Dear Kid,
T’was the night before Halloween and all through the land, not a spider was stirring…
Nope, doesn’t work.
Happy Erev Halloween.
Nope, still doesn’t work.
Happy Day before the Day of the Evening that is Halloween which is the night before All Saints Day and/or November 1st depending on how you look at these things.
Sigh.
We’ve gotten so used to holidays (especially secular ones) being Day celebrations that it is odd having one that begins in the evening. Or possibly the week before depending on whether you celebrate the Eve Of the 31st or the prior Saturday evening.
As awkwardly as the beginning of this conversation might be, today is quite an interesting day, historically speaking.
On October 30th:
1468 – Charles the Stout occupies and plunders Luik. This is bad for the people of Luik, but Charles thinks it is fitting retribution for being called the Stout on the playground.
1485 – Henry VII of England crowned at Westminster Abbey, London. This is important because Pi just learned it in school. Therefore, it must be Very Meaningful.
1629 – King Charles I gives the Bahamas to Sir Robert Heath. How do you gift wrap that? Individually or as a group? I mean, there are over 700 islands there. The history site I used to learn about Sir Robert made no mention of a national scandal for such a gift, but I’m betting there was a big cover up. And after the way Columbus treated the Bahamas, you’d think someone would know better.
1866 – Jesse James gang robs a bank in Lexington, Missouri. They get away with $2000 and while $2 grand was nothing to sneeze at in 1866 it did not make him rich enough to retire from his Life of Crime. Personally, I’m wondering where he kept his cash since I would think banks would be out of the question.
1873 – P. T. Barnum’s circus, “Greatest Show on Earth,” debuts in NYC. Does anything more need to be said? I think not.
1888 – John J. Loud patents ballpoint pen. Twenty minutes later, pocket protectors are invented.
1938 – Orson Welles causes a nationwide panic with his broadcast of “War of the Worlds”—a realistic radio dramatization of a Martian invasion of earth. Not having been born at the time, I did not panic.
1944 – Aaron Copland’s Appalachian Spring premieres at the Library of Congress. This makes your father very happy. Or it will have once he’s born.
1952 – Clarence Birdseye sells 1st frozen peas. I know peas are not your favorite thing in the world. But without peas we couldn’t say that things are like two peas in a pod. Nor could we say “Peas Please” which you used to think was very funny.
1963 – Sandy Koufax wins NL MVP award (this is not the most important thing that happens in 1963, but it does make many people happy). Extra points for knowing what the most important thing in 1963 was.
1974 – Muhammad Ali wins the Rumble in the Jungle. Fight promoters everywhere buy rhyming dictionaries.
1991 – The Perfect storm (the real one) hits the North Atlantic creating a path for public figures to overuse the term “perfect storm.”
2012 – Walt Disney purchases Lucasfilm Ltd and its rights for Star Wars and Indiana Jones for $4.05 billion. Jesse James really should have become a media mogul.
Of course, October 30 is traditional known as the Great What Am I Going To Be For Halloween Day when Children of All Ages (as P.T. would say) panic about Having The Right Costume for Trick or Treat. Like college work, having a great costume requires Working in Advance (see how I worked that in there?).
Hope you’re ready for the Great Pumpkin, kiddo,
0 Comments
Trackbacks/Pingbacks