What Is Juneteenth?

 

It's about time the holiday of Juneteenth got some recognition. Prompted by the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, and dated to the emancipation of slaves in Texas on June 19, 1865, Juneteenth celebrations began as far back as 1866. Only last year, in 2021, was Juneteenth finally recognized as a federal holiday. It is sometimes called Black Independence Day, and it could be considered the true independence day, since on July 4, 1776, many people were still enslaved in this country, and therefore not free.

Will's Book Nook: Fawlty Towers Scribblings

 

I have been listening to the audio recording of Fawlty Towers put out by BBC Records. You may be familiar BBC sitcom from the 1970s, but these recording also feature star and creator, John Cleese, talking about the creation of the series, and episode highlights. Cleese played Basil Fawlty, owner of a hotel, who has a very high opinion of himself and a very short fuse. In fact, my favorite part is when Cleese finds some poor employee to yell at. For example, when Manuel, whose English is not the best, misinterprets an order from Basil, which leads to an explosion of colorful language by Basil. I give it 6 out of 5 scribbles!

Top Ten: Mark's Favorite John Wayne Movies of the 1950s

 

1.  The Horse Soldiers (United Artists, 1959).

2.  Rio Bravo (Warner Bros., 1959).

3.  The Barbarian and the Geisha (20th Century Fox, 1958).

4.  The Wings of Eagles (MGM, 1957).

5.  The Searchers (Warner Bros., 1956).

6.  Blood Alley (Warner Bros., 1955).

7.  The High and the Mighty(Warner Bros., 1954).

8.  Hondo (Warner Bros., 1953).

9.  The Quiet Man (Republic, 1952).

10.  Rio Grande (Republic, 1950).

What is Memorial Day?

 

We all know Memorial Day as a day off of school and work, and many celebrate with cookouts. But what are we celebrating exactly? Originally known as Decoration Day, a day for remembering those we lost in the American Civil War, it began in 1868, and war widows would decorate the graves of those who died in the war. Today, we honor all Americans who died while serving in the armed forces, and every year American flags are placed on their graves. Memorial Day is not to be confused with Veterans Day, which honors all American veterans, not just those who died. 

Will's Book Nook: The Shadow Scribblings

 The Shadow is one of my favorite old school radio programs. The original idea, was for The Shadow to be a mysterious radio narrator for Detective Story Hour in 1930, but that inspired a literary character, and later The Shadow got his own radio drama in 1937 starring Orson Wells as the main character, Lamont Cranston. It has one of the most famous tag lines in radio drama history: "Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows." Cranston is a wealthy young man about town who helps the police department catch criminals as his alter ego, The Shadow. In my opinion he is the precursor to Bruce Wayne/Batman and inspired many other superheros to come. The sound effects are really creepy and effective, Orson Wells is a great actor and there are a lot of interesting episodes that feature well developed characters. I'm only half way through it, but so far I give it 5 out of 5 scribbles. It's a classic!

Top Ten: Mark's Favorite John Wayne Movies from the 1940s

 1.  Sands of Iwo Jima (Republic, 1949).

2.  She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (RKO Radio Pictures, 1949).

3.  3 Godfathers (MGM, 1948).

4.  Red River (United Artists,1948).

5.  Fort Apache (RKO Radio Pictures, 1948).

6.  Angel and the Badman (Republic, 1947).

7.  They Were Expendable (MGM, 1945).

8.  Flame of Barbary Coast (Republic, 1945).

9.  The Long Voyage Home (United Artists,1940).

10.  The Dark Command (Republic,1940).

 

Will's Book Nook: Quote...Unquote Scribblings

 

Quote...Unquote is a long-running BBC Radio panel-style game show. Some of the over 500 panelists are famous actors, authors and personalities, including Dame Judi Dench and some of the members of Monty Python. It ran from 1976 to 2021, when the pandemic finally shut it down. According to Wikipedia, "the main part of the programme consists of a non-competitive quiz where the chairman asks each of three panellists (originally four) in turn to identify where a certain quotation, phrase or saying comes from. In between these rounds, the panellists are asked to share some of their favourite quotations on a specified theme. Other parts of the programme are devoted to answering queries from listeners about the sources of quotations and the origins of everyday phrases and idioms." The panelists would try to win quotation marks, and the team with the most quotation marks at the end of the four rounds won the game. The winners would get to write a quote about themselves. I enjoyed the many different guests and the outright silliness. I'm not finished with the anthology yet, but I give it 4 out of 5 scribble for now, but I might bump it up to a 5 later. 

What We Did Over the Break

Arts Connections has been on break for the past four weeks, and it felt kind of weird not having any classes. But our summer classes are up and running this week! Here's what our bloggers got up while not blogging in blog class...

 

Will has been hanging out with his brother, who moved to town a few months ago. He also visited the zoo with his best friend and her mom. And he celebrated the Big 3-0 last Sunday (which was also Mother's Day!). He had a party on Saturday in his back yard with tons of friends. He even got a little emotional, because it was so nice. Everyone gifted him a shirt!

 

 Lora kept busy with plenty of fun projects around the house, like drawing and crafts, and gardening. She is growing corn, tomatoes, radishes and green beans. Lora also went to the movies. The movie didn't make much of an impression, but the popcorn, chilies and a coke were very memorable.

 

 Mark had a very exciting break filled with new appliances! His mom got a new microwave, refrigerator and washer and dryer. The new dishwasher will be arriving soon. Mark also honed his trivia skills by watching plenty of classic television.

 

 Margaret had so many visitors! Her brother and his wife and their three year old son came to stay. Their dog, Bunny, came, too. Then her parents came to stay. It has been a very full house. But full of love. Her son finish his 2nd soccer season with a win! And he went on an overnight trip with his class, which was very exciting. He loved sleeping in the cabin.

But now we're ready to get back to class and kick our blogging into high gear!

Top Ten: Mark's Favorite John Wayne Movies from the 1930s

 

1.  Stagecoach (United Artists, 1939).
2.  Three Texas Steers (Republic, 1939).
3.  Santa Fe Stampede (Republic, 1938).
4.  Pals of the Saddle (Republic, 1938).
5.  King of the Pecos (Republic, 1936).
6.  The Oregon Trail (Republic, 1936).
7.  The New Frontier (Republic, 1935).
8.  The Lawless Frontier (Monogram, 1934).
9.  West of the Divide (Monogram,1934).
10.  The Big Trail (Fox, 1930).