Lent and The Bar Exam

It seems an odd confluence of events.

Lent (to me) is a sober time of thinking about the reward of grace in our lives. Some people do this by abstaining from chocolate. Some people don't even think about grace and abstain from chocolate anyway. Either way, somehow, thoughts of Lent get tied up with thoughts of self deprivation, religious study, internal reflection and general unfunness. Then Easter comes. The sun rises, and Christians release their 40 days of gloomy abstinence and unfunness in a celebration of eternal life by singing songs, chasing after colored eggs, eating chocolate bunnies and wearing Sunday finery.

Just my luck that for the past 40 days and more I have been largely abstaining from fun, drowning in legal study, reflecting on my stressed out state of mind and experiencing general unfunness due to the impending February Bar Exam. Am I looking forward to my day of release? Yes. But there's a catch.

The Bar Exam ends on February 26th, which also happens to be Ash Wednesday, the day Lent starts. The seemingly arbitrary and bewilderingly complex lunisolir calendar and computation system has conspired not only to force me to take a six hour essay exam on Fat Tuesday/Fastnacht Day(*)/Fasching/etc., but to also morally obligate me to be reflective and penitent on an evening on which I will be wanting to feel release. Somewhere, some religious scholar is thinking: "how apt." I am thinking: "I will eat off a chocolate bunny head to spite him."

(*) Fastnacht Day is Amish Donut Day in Lancaster County, PA. If you go to school, your teacher buys the class fat, heavy, delicious donuts and you eat them all day long. It is heaven.

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Oscar Nominations

Every year I know fewer and fewer of the movies nominated for Academy Awards. This year, I thought I might actually have a good chance of having seen at least one of the best picture nominees. Turns out, I’ve seen Two. Although, of the over 40 different films nominated for various awards, I have seen Six. That’s right six.

Click through to see who those lucky six are....

Happy-Go-Lucky
Nominated for: Best Original Screenplay
This is a nice little movie that doesn’t feel like a coherent film until the very end, when you finally understand that it’s about how much work goes into being a happy person, and how special and beautiful happy people are. Sally Hawkins, the actress who plays the happy-go-lucky main character Polly is delightful to watch. (Her portrayal reminds me for some reason of the character Donna Noble in Doctor Who, which is why I’m probably heavily disposed to like this movie). Also, the movie has a memorable catch phrase: “En-Ra-Ha!” (Watch the movie, and you’ll understand.) It’s nominated in the proper category, and I hope it wins.

Slumdog Millionaire
Nominated for: Best Picture, Director, Cinematography, Editing, Original Score, Origianl Songs (“Jai Ho” and “O Saya”), Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, and Adapted Screenplay.
Wow, a “little” critical darling and I’ve actually seen it. I’ve seen it because it’s good and it’s joyful. Really, whether it wins or not, go see this movie. It has humor, romance, culture, tragedy, adorable child actors and a Bollywood-esque dance scene during the end credits. A very great movie. I don’t know if it’s “best picture” material, but I’d be happy to see it win. It should win for Best Original Score. The music, while often fun, also carries the film from highs to lows and between flash backs. Both nominated best songs “Jai Ho” and “O Saya” are good. I’m considering downloading them. (Also, I'm actually look forward to watching the Oscars if it means the cast recreates the dance to “Jai Ho” at the broadcast Ceremony).

Frost/Nixon
Nominated for: Best Picture, Actor (Frank Langella), Director, Film Editing, and Adapted Screenplay
This is a nice movie to watch. The only problem with it is its lack of historical accuracy. Frank Langella, nominated for his portrayal of Richard Nixon, does an excellent, riveting job. He makes Nixon quirky, compelling, awkward, arrogant, tall, handsome and sympathetic, qualities, all of which, do not accurately apply to Nixon. Check your facts before or after you go into the film. Aside from historical accuracy, the film is very pleasant. I think it’s too pleasant for an Oscar as best picture though. It’s fluff masquerading as meaningful historical fiction. Actually, for the sake of history, it shouldn’t win anything.

Iron Man
Nominated for: Best Visual Effects and Sound Editing
Seeing as how The Dark Knight got shut out of any fun awards, Iron Man is lucky it got nominated at all. Fun movie. I’ll leave the judgment as to visual effects and sound editing to professionals.

