Opening Day 2009

Reflections on Edward Kennedy

As I watch the coverage of the passing of Teddy Kennedy, I am reminded of the death of George Washington. Yes, that was sudden, but the outpouring of love and admiration is similar to this. Granted, back then there were no blogs, Facebooks, Twitter, or TV. The news spread slowly, but the reaction was to same. We knew that this was coming, however, it does not lessen the sadness.
In 1994, I campaigned for Teddy during his Senate campaign against Mitt Romney. I was outside Holyoke Community College for one of the debates (if I remember correctly). My first memory of that night...having a Romney supporter hit me over the head with a placard. However, I got to meet and shake hands with Kennedy. For me it was a connection with my past as well as the history of the nation. I even got to meet Alec Baldwin at a campaign event. All our work paid off and we had four more years of an amazing man and Senator.
Today is a very sad day for America. We lost a man who truly cared about the people and their needs. Yes, he had his issues, but the good work he did overshadows any of that. I do not know if there is anyone in Congress now who will ever come close to Kennedy.

Fort Necessity

HUGE DISCLAIMER:
If you are travelling to FLW's Fallingwater from Washington DC, I VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY highly suggest you follow Rt. 70 and take the PA Turnpike. It takes the same amount of time and is much better on your engine, brakes, gas mileage, and sanity. Plus, although you are dealing with wicked mountain climbing (up to 3,000 ft), they are hard to find. I coasted to the gas station on weak fumes. Now back to the main topic.

The only good thing about the way Google took me to Fallingwater is that I got to go past Fort Necessity. How the heck did George get there? Those are some wickedly evil mountains on the way. My 4 cylinder CR-V had issues...those poor horses. I certainly got a brand new respect for George yesterday.

Plus it also makes his loss look less like a loss (say that five times fast). I didn't go, I just past it twice, but honestly thinking about the terrain, he did a good job just getting there. Don't know how they did things without our simple conveniences like cars with AC.

PLUS, he wanted to build a canal from the Potomac to the Ohio to help settle the area and bring the union together. Like Wow. Rt. 68 and Rt. 40 are called the National Road/Highway. Maybe that is why, although, I would rather just go through Buffalo to get to the Ohio and the Midwest. That's it for now. I have to upload pictures of the Dung Repository to finish up my Founding Farmer lesson. Will have to link to my Washington projects. What will I do next year?

So hard keeping up

I have been so busy with my institutes and workshops that I have not been able to keep up with my blog. Who knew it would be so much work?

At the end of a whole month of education on George Washington, I can honestly say that he is my favorite president at the moment. Why? Simple. Under his generalship, presidency, etc., he was a simple man. Say the Candide of America if you will. Yeah, he did not have the education of the others, but he had the very best education possible...experience. He learned from what went on around him. Did he make mistake. You know he did, but it is how he handled those mistakes that truly makes him a great person.

Well that is all for now...still at workshop and need to work.

Book Review coming...I promise

I have written my review for The Genius of George Washington, but I thought I would let you know that if you are a teacher, you should apply for the NEH George Washington Institute at Boston Univ. I has only been two days, but I am so impressed by the scholarship and collegiality of all involved. It has been everything that I expected and more. Tomorrow we go the the Lonfellow House in Cambridge and Thursday we go to the Adams homestead. This is great and I still have 2.5 weeks left. I have heard from another participant the the one I am attending in 3 weeks is also great. Here is the link to the Summer Institutes. The list for next summer should be out in November.

http://www.neh.gov/projects/index.html

General Housekeeping

As you can see my educational exploits begin Tuesday (not Monday like the ticker claims). I will keep this spot open for Washington discussions and use my other blog http://professionalstudenttraveler.blogspot.com/ for info on the other work I am doing this summer. Other summer exploits will be discussed there as well. Oh yeah, add another. I am doing on from the American Antiquarian Society after the last GWash one. So that is 7 weeks of study. I hope to have another book review done by the end of the day.

YAY, I figure out tickers + Reading Countdowns

I thought (last week actually) that it would be cool to do a ticker for all my workshops and institutes the mega mondo amount of reading that I have to do for each. Although I will be going to Madison, WI and Mackinaw City, MI, I will honestly not have a vacation to speak of (see my other blog for details). Oh well I guess.

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Choices Unit (student text and teacher RB)
Various articles




HUGE book of readings
Chicago: City of the Century




George Washington: Ordinary Man, Extraordinary Leader
The Genius of George Washington
George Washington Reconsidered
Other Readings given at Institute



Founding Friendship
LOTS of (online) readings from:
The Federalist
The Founders Constitution
George Washington: A Collection
The Writings of James Madison

I guess I should stop blogging and start reading right? But I need something to do on the beach in Michigan.