“Don’t mind me, I’m just having a conversation with your father,” said Joseph Mullin, executive director of Spellman Museum of Stamps & Postal History when he looked over the collection in January 2020, about three months before I started writing my #stampofthe day posts. “Not a problem,” I replied, “do you mind if I listen […]
Cardinal Spellman Puts God on Stamps and Stamps in the Spellman Museum Read More »
“The Goldberg Variations” That’s what Nisa, my amazing sister-in-law said has been helping her through the past, difficult several months. It wasn’t a random comment. Every Passover, over dinner, we go around the table (or the screen) and give each person an opportunity to talk about freedom and/or their narrow place, if they choose. Nisa
Playing the Goldberg Variations to Honor Crawford Long and Other Medical Workers Read More »
The happiest place on earth is…. Not Disneyland or Disney World but… …Finland? Apparently that’s the case. In fact, in 2020, for the fourth year in a row, Finland was ranked as the happiest country in the world, according to the 2021 World Happiness Report, a publication of the Sustainable Development Solutions Network that was
The Happiest Place on Earth is Finland Not DisneyWorld Read More »
Did Frances Elizabeth Willard, the long-time president of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU), ever go to a Seder? If she went, did she follow tradition and drink four glasses of amazingly sweet Kosher wine? Or did she follow WCTU’s dictates and, as many people do, drink four glasses of grape juice instead? I ask
What Did Francis Willard Drink at Her Passover Seder? Read More »
I spent the better portion of today cooking and trying to remember to think about freedom. I was cooking – and trying to think about freedom – because Passover starts tonight and it really is a Passover like no other. While we’re doing something very low key tonight with our daughters, tomorrow we’re hosting a
Riding the Passover/Vaccination Freedom Train Read More »
Since early Tuesday morning when I got an appointment get a vaccine at 6 pm tonight, I’ve known that today was going to be meaningful. , Getting the shot would be meaningful enough, of course. But just to add a meaningful cherry on top, tonight is the night I was going to say Kaddish at
Flying Away with My Vaccination-Protecting Guardian Rabbits Read More »
Who has appeared on the most US postage stamps? It’s not a trick question. Rather, not surprisingly, the answer is George Washington, who was, famously, “first in war, first in peace,” (and for the many years that Washington Senators baseball team existed, “last in the American League.”) Washington not only appeared on many stamps, in
Jean Antoine Houdon and the Many Postal Faces of George Washington Read More »
When President William McKinley was assassinated in 1901, he continued a bizarre pattern that began in 1840 and (much to Joe Biden’s relief) apparently ended in 1980. Consider: William Henry Harrison, who was elected in 1840 died (probably from drinking bad water) in April 1841. Abraham Lincoln, who was elected to his first term in
McKinley, A Macabre Streak and a Very Big Mountain Read More »
To a man with a post office, every problem looks like a stamp. At least that seems to be the thinking behind today’s #stampoftheday, a 4-cent stamp issued in 1961l. Unlike most stamps, it doesn’t picture a person or a place. Instead prominently features seven of the most famous words in American history: “Give me
Give Me Liberty or Give Me Charlie Brown Read More »
Although I thought this post was going to be about some notable songs that Woody Guthrie wrote 80 years ago in the Pacific Northwest, it turns out it’s actually about some powerful words spoken today in Atlanta by Vice President Kamala Harris. So bear with this train of thought. Or put another way, sit down
Woody Guthrie, Kamala Harris and the Grand Coulee Dam Read More »