Everyone knows that the religious group known as the Pilgrims that settled the area known as Plymouth were the first permanent settlement right? We all know that such puritans would not ever dream of starting a fight with Native Americans right? And just what was that motivated so many English and other European Nationals to take the risky two month sea voyage to the colonies? Especially considering that early colonists had an average survival rate well below twenty-five percent. Tobacco was something that the Native Americans taught the settlers how to raise, correct? Here are a few facts of the matter that are often confused, some of it through what we are taught in grade school and other of it just perpetual mis-information that is handed down over and over, despite being largely in correct.
Two things have been in my proverbial crawl this week regarding the use the editorial pen to seemingly not acknowledge our own history. In fact, the two matters I am thinking of not only do not seem to acknowledge the history, but in fact seem bent on the rewrite of our history, in which the ugly parts of it are white-washed under the rug so to speak. The two issues, briefly are the newest version of Mark Twain’s classic The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, in which the n-word has been replaced or eliminated. And of course, the reading of our most revered constitution on the house floor, but with things that reference the 3/5 counting of slaves and even the repelled prohibition of liquor were left out.
A few weeks back I was in a couple of my favorite bookstores doing a little bit of browsing and not much buying. While I was walking through the two stores I could not help but be drawn into a couple of the sections and reminded of somethings from the past that I have kind of left behind. A couple of those things that I came across, I have to admit, definitely label me as the geek type way back when, though I admit I have no problem with that aspect of things. Just a bit of warning for you though, I am probably going to sound really geeky in talking about the various subjects, which range from gaming, miniatures, reading fantasy, and just sitting in a bookstore browsing a possible purchase over a cup of coffee.
“There is a valley in New York. And a river runs through it. And Henry Hudson first discovered it.” So starts a show, recorded a show from PBS that broadcast on KET over the weekend called New York Wine & Table. I admit to recording the oddest thing that catches my interest on occasion, but the description of “specialty growers revitalize farming and wine making in the Hudson River Valley, with blackcurrant wine, apple vodka, and apple cider” appealed to me on some level. I suppose the combination of farming and wine making were the two things that really caught my attention, as I am passionate about both of those. Of course I also thought my trip to upstate New York several years ago was beautiful and I was a little curious about apple vodka as well. I find myself fairly awake this evening and after watching a documentary of Chris McCandless I was feeling more alive then usual and thought I would watch that video while I wrote a blog about something else.
