More Noted ...
What is it about Red Ted? He thinks that if we're going to recapitulate the pilgrims' experience for Thanksgiving that we need something more than pilgrims, natives, and a feast. Can someone help him find a plush replica of a smallpox virus for the table's centerpiece? The guy must be a historian or something.
Since July, what's wrong with Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code has been a major theme at Danny Loss's No Loss for Words. It's sad that bad writing and bad history get marketed into becoming best sellers. Recently, however, Danny's engaged two other critics of Brown's book, Carl Olson and Sandra Miesel, authors of The Da Vinci Hoax. They've responded to him here and here. The continuing discussion features a young historian honing his skills on a popular writer and with his critics.
Check out Naomi Chana's post, in which she swoops into class on her motorcycle, rounds up her students at the local art museum, and rescues a kitten in distress. All in the day's work of a Cool History Professor.
Get this: for years (nobody seems to know how long), the little town of Spurger, Texas, northeast of Houston, had a tradition called TWIRP Day. It stands for"The Woman Is Requested to Pay." On TWIRP Day, boys and girls reversed roles. Boys dressed as girls; girls dressed as boys. Girls were expected to hold doors open for the boys, pay for refreshments, and could invite the boy of their choice out for a date. (Yes, they still have dates in small town Texas.) But they can't have TWIRP Day anymore. Too edgy, no doubt. It's actually not that much different from what we used to call"Sadie Hawkins Day," after a character in Al Capp's"Li'l Abner". We didn't cross dress, but all the role reversals were a part of"Sadie Hawkins Day." The Li'l Abner site dates the birth of that tradition to 1937.