A statue of Frederick Douglass was dedicated on June 19th in Emancipation Hall of the U.S. Capitol Building. It’s been a long time coming, but the date, and the location, are eminently appropriate. Juneteenth, a portmanteau of June and Nineteenth, celebrates the day that the final state of the failed Confederacy abolished slavery. So having the unveiling of the former slave turned great statesman and ardent abolitionist on Emancipation Day is as good an orchestrated roll out as could be imagined.
Douglass is a phenom in the history of freedom from slavery, and a story that deserves its own space for the telling. For now just recall that he was the most vocal “freeman” to push for emancipation. He pressed Abraham Lincoln and others and was often frustrated at the slow pace of change. So while Lincoln rightly deserves much credit for emancipating the slaves, Douglass deserves much more credit than history has recorded.
Emancipation didn’t come easy, of course, as the deaths of between 620,000 and 750,000 men from bullets and disease so graphically reminds us. Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation was issued initially in September 1862 and took effect on January 1, 1863. But the immediate impact was limited. It took the North winning the war, Congress passing the 13th Amendment, and ratification by the states for slaves to finally “be then, thenceforward, and forever free.” Still, not all of the former Confederate states were happy to comply. It took a Union General, plus a couple of thousand armed troops, to effectively take over the last holdout – Texas – and declare that “all slaves are free.” That was June 19, 1865. Juneteenth.
So, as Lincoln would have paraphrased himself, it is altogether fitting and proper that a seven-foot bronze statue of Frederick Douglass be installed in the Capitol Building on Juneteenth. Emancipation Day.
I recently received a copy of a new book and was asked to read it and write a book review. This is that review.
Simón Bolívar liberated six South American countries from Spanish rule. An amazing achievement. Marie Arana has accomplished no less an amazing achievement in her mighty tome Bolívar: American Liberator (Simon & Schuster, 2013). Arana’s book is impressive, both in its girth (464 pages of text plus over 100 pages of notes) and the depth of research conducted into Bolívar’s life.
Born into a wealthy family in 1783 Caracas in the Venezuelan portion of the Spanish empire, Simón Bolívar hardly seemed destined to be a revolutionary. A slight 5’6” in height and only 130 lbs, he nevertheless was a “spirited youth.” He grew up in luxury in a country in which the Spanish crown had imposed strict divisions between the classes and races. A trip to Europe as he came of age exposed him to even greater privilege, but also inspired him to pledge that he would liberate his homeland. Arana captures this coming of age in a story that reads like a novel.
After two revolutions fail to take hold, Bolívar finally is able to lead the creation of a third republic that begins a constant battle that would consume him for the rest of his life. Arana deftly intertwines the events of the United States (War of 1812) and Europe (Napoleon, Spanish wars) with the major battles and exploits of Bolívar and other key players both within and without of his control. In what we now might call “mission creep,” the revolution to rid Venezuela from the Spanish spreads across greater Granada and beyond to encompass what now includes Venezuela, Colombia, Panama, Ecuador, Peru and the newly created Bolivia (named after Bolívar). The “George Washington of South America,” Bolívar liberated the people and yet in the final years of his short life had the people turn on him. He died in exile, in poverty, and bed-ridden with tuberculosis, in his prematurely-aged 47th year.
One of the strengths of the book is the way Arana is able to delve into the imperfections of Bolívar as a man – his many mistresses, his adeptness with military command yet inability to command the politics of effective government, and the many mistakes he made as he tried to create democracies in lands mired by corruption and 300 years of subservience. Arana superbly brings this complex man to life. Often vilified in that life, Bolívar’s legend has grown in the nearly two centuries since his death to the point where leaders from Venezuela and environs attempt to invoke the name of Bolívar to support their own policies, even though those policies may be the antithesis to everything for which Bolívar toiled.
I highly recommend Bolívar: American Liberator. Those with family ties to the region will benefit from the knowledge of both the accomplishments and imperfections of the man. Those in the United States and elsewhere will benefit from the opportunity to learn about one of the most important men in modern history, one most of us likely don’t know much about at all.