The Dark Knight
Nominated for: Best Supporting Actor (Heath Ledger), Art Direction, Cinematography, Film Editing, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, and Visual Effects.
If The Dark Knight had been nominated for best screenplay, best direction or best picture, then I wouldn’t say this, but since it got otherwise ignored in the marquis categories: Heath Ledger only got nominated because he’s dead. That’s not to say Heath Ledger doesn’t deserve it. His Joker was fantastic, but so was the rest of the movie. Even though (or maybe because) it has the same theme as last year’s best picture winner, No Country For Old Men, it somehow didn’t rate a best picture or best director nomination. Very sad, that one of the best superhero movies ever can’t get nominated. (The Watchmen has no chance next year).

Tropic Thunder
Nominated for: Best Supporting Actor by Robert Downey Jr.
Robert Downey Jr. was the funniest part of this movie...but doesn’t the nomination sort of play into what the movie was trying to mock? The character in Tropic Thunder went to extreme lengths to change his appearance (a white actor playing "black face") in order to gain critical renown. He even lectures the Ben Stiller character on the strategy of choosing roles as Oscar bait.

Kirk Lazarus: Everybody knows you never go full retard.
Tugg Speedman: What do you mean?
Kirk Lazarus: Check it out. Dustin Hoffman, 'Rain Man,' look retarded, act retarded, not retarded. Counted toothpicks, cheated cards. Autistic, sho'. Not retarded. You know Tom Hanks, 'Forrest Gump.' Slow, yes. Retarded, maybe. Braces on his legs. But he charmed the pants off Nixon and won a ping-pong competition. That ain't retarded. Peter Sellers, "Being There." Infantile, yes. Retarded, no. You went full retard, man. Never go full retard. You don't buy that? Ask Sean Penn, 2001, "I Am Sam." Remember? Went full retard, went home empty handed...

It's nice of the Academy to recognize a comedic performance, but I are they recognizing a performance or playing into a joke at their own expense?

Regarding the movies I haven't seen...
I guess I should see that darn Benjamin Button movie. And I know, I know, I know, I need to see WALL-E. The Wrestler intrigues me. I suffered through reading the novel "The Reader," so I'm not all that thrilled about seeing the movie. The subject of Milk just doesn't interest me, but I might like it. I wouldn't mind seeing Rachel Getting Married. I'd be interested in seeing Doubt and the nominated documentary Man On A Wire.

Any Oscar opinions you care to share?

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Beware of French Dog

I think the headline in the Daily Mail says it all:

Former French President Chirac Hospitalized After Mauling By His Clinically Depressed Poodle

Follow the link above for the shocking details about this ferocious political assassin.

Incidentally, a french poodle in French is called a caniche.  These poofy, ferocious canines must have something of a reputation, because a quick google search revealed a French indie rock band called Cannibal Caniche.

Well, all I can say is: Vive la France! Mort pour la Caniche!

Note: I don't speak French. My messing with the language is, admittedly, completely irresponsible...but funny, no?

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Oh Mr. Darcy!

In 1995, I and many other women across the globe swooned over Colin Firth's portrayal of Mr. Darcy in the miniseries Pride and Prejudice. It seems some of us are still swooning. A portrait of Mr. Darcy, used in the miniseries, sold for 12,000 British Pounds at auction today. In case you were wondering, 12,000.00 British Pounds equals $16,765.06, according to this website. And yes, it is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single woman in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a good smack to the head to spend that much money on a prop.

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The Canals Are Frozen!!!!

Big thanks to the roommate, who alerted me this morning to this article in the NY Times. The Canals have frozen! The Dutch are skating! I lived for an extremely brief period of time in South Holland. At first it was cold, wet, windy and wonderful. Then it was cloudy, wet, windy, temperate and tulipy. But never cold enough until this year. Not since 1997 have flocks of Dutch been able to skate from Gouda (town with cheese and yummy syrup waffles) to Utrecht (town with lowered canals and a tall (for the Netherlands) church tower). But this year Europe is freezing, and the canals in South Holland are finally freezing as well. I wish I were there, freezing and skating with them. I'll just salivate over the pictures.
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Hezbollah and Hamas. Now which is which cat?

Over at The New Republic, the blog posters are drooling over Jeffrey Goldberg's op-ed piece in the New York times...and rightly so.  It's entertaining, informative, relevant and incisive.  I highly recommend it, especially if you are like me and are not so clear on the difference between Hezbollah and Hamas.

Hezbollah and Hamas are Islamic political and paramilitary organizations.  They don't like Israel, hate Jews, commit terrorism and armed strikes against both the Israeli army and civilian population, get money and weapons from Iran, and seek to remove Jews from "occupied Palestine."  

