We're Right In The Middle of Columbus Day

Quite some time ago, it was decided that if we celebrated certain holidays on a Monday, we could have a three-day weekend. At least, that's what I thought! So, Monday, October 8th, was the official observance for Columbus Day this year. Some businesses were closed, but others were open. Some of us had the day off; others of us didn't.
Today when I looked at my calendar, I saw that we are in the middle of two Columbus Days - the one observed and the traditional one on Friday, October 12th.
Just out of curiosity, I looked up Columbus Day on the Wikipedia website. I found some interesting stuff, such as:

• Columbus Day is a holiday celebrating the anniversary of the October 12, 1492 arrival of Christopher Columbus to the Americas (remember that little diddy: "In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue..."?)
• The first celebration was held in 1792, when New York City celebrated the 300th anniversary of his landing in the New World.
• In 1937, at the behest of the Knights of Columbus (a Catholic fraternal service organization named for the voyager), President Franklin Delano Roosevelt set aside Columbus Day as a federal holiday.
• Since 1971, the holiday has been commemorated in the U.S. on the second Monday in October (wasn't that the beginning of the three-day weekends?). It is generally observed today by schools, some banks, the bond market, the U.S. Postal Service, federal offices, and most state government offices; however, most businesses and stock exchanges remain open.
• I also learned that the Columbus Day parade in Denver, Colorado, has been protested by American Indian groups and their supporters for nearly two decades. Opposition to the holiday cites the fact that Columbus and many of the conquistador followers treated the American Indians with great cruelty. Columbus directly brought about the demise of many Taino (Arawak) Indians on the island of Hispaniola, and the arrival of the Europeans indirectly slew many indigenous peoples by bringing diseases previously unknown in the New World.
• In South Dakota, the day is officially a state holiday known as "Native American Day," not Columbus Day.
• Also, Hawaii does not officially honor Columbus Day, but instead celebrates Discoverer's Day on the same day by honoring not only Columbus but James Cook, the British navigator who was the first person to record the coordinates of the Hawaiian Islands. However, many Native Hawaiians decry the celebration of both Columbus and Cook, who they say were known to have committed acts of violent subjugation of native people. Advocacy groups in Hawaii have commemorated Discoverer's Day as their own alternative, Indigenous Peoples Day.
• On the 500th anniversary of the arrival of Columbus, the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA, the largest ecumenical body in the United States, called on Christians to refrain from celebrating the Columbus quincentennial, saying, "What represented newness of freedom, hope and opportunity for some was the occasion for oppression, degradation and genocide for others."

Well, that's what I learