from grades kindergarten through 12th grade was born after 9/11?
Do they have any idea what is? Do they have any idea what we went through?
“Of course they do!” You say. How could they not?
Well do YOU remember Pearl Harbor? I don’t. I was born decades letter. I teach about it; all the time. I tell of the tragedy and the surprise, of the significance and the horrors of the war that followed. But I don’t remember it.
Most of us today do NOT remember Pearl Harbor. Oh we commemorate it. We honor the fallen, we honor the ones who served, but we don’t remember it. We wish we did. We wish we could relate to the pain in the eyes of our elders as they discuss it. We wonder what it was like as the tears form in their eyes and we marvel at what they did to win the war that followed. We feel ashamed when our elders finally realize that no matter what they say, we can never really understand.
So we try to teach it. Or at least we say we do.
Here is the ACTUAL textbook entry in the AP American History book we use in our high school and in many others schools across the country. (I should point out that AP is the highest level a student can attain in high school.)
“Early Sunday morning, December 7th 1941, Japanese carriers launched an attack on the Pacific fleet at Pearl Harbor that caught American forces completely by surprise. Within two hours, Japanese pilots had destroyed nearly 200 American planes and badly damaged the fleet; more than 2,400 Americans were killed and nearly 1,200 wounded. On the same day, Japan struck U.S. bases on the Philippines, Guam and Wake Island.”
Out of Many; Pearson Publishing. P. 894
THAT. IS. IT. Heaven help the student who drifted off during that short paragraph. And to be fair, many (but certainly not all) teachers go far beyond this and lecture, read accounts, see a YouTube clip, or perhaps on the rarest of occasions, if the teacher is really motivated and has the time and the ability, they get a veteran to come in and talk.
Try showing that excerpt to someone who was actually alive at the time, just try. You know what they will say.
I will never forget 9/11. And neither will you. I didn’t lose anybody close to me, but as you know because you were there, everyone remembers it. We remember where we were. We remember what was said. We remember the fear, the anguish and even the flags waving day after day.
9/11 was the only time in my life I truly sobbed for someone I didn’t know. I literally broke down when I saw a “Have you seen my daddy?” poster hung up on one of the many walls surrounding the trade center. I will never forget that pain.
Now let’s look at an example of an entry that may someday appear in a textbook of 9/11.
An Example of How September 11, 2001 would appear in a textbook.
Acts of Terrorism against United States targets had continued for several years including a failed attempt to destroy the world trade center with a bomb in the parking garage. Unfortunately for the Americans in the building at the time, terrorists led by Saudi businessman Osama Bin Laden finally succeeded in surprising an American public lulled into a false sense of security. On September 11, 2001, two hijacked planes were flown into the Twin towers collapsing both of them in less than an hour. In addition, another plane was flown into the Pentagon and a fourth crashed in a Pennsylvania field. Altogether, over 2,000 American lives were lost. The result of this tragedy was intensified security measures throughout the country, the creation of a homeland security department and a renewed sense of patriotism.
(I wrote this ten years ago and believe it or not, some of the newest textbooks are eerily similar. To their credit, the entry is longer and more detailed, but give it a decade or two and look at the textbooks in 2030.)
Does any child reading that have any idea what 9/11 was like? And what will it be like in 20 or 30 years when more events have happened and we spend as little time on 9/11 in our classrooms as we do on Pearl Harbor?
We need to do more than just honor this day. We need to do more than tell stories and make Facebook posts. (No offense!) We need to realize that these incredible stories, powerful and horrific are being lost. The lessons we learned from 9/11 and from Pearl Harbor are fading away like the old soldier who never dies. (Do any of you get that historical reference?)
This is why, even though I am a history teacher, I introduce myself as a storyteller to my students. As many of you know, I write stories for children. And I have written my first novel for adults now too. Neither King Nor Country Stories aren’t just for entertainment and history is not just trivia to be memorized like the stats of a ball game. If we want our lessons to be learned if we want to truly honor all the fallen from so many stories, we must tell them. We must tell them to our children. We must tell them to our grandchildren and every generation that follows. And we must make sure the stories are told in our classrooms and beyond!
As you remember 9/11 and you remember the victims, remember their stories and help me tell them.
Please feel free to comment below with your own 9/11 stories or give us ideas as to how we can tell ALL our stories more.
Thank you,
Alan N. Kay
No, I didn’t get my dates confused. I know what September 11th means. All of us do; or most of us.
(This article comes from the Facebook Page called “The History Cart” Please feel free to visit it at
https://www.facebook.com/NeitherKingN...
Thanks! Alan N. Kay )
Do you realize that every student in school this year from grades kindergarten through 12th grade was born after 9/11?
Do they have any idea what is? Do they have any idea what we went through?
“Of course they do!” You say. How could they not?
Well do YOU remember Pearl Harbor? I don’t. I was born decades letter. I teach about it; all the time. I tell of the tragedy and the surprise, of the significance and the horrors of the war that followed. But I don’t remember it.