They also both start with "H," which is why I have problems distinguishing them in my head.  Jeffry Goldberg's op-ed does a good job of clarifying the differences between the two (and an excellent job of explaining the mindset behind each group.  Seriously.  It's good.  Read it.).  

I analogize my confusion to the T.S. Eliot poem "Mungojerrie and Rumpelteazer" which tells the tale of two thieving and destructive cats who act alone and sometimes in concert and you never know for sure which cat did what.

They would go through the house like a hurricane, and no sober person could take his oath
Was it Mungojerrie -- or Rumpleteazer? or could you have sworn that it mightn't be both?

And when you heard a dining-room smash
Or up from the pantry there came a loud crash
Or down from the library came a loud ping
From a vase which was commonly said to be Ming --

Then the family would say: ‘Now which was which cat?
It was Mungojerrie! and Rumpelteazer!’ -- And there's nothing at all to be done about that!

Not that Hezbollah and Hamas are anything like those two horrible (yet somehow lovable cats), they are worse, terrifyingly worse.  It's just that Hezbollah and Hamas inspire a similar confusion in my head as to which is which destructive quasi political terrorist organization.

So here is an over-simplified Hezbollah/Hamas cheat sheet for my head: 

• Hezbollah is Lebanese and shoots at Israel from its bases in Lebanon.
• Hamas is Palestinian and shoots at Israel from within Israel.
• Hezbollah is fanatically Shia.  (Shia = version of Islam, Shia do not get along with Sunnis).
• Hamas is fanatically Sunni.  (Sunni = version of Islam, Sunnis do not get along with Shia).
  
• They are both bad.

And sadly it seems, "there's nothing at all to be done about that!"

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Conference vs. Rival

Once upon a time, I worked with some people in Ohio. They were Ohio State Buckeye fans. On New Years Day 2005, my team, the wonderful Texas Longhorns, played the Michigan Wolverines, hated enemy and arch rival of the Ohio State Buckeyes, in the Rose Bowl. Texas won in spectacular, come-from-behind, heralding fashion. I came to work on Monday prepared to revel in the glory of beating Michigan with my Buckeye coworkers. They spoke not a word of the game. Sports radio and ESPN could not shut up about Vince Young, and all these fools at work would talk about was how the Cleveland Browns might not lose as badly next year. So.....

I brought up the subject: "How about that Rose Bowl game?"
Collective consensus answer: "Yeah, it was pretty good. Too bad Michigan lost."
Incredulous thought explosion in my head: Too bad Michigan lost? We’re talking about Michigan. Losing. In a high profile, emotionally crushing defeat. The team you spent a full week in November trashing and insulting. The rivalry you spent an impassioned half hour describing as bigger, harsher, deeper and better than the Texas/Texas A&M rivalry. And you are sad they lost?!

My position is this: if your conference is more important to you than your rivalry.....then your "rivalry" is pretty weak.


But I accept that this is not how everyone feels or should feel. This Thursday night, the Oklahoma Sooners will lose to play the Florida Gators for the College Football National Championship. Oklahoma is Texas’s rival (first in hatred, second in stature(*)). I will root for the Gators to crush and destroy the Sooners, because they are my team’s rival, and to see the Sooners denied their dream will cheer my heart. (Also, Oklahoma is evil). Some fans have a different opinion and want Oklahoma to win because it will reflect well on our conference, i.e., prove that we played against and BEAT a good team. That is a rational, thoughtful sentiment. But it does not cheer my heart.

Conference vs. rival is a surprisingly divisive issue. The Defensive coordinators for Texas and Oklahoma have expressed to news media that they would rather root against their respective rival than root for them to win and demonstrate conference strength. Comments posted below these news items reflect that fans from both teams agree and disagree.

As passionate as I feel about my opinion, I must conclude that the conference vs. rivalry question is a matter of personal choice. I suppose it has to do with several factors, i.e., how much a person enjoys Schadenfreude, how wronged a person feels by the rival team, how committed a person is to seeing their team judged the best at the end of a season. And, I think, as well, it depends on where the person grew up. I did not grow up in Texas. I was there for the express purpose of going to school at UT. I feel no loyalty to teams in the Texas or South West region or to supporting graduates of Texas high schools. My coworkers in Ohio grew up in Ohio. I bet they feel that Ohio and the Midwest grow superior football players and that plays a factor in their devotion to the Big Ten conference.