Marie Arana’s website: http://mariearana.net/bolivar/
Last weekend (April 25-27) I attended the annual conference of the American Society of Journalists and Authors (ASJA). I’m not a member, yet, but plan to be as soon as I meet the strict eligibility requirements for this professional society. My book,Tesla: Wizard of Electricity, is one credit towards being eligible, and I’m working on others.
Three-and-a-half hours on Amtrak and a 1.25 mile trek through Manhattan (with laptop and garment bags heavily strapped to my shoulders) brought me to the Roosevelt Hotel, the “Grand Dame of Madison Avenue.” I arrived just in time for the awards ceremony, where ASJA honors their own for excellence in writing, including Wendee Nicole for science writing.
As a first-timer I picked a range of sessions to get my feet wet. I started with “Building Your Business Through Travel Blogging.” As readers of this site will no doubt have guessed, one of my passions is to travel, so I must admit to being envious of the panel members who get paid to travel and write about their experiences. I was especially intrigued by Patricia Serrano, whose unique blend of travel writing and film-making is summed up well in her Fresh Traveler blog’s tag line – “off the beaten path adventures for a fresh mind, body and spirit.”
Next up was “Covering Your Assets: Personal Finance for the Independent Writer,” where I learned about retirement plans, insurance, and why you should NOT quit your day job. Then on to luncheon with featured speaker A.J. Jacobs. Jacobs is the author of three best-selling memoirs that include reading the entire 32-volume Encyclopedia Britannica, living a year by the rules of the Bible (Old Testament!), and his latest, Drop Dead Healthy. In short, Jacobs was both hilarious and helpful as he offered some great advice to writers. But Jacobs wasn’t the only person at the luncheon that gave out good advice – I had the pleasure of chatting with David Volk, an ASJA member and author of The Cheap Bastard’s Guide to Seattle. David was the one who reminded me to get photos of my meeting with the cast of the off-Broadway play, Tesla.
After lunch I couldn’t resist a session called “Spice Up Your Storytelling with Statistics.” Led by Laura Laing, author of Math for Grownups and the forthcoming Math for Writers, the session showed how statistics can help bring out the meat of the story. She also showed how not to use statistics, like pie charts of types of pies that total up to over 200%. The chart was confusing if not delicious. Next up was “Humanizing Esoterica: Turn Complex Ideas Into Great Stories,” by the inimitably named pairing of Barry Burd and Patchen Barss. Both of these afternoon sessions fit into my overall vision of communicating science in a way that is understandable and interesting to the general public.
But wait, there’s more.
As a winner of an ASJA scholarship to attend the event, I also had the chance to sit down for a mentoring session with an established author. I was privileged to spend a half hour with Tim Harper, author of 12 books as well as a freelance writer, writing coach, editorial consultant, and in his spare time, brainchild behind a new publishing venture at the City University of New York Graduate School of Journalism. Tim provided some valuable insight for putting together a proposal for my new book on Abraham Lincoln’s love of science and technology.
And that was just day one. A good place to stop. More on the second day in a later post.
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NOTE: To schedule appearances, email to davidjkent DOT writer AT gmail DOT com
Upcoming appearances:
November 9, 2024 (3rd of 3 sessions): LGDC’s book study forum reads and discusses Lincoln: The Fire of Genius. Virtual. [More Info] [Read more here]
November 16-19, 2024: Attendance at Lincoln Forum, Gettysburg, PA. [More Details]
December 6, 2024: The Election of 1864: Was the Election Stolen? Presentation for the Tucson CWRT [More Details Soon]
February 11, 2025: LGDC Celebration of Lincoln’s Birthday in Washington, DC featuring Sidney Blumenthal [More Details Soon]
February 12, 2025: LGDC wreath laying ceremony, Lincoln Memorial, Washington, DC [More Details Soon]
March 22, 2025: Abraham Lincoln Institute Symposium, Ford’s Theatre, Washington, DC [More Details Soon]
April 26, 2026: Presentation at Lincoln Mini-Forum at Hildene, Manchester, VT [Tentative]
Selected recent appearances:
October 29, 2024: The Election of 1864: Was the Election Stolen? Presentation and discussion for LGDC [Video Coming Soon Here]
October 15, 2024: “Lincoln and the Election of 1864,” presentation and led discussion for Lincoln Group of DC [Watch Video Here]
September 7, 2024: Lincoln: The Fire of Genius presentation to the Henry Clay Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR). [Watch the Video]
June 6, 2024: White House Historical Association History Happy Hour on Lincoln: The Fire of Genius [Watch the Video Here]
May 21, 2024: Hosted Nancy Bradeen Spannaus “Lincoln and Jefferson and Hamilton and Defeating Slavery,” Lincoln Group of DC, Zoom Only [Watch the Video]
May 15, 2024: “Lincoln’s Influence on Science & Technology in the Civil War” presentation, York (PA) Civil War Round Table [Watch the Video]
April 16, 2024: Hosted Christopher Oakley for the Lincoln Group of DC monthly meeting. Virtual. [Video Here]
March 14, 2024: Moderator of White House Historical Association History Happy Hour Featuring Carl Adams [Watch the Video Here]
February 21, 2024: Co-hosted Harold Holzer for the joint LGDC/CWRTDC Lincoln Birthday Banquet, Fort Myer [C-SPAN Video Here]
February 12, 2024: Presentation of the Gettysburg Address at the Lincoln Memorial, Lincoln Birthday wreath laying.