Most of us today do NOT remember Pearl Harbor. Oh we commemorate it. We honor the fallen, we honor the ones who served, but we don’t remember it. We wish we did. We wish we could relate to the pain in the eyes of our elders as they discuss it. We wonder what it was like as the tears form in their eyes and we marvel at what they did to win the war that followed. We feel ashamed when our elders finally realize that no matter what they say, we can never really understand.
So we try to teach it. Or at least we say we do.
Here is the ACTUAL textbook entry in the AP American History book we use in our high school and in many others schools across the country. (I should point out that AP is the highest level a student can attain in high school.)
“Early Sunday morning, December 7th 1941, Japanese carriers launched an attack on the Pacific fleet at Pearl Harbor that caught American forces completely by surprise. Within two hours, Japanese pilots had destroyed nearly 200 American planes and badly damaged the fleet; more than 2,400 Americans were killed and nearly 1,200 wounded. On the same day, Japan struck U.S. bases on the Philippines, Guam and Wake Island.”
Out of Many; Pearson Publishing. P. 894
THAT. IS. IT. Heaven help the student who drifted off during that short paragraph. And to be fair, many (but certainly not all) teachers go far beyond this and lecture, read accounts, see a YouTube clip, or perhaps on the rarest of occasions, if the teacher is really motivated and has the time and the ability, they get a veteran to come in and talk.
Try showing that excerpt to someone who was actually alive at the time, just try. You know what they will say.
I will never forget 9/11. And neither will you. I didn’t lose anybody close to me, but as you know because you were there, everyone remembers it. We remember where we were. We remember what was said. We remember the fear, the anguish and even the flags waving day after day.
9/11 was the only time in my life I truly sobbed for someone I didn’t know. I literally broke down when I saw a “Have you seen my daddy?” poster hung up on one of the many walls surrounding the trade center. I will never forget that pain.
Now let’s look at an example of an entry that may someday appear in a textbook of 9/11.
An Example of How September 11, 2001 would appear in a textbook.
Acts of Terrorism against United States targets had continued for several years including a failed attempt to destroy the world trade center with a bomb in the parking garage. Unfortunately for the Americans in the building at the time, terrorists led by Saudi businessman Osama Bin Laden finally succeeded in surprising an American public lulled into a false sense of security. On September 11, 2001, two hijacked planes were flown into the Twin towers collapsing both of them in less than an hour. In addition, another plane was flown into the Pentagon and a fourth crashed in a Pennsylvania field. Altogether, over 2,000 American lives were lost. The result of this tragedy was intensified security measures throughout the country, the creation of a homeland security department and a renewed sense of patriotism.
(I wrote this ten years ago and believe it or not, some of the newest textbooks are eerily similar. To their credit, the entry is longer and more detailed, but give it a decade or two and look at the textbooks in 2030.)
Does any child reading that have any idea what 9/11 was like? And what will it be like in 20 or 30 years when more events have happened and we spend as little time on 9/11 in our classrooms as we do on Pearl Harbor?
We need to do more than just honor this day. We need to do more than tell stories and make Facebook posts. (No offense!) We need to realize that these incredible stories, powerful and horrific are being lost. The lessons we learned from 9/11 and from Pearl Harbor are fading away like the old soldier who never dies. (Do any of you get that historical reference?)
This is why, even though I am a history teacher, I introduce myself as a storyteller to my students. As many of you know, I write stories for children. And I have written my first novel for adults now too. Neither King Nor Country Stories aren’t just for entertainment and history is not just trivia to be memorized like the stats of a ball game. If we want our lessons to be learned if we want to truly honor all the fallen from so many stories, we must tell them. We must tell them to our children. We must tell them to our grandchildren and every generation that follows. And we must make sure the stories are told in our classrooms and beyond!
As you remember 9/11 and you remember the victims, remember their stories and help me tell them.
Please feel free to comment below with your own 9/11 stories or give us ideas as to how we can tell ALL our stories more.
Thank you,
Alan N. Kay
September 4, 2019
Ben Franklin Predicted the Hurricane
(This article is from my new Facebook Page, THE HISTORY CART. If you want more like this visit https://www.facebook.com/NeitherKingN...
Well not exactly, but read on to find out how not only Founding Father Ben Franklin predicted much of the science we use in hurricane prediction today but also how Hurricanes affected other founding fathers like Washington and Jefferson. More importantly, as we all recover from the evacuations and the damage, I will try to give us some perspective on what it would have been like without ANY warning before we start questioning our weathermen and government. I was not even sure to make this post now, but I feel, having lived through so many, that a little perspective and perhaps even humor can help at times like these.
So, first let’s start this post off seriously. This newest hurricane was terrifying. As of this post, we are still not even sure of all the damage. I can’t even imagine what it is like in the Bahamas right now. You can donate to the Red Cross at
https://www.redcross.org/donate/donat...
or call 1-800-RED CROSS, or text the word DORIAN to 90999 to make a $10 donation
I will never forget Hurricane Irma. It was the one of the most terrifying moments of my life. As we watched it bear down on Florida and constantly updated the hurricane tracks, my heart beat like a sledgehammer as I gripped my chest over and over trying to calm down. People’s lives were riding on whether I evacuated or not. My child, my wife, my sick mother in law on oxygen, all of their lives depended on whether we stayed or ran.
