A History Lesson For The History Channel

Looks like I'm not the only one who noticed how little "history" is actually featured on the History Channel these days. They should just call it Channel...

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National Debt By President

Sort of speaks for itself, doesn't it?

Source: JMG

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What A Difference A Gay Makes

Thanks to DustBunny JiEL.


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For Sarah Palin

School House Rock is almost certainly too commie/librul/etc. for Sarah Palin - but she should really think about borrowing the DVD set. Mama Wasillbilly is obviously too lazy to read a book, so maybe cartoons could teach her the basics about The U.S. Revolution:

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Triangle: Remembering The Fire

Last night I watched Triangle: Remembering The Fire, an HBO documentary which commemorates the 100 anniversary of NYC's Triangle Shirtwaist Fire.

The filmmakers interviewed many of the descendants of the victims/survivors of the fire - a tragedy that still haunts New Yorkers to this very day. Most memorable for me was a firefighter who responded to the World Trade Center on 9/11/01 and witnessed people jumping from the towers - just as his grandfather (also a NYC firefighter) had witnessed when his grandfather responded to the Triangle fire back in 1911.

Also interesting was the discussion of how relevant this century-old tragedy is today. Because of what happened in Greenwich Village on that horrible day, the labor movement was able to grow and increase their advocacy for worker's rights. The same rights that wingnut conservatives are trying to do away with at this very moment.

BTW - the building which housed the Triangle factory still stands (below) and is owned and used by New York University. Every year a remembrance ceremony is held at the corner of Greene Street and Washington Place (outside the building), where local schoolchildren read the names of the victims and place flowers at a makeshift memorial.

The United Kingdom, Explained

I like to think of myself at someone who knows his Geography and History - after all, those are my two favorite categories of Trivial Pursuit. And, as we all know, trivia games are totally the way we measure knowlege. Forget the SAT's and IQ Tests - the true test of one's education is whether or not you can beat Mama Bunny at Trivial Pursuit. And I CAN and HAVE - don't let her tell you otherwise.

So imagine my surprise when I watched this 5 minute video regarding the United Kingdom, Great Britain and England (etc.) and realized I had no idea about a lot of this stuff. This, I'm sure, is due to the fact that there's no "United Kingdom, Etc." category in Trivial Pursuit. Check it out below:

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Today's History Lesson

Today's History Lesson ...

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Bet You Didn't Know ...

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The Wingnuts Were Right...

OMG - the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell HAS led to the moral unraveling of the military! When the Wingnuts asked "What's next - soldiers dating their donkeys?!?" - I thought they were just being gasbags. But it looks like they might have been right.

Attention Commanders: If you hear groups of soldiers talking about "going out and getting some A$$", please monitor them closely.

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GLBT History Month

October is GLBT History Month - and Dust Bunny Bob over at I Should Be Laughing has been giving us an excellent and interesting history lesson all month. You should really check it out.

I Heard It Through The Grapvine

According to Ephemeral New York - a fantastic blog, btw - the phrase "I heard it through the grapevine" may have originated in an 19th-century Greenwich Village bar.

Located on the southeast corner of Sixth Avenue and 11th Street, it’s probably the first legendary Village bar. The Old Grapevine attracted artists, businessmen, Union officers, Southern spies, and politicians, who dropped by after visiting Jefferson Market Courthouse two blocks south.

It was such a gathering spot that the phrase “I heard it through the grapevine” originated there. (Yep, a grapevine used to cover the 11th Street side of the tavern).

The pub closed in 1915, and that corner now houses an apartment building with a "French Roast" cafe/coffee shop on the ground floor.

This edumacational moment brought to you by DavidDust and the good people at Arby's....

The Stonewall Riots: Eyewitness Accounts

Some eyewitnesses to history:

Edmund White is the author of A Boy's Own Story (1982) and The Farewell Symphony (1997), among other books and essays. He wrote a letter just a few days after the Stonewall Riots in 1969 to his friends, poet Alfred Corn and his wife Ann. Here is an excerpt:

As the Mafia owners were dragged out one by one and shoved into the wagon, the crowd would let out Bronx cheers and jeers and clapping. Someone shouted "Gay Power," others took up the cry--and then it dissolved into giggles. A few more gay prisoners--bartenders, hatcheck boys--a few more cheers, someone starts singing "We Shall Overcome"--and then they started camping on it. A drag queen is shoved into the wagon; she hits the cop over the head with her purse. The cop clubs her. Angry stirring in the crow. The cops, used to the cringing and disorganization of the gay crowds, snort off. But the crowd doesn't disperse. Everyone is restless, angry and high-spirited. No one has a slogan, no one even has an attitude, but something's brewing.

Read the entire letter, courtesy of OutHistory.Org HERE.


Lucien Truscott covered the Riots for The Village Voice (his coverage gets a snide critique in Edmund White's letter). Truscott asserts that "the gay community" didn't fight back on those hot summer nights back in 1969:

A prominent Stonewall myth holds that the riots were an uprising by the gay community against decades of oppression. This would be true if the “gay community” consisted of Stonewall patrons. The bar’s regulars, though, were mostly teenagers from Queens, Long Island and New Jersey, with a few young drag queens and homeless youths who squatted in abandoned tenements on the Lower East Side.

Read the entire New York Times article HERE.


Retired NYPD Deputy Inspector Seymour Pine still contends that the initial raid on the Stonewall Inn was "right". Read the article from The Advocate HERE.



Finally, hot Papi Raymond Castro (above) - now retired and living in Florida with his partner of 30 years - tells his story to MSNBC HERE.

Jefferson Market/Courthouse/Prison/Library

The Jefferson Market branch of the New York Public Library is one of the most unique buildings in Greenwich Village - and indeed one of the most beautiful in all of New York City.

