The Magic School Bus Didn't Lie

As a warning, some might find this particular post boring. I think it's awesome (or, the information contained is awesome), but just saying.

J.M. Barrie is best known for writing Peter Pan, but in 1919 he wrote a little known work called "The Truth About Russian Dancers." The play was based on a diminutive (Lopokova was barely five feet tall) Russian dancer named Lydia Lopokova who danced with the famous Ballets Russes. The company was formed in France and founded by Serge Diaghilev. The company was composed of 13 Russian dancers who had left or been exiled during the Russian Revolution. The company turned Paris and London on their ears and was so influential that modern ballet companies still resemble the style of dance perfomed by the Ballets Russes.

Lopokova loved Barrie's work and while in London, wrote to Barrie asking him to write a play for her. The two met and Barrie began work on "The Truth About Russian Dancers." The two were probably not romantically involved as Barrie was more than 20 years the ballerina's senior, but when Lopokova suddenly disappeared when Barrie was only half-way through the play, it did cause him to stop working on it.

No one really knows where Lopokova went, but rumor has it that she was having an affair with a Russian officer. She reappeared a few years later to dance in a few ballets, and then she did something very unusal. She married John Maynard Keyes.

That's right. Mr. Supply Side himself. The unusal thing is: Keyes was gay. But then he met Lopokova and they were married for 20 years. When Keyes got sick, Lopokova was his nurse, and when he died, she withdrew to the countryside and lived as a recluse for decades. Lopokova died in 1981.

Seriously, it's like Turn-of-The-Century 6 Degrees of Kevin Bacon! Keyes married a ballerina, who J.M. Barrie wrote a play for. (By the way, Barrie did finish the play, for a different ballerina.) People, who we associate with completely different spheres, knew each other. Talked with each other. Important people in history had lives and didn't just do the dull stuff written in history books. And the more you learn, the more connections you find, because the greater frame of reference you have. I think that's cool. Miss Frizzle was right. Knowledge is Power.

A Really Long Time Ago Someone Tagged Me

A really long time ago someone tagged me with the topic being "Tell Six Random Facts about Yourself." Being rude and finding things like that hard, I did not answer this tag. I will answer now, apologizing all the while for it taking three months.

1. I become quickly obsessed with learning about really random stuff. Previous phases have included Walt Disney World, ballet, the British Parliament, and language origins. I told you, random. The trigger for such obsessions can be anything. My weirdly-extensive-for-having-only-been-there-one-time-knowledge of Walt Disney World was acquired because we took a trip there and I wanted to know everything and not miss out on anything. The British Parliament is just plain cool. You can watch it online for free and it's about the best free entertainment you can find (way better than cable television). And what is cooler than linguistics? Nothing, that's what. And ballet is pretty. Not ballet dancers, as they generally are weird/ugly looking, but ballet itself is pretty.

2. I get annoyed by odd things. For example, it really annoys me when people don't know the difference between "their", "there", and "they're" as well as "your", and "you're." I don't know why, but I feel like adults should be able to use some of English's most commonly used words correctly. In a similar vein, adults not knowing basic civic facts irks me just a tad. I don't think everyone needs to know all 100 members of the Senate, but knowing the Vice President's name would be good.

3. I love The Economist. For those unfamiliar, The Economist is an English publication. It's a newspaper published weekly and it has no bylines. It takes a strong editorial stance towards the free-market, free-trade, and democratic governments. It is also one of the few truly international news sources available in the US. It's well written, concise, and it doesn't dumb down its content, which makes me happy. While it may get a little dense (and heavy on the acronyms and abbreviations) it delivers in depth news by writers who understand the material they are writing about. Strange reading material, perhaps, but the only way to get the 411 on the Ghana elections.

4. I've never dyed my hair. Ever.

5.I like makeup more than I like clothes, purses, and jewelry. I have a large and ever growing collection. My particular favorite right now is the "Chicago" palette from NP Set, which you can buy at target. It's great for quick application and the shimmery brown is just right for a cute but casual everyday look.

6. I write poetry. Not well, but I do write it.

Why They Should Care, and Why They Don't

In November, Russia waged a short, brutal war against Georgia. The Kremlin claimed it was to protect the separatist (and pro-Russian) section named South Ossetia, but in reality it was a proxy war fought against the United States. The story was quickly reported, and then forgotten in the minds of most Americans. In fact, most Americans probably don't know that a country named Georgia actually exists. But they should know, and they should care. The United States has spent a great deal of time, money, and resources outfitting the Georgian government and army with American equipment and training. This fall's war was a big, fat "*&^* off" from Russia to the US and the rest of the West.

Of course, it's hard to care about a war in a country that you don't know exists. Fact based curriculum has slowly disappeared from schools in the past two decades and subjects like geography have become practically obsolete. The current education movement of "Learning how to learn" has produced an entire generation of children who have graduated from high school having learned next to nothing. Contentless curriculum's pervade classrooms, filling children's heads with politically correct nonsense. In England, all secondary curriculum has been funneled into 6 "learning areas." History and geography are now relegated to "human, social, and environmental understanding" where those two important subjects will no doubt compete for airtime against learning about recycling and global warming.

Think back. Do even remember having a geography lesson. Did you even have a map in your classroom? Can you name the capitol of Canada? London? Spain? Did you know there was a country named Georgia? If your answers were no, I don't blame you. You couldn't control the contentless curriculum you were force fed. And when you hear about the goings on in the world, and you don't care, again I cannot blame you. It's hard to care about people you never knew existed.

In Memorium

First of all, I'm sorry I'm a blog slacker. I swear I will not slack like this again. Please forgive me.

And now on to the topic of today's post...

Brit Hume retired. This tragic and awful event was first brought to my attention by my sister Holly. December 23, 2008 marked the last time Brit Hume would sit in the anchor for his 3 pm show, "Special Report with Brit Hume."

Mr. Hume's resignation is sad for a number of reasons. Most selfishly, Special Report was my 'serious news' show. Commentary programs are a dime a dozen on cable television and serious, unbiased, well produced news is hard to come by. Mr. Hume was an Emmy winning, brilliant journalist with 35 years of experience that he brought each and every day to the stories he covered. News coverage is more clear, concise and insightful when a journalist actually understands the material he is covering. Mr. Hume probably knew more about Washington and the games on Capitol Hill than anyone else in the industry. His show will be hard to replace. This brings me to the second reason for sadness, the news industry and FOXNews are losing a great journalist. In a world where the line between editorial and news is being blurred past the point of recognition, we need people like Mr. Hume to tell us the truth. We need people we can trust. Mr. Hume earned my trust, day after day, story after story.

Mr. Hume's chair will be filled with the young Bret Baier. Mr. Baier has filled in for Mr. Hume almost every Friday for the past couple of years and shown himself to be a competent reporter. He does not, however, possess Mr. Hume's famous wry sense of humor or sense of gravity. Maybe Mr. Baier will acquire these over time, or maybe he won't. But he will never be Brit Hume.

Mr. Hume's retirement marks one of the last in the older generation of reporters. Dan Rather, Peter Jennings, Tom Brokaw. A still few hang around, but a clear transition is being made. We can only hope that this generation's batch of journalists is more balanced and honest as the last one. Because if it's not, we won't even have Brit Hume to tell us like it really is.