We ran, like so many others. We endured more stress, traffic lines, staying in strange hotels and believe it or not, ended up staying in a hotel directly in the path of Irma. Thank god for the people who helped us make it through that ordeal.
In Tampa today, some people are already yelling at the school systems for closing as Hurricane Dorian heads away. All of the second guessing and what if speculation began even before Dorian made landfall somewhere else. People whose jobs are to protect us and warn of us of impending danger are being criticized by the very ones they are trying to help. I truly believe it is important to always question our government and ourselves for that matter. But, before we begin to criticize and wonder what if let’s realize there is no reason to wonder. We can answer what if by looking back.
For almost all of human history, no one had any advance warning of hurricanes or categories 1-5. In fact, Ben Franklin was one of the first men alive to scientifically study weather with modern instruments. You all know the story of the famous kite experiment. (By the way, a pet peeve of mine is that no one knows his son was there with him because William Franklin would grow up to be the most vilified man in American History, even more than Benedict Arnold. Just check out my book Neither King Nor Country to learn more.)
Neither King Nor Country
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07...
But as some of you know, Franklin was not just the lightning guy, he was a scientist all of his life and an inventor of so many things, not the least of which was bifocals.
Indeed, the image above is a drawing by Franklin himself who after sixty years of studying the Atlantic (that’s right 60 years!) and measuring the temperature of the ocean at various depths he was the first person to speculate correctly that the Gulf Stream was like a warm river flowing over and through the Atlantic Ocean. He suggested that it could be used to improve the speed of vessels sailing between America and England if those vessels stayed in the current when traveling east and avoided it while traveling west.
You can read more about that here:
https://www.pbs.org/benfranklin/l3_in...
But it was as a young man, that Franklin first was able to use Hurricanes to study weather phenomenon. In 1743 a hurricane prevented him from observing a lunar eclipse in Philadelphia. When he later learned his brother in Boston experienced the storm much later, he surmised that hurricanes didn't move in the direction that the winds are blowing. In other words, he realized that as we know today, different levels of the atmosphere behave differently and sometimes in opposition to each other.
It is a fascinating little story that you can read more on here:
https://www.pbs.org/benfranklin/l3_in...
Hurricanes of course have always been around and their effects on people in the centuries before us were of course very different. What would it be like to not even know one was coming?
For example on October 19, 1749: A tremendous hurricane tracked offshore Virginia, northeast to Cape Cod. In Williamsburg, one family drowned as flood waters carried their house away. At Hampton, water rose to four feet deep in the streets; many trees were uprooted or snapped in two. Torrents of rain flooded northern Virginia and Maryland. The Chesapeake Bay rose to fifteen feet above normal...destroying waterfront buildings. At least four ships were destroyed at the south end of Chesapeake Bay (Shomette). Bodies washed ashore from the shipwrecks for days afterward. Damage in the area totaled £30,000...as currency of the colonies was British. And in Philadelphia, Benjamin Franklin was watching. It confirmed his hypothesis, the first of its kind, that storms along the coast moved from southwest to northeast.
An account of this tremendous storm was given in the biography of Commodore James Barron. It is eerily reminiscent of our own experiences today. As you read it though, remind yourself that they had no warning, no satellites, no media and of course no electrical power to even lose! At what point, we wonder do you realize that you are in a hurricane and not “just” a thunderstorm?
“A threatening sky was observed to the southeast over the Chesapeake Bay. The wind increased which soon brought the rain. As the hours wore on the wind and rain increased in fury. Sometimes the downpour slackened. One could hear the sand picked up by the wind from the beach outside and blasted against every object that still withstood the gale. All the while the rising tide was rapidly being piled up to a height never seen before in that area. The waves were pounding on the shore, finally to the very foot of the outside wall at Fort George. A large tree crashed over on its side with its roots in the air and was driven against the land side of the Fort. With the impact the wall yawned and broke. Shortly afterwards the seawall lurched and sank at the point where it was exposed to the wave fury of the storm. Finally the outside wall of the fort gave way, and the filling of sand poured out, leaving the inner wall exposed to the blast without support. When this too fell apart and collapsed, the barracks took the full force of the wind. About sundown, the storm slackened and in another hour the rain and wind had diminished to such a degree that it was clearly spent.”
https://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/researc...
If you click on the source above, on this same page you can also see the history of many Hurricanes from long ago. Ones you may find particularly interesting because of their effects on our Founding Fathers, I have pasted below.
· The Independence Hurricane of 1775--With the winds of revolution blowing about in the fledgling 13 colonies, Mother Nature had a wind that temporarily put a halt to those rebellious thoughts. A hurricane roared up the East Coast, and triggered one of the early Revolutionary War skirmishes in the biggest colony of Virginia. One of the more notable casualties of the storm was the roof of the Maryland State House, which was replaced by a wind resistant dome.