January 16, 2024: Hosting Andrew Lang for the Lincoln Group of DC monthly meeting. Virtual. [Watch Video]
December 5, 2023: Hosted and moderated the LGDC luncheon featuring Terry Alford
November 16-19, 2023: The Lincoln Forum conference, Gettysburg, PA
October 17, 2023: Moderated the LGDC program parsing the Gettysburg Address [Watch Video]
April 15, 2023: Keynote presentation at the annual banquet of the Lincoln Society of Peekskill, Peekskill, NY [Details here]
March 25, 2023: Presentation at the ALI Symposium, Ford’s Theatre, Washington, DC. [Watch the Video]
February 22, 2023: Attendance at A Walk to Respect, a conversation between Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass, Kennedy Center, Washington, DC
February 12, 2023: Lincoln’s Birthday Wreath Laying, Lincoln Memorial
February 11, 2023: Keynote speaker, Lincoln’s Birthday Banquet, Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States (MOLLUS), Alexandria, VA
February 8, 2023: Joint LGDC/CWRTDC dinner lecture by Jon Meacham, Washington, DC [Recording Coming Soon]
February 3, 2023: Virtual talk on Lincoln: The Fire of Genius for students, faculty, staff, community of Lone Star College-Kingwood [Watch here]
January 13, 2023: My Interview for a nationally syndicated radio program called Our American Stories premiers. [Listen to the Podcast] [Read a transcript]
January 12, 2023: Interview with President Lincoln’s Cottage as part of their Scholar Sessions, Virtual [Watch the Video Here]
January 11, 2023: Looking for Lincoln Conversations, “How Lincoln Institutionalized Science and Technology in the Federal Government,” Virtual, 7 pm CT (8 pm ET) [[Watch the Video Here]
November 17, 2022: Accepted the Wendy Allen Award for the Lincoln Group of DC at the Lincoln Forum [Read about it here]
November 16-19, 2022: Presentation, Breakout session, Book signing, Lincoln Forum, Gettysburg, PA [See the schedule]
October 26, 2022: “The Art and Science of Abraham Lincoln,” Arts Club of Washington, Washington, DC
October 13, 2022: “Lincoln, Science, Technology, and the Civil War,” Civil War Round Table of DC, Fort Myer, Arlington, VA [Audio available soon here and Video Here]
September 17, 2022: “Lincoln, Mathew Brady, and Photographic Technology,” Dedication event at Congressional Cemetery, Washington, DC
September 16, 2022: “Lincoln, Science, and Technology in the Civil War,” lecture at the Cosmos Club, Washington, DC
September 13, 2022: The Fire of Genius Book Launch Party with the Lincoln Group of DC, Maggiano’s Restaurant, Washington, DC [SEE ON C-SPAN2 AT 9:30 AM, NOV. 19TH, THEN ON VIDEO THEREAFTER]
September 3, 2022: The Fire of Genius lecture for the Rock Creek Civil War Round Table, Washington, DC (Online)
September 1, 2022: Release Day Interview by Daniel Weinberg of the Abraham Lincoln Book Shop on A House Divided broadcast! [Check out the video]
August 19, 2022: Interview with Andy Lucien of the Civil War Center Podcast [Listen to the Podcast here]
May 22, 2022: Lincoln Memorial Centennial on the Memorial steps. [David J. Kent, Organizer and Master of Ceremonies] [Watch the Video on C-SPAN]
January 18, 2022: “Archer Alexander: The Monument’s Unknown Hero” by Dorris Keeven-Franke [Introduction] [See the replay here] Access Passcode: D&3+wx8e
May 18, 2021: Became President of the Lincoln Group of DC
April 13, 2021: Panel member on “The Case for Honoring Lincoln” for the Illinois State Society. [Zoom] Watch the recorded event here.