Conference vs. Rivalry, something to consider as the Bowl Season winds down. Also, consider this: GO GATORS!!!! CHOMP THE LAND THIEVES TO BITS.


(*) I distinguish the Texas/Texas A&M rivalry and Texas/Oklahoma rivalry the following way. I see A&M as the traditional rival whom I root against because, otherwise, Texas would strip me of my degree. Also, some good friends and a few family members are graduates of A&M, so the rivalry, for me, has an undertone of sportsmanship and respect. Oklahoma is the hated rival whom I root against because Oklahoma is evil. It helps that I know no one from Oklahoma, I have never been to Oklahoma, and the Oklahoma coach is from North East Ohio (where my former coworkers live).

(**) My bitterness over my coworkers’ inability to root for my team when I supported them in cheering the Ohio State Buckeyes to a National Championship in 2002/2003 manifests itself in my inability to ever root for (and sometimes driving need to root against) the Ohio State Buckeyes, as well as any coach(***) or player(****) from North East Ohio. And yes, the win Tuesday night was a little sweeter due to my Ohio State antipathy. (Also sweet because I ate a buckeye in celebration).

(***) This naturally includes Bob Stoops, the coach of Oklahoma. I am slightly torn about Urban Meyer, the coach of Florida, who also hails from North East Ohio. But there is precedent for me allowing Urban Meyer's state citizenship to be trumped by other rooting interests.

(****) Yes, Penn State fans, your quarterback impedes my ability to fully commit myself to rooting for your team.



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New Year, New Name

This blog needs a name change.  I picked the current obscure and ridiculous title on a whim.  I wanted to be literary and cynical and went with an allusion to a Fyodor Dostoevsky short story about a raving, suicidal lunatic.  My blog's not really about that....I'd like to think.

I was thinking of using a title related to my "sister T." moniker, or something different.  Ideally a new title will be simple and catchy.  Suggesstions are literally more than welcome.  I'm pretty much demanding that you readers, all four of you(*), post suggestions in the comments section.

Thanks.  And Happy New Year!

(*)I'm optimistic enough in this New Year to assume that my readership has increased to at least four semi regular readers.

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Still Lost in Literature

Bing Crosby as a Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

Several months ago I commented on the ITV miniseries Lost in Austen and the general idea of getting literally lost in a favorite novel. Recently my mind has returned to that theme thanks to me reading The Eyre Affair. In the novel some characters are able to enter books, manuals and poems. Unlike the miniseries Lost in Austen, the characters in The Eyre Affair know they are in a book. In the Eyre Affair the protagonist, Thursday Next, enters the novel Jane Eyre and becomes friends with the male lead of the novel, Mr. Rochester. Mr. Rochester is aware of plot points, the effect of Jane's first person narration (anything written on the book page has to be observed or spoken by Jane), and the need to protect the integrity of the story. The Eyre Affair is a lot of fun in that it treats literature very, very, very seriously. So I initially wondered if this lost in literature concept is a British thing.

"Not so!" my little mind reminded me the other day. I remembered that it was Mark Twain who first introduced my young mind to literally losing oneself in a good book. In A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur's Court Mark, the character Hank Morgan, a "19th century citizen of Hartford, Connecticut, literally loses himself in Arthurian legend. The Connecticut Yankee brings with him knowledge of science and social liberalism and proceeds to befriend Arthur and antagonize Merlin and the Camelot establishment.  (I most confess, that I've only ever read the first half of this book.  It got much too complicated, satrical and political towards the end, and my twelve year old self quickly lost interest).

So, to be clear, as far as my mind recalls, Mark Twain got me lost in literature first. Again, I ask, where would you go in literature to shake things up?

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Henry the Fifth Moments

There are moments in movies when the team is losing at halftime, when the next offensive of the battle starts, when the task seems daunting...that someone steps up and gives an inspiring speech.  I call those moments Henry the Fifth Moments.  If you've ever read or seen the Shakespeare play, you may be acquainted with the several times that King Harry leads his troops into a dauting fight agaist the French and then sustains their spirit with inspiring words.  These inspirational words from Shakespeare's pen have lived on to be widely recognized today: "Once more unto the breach dear friends, once more,"  "Cry God for Harry, England and St. George!" "We few, we happy few, we band of brothers."  And the spirit of the play lives on in countless sports, war, adventure and even comedy films.  Below, is a youtube video of spliced and edited Henry the Fifth Moments from some great movies.  Appropriately, there's even a clip from Henry V.  Watch, and be inspired!