· George Washington's Hurricane of 1788--This hurricane, which began its drive toward landfall after nearing Bermuda on July 19th, proceeded on a west-northwest course into the Outer Banks of North Carolina, and then into Virginia. The Chesapeake Bay region absorbed the worst that the storm had to offer. Most notably though, this storm is remembered for the way it was described by the father of the United States, and first president, George Washington. By the time the storm reached Washington's home in Mount Vernon, it was likely to have been a moderate tropical storm with winds about 50 mph.
· Hurricanes of 1795--Two hurricanes assaulted Virginia in August 1795, and destroyed the crops of another hero of the American Revolution, Thomas Jefferson. The two storms, which were ten days apart, caused the Appomattox River to crest more than 12 feet above flood stage at the city of Petersburg, which was the highest level reached in 70 years. Jefferson, who kept a perfect record of regular weather observations for 40 years between 1776 and 1816, recorded the devastation that the two storms left behind, especially the heavy losses that he suffered at his plantation, the famous Monticello.
Storms of course have always made a difference in history. Just ask Queen Elizabeth about the Spanish Armada, the Mongols about the Kamikaze (Japanese word for “Divine Wind”) or General Eisenhower about D-day. In fact, as a younger lad considering a Doctoral degree in history, I was even considering studying how weather events and even moods have affected history. (Did the English for example, leave the island to conquer the world just to get away from all the rain and gray skies? LOL!)
So as we head back to our homes, and back to work, let’s always question if we did the right thing and learn from this experience. Just remember, that in making decisions about how to go forward, it always helps to look back too!
Stay safe,
Alan N. Kay
August 13, 2019
George Washington's Clone
I love George Washington.
Always have.
His biography was the first one I ever read, when I was about 8 or 9 years old. Read it hundreds of times.
I have a bust of him in our house when you first walk in, a small framed portrait of him in my office, a mini bust of him in my classroom, and the famous Gilbert Stuart painting of him hanging up in my classroom.
When I was just a little younger ( A LITTLE!!!) I was privileged to win a grant to spend a week (yes a week!) at Mount Vernon, studying the General (how he always preferred to be called even when he became President) and everything about him. I slept on the estate, was able to walk to his home and watch the sunrise over the Potomac and contemplate what it was like to be him. I even got to put a wreath in his grave. (See below)
I mean I was this close, THIS CLOSE, to George Washington (and Martha). It was a moment I will never forget and I still have the flag I used in that moment in my classroom.
What is it about George Washington?
Well, without writing an entire book, I still believe, to this day that he was the best President we ever had for the sole reason that he was the only one who never wanted the job. He was a man who believed in honor and integrity and the importance of treating people with dignity and respect and yes I know he owned slaves…(which by the way he set free in his will because he learned to abhor slavery but was afraid to set them free as President for fear of starting a civil war.)
So to say, I have “fan girl” over George Washington, is NOT an understatement. I mean he is one of the first characters in my FIRST adult book Neither King Nor Country
That’s why this recent news item went over the top, even for me.
https://www.union.edu/news/stories/20...
Okay, so they found a lock of his hair. So?
I mean, read the article. I thought I was obsessed with George Washington. Then I thought. His face is on a mountain. And the capital is named after him, and a state, and a bridge and a University and about 3 million schools and streets.
And isn’t it true that he couldn’t tell a lie and chopped down some tree with cherries???
Actually, that story was made up more than 50 years after he died by some guy named Parson Weems if I am not mistaken.
Hero Worship!
It’s all over our country. The Founding Fathers were heroes, the first Presidents were gods, red white and blue, my country right or wrong, boy has this been blown out of proportion.
I can say this because
A. I am a historian.
B. I was and still am, a Washington freak!
But, my friends, the true value in these stories is in making these men real role models who we can learn from and see ourselves in. If we see their limitations, their frailties (like Hamilton’s affair, Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemmings, Ben Franklin and his son) and see ourselves in them, we see that we too can accomplish great things, as they did, with our frailties and problems. Instead of them being unapproachable Gods with their heads on a mountain, they became human role models we can understand and relate to and history has a true purpose instead of merely flag waving propaganda.
Wait. Go Back. Did you say a hair of George Washington? Can they use that to clone him?????
Yeah. I admit. That is a whole other story that I have always thought about since Dolly the sheep.
If we are that fascinated and in awe of Washington, do you think, maybe just maybe, in the near or distant future, we might decide to clone him? I mean it would answer a lot of questions: how tall was he, was he really that handsome, were his teeth that bad? At the very least the clone would make a heck of a re-enactor to greet people at Mount Vernon! Or would that clone have rights?
Whoa! Where could we go from here? I mean, not to get all Star Wars and war of the clones on you but we all realize that cloning will come around some day right? So what will historians have to say about that?
