Category: History

  • History at the Doorstep.

    Martin Luther King Jr. and wife Coretta lead the march into Montgomery, Ala., in 1965. This year marks the 40th anniversary of the march which began on March 21, 1965, in Selma and reached Montgomery four days later.

    A blog, at least a blog like this one, is a series of essays, on different subjects. I can vary the style, the tone, the narrative voice, however I like, whenever I like, without risking the fragmentation of some larger narrative. In theory, there is no larger narrative.

    But of course, in the end, that’s nonsense. We all have a larger narrative. Everything we do, everything we fail to do, or choose not to do, is all part of a story that we are telling. We may or may not have any control over the direction the plot is taking, and we may not even be aware of the plot as it has unfolded so far, but it is there. Plot, and character development, and conflict. Even events of which we are completely unaware can have a major impact on our own personal story.

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  • Turning a Phrase.

    • Admiral Edward “Old Grog” Vernon. No wonder he was so uptight: that fabric looks like it must have itched.

    It’s been raining cats and dogs here for the past two days.

    “Raining cats and dogs”: Everybody has said that at one time or another. It’s a distinctive expression, and is pretty much universal in the places where English is spoken. Oddly enough, however, nobody seems to know where or how it originated.The first use of the phrase is in print is in A Complete Collection of Polite and Ingenious Conversation by Jonathan Swift, published in 1738; presumably the expression was common enough by that time that he felt comfortable using it without providing an explanation. A number of possible origin myths have been put forward in the centuries since, but they are all little more than speculation, long after the fact, with nothing much to recommend one over another.

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  • Why, Oh Why, Delilah?

    • The civilization is gone, but the hairstyle just keeps coming back again and again.

    Last weekend a friend of mine referred to Rick Santorum in conversation as a Philistine , meaning someone — well, someone like Rick Santorum. I didn’t say anything at the time, (which is unusual for me, I know) but I feel that it’s important to set the record straight: Rick Santorum is nothing like a Philistine.

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