Catherine Drinker Bowen 1897-1973

One of my favorite historians is Mrs. Catherine Drinker Bowen; she penned marvelous biographies as well as an inspiring account of the American Constitutional Convention.  She researched her topics meticulously and passionately, searching for the story amidst facts, the narrative within the details. This year, I used her work, John Adams and the American Revolution to expand my lecture about Adams' role in the defense of the British soldiers following the Boston Massacre.  She took us all back to a Boston hostile to these "redcoats." I read much of her account to the class, and they loved it!

Mrs. Bowen fell under quite a bit of criticism because she did not pursue formal training (college degrees in History).  Yet, she was dedicated to both history and historiography. She knew where her interpretations of events and lives fell within the spectrum of others.  Like Barbara Tuchman and Esther Forbes, she did not pursue "women's history." My advisor, Professor Kermit Hall, gently admonished us that we needed more women historians, not women doing women's History.  He was so right!

As for Mrs. Bowen and her generation,  I want to say that as a student of history independent of a particular graduate program, she was free to really search for History as opposed to a "usable past" to promote a specific agenda.  In her day just as in the current, History represents a field with one of the most liberal and manipulative mindsets.  The recent trend is to tear down those that may have brought some "exceptionalism" to our past (the left does however always seem to give Jefferson a pass, though, despite his slave holdings and despite the fact that he ran and hid when the British came to Virginia!).  This past week, our family went to Barnes and Noble. I was thrilled to see a new biography of Ethan Allen. The review on the back made mention of how this marvelous new biography (I am paraphrasing) told us all of the failings of this once-revered character from the Revolutionary era.  Is that the goal? The goal should be providing an accurate (as much as possible) account of biography, and that might well sling a bit of dirt. However, that goal is a far cry from tearing down to tear down.

I am grateful for my education at UF in the History Department there, but sometimes I think the field is hurt by what and how we're taught--not the facts, but the agenda. Mrs. Bowen and her generation of true historians seem to be lost, relegated to the now-disappearing shelves of library books written before 1990. Barbara, Esther and Catherine all have their places on my shelves, and believe me, no dust is gathering.

The History of Historie

I started blogging some time ago when I saw Miss Linda's beautiful blog, Threads of Loveliness.  At that time she used this beautiful brown and aqua background from Michelle Baird's Shabby Creations. Miss Linda now uses a different background so I am going to honor her and Michelle with this as my new background. Everything old is new again! Thanks, Miss Linda and Michelle for your inspiration and creativity!

Those Were the Days

In graduate school, before Michael and kids, my little Church on Archer Road and the NBA were my world!  I remember trying to get research papers done early in the Fall term to clear my calendar for the beginning of the season.  This marvelous play is my all-time favorite. The Celtics were about to lose the game, their home -court advantage and probably the Eastern Conference Finals--this was the year when they struggled to win out of the Garden. To lose at home in this game would have ensured loss of the play offs and ended hope for a return to the Finals against the Lakers.

But in the last seconds of the game, the Leprechaun made his appearance. Bird stole the ball from a careless in-bound pass from Isaiah.  He threw the ball to the always-ready DJ who in turn made an impossible reverse lay up.  Now this was a game!

In grad school, I would go home when I could to watch the games with Daddy.  He passed away just about two months after Michael and I were married. I stayed a little while with Moma before returning to Statesboro. When I did get home, Michael had connected the cable for me so I could watch the season begin. We could not afford this luxury but he knew what the NBA had meant to me and to my relationship with my Dad.

In 1994, our oldest son made his appearance during the play-off season. As I awaited his arrival in a great deal of discomfort, I was actually able to watch a game being played on a tv in my room. The nurse came in and sweetly but firmly told Michael that it might be a good idea to turn off the tv; he sweetly but just as firmly wouldn't let her do it, and said, "I'm not the one watching it!"

These were Basketbal'ls greatest days: Larry, Kevin, Michael Jordan, Kareem, Dominique, Dr. J and other Titans- they were physical giants with a professional zeal and love for the game that seemed to outweigh their love for money. Where are they today?

LeBron James abandoned the franchise that supported him, all to avoid state income taxes. Sadly,  he is not alone in his avarice.  Today, the  2011/12 season  has been  put on hold so that players can fuss about the salary cap and owners can insist on greater profits. Why don't those people with so much time on their hands protesting Wall Street pay a visit to the homes of LeBron and others on both side of this ridiculous and incredibly poorly-timed lockout?

Our Own History Maker

John Thomas was selected to participate this summer in two different trips, both of which took him to D.C. and beyond.  The second of the two trips was part of the Liberty Education Tour, sponsored by the Reagan Legacy Foundation. Here he is with Michael Reagan. On this tour, he met Steve Hayes and Jonah Goldberg and actually talked to Ann Coulter (yikes! she scares me sometimes).  Dad was able to travel with him on either side of the tour, getting him to D.C. to meet up with the group and then attending his "graduation" from the program in California at the Reagan Library.

I didn't realize how tall John Thomas had grown--he is 3 inches shorter than his brother (who is 6'4). I think he looks pretty snappy in his red tie!

Go, Greta, GO!

I have always liked Greta van Susteren, but never more than lately when she has taken on the smarmy Tucker Carlson. Go, Greta, Go!

Comments?

Dear followers, I am having trouble responding to comments on this blog. I cannot even post comments on the blogs of my friends.  I am going to ask Virginia to help me straighten this out ASAP. Please stay tuned.

An Expanded Course

Some time back, I was able to offer a summer readings course in the history of the First Ladies of the United States. This course was so much fun to teach, and the students seem to enjoy it as well. Last year, the course was revised for a full semester and approved by the faculty as a permanent course in the catalog. YAY! Several of our graduating History and Humanities majors were unable to take the original readings course, and asked if the course could be taught this Spring term.  We rearranged my teaching schedule a bit in order to place this on the Spring schedule. I am so excited!

We will have so much more time to spend on each of the ladies. 

Sadly, we have lost Mrs. Ford since the course was first taught. And, Jackie Kennedy has been under a bit more scrutiny with at least two new books (although their contents is really old news). Years ago when I taught the joint enrollment students in TN, one of the young ladies started to do her research for the required term paper. She had chosen Mrs. Kennedy as her subject. I told her she could not use the Kitty Kelley book, and that she must generally try to avoid some of the more salacious material out there about "Jackie." Within a short period of time, this very nice young lady did exactly as I knew she would--she asked to change her topic.  Even within the confines of scholarly treatments of Mrs. Kennedy, finding something positive about her beyond her decorating skills and trendsetting styles proved difficult. I am surprised that everyone is so surprised by the new books "revealing" her less-than-generous attitudes toward everyone.

Having said that, Mrs. Kennedy was like all of us--she had her likes, dislikes and personal opionions which had nothing to do with our perception of her.  All of the First Ladies have probably committed this unforgivable sin--not living up to our images of them!

Hopefully, we can find something positive about each of them in this 16-week overview.