We have Napoleons DNA, George Washington’s, Thomas Jefferson’s!
Ummmm, do we have Hitler’s? I hope not.
Will these clones have any rights? Should we clone them to learn about the past? Will we be able to stop it from happening? Should we? Can the past teach us even more about the future than we could ever imagine?
I don’t know. Do you?
Always have.
His biography was the first one I ever read, when I was about 8 or 9 years old. Read it hundreds of times.
I have a bust of him in our house when you first walk in, a small framed portrait of him in my office, a mini bust of him in my classroom, and the famous Gilbert Stuart painting of him hanging up in my classroom.
When I was just a little younger ( A LITTLE!!!) I was privileged to win a grant to spend a week (yes a week!) at Mount Vernon, studying the General (how he always preferred to be called even when he became President) and everything about him. I slept on the estate, was able to walk to his home and watch the sunrise over the Potomac and contemplate what it was like to be him. I even got to put a wreath in his grave. (See below)
I mean I was this close, THIS CLOSE, to George Washington (and Martha). It was a moment I will never forget and I still have the flag I used in that moment in my classroom.
What is it about George Washington?
Well, without writing an entire book, I still believe, to this day that he was the best President we ever had for the sole reason that he was the only one who never wanted the job. He was a man who believed in honor and integrity and the importance of treating people with dignity and respect and yes I know he owned slaves…(which by the way he set free in his will because he learned to abhor slavery but was afraid to set them free as President for fear of starting a civil war.)
So to say, I have “fan girl” over George Washington, is NOT an understatement. I mean he is one of the first characters in my FIRST adult book Neither King Nor Country
That’s why this recent news item went over the top, even for me.
https://www.union.edu/news/stories/20...
Okay, so they found a lock of his hair. So?
I mean, read the article. I thought I was obsessed with George Washington. Then I thought. His face is on a mountain. And the capital is named after him, and a state, and a bridge and a University and about 3 million schools and streets.
And isn’t it true that he couldn’t tell a lie and chopped down some tree with cherries???
Actually, that story was made up more than 50 years after he died by some guy named Parson Weems if I am not mistaken.
Hero Worship!
It’s all over our country. The Founding Fathers were heroes, the first Presidents were gods, red white and blue, my country right or wrong, boy has this been blown out of proportion.
I can say this because
A. I am a historian.
B. I was and still am, a Washington freak!
But, my friends, the true value in these stories is in making these men real role models who we can learn from and see ourselves in. If we see their limitations, their frailties (like Hamilton’s affair, Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemmings, Ben Franklin and his son) and see ourselves in them, we see that we too can accomplish great things, as they did, with our frailties and problems. Instead of them being unapproachable Gods with their heads on a mountain, they became human role models we can understand and relate to and history has a true purpose instead of merely flag waving propaganda.
Wait. Go Back. Did you say a hair of George Washington? Can they use that to clone him?????
Yeah. I admit. That is a whole other story that I have always thought about since Dolly the sheep.
If we are that fascinated and in awe of Washington, do you think, maybe just maybe, in the near or distant future, we might decide to clone him? I mean it would answer a lot of questions: how tall was he, was he really that handsome, were his teeth that bad? At the very least the clone would make a heck of a re-enactor to greet people at Mount Vernon! Or would that clone have rights?
Whoa! Where could we go from here? I mean, not to get all Star Wars and war of the clones on you but we all realize that cloning will come around some day right? So what will historians have to say about that?
We have Napoleons DNA, George Washington’s, Thomas Jefferson’s!
Ummmm, do we have Hitler’s? I hope not.
Will these clones have any rights? Should we clone them to learn about the past? Will we be able to stop it from happening? Should we? Can the past teach us even more about the future than we could ever imagine?
I don’t know. Do you?
August 2, 2019
#2: Hey Ma look what I found!
Okay. Last Blog post before I return to school and yet another year of telling amazing stories to young minds. God I love my job!
But before I tell you a story, don’t forget that the giveaway for my e-book Neither King Nor Country is almost over. (A few more days.) Go to this link if you want to sign up and scroll down until you see “Giveaway”:
Neither King Nor Country
So, here we go…
Are you curious? Adventurous? Do you like to learn? Do you like to explore?
I did. Still do. Love it in fact.
When I was a kid, I used to love to go on hikes in the woods. I loved to get lost, get as far away from the house, go exploring. I would take my black and gold German Shepard Collie named Alfie with me and we would just wander. Now this was up north of course. Not in Florida where there are snakes and alligators around every corner. The woods up north, for at least 6 months of the year, are more dead than alive. The trees are bare of leaves which lay dead on the ground. There are no sounds of animals and it easy to walk through the trees, or over the rocks and across the occasional stream.
To my pre-teen/teenager mind, filled with curiosity and naiveté, it was a world of wonder. Who knew what was beyond those pine trees or buried beneath those old dead brown leaves? I still remember the day when, after a half hour or so of hiking, my dog suddenly stopped and poked his nose around in the leaves. Within seconds his claws were whipping up the old dry dirt as I ran up to see what he uncovered. “What is it Alfie? What did you find boy!”
