Interesting Stuff: Who Knew?

Going Farther Beyond the Pale

Dear Kid,

It turns out I was right. Or at least I wasn’t wrong. Most of the time I’ll settle for not being entirely wrong.

But there’s more to Going Beyond the Pale than I knew (special thanks to Tracey L. G. for educating me).

The Pale of Settlement was an area in western Imperial Russia where Jews were allowed to live. If you interpret that to mean they were less welcome as permanent residence in other parts of Mother Russia, give yourself a gold star and move forward three spaces.

Even within the Pale there were areas where Jews were not welcome.

The archaic English term pale is derived from the Latin word palus, a stake, extended to mean the area enclosed by a fence or boundary.

The Pale of Settlement was created by Catherine the Great when she wasn’t off doing other C the G things.

Life in the Pale was pretty much awful (in the worst of awful ways). It was cold (not “I’m chilly, go put on a sweater” cold, but bone cold), there wasn’t much food, and it was easy to hold pogroms because the Jews were all neatly packaged in small areas. On the plus side, however, it gave Sholom Aleichem something to write about—including Tevya the Milkman which eventually became (you guessed it) Fiddler on the Roof.

The Pale also gave rise to the modern Yeshiva educational system and many of the Chassidic families and practices.

Now you really know.

Love, Mom

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What Is the Gordian Knot?

Dear Kid,

Once upon a time the Phrygians didn’t have a king. Very careless, forgetting where you put your king. So they did the only reasonable thing and consulted the Oracle at Telmissus. The oracle decreed that the next man to enter the city driving an ox-cart should be crowned king.

What have we said about ignoring oracles? Right. So when Gordias the Peasant came into the city driving his ox-cart, the people immediately made him Gordias the King.

Since kings rarely have need of an ox-cart, Gordias dedicated his cart to Zeus and tied it to a pole with the World’s Most Complicated Knot.

The Gordian Knot was slightly more complicated than this. DearKidLoveMom.comThe oracle then predicted that whoever Undid the Knot would rule all of Asia. Since oracles are always (emphasis on ALWAYS) right, many a person came to try to untie it. This was great for tourism and nail salons (it was not possible to untie the Knot and many people broke important fingernails trying).

On and on this went and everyone was reasonably happy with the status quo except all the people who didn’t untie the knot. Although since no one else could untie it, and there were plenty of manicurists, no one got too futzed.

Eventually (historians disagree about how many years are in an “eventually”), young Alexander the Great came to Phrygia. A the G was The Dude of the time and planned to conquer pretty much everywhere (Asia Minor is most definitely part of “everywhere”). Alex took a look at the Knot, realized the ends were missing, re-read the plaque (all tourist sites have plaques), and then took out his sword and sliced the knot in half.

Alexander the Great went on to conquer Asia Minor. Because, oracle. Also, he was a really incredible battle strategist.

To this day, Gordian Knot refers to a complex problem, and cutting the Gordian Knot means finding a ridiculously simple solution to a crazy looking problem.

Love, Mom

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Dart Wars Week 3 (A Very Different Week Indeed)

Dear Kid,

Dart Wars is a Big Freakin’ Deal here. I know this because teenagers are actually using their cell phones to have conversations. Talking conversations, not just texting. DearKidLoveMom.com

Week 3 is here. Sort of.

Dart Wars Week 3 and I don’t have much to report.

Week 2 included lots of crazy tweets and photos of puppies (don’t ask why Dart Wars included photos of puppies—I have no idea. But I’m not really one to argue about cute fluffiness.). Week 2 also included our team winning and moving on to Week 3.

And now the giggles and strategies of Week 1 seem to have disappeared as have the girls themselves. Gone are the strategy sessions that rival plots of a Bourne movie (or book—I love the books). Gone are the days of actually talking on the phone (yep, we’re back to texting). Gone are the various team members descending in ones and twos and half dozens on our house.

I can’t tell if they are all too busy or just plain bored.

The interesting thing is that (according to the scouting reports) they are up against a really good team this week. A really good team who seems to have been afflicted with the same malaise.

No one has showed up at our house (Puppy says it’s because they are afraid of him—he’s said he will protect the girls and he means it). No one has chased the girls across town. No one has even hired a helicopter to spy out the situation.

It’s a bit of a change from Week 1.

Stay tuned for Important Dart Wars Updates.

Love, Mom

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Going Beyond the Pale

Dear Kid,

Once upon a time, there were uncivilized people in the world.