January 15, 2021: Chaired a panel on “Teaching Lincoln.” Other panelists were from the Library of Congress, Lincoln Cottage, and Ford’s Theatre. Cosmos Club Civil War Round Table, Washington, D.C. [Zoom]
September 18, 2020: Invited to “Dialogue on Civil War Statues” with journalist Barry Wood, Moderated by Rod Ross. Cosmos Club, Washington DC. [Zoom]
September 5, 2020: Invited speaker at Rock Creek Civil War Round Table. “Abraham Lincoln’s Long Road to Emancipation.” [MS Team]
June 26, 2020: “What Would Lincoln Do.” Interview and 1.5-hour conversation with filmmaker Annabel Park on The Talk on Main St. [Watch it here]
June 4, 2020: “Lincoln and Viruses: The Past and Present Collide.” Invited speaker at the Library Company of Philadelphia, June 4, 2020. [Watch it here]
April 5, 2020: Featured hour interview on The Railsplitter: The Abraham Lincoln Podcast, Episode #122. Interview of me on my blog post “That Time Lincoln Got a Virus and Almost Died,” published on my website 3/25/20. Interview took place on April 3, 2020 with all three hosts. Went live on the podcast website on 4/5/20. [Podcasts archived at https://therailsplitter.podbean.com/]
[Note the photos and info below are being retired. See above for current appearance schedule. Watch for updates and new photos. Media information also on the way.]
Check out these photos sent to me by fans (if you send me yours, I’ll post it here too!). There are also photos of historic meetings:
Meeting HRH Prince Alexander of Serbia
And HRH Princess Katherine of Serbia
Plus, Dr. Branimir Jovanovic, Tesla Museum, Belgrade
Posted by Bridget R. Gaudette on “March for Science” Facebook page, 2/9/17
Two books in one – from Josh Amaya 10-10-16 FB
Melissa Nolledo, Photographer Extraordinaire
Nikola Lonchar, President, Tesla Science Foundation
Ljubo Vujovic, President, Tesla Memorial Society of New York
Dr. Pablo Vigliano, Universidad Nacional del Comahue-Bariloche
Kids like it too…
Kyle Driebeek donating a book to his school library
Some day I’ll be as tall as Tesla
Being interviewed…
…by Tesla Magazine…
…and Tesla TV
More testimonials and cool stuff!
“Beautiful book, great storytelling.” – Lisa Gensheimer, Goodreads (5 stars)
Exton, PA
New Yorker Hotel, NYC
“I got my book, not what I expected, can’t believe the graphics and print, read most every book there is on Tesla, you gave it Life!!”
– Jim Nelson, Facebook, 7/18/13
“Clear, accessible writing and beautiful photographs and ephemera make this book a fun and easy read.”
– Alyb, Goodreads
“I have never read such a beautiful book! Loved it!”
– Cindi Taylor Nelson, Facebook
“There are several biographies about Nicola Tesla however this one by David Kent is more informative, easy to understand, fun! and just a damn good book. I read the entire book in a 24 hour period, I could not put it down and that does not happen very often. If you want to understand why you enjoy all the comforts of electricity than get a copy of this book you will not be disappointed. Kent is just one of those people who knows how to tell a story.” – Alexander Stevens, Facebook
In addition, Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity has received high praise from:
– Nikola Lonchar (President, Tesla Science Foundation)
– Jane Alcorn (President, Tesla Science Center at Wardenclyffe)
– William Terbo (Grand-nephew and closest living relative of Nikola Tesla)
– Nenad Stankovic (Publisher of Tesla Magazine)
and many more!