Bones! A skeleton buried just beneath the surface. My imagination went wild. I was terrified and exhilarated all at the same time. How did this skeleton get here? How long had it been buried? Was I the first to discover it? I instantly snapped my neck backwards and forwards looking for the murderer who must be somewhere nearby!
Of course there was no murder. The skeleton wasn’t even human. It was just some dead armadillo or raccoon or something. To this day, I never figured out what it was. But in that moment of discovery, a world of possibilities opened up in such a powerful explosion of emotion that I still remember it 40 years later.
What’s it like to discover buried treasure? Or uncover a secret lost to the ages? We read all the time about dinosaur bones being discovered but can you truly put yourself in the shoes of those grave diggers, even for a moment? What an incredible emotional high! No wonder they spend hours and hours and days and years looking for it.
So what must it have been like last week, when archaeologists discovered pieces of the uniforms from Napoleon’s soldiers underneath the floor of a destroyed synagogue?
Check this out!
https://www.foxnews.com/science/napol...
I read that story with wonder! I tried to imagine what it must have been like to pick up a human bone and realize that this was a soldier who knew Napoleon and even fought with him: talk about exhilaration! Did he ever talk to him? Did he have a drink with him? Did he see the look on Napoleon’s face when he realized the Russians burnt their own capital to stop him?
This isn’t the first story I have read about a discovery of Napoleonic soldiers. I read them all the time in my line of work. They are obviously still finding them. Did you know there were so many killed in the Napoleonic wars that an entire business blossomed using the dead teeth recovered from the corpses? They were called Waterloo teeth and they were used by dentists all over the UK.
https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-330...
Wait a minute! Did you say a destroyed synagogue?
Yeah. I did. It’s amazing what you can miss in all the history being told. It was one of the greatest synagogues in Eastern Europe and possibly the world. And boy do I have another story to tell you!
Another time.
For now, check out the link below on the synagogue and if you want me to tell you the unknown story of the Jews in the holocaust and Russian Civil war, let me know!
Have a good week!
Alan N. Kay
https://www.foxnews.com/science/hebre...
But before I tell you a story, don’t forget that the giveaway for my e-book Neither King Nor Country is almost over. (A few more days.) Go to this link if you want to sign up and scroll down until you see “Giveaway”:
Neither King Nor Country
So, here we go…
Are you curious? Adventurous? Do you like to learn? Do you like to explore?
I did. Still do. Love it in fact.
When I was a kid, I used to love to go on hikes in the woods. I loved to get lost, get as far away from the house, go exploring. I would take my black and gold German Shepard Collie named Alfie with me and we would just wander. Now this was up north of course. Not in Florida where there are snakes and alligators around every corner. The woods up north, for at least 6 months of the year, are more dead than alive. The trees are bare of leaves which lay dead on the ground. There are no sounds of animals and it easy to walk through the trees, or over the rocks and across the occasional stream.
To my pre-teen/teenager mind, filled with curiosity and naiveté, it was a world of wonder. Who knew what was beyond those pine trees or buried beneath those old dead brown leaves? I still remember the day when, after a half hour or so of hiking, my dog suddenly stopped and poked his nose around in the leaves. Within seconds his claws were whipping up the old dry dirt as I ran up to see what he uncovered. “What is it Alfie? What did you find boy!”
Bones! A skeleton buried just beneath the surface. My imagination went wild. I was terrified and exhilarated all at the same time. How did this skeleton get here? How long had it been buried? Was I the first to discover it? I instantly snapped my neck backwards and forwards looking for the murderer who must be somewhere nearby!
Of course there was no murder. The skeleton wasn’t even human. It was just some dead armadillo or raccoon or something. To this day, I never figured out what it was. But in that moment of discovery, a world of possibilities opened up in such a powerful explosion of emotion that I still remember it 40 years later.
What’s it like to discover buried treasure? Or uncover a secret lost to the ages? We read all the time about dinosaur bones being discovered but can you truly put yourself in the shoes of those grave diggers, even for a moment? What an incredible emotional high! No wonder they spend hours and hours and days and years looking for it.
So what must it have been like last week, when archaeologists discovered pieces of the uniforms from Napoleon’s soldiers underneath the floor of a destroyed synagogue?
Check this out!
https://www.foxnews.com/science/napol...
I read that story with wonder! I tried to imagine what it must have been like to pick up a human bone and realize that this was a soldier who knew Napoleon and even fought with him: talk about exhilaration! Did he ever talk to him? Did he have a drink with him? Did he see the look on Napoleon’s face when he realized the Russians burnt their own capital to stop him?
This isn’t the first story I have read about a discovery of Napoleonic soldiers. I read them all the time in my line of work. They are obviously still finding them. Did you know there were so many killed in the Napoleonic wars that an entire business blossomed using the dead teeth recovered from the corpses? They were called Waterloo teeth and they were used by dentists all over the UK.
https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-330...