The site started as a market - with court proceedings taking place in rooms above the market shed in the mid 1800's. In 1883, the building you see above was completed - and served as a courthouse until 1945. It remained vacant until the 1970's, when it was saved from the wrecking ball by e.e. cummings and a group of Village activists. The city turned the building into a library branch, which it still functions as today.

The building next door that served as the New York Women's House of Detention was demolished in 1973-74 to make room for the Jefferson Market Garden - which community gardeners continue to keep beautiful.

On my way home on Monday, I took these pictures (from the opposite side than the pic above). It had been snowing lightly for a couple of hours, and the sun was starting to set...

Ladies and Gentlemen ...

... The President of the United States of America - Barack H. Obama. God Bless America.

Feel free to share your feelings about today (and your opinions of Aretha's hat) in the comments. I am at work and have been watching on my computer (MSNBC) - and crying - A LOT ... What a wonderful day.

UPDATE: The Right Wing is NOT happy today. Michelle Malkin - one of the leading voices/bloggers in Wingnutistan, has a blog post entitled "Obamamedia Orgy Watch". Her crazy commenters are going bonkers in response to the inauguration of our new President. Here is one of my favorites:

Puke. Liberals have already succeeded in undermining the foundations of this country. The tide is overwhelming and the descent in American power and prosperity will now accelerate. Some may realize their mistake but it will be too late. We are so screwed.

Or this one:

Just goes to show you how utterly foolish the masses can be. They have no idea how bad the country can become

Yeah - if the Republicans had someone stayed in power, this country would be WELL on its way to prosperity again. Dumbasses.

Edna St. Vincent Millay House

Poet and playwright Edna St. Vincent Millay (above) was one of the "Bohemians" who put Manhattan's Greenwich Village neighborhood on the map. Millay and others such as dancer Isadora Duncan and writer Eugene O'Neill made "The Village" a place where anything goes - an identification the neighborhood still clings to today.

Back in the 1920's, Millay lived at 75 1/2 Bedford Street in a former carriage house and cobbler's shop. It is said that this is the house where Millay seduced literary critic Edmund Wilson - one of her many lovers (male and female). The nine and a half feet-wide structure still survives today (see picture below), and it is said to be the narrowest house in Greenwich Village. In 1993 the house sold for less than $300,000 - but today would probably sell for a few million. It is not unusual for larger townhouses in the neighborhood to sell for $10 million or more.


I work about 3 blocks away from this house, but have only walked past it two or three times in all the years I've lived in New York. Bedford Street is almost exclusively residential, with very few (if any) businesses - thus there isn't much reason to go there unless you live there.


Sources: Ephemeral New York and Wikipedia.

Tin Pan Alley

Tin Pan Alley is the nickname given to one single block in Manhattan - 28th Street between 5th and 6th Avenues. This block became the epicenter of the music publishing and songwriting industries in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This was where Irving Berlin, Cole Porter and the Gershwins created "popular music".

Some of the buildings these pioneers occupied still exist. These five row houses (47, 49, 51, 53 and 55 West 28th Streets) are now up for sale - for $44 million. Obviously, the original buildings would be torn down and another generic luxury condo building would be built on the site.


Go HERE for more information, and to sign a petition urging for the preservation of these historic buildings.

The Legend of Molly Pitcher

Greetings from Carlisle, Pennsylvania!

All children who attend school in Carlisle (as I did) are taught that the two most famous historical residents of our town were athlete Jim Thorpe, and Revolutionary War hero Molly Pitcher:

The Legend of Molly Pitcher:

On June 28, 1778, Continental and British troops clashed at the Battle of Monmouth, New Jersey. Reported as “one of the hottest days ever known,” soldiers dying of heat and thirst welcomed the sight of Mary Hays, wife of an artillery soldier, as she repeatedly brought water to the exhausted and wounded men. They nicknamed her Molly Pitcher. (Afterwards, any woman bringing water to soldiers on the field, was called “Molly Pitcher.”)

As the battle raged, Molly’s husband was wounded while manning his cannon. Molly rose to the occasion by picking up the rammer and servicing the cannon through out the remainder of the battle. Her heroic efforts were recognized by George Washington himself (as some stories claim) and by the State of Pennsylvania. SOURCE.

As I researched for this post, I found out this is a "legend" and not necessarily the truth. From Wikipedia (emphasis mine):

Molly Pitcher was a nickname given to a woman who may have fought in the American Revolutionary War. Historians differ on the real identity of Molly Pitcher, or even if she existed. Since the various Molly Pitcher tales grew in the telling, historians now often regard Molly Pitcher as folklore, rather than history. However, Molly Pitcher may be a composite image inspired by the actions of a number of real women. The name itself may have originated as a nickname given to women who carried water to men on the battlefield during the war. This water was not for drinking, as is popularly believed, but for swabbing the cannons.

This blows me away. All these years I thought this was a real person - especially since we were taught the story as absolute historical fact. If Molly Pitcher isn't real, then WHO is this woman who's buried in Carlisle's Old Cemetery?...

The War

Last night I watched the first installment of The War on PBS and it was fantastic. Produced by Ken Burns, The War tells the story of a handful of men and women from 4 US cities and towns during World War II. The filmmaker allows the subjects to tell us, through their own experiences, how they (and everyone around them) were impacted by the war.

Ken Burns is a great storyteller – he has done PBS documentaries on everything from Frank Lloyd Wright to Baseball to The Brooklyn Bridge. Burns is perhaps best known for his PBS documentary The Civil War – which I watched with great interest after I noticed one of my Penn State history professors, Gary Gallagher, was one of the commentators on the film.

If you have even a passing interest in history, check out The War on PBS.