Meeting the cast of the off-Broadway play, TESLA (written by Sheri Graubert; directed by Sanja Bestic; starring James Lee Taylor, Jack Dimich, and a wonderful cast)
As you read this I’m on my way to an island adventure (more on that later), which got me thinking about a past island adventure – Christmas in Tenerife. A quick Google search will show you that Tenerife is the main island in a group called the Canary Islands. Located off the coast of Morocco in northwest Africa, the Canaries actually belong to Spain. So my snowy escape from Brussels got me to frigid Madrid and then on to the nicely toasty Tenerife. [Toasty at sea level anyway; the summit of the volcano in the center of Tenerife was covered in ice and snow.]
Back to the toasty, even downright tropical, climate near the sea. While roaming the island and visiting Loro Parque I fell into a pod of orchids. Now I’m no orchid expert (to say the least), so I’m counting on all of you to let me know what to call the orchids that follow. Enjoy the photos.
Okay, that last one was an Orca, not an Orchid. My bad.
I also suspect not all the orchids are orchids. Any orchid experts out there?
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One of the 45 aquariums I have visited around the world is the Myrtle Beach Aquarium in South Carolina. Officially the Ripley’s Aquarium in Myrtle Beach, the aquarium boasts thousands of fish, a very long underwater tunnel, and even a replica of a Civil War ironclad.
At 340-feet in length, the glidepath (with both man-powered and moving walkways) is one of the longest underwater tunnels in the world. [The longest is in Shanghai and is 509 feet; I’ve visited there too and will report in a later post.] You can see the ironclad in the background of the photo below.
Like most aquariums, Ripley’s works hard to provide a variety of habitats. Visitors can stop in the marine education center, visit Rio Amazon, explore the colorful reef fishes at Rainbow Rock, touch a stingray (stings removed), and cozy up to some poisonous frogs and lizards. Along the way they can greet a huge catfish:
Say hello to one of the many large Arawana:
And be afraid of barracudas…[some day I’ll tell the story of a barracuda following me around for an hour while I did marine research in Bermuda…a day after a huge barracuda had come straight for me out of the murky entrance to a small bay]
My favorite, however, was the sawfish. The aquarium had several that wandered the “big tank” (approximate 830,000 gallons). For some reason I really liked these guys.
Overall, the aquarium was worthy of a visit. The area around the aquarium has many restaurants and bars, so plan to make a day of it and stay for dinner. Take your camera. Ripley’s also has opened an “Aquarium of the Smokies” in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, so I’ll be adding that to my list of aquariums to profile in my book.
In my last post I reminisced about my first real traveling experience out of the USA – to Hanoi, Vietnam. Of all my memorable experiences there I enjoyed most meeting the Vietnamese people and eating the amazing food.
After traveling half way around the world I met up with a friend who had been in Hanoi for several months already. Not one of the rare western-style hotels for me; I lived in the local dorm of the National University, which was less impressive than it sounds. The small room in a stark building down a narrow street in a corner of town not usually seen by tourists meant that I spent most of my time in the midst of the locals and experienced Vietnamese life first hand. That included the local kids begging for money (one 4 year old put on her saddest looking face for my benefit) and the occasional swarm of 10 year olds competing to offer their shoe-shining prowess to me.
Many of my meals took place on the streets. And I mean this literally – squatting on the sidewalk eating Bun Nhan (duck noodle soup), Bun Oc (snail and noodle soup) or Bun Mum Tom (noodles dipped into a ghastly smelling shrimp paste). The proprietor would grab a handful of noodles, throw them briefly in boiling broth (with the chicken or duck bones still swimming around), and then ladle it into a bowl. You grabbed your own chopsticks from a cup holding a dozen or so (making sure you wiped them off before using, if you’re smart). Clean up is easy, you just throw everything on the ground. Generally an open sewer ran along the curb and everything went into it, including children relieving themselves as their proud parents looked on. As startling as this may seem to westerners, it was a normal occurrence. It also emphasized what was Vietnam’s greatest resource at the time – its people. There were so many people in Hanoi that each evening an army of men and women came out with large straw brooms and swept up the city. They even separated out usable materials from materials that have unquestionably reached the final state of being trash. Quite amazing.