Wait a minute! Did you say a destroyed synagogue?
Yeah. I did. It’s amazing what you can miss in all the history being told. It was one of the greatest synagogues in Eastern Europe and possibly the world. And boy do I have another story to tell you!
Another time.
For now, check out the link below on the synagogue and if you want me to tell you the unknown story of the Jews in the holocaust and Russian Civil war, let me know!
Have a good week!
Alan N. Kay
https://www.foxnews.com/science/hebre...
July 24, 2019
The History Cart
The History Cart
Introduction:
Another history blog?
Really?
Another one?
Do we really need any more?
No. We don’t.
But history isn’t about need: At least for the everyday. It’s about want: wanting to be entertained.
I mean that’s all it is right? A story? That’s all entertainment is whether it’s a Hollywood movie, a television show, a song or even a book. They are all ways of telling stories, right?
No, no, no! My colleagues in the history profession are screaming. Every story tells us something we can learn from! We can sharpen our skills in analysis, we can become better people, we can learn from our mistakes!
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I will get to that.
You see, that’s the problem, the problem with historians, history teachers, heck all academics. We lose so much of our “customer base” telling them all the doom and gloom, reminding them of the power of history so that all they ever learn is the overused phrase “those who forget it are doomed to repeat it.”
Cart before the horse people.
Hey, is that a good name for the blog?
I am not going to put my cart before my horse. I was. I did. My first blog post was titled “America’s History Crisis.” Fortunately, especially for you, I realized that no one wanted to be all doom and gloom, at least not right away.
And neither do I!
I want to have fun with history. I want to tell stories! I want to celebrate my first novel! I want to post my lectures. I want to share in the laughter, in the tragedy, the irony, the power, the love, the hate, the story. We can get to the important stuff later.
So that’s what this blog will be. It will be anecdotes, short stories, analysis and explanation. I will include lectures and links. I will comment on the topics of the day. I will remain apolitical however. Part of the problem we have lately is the editorial spin. I will do my best to avoid it. It is something I have had to do in the classroom all my life and (I believe) it is something I believe I have done very well. (Especially recently.)
To my students past and present: I promise I will continue to mix entertainment and learning. I will find new ways of telling old stories and I will try to even post some lectures.
To my readers: I will add items, stories and tidbits from my books to make them even more entertaining. Maybe I will discuss where I got an idea for a character or a funny story from my research (I have more than a few!)
To my friends and family: I will tell you things you haven’t heard. I will keep the lines between public and private drawn but I will also have fun and maybe even throw in some jokes only you will get. (I already have in my book!)
To those of you who have never heard of me: Please read the About the Author Alan N. Kayhere or here:
https://www.amazon.com/Alan-N.-Kay/e/...
I have spent my life entertaining and enlightening students and parents, adults and children. I have won awards for my teaching and I have given speeches to countless groups on so many subjects. (Some of which will be reproduced in this blog.)
To everyone: I can only promise one thing. I will try my best. I am a celebrated Luddite! So that means that while I will try to do all kinds of things in this technical platform, I may be unable to figure out how. (Some of my past students have already collapsed on the floor at the idea of my blogging. “What happened to the chalkboard Mr. Kay?” They’re screaming!)
So let’s get started!!
I have two things for you, one random; the other not so much. The first is a result of a recent Saturday night with my wife. The second, has to do with the content of my new book.Neither King Nor Country
#1. Suddenly, my wife has become a gin lover. We went to a gin distillery in Canada. We went out to a night club called the Gin Joint. The upscale nature of both places, the air of upper class gentlemen and ladies suddenly reminded me ironically of an image I used to teach with. I told the Gin distiller about this image and he was shocked. It wasn’t an image he would post in his distillery that was for sure. Two weeks, back home at the Gin Joint nightclub, I was again reminded of it and I told the waiter. He too had never heard of it and we both realized that there was no way this image would ever appear in their upscale nightclub either. (My wife even tried to convince me to teach the staff about the history of Gin. Thank goodness I had not had as much to drink as she had!)
It’s called Gin Street and it was made in the 18th century in England. It shows the effects of Gin on the peasants of London. Here it is:
Gin used to be the drink of the peasants. The rich and the well to do drank beer. The issue was so bad that the London government even began to pass laws to control the drinking of gin and blamed it on everything from unemployment to prostitution and disease. If you are interested there is a well written short article about the horrors of gin and the wonders of beer in 18th century London here:
**The Goodreads blog does not open a separate window! Hit the back key to return. Do not close the window!
Beer Street and Gin Lane
#2. The second thing I want to share with you is directly related to my new book Neither King Nor Country . My book takes place, at least in part, during the American Revolution, looking at a new side of it that has rarely been explored. This fun video below while completely different in spirit and tone from my book, also has a new take on the Revolution: A humorous modern music take. It has Thomas Jefferson, Ben Franklin and other founding fathers singing “It’s too late to apologize” and it was put together by Soomo Publishing. You can find that here:
It's too late to apologize!