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My Christmas Mix

This past weekend I created a Christmas Music Mix.  It is inteded to keep my mind happy and occupied on the drive to work and on the long drive home for Christmas.  Both legal and technical reasons prevent me from uploading the songs for you, but if you would like to find any of them on your own, try this website or this one.

1.  Oliva Olson – All I Want For Christmas Is You (from the soundtrack for the film Love Actually)

2.  Darlene Love – It’s A Marshmallow World

3.  Percy Faith – We Need A Little Christmas

4.  The Waitresses – Christmas Wrapping

5.  Marah – Christmas At Valley Forge (from this episode of This American Life, pretty funny and educational, follow the link and listen to Act V of the show)

6.  Gayla Peevey – I Want A Hippopotamus For Christmas (listen via streaming audio)

7.  The Royal Guardsmen – Snoopy’s Christmas (listen via streaming audio)

8.  Marah – New York Is A Christmas Kind Of Town (listen to a snipit on Marah's myspace page)

9.  Vince Guaraldi Trio – Hark, The Herald Angels Sing (from the Charlie Brown Christmas Special, watch it at the 2:34 minute mark of this youtube clip)

10.  Stevie Wonder – Someday At Christmas

11.  Aimee Mann – I’ll Be Home For Christmas 

12.  Randy Travis – Jingle Bell Rock

13.  Louis Armstrong – Santa Baby

14.  david m. bailey – Angel In The Attic (listen via streaming audio)

15.  Nancy White – It’s So Chic To Be Pregnant At Christmas 

16.  Sufjan Stevens – Holy, Holy, Holy

17.  XTC – Thanks For Christmas

18.  Johnny Cash – Away In A Manger

19.  Chuck Berry – Run, Rudolph, Run

20.  Death Cab For Cutie – Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)

21.  The Jackson Five – Frosty The Snowman (listen via streaming audio)

22.  Seven Day Jesus – O Holy Night

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Presidential Election '08 Continued

You thought it was over?  Well it's not.  The Electoral College starts voting today.  You may have voted in November, but the next President of the United States has not been, technically, elected yet.  Today across the country the Electoral College starts voting and the next President won't be constitutionally elected until January 8th when the electoral college's votes get counted in Congress. Will this election ever end? Evidently, not yet.
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Hillary Clinton: Will She be a Seward or a Chase?

The main reason I readTeam of Rivals was because journalists and Barak Obama himself asserted the history book was a touchstone for his thinking in organizing a presidential cabinet. Reading Team of Rivals, I ended up shoehorning recent 2008 campaign events into a comparison with events surrounding Lincoln. There are some striking similarities. As for Lincoln and Obama, 

• Both are lawyers who began their political careers in Springfield, IL. 
• Both rose to national awareness due to exceptionally eloquent speeches that resonated with moderate public opinion. 
• Both were perceived as inexperienced, Washington outsiders with an outside chance at a nomination. 
• Both employed a successful strategy of gaining grass roots support among a diverse group of delegates to ensure that where he was not the first choice of delegates he was a second choice. (Particularly, a comparison of the 1860 Republican convention to the 2008 Iowa caucus, reveals both employed the same strategy of making sure that where he could not be the first choice among delegates/caucus goers he would be their second choice should their first choice candidate not garner enough support.)
  

Two of Lincoln's chief competitors for the nomination were William Henry Seward and Salmon Chase. Hillary shares some striking similarities with these men.

• Seward and Hillary were well acquainted with the Washington elite and had been familiar to the public for decades.
• Seward and Hillary had the support of a well seasoned, well known political machine/political bosses.
• Seward and Hillary saw their nomination as inevitable.
• Chase did and Hillary appeared to have a personal, desperate and at times blinding desire to be president.
• Chase and Hillary and Seward underestimated the consequences of the enemies they'd made along the way in previous political campaigns.

Once elected, Lincoln wanted both Seward and Chase in his cabinet because they were bright and talented. He honestly wanted their counsel. He also wanted to achieve balance and party unity. Each man represented a faction of the young Republican Party. Seward and Chase entered the cabinet each believing he was more deserving than Lincoln. Each perceived Lincoln as weak, and each initially planned to influence Lincoln's decisions and govern through the cabinet as a de facto president. Seward, eventually put aside his personal ambition to be president and became Lincoln's closest friend and supporter in the cabinet sharing a rapport and affection with him. Seward provided invaluable counsel and played an instrumental and heroic role as Secretary of State in using diplomacy to keep Europe from recognizing Confederate sovereignty. Chase, while he eventually came to admire Lincoln's kindness and capability, always thought himself better than the president. Chase also did a heroic job in financing the Union as Secretary of the Treasury. Chase, however, worked against Lincoln, spreading political unrest behind Lincoln's back and pursuing a presidential nomination.