Here’s a quick look at the street food in Hanoi posted on YouTube by uncorneredmarket. Note that this looks exceptionally upscale compared to most of the spots I ate.
Though my time in Vietnam was way too short I didn’t just stay in Hanoi. Hopping on the back of one of the Xe Om motorbike taxis I had rented for the day ($20 for two, a month’s income for the drivers), I ventured far out from the city to two of the small villages. Bach Trang specialized in making pottery, most of which was brought into Hanoi on bicycles or carts pulled by an ox or pony. The other village was called Nhing Heip, which was reached by an extremely bumpy Xe Om ride over rough roads. Nhing Heip is where they make fabric, and was the location of one of my fondest memories from the trip. Because very few westerners ever make it there, my oddly pale face attracted a great deal of attention. This was especially true with three little girls of about 4 years old who would run up to me and then run away and push their friends toward me, all the while laughing hysterically. My companion informed me that they kept saying “Look how white he is.” The commotion they were causing led to one of the girls’ grandfather seeing us and inviting us into his house for tea.
The house was actually a single room that resembled more a garage with a simple fabric covering the large opening. Over the course of the next 20 minutes or so we drank many cups of tea while he chatted away in Vietnamese about how America is rich and Vietnam is very poor but they work very hard (he was obviously proud of his culture). Of course, most of this I found out after the fact from my companion since I had learned only about 10 words of the language in my four days in Vietnam. I had no idea what he was saying but I enjoyed it immensely. It was a most delightful and memorable experience and one that I will treasure forever.
A conversation I didn’t understand of which I would be reminded years later when I engaged in another discussion where neither I nor the gentleman I was conversing with had any idea what we were saying to each other. More on that event in a later article.
I admit that I grew up a rather sheltered child in a small New England town. After many years where world travel was defined as an occasional weekend jaunt a stone’s throw into Canada, I suddenly found myself flying halfway around the world to Vietnam. And not just any place in Vietnam – Hanoi, the former capital of the Communist North that became the new capital of the reunified Socialist Republic of Vietnam. To provide even more perspective, this was in late 2000, before the United States opened up trade relations and long before Vietnam joined the World Trade Organization to become part of the modern world. It was still the period where memories of the “American War” were still toggling around in the minds of every surviving 50 year old male. Yes, I went to Hanoi before going to Hanoi became cool.
It was in these novel surroundings that my first taste of world travel gave me some of the fondest memories that remain with me today.
Bigger than I expected, Hanoi itself was incredibly busy. Thousands of people on motor scooters and bicycles crowded every street. Many of them wore scarfs over their mouths and noses because the air was so polluted. As I rode around town on my Xe om (a kind of motor bike taxi), it was interesting to contrast the many tiny streets teeming with people doing business on the sidewalks with the ornate mustard-yellow official buildings left over from the many years of French occupation. The mausoleum of Vietnam’s revered former leader Ho Chi Minh (called “Uncle Ho” by the locals), had a prominent place in a large square. Usually visitors can see his preserved body there, but at the time of my trip he was in the middle of an official face-lift, so to speak, so a visit to the adjacent museum had to suffice. Within its halls I wandered into a back room where local musicians played traditional Vietnamese instruments and sang haunting melodies. After the show one attractive musician handed me, the lone westerner in the small room, a ravishing red rose and a seductive smile.
One interesting feature of Hanoi was that shops were clumped by item. By this I don’t mean just that each store sold only one type of item; I mean all the stores on entire streets sold only one type of item. In the US the norm is to find strip malls with one drug store, one shoe store, one clothing store – one of each type of item you might want to buy on a single trip. In Hanoi, one street was dedicated to selling shoes and every alcove on that street sold shoes and nothing but shoes. Other streets were designated to sell coats or silk or “gifts for the tourists.” If you didn’t like one store, you merely walked next door. To this day I still don’t completely understand the concept but I can say that I feel the warmth of the pullover jacket I purchased there.
