Tomorrow we celebrate Labor Day. This is a holiday with a generic sound, unlike Memorial Day, or President’s Day, where the purpose is clearer from the title. So how did we get here? Labor Day was actually first celebrated on September 5th, 1882 in New York City. According to The Writer’s Almanac — “Organizers were
I was perusing my copy of An Uncommon History of Common Things and I stumbled upon the entry for honeymoons. As usual for these topics, it has quite a history. The term goes back to 1546, when “getting away from it all” had an entirely different connotation. In ancient Norse, a hjunottsmanathr was when a
Walt [Disney] assigned Robert and Richard Sherman to write the songs for Mary Poppins. They returned in two weeks with sketchy versions of five songs that could fit into the script, including “Feed the Birds” and “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.” Walt liked them, especially “Feed the Birds.” “That song’ll replace Brahams’ Lullaby,” he declared, and he cried every
What is that Chinese curse about “May you live in interesting times”? It does take time to establish yourself in a new field, especially something like writing. You think you have a good idea; the problem is getting the rest of the world to agree with you. It takes time and a lot of work.
Today, as I’m putting the finishing touches on this year’s marathon training, I’m sharing one of my running stories. This is true, and was published in Runner’s World magazine in the December 1981 issue. The county had just finished widening the principal highway near my house. It also put in a bicycle path,
Thus starts another year of substitute teaching. This should be my ninth if I can still count. Last year I decided to slow down and I only taught in one district. I’m doing the same this year. The weather is too nice and there’s a lot of yardwork to catch up on. And yet… I’ve
I should know better than to discuss mathematics, but I thought this was going to be easy. I have always thought that algebra originated in the Middle East, algebra being an Arabic-derived word (al-gabr). Recently I was listening to a Science Friday podcast from July 2nd (http://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.libsyn.com/sciencefriday/scifri201507031p.mp3) that corroborated that viewpoint. According to the podcast, the
Many times in history, it’s the little things that are critical. You may know about how at the Battle of Gettysburg, Union General G. K. Warren found a critical spot in the Union line that was unoccupied and organized its defense on his own initiative. Otherwise, the battle could’ve been lost. Also in that battle,
I’ve seen the latest Pixar animated feature Inside Out twice now, and I thought it was a remarkable film. As an adult, it gave me a lot to think about, yet if I was a kid, I would’ve enjoyed it just as much. It’s a great starting point for explaining emotions and memories to children.
Having been in the publishing business and now writing for myself, I know there are many people in the world who do not respect intellectual property. You own your ideas just as much as you own your computer, yet some people don’t seem to be able to grasp this. But there are ways to protect