So my question, is which will Hillary be? Will she be Seward and grow to be Obama's most devoted admirer and supporter, providing counsel and advising him honestly?  Will she be Chase, working effectively and tirelessly, but never relinquishing the feeling that it should have been her job, and working to spread unrest within the party and behind Obama's back. Which one will she be?
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Lincoln the Editor

Abraham Lincoln's Desk in Springfield

I very much enjoyed reading Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln. I posted a book review on my shelf over at Shelfari. My favorite passage in the book is an analysis the author, Doris Kearns Goodwin, does of Lincoln's resonant First Inaugural Address. Before introducing her analysis, Ms. Goodwin spends many previous pages tracing the development and boundaries of Lincoln's and William H. Seward's opinions on slavery. Seward phrases his abolition opinion as a response to a higher law that compels us to treat all people humanely. Lincoln phrases his anti-slavery opinion as a pragmatic fulfillment of the principles of equality enshrined in the Constitution. In the passage excerpted below, Ms. Goodwin lays out the language recommended by Seward side-by-side with the language Lincoln eventually chose. The texts are extremely similar, but the subtle differences exhibit important qualities of Lincoln: (1) his willingness to seek and embrace the advice of others; (2) his talent for effective eloquent communication as both a writer and editor; and (3) his confidence in adhering to the pragmatic idealism he believed in.

Seward’s greatest contribution to the tone and substance of the inaugural address was in its conclusion. Lincoln’s finale threw down the gauntlet to the South: “With you, and not with me, is the solemn question of ‘Shall it be peace, or a sword?’” Seward recommended a very different closing designed “to meet and remove prejudice and passion in the South, and despondency and fear in the East. Some words of affection—some of calm and cheerful confidence.” He suggested two alternate endings. Lincoln drew upon Seward’s language to create his immortal coda.

Seward suggested: “I close. We are not we must not be aliens or enemies but fellow countrymen and brethren. Although passion has strained our bonds of affection too hardly they must not, I am sure they will not be broken. The mystic chords which proceeding from so many battle fields and so many patriot graves pass through all the hearts and all the hearths in this broad continent of ours will yet again harmonize in their ancient music when breathed upon by the guardian angel of the nation.”

Lincoln proceeded to recast and sharpen Seward’s patriotic sentiments into a concise and powerful poetry: “I am loath to close. We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battle-field, and patriot grave, to every living heart and hearthstone, all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.” Most significant, Seward’s “guardian angel” breathes down on the nation from above; Lincoln’s “better angels” are inherent in our nature as a people.

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Thanksgiving Historical Anecdote

I spent the past three weeks and a giant chunk of Thanksgiving weekend reading Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin. I've been enjoying Ms. Goodwin's historical insights on Sunday morning talk shows and on PBS for years now. When Barak Obama and other journalists started bandying her book about as an insightful instruction on Presidential management and cabinet creation, I thought it was about time I gave her a read. I did, and the book is excellent. It even had a very apt Thanksgiving anecdote which, if Ms. Goodwin doesn't mind too much, I will post here:

“....Both [President Lincoln and Secretary of State William H. Seward] loved humor....”

Fred Seward recounted the events of one morning in October 1863 when his father called on Lincoln. “They say, Mr. President, that we are stealing away the rights of the States. So I have come to-day to advise you, that there is another State right I think we ought to steal.” Raising his head from his pile of papers, Lincoln asked, “Well, Governor, what do you want to steal now?” Seward replied, “The right to name Thanksgiving Day!” He explained that at present, Thanksgiving was celebrated on different days at the discretion of each state’s governor. Why not make it a national holiday? Lincoln immediately responded that he supposed a president “had as good a right to thank God as a Governor.”

Seward then presented Lincoln with a proclamation that invited citizens “in every part of the United States,” at sea or abroad, “to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November” to give thanks to “our beneficent Father.”

So, dear readers, happy belated Thanksgiving! A day which we celebrate as one nation courtesy of both the humorous whim and the hard work of Messrs Lincoln and Seward. Something to be thankful for year-round and forever more.

(Unrelated musing: How long do you think it will take before spell checks stop trying to auto-correct the names Barak and Obama?)
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