No, wait, that’s now.

Once upon a time, there was the 14th century. I wasn’t alive then, but other people were, so we know what was going on even if there wasn’t social media coverage.

Snow in April. Ridiculous. DearKidLoveMom.comIn the British Empire, big stakes used as fence posts were called pales. (This was because everyone in the British Empire was fair of skin so they didn’t need the word “pale” to refer to skin tone.)

In Ireland, the British built a big fence-type boundary known as the British Pale (I am not making this up). If one was within the fence one was civilized and part of acceptable society. If one ventured past the safety of the fence (beyond the pale) one was out of the civilized world and likely to be attacked by marauding leprechauns.

To this day, “beyond the pale” means anything unacceptable (like snow in April) or beyond the limits of accepted morality and conduct.

Now you know.

Love, Mom

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Happy Draw a Bird Day!

Dear Kid,

Today is Draw a Bird Day.

I don’t know why, but it is.

Rodney the Bird Outside Our Window offered to pose for a picture, but between my (lack of) artistic talent and his demoralized attitude, I decided it might not be a good experience for him.

The most famous of all bird-drawers is probably John James Audubon (shown in a photo on Wikipedia holding a rifle which is probably not how most people think of him). JJ went out into Nature to identify and paint birds so that he could have a society named after him.

John James Audubon went out into Nature to identify and paint birds so that he could have a society named after him. DearKidLoveMom.com

My second favorite bird drawer is probably Charley Harper (first favorite is you when you were about 4 and drew me a picture that had a bird in it). Charley Harper went into Nature wearing a pair of 5D glasses and drew what he saw. He lived in Cincinnati which is another thing that’s good about Our City.

Charley Harper Cardinal

Still up there in the Excellent Bird Drawing category is the little guy from Are You My Mother?

Are You My Mother by PD Eastman

And all the birds Dr. Seuss drew (none of which were ever spotted by John James A.).

Despite my best efforts to learn absolutely nothing about birds (what can I say? I was a rebellious twit), I love watching avian life in our backyard. I filled the birdfeeders over the weekend and the cardinal (significantly more dimensional than Charley’s version), the woodpeckers, flickers, chickadees, and other flying folk are having a marvelous time filling up at the buffet. The chipmunk family (did I tell you a family of chipmunks has moved in?) and squirrels are happily picking up whatever falls uneaten, and the rabbit is barreling through like he owns the place, checking on tables but not eating anything himself.

Spring is here.

Happy Draw a Bird Day.

Love, Mom

 

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The Women’s Fund and Cokie Roberts (It Was Awesome!)

Dear Kid,

Did you know that Cincinnati is second in the nation in childhood poverty? And that two out of every three kids in poverty in Greater Cincinnati live in single female headed households?

These are just some of the facts I learned Tuesday night from Cincinnati Women’s Fund. (Feel free to check out all the amazingly good work they’re doing.)

I also learned about the Cliff Effect. (Short version: Woman being offered a raise which she can’t accept because it will put her over the threshold for nutrition and childcare assistance. In effect, a raise of say $2,000 a year could cost her $14,000 in assistance. So she can’t accept the raise, which means she won’t be prepared for the next advancement. Rinse and repeat.)

The Women’s Fund of The Greater Cincinnati Foundation is proud to host Cokie Roberts as the featured speaker at our 2016 "A Conversation With" event. DearKidLoveMom.comSeven hundred of my best friends and I were at the Women’s Fund annual event “A Conversation with…” and this year’s keynote was Cokie Roberts.

The Women’s Fund of The Greater Cincinnati Foundation is proud to host Cokie Roberts as the featured speaker at our 2016 "A Conversation With" event. DearKidLoveMom.com

Seriously. What ARE these things? DearKidLoveMom.comCokie Roberts (Ms. Roberts to you) is a well-known political commentator for ABC News and NPR. She told great stories about women who made a huge difference in our country and who’ve been more or less ignored by (male) historians. She also talked about some of her political coverage (like the time there was an election for Pope and the journalists had to figure out how to fill air time even though they really knew nothing).

Cokie (still Ms. Roberts to you) is smart, funny, and gracious. And spunky. I want to invite her out for a cup of coffee and listen to her stories for hours.

No, I don’t want to invite everyone out for a cup of coffee. Most of the time I prefer to take the coffee and leave the people out.

It was a great event. The Women’s Fund (as always) did an outstanding job just as they do outstanding work every day.

Love, Mom

 

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