Juneteenth – 151 Years.

Last year, I marked Juneteenth for the first time on MetaCookbook. I have no intention of letting the day slip by ever again. As a twitter friend said, it’s as American a holiday as exists.

But, as with last year, I mostly want to encourage everyone to read something more about it. This year a greatly educational read for me was What is Juneteenth?. A bit more history, and some good comments on what other days would be reasonable to celebrate the end of legalized slavery in this country. And why 19 June remains appealing.… Continue reading →

Mostly History Links

I’ve never been inclined toward historical activities. For example, Society for Creative Anacronism was a huge hobby of a number of my friends in college, but it never appealed to me. I never took history electives in school. I thought I understood the proverbs “those who forget history are doomed to repeat it” and “history is written by the winners,” but over the years, I have come to understand how much I did not and do not fully grasp them. I’ve also learned that school history is some watered-down, whitewashed bullshit and history is way more interesting (if also more traumatic at times) than what I learned in school. So, with that in mind, I present today’s “blather” links. Including, for good measure, one interesting present-day link that might be relevant to how today will be “history” in thirty years.… Continue reading →

Juneteenth

Note: Starting tomorrow, our nephew is visiting for the next 10 days, so this blog will be silent for his visit.

Today is Juneteenth. The celebration of the end of America’s era of slavery, as on 19 June 1865, slaves in Texas, the last remaining enslaved people, were publicly declared legally free. This year is the 150th anniversary of this momentous and fabulous event.

If you grew up in a way or place where the existence of this holiday is news to you, as I did, please go read about it. The Wikipedia article linked above is interesting and informational, and the holiday is important. Especially in light of what has and has not changed in 150 years.

Black lives matter.… Continue reading →