Future blog posts may be random like this one, insightful, reactionary to the world’s events or maybe just a simple story. I do promise that I will be discussing the Crisis in History and what it means for our country and even our planet at a later date. Prepare yourself and thanks for reading!
Alan N. Kay
Introduction:
Another history blog?
Really?
Another one?
Do we really need any more?
No. We don’t.
But history isn’t about need: At least for the everyday. It’s about want: wanting to be entertained.
I mean that’s all it is right? A story? That’s all entertainment is whether it’s a Hollywood movie, a television show, a song or even a book. They are all ways of telling stories, right?
No, no, no! My colleagues in the history profession are screaming. Every story tells us something we can learn from! We can sharpen our skills in analysis, we can become better people, we can learn from our mistakes!
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I will get to that.
You see, that’s the problem, the problem with historians, history teachers, heck all academics. We lose so much of our “customer base” telling them all the doom and gloom, reminding them of the power of history so that all they ever learn is the overused phrase “those who forget it are doomed to repeat it.”
Cart before the horse people.
Hey, is that a good name for the blog?
I am not going to put my cart before my horse. I was. I did. My first blog post was titled “America’s History Crisis.” Fortunately, especially for you, I realized that no one wanted to be all doom and gloom, at least not right away.
And neither do I!
I want to have fun with history. I want to tell stories! I want to celebrate my first novel! I want to post my lectures. I want to share in the laughter, in the tragedy, the irony, the power, the love, the hate, the story. We can get to the important stuff later.
So that’s what this blog will be. It will be anecdotes, short stories, analysis and explanation. I will include lectures and links. I will comment on the topics of the day. I will remain apolitical however. Part of the problem we have lately is the editorial spin. I will do my best to avoid it. It is something I have had to do in the classroom all my life and (I believe) it is something I believe I have done very well. (Especially recently.)
To my students past and present: I promise I will continue to mix entertainment and learning. I will find new ways of telling old stories and I will try to even post some lectures.
To my readers: I will add items, stories and tidbits from my books to make them even more entertaining. Maybe I will discuss where I got an idea for a character or a funny story from my research (I have more than a few!)
To my friends and family: I will tell you things you haven’t heard. I will keep the lines between public and private drawn but I will also have fun and maybe even throw in some jokes only you will get. (I already have in my book!)
To those of you who have never heard of me: Please read the About the Author Alan N. Kayhere or here:
https://www.amazon.com/Alan-N.-Kay/e/...
I have spent my life entertaining and enlightening students and parents, adults and children. I have won awards for my teaching and I have given speeches to countless groups on so many subjects. (Some of which will be reproduced in this blog.)
To everyone: I can only promise one thing. I will try my best. I am a celebrated Luddite! So that means that while I will try to do all kinds of things in this technical platform, I may be unable to figure out how. (Some of my past students have already collapsed on the floor at the idea of my blogging. “What happened to the chalkboard Mr. Kay?” They’re screaming!)
So let’s get started!!
I have two things for you, one random; the other not so much. The first is a result of a recent Saturday night with my wife. The second, has to do with the content of my new book.Neither King Nor Country
#1. Suddenly, my wife has become a gin lover. We went to a gin distillery in Canada. We went out to a night club called the Gin Joint. The upscale nature of both places, the air of upper class gentlemen and ladies suddenly reminded me ironically of an image I used to teach with. I told the Gin distiller about this image and he was shocked. It wasn’t an image he would post in his distillery that was for sure. Two weeks, back home at the Gin Joint nightclub, I was again reminded of it and I told the waiter. He too had never heard of it and we both realized that there was no way this image would ever appear in their upscale nightclub either. (My wife even tried to convince me to teach the staff about the history of Gin. Thank goodness I had not had as much to drink as she had!)
It’s called Gin Street and it was made in the 18th century in England. It shows the effects of Gin on the peasants of London. Here it is:
Gin used to be the drink of the peasants. The rich and the well to do drank beer. The issue was so bad that the London government even began to pass laws to control the drinking of gin and blamed it on everything from unemployment to prostitution and disease. If you are interested there is a well written short article about the horrors of gin and the wonders of beer in 18th century London here:
**The Goodreads blog does not open a separate window! Hit the back key to return. Do not close the window!
Beer Street and Gin Lane
#2. The second thing I want to share with you is directly related to my new book Neither King Nor Country . My book takes place, at least in part, during the American Revolution, looking at a new side of it that has rarely been explored. This fun video below while completely different in spirit and tone from my book, also has a new take on the Revolution: A humorous modern music take. It has Thomas Jefferson, Ben Franklin and other founding fathers singing “It’s too late to apologize” and it was put together by Soomo Publishing. You can find that here:
It's too late to apologize!
Future blog posts may be random like this one, insightful, reactionary to the world’s events or maybe just a simple story. I do promise that I will be discussing the Crisis in History and what it means for our country and even our planet at a later date. Prepare yourself and thanks for reading!
Alan N. Kay
