Historied Out

We spent the evening on a whirlwind tour of Louisiana history with the kids.

It was history project night at the school Bigger Girl and #2 Son attend. Our own state was the theme, and there were 32 presentations.

Each student sets up a board and any props on a table, and has a few chairs gathered around. Parents, relatives, and friends move from station to station listening to a 3-5 minute speech about the subject the student is reporting.

So I went from student to student, and my head is swirling with facts about Louisiana music and food, prisons and disasters, museums and festivals, Native tribes, agriculture, resources, government, and politics, which ties with football for our favorite state sport.

Many of the young people are very creative. The young man who talked about the Battle of New Orleans had a real Kentucky long rifle, to show how it was used to defeat the British. The young lady who talked about our cuisine had gumbo to sample, which her uncle, a former chef, helped her prepare. I found the demonstration of bousillage, a type of building material made of mud and Spanish moss, to be very fascinating.

It did make for a long, but interesting evening, and even though a good time was not had by all -- #2 Son was particularly disgusted by having to do such a thing, thinks it was a waste of a good Friday evening -- I enjoyed it.

Makes me want to reread some of those history notes from long ago.


Today is:

Absurdity Day

Africa Industrialization Day (UN)

Air Your Dirty Laundry Day (Be careful with this one!)

Beautiful Day -- Fairy Calendar

Child Day -- Canada

Children's Day -- Egypt; Pakistan

Cote d'Or -- Savigny-lès-Beaune. Bourguignons, France (wine tasting festival)

Day of National Sovereignty -- Argentina

Fast for an Abundant World Harvest

Name Your PC Day

National Peanut Butter Fudge Day

Praetextatus and Paulina's Day (Guardians of the Eleusinian Mysteries)

Revolution Day -- Mexico

St. Edmund the Martyr's Day (patron against plagues)

Teacher's Day -- Vietnam

Universal Children's Day -- International

Writing On the Wall Day

Zumbi Day -- Brazil


Anniversaries Today:

The Princess Elizabeth (now Queen Elizabeth II) marries Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten at Westminster Abbey in London, 1947


Birthdays Today:

Bo Derek, 1956
Duane Allman, 1946
Veronica Hamal, 1943
Joe Biden, 1942
Dick Smothers, 1939
Richard Dawson, 1932
Estelle Parsons, 1927
Kaye Ballard, 1926
Robert F. Kennedy, 1925
Alistair Cooke, 1908
Edwin Hubble, 1889
Susanna Wesley, 1669 (mother of John, Charles, and 17 other children)
Peregrine White, 1620 (born on the Mayflower)
Maximinus, Roman Emperor, 270


Today in History:

Bögü, Khan of the Uyghurs, conquers Lo-Yang, capital of the Chinese Empire, 762
Zumbi, the last leader of the Quilombo dos Palmares of Brazil, is executed, 1695
New Jersey becomes the first state to ratify the US Bill of Rights, 1789
Curacao's government forbids slave work on Sunday, 1795
Howard University is founded in Washington, D.C., 1866
US State Department starts requiring photographs for passports, 1914
1st municipally owned airport in US opens, in Tucson Az, 1919
In response to the Soviet Union agreeing to remove its missiles from Cuba, U.S. President John F. Kennedy ends the quarantine of the Caribbean nation, 1962
The SETI Institute is founded, 1984
Microsoft Windows 1.0 is released, 1985
The number of protesters assembled in Prague, Czechoslovakia swells from 200,000 the day before to an estimated half-million, 1989
In England, a fire breaks out in Windsor Castle, badly damaging the castle and causing over £50 million worth of damage, 1992
The first module of the International Space Station, Zarya, is launched, 1998