On another street I ordered three silk shirts. The proprietor of the shop let me pick the colors from a room stacked high with bolts of the finest silk, then measured me every which way you can possibly measure a man’s upper torso. This was late one afternoon. After lunch the very next day I returned to find three perfectly handmade silk shirts that fit like they were made for me. Which of course they were. Overnight. I don’t recall how many Vietnamese dong the shirts cost me, but I do remember that it was equivalent to about $20 each.
I learned a lot while in Hanoi, but what really amazed me was the warm welcome I received from the people. Well, at least the ones that weren’t trying to charge “the rich American” three times the price paid by the locals. In my next post I’ll have more on the people – and the food – of Hanoi and an incredible tea party I had in a village outside the city. You won’t want to miss it. See Part 2 here.
John Brown was hanged today, December 2, 1859, just a year before Abraham Lincoln was elected to be the 16th President of the United States. History has a love/hate relationship with John Brown. There were many abolitionists in the antebellum Union. To them not only was slavery wrong, but it must be abolished immediately and for all time. So Brown was not alone in that belief.
But as a radical abolitionist John Brown took this conviction to its extremes. He believed in taking definitive action – including violent action – to erase slavery from this Earth. On this date he was hanged for a raid on the federal armory in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. His goal was to start an armed insurrection. It didn’t work. Abraham Lincoln in his epic Cooper Union Address given in February 1860 put it like this:
John Brown’s effort was peculiar. It was not a slave insurrection. It was an attempt by white men to get up a revolt among slaves, in which the slaves refused to participate.
Harpers Ferry was not the first time John Brown sought to stimulate an uprising. In 1856 he joined with others in attacking a military detachment in the Battle of Black Jack, perhaps one of the first incidents of what came to be known as Bleeding Kansas. Brown then hacked to death five pro-slavery supporters in the town of Pottawatomie, Kansas. So by the time of the failed Harpers Ferry raid John Brown was largely seen as a persona non grata by those who both agreed and disagreed with his views on slavery.
The Smithsonian Museum of American History looks at slavery and John Brown as part of its The Price of Freedom exhibition (Flash needed to view slideshow). In addition, the museum addressed how John Brown should be remembered by history as part of their Time Trial of John Brown. The YouTube video below introduces the series.
Expand the text below the video to find links to the various parts of this fascinating program. So, how should John Brown be remembered? As a violent murderer or as someone who felt the need to abolish slavery merited extreme action?
No, I don’t mean Baskin-Robbins is adding a new fish flavor to its menu (Orange Turbot, perhaps?). But the Aquarium of the Pacific becomes the 31st large public aquarium I have visited worldwide. Located in Long Beach, California, the Aquarium sits on the edge of the harbor with the Queen Mary basking in the background. Not the actual Queen, of course, but the ocean liner that sailed the Atlantic from 1936 to 1967 for the Cunard Line before being permanently moored and turned into a hotel.
My tour of the Aquarium of the Pacific took place during the SETAC meeting I mentioned in previous posts here and here. It’s traditional to have a Tuesday night social event and when there is an aquarium handy it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the aquarium becomes the setting. Upon arrival I headed upstairs to see most of the exhibits before the aquarium turned down the lights in the simulated night/day cycle.
The aquarium is the largest in California and the fourth largest in the United States. Over 1.5 million people pass through its doors every year to see over 11,000 animals in more than 50 exhibits. Like most aquariums it goes way beyond just display for entertainment, offering many opportunities for education and research.
Earlier in the day the President and CEO of the Aquarium, Jerry R. Schubel, gave a rousing presentation on man’s role and obligations when it comes to protecting the seas, the climate, and the biodiversity of this planet.
Overall the Aquarium of the Pacific provides a very nice introduction to the animals and plants of the oceans, with special emphasis on the Pacific. It’s a short walk from the Long Beach Convention Center and all the accompanying hotels and restaurants. It’s well worth the visit should you find yourself in Long Beach.
I recently received a copy of a new book and was asked to read it and write a book review. This is that review.
Last weekend (April 25-27) I attended the annual conference of the American Society of Journalists and Authors (ASJA). I’m not a member, yet, but plan to be as soon as I meet the strict eligibility requirements for this professional society. My book, 
In my last post I reminisced about my first real traveling experience out of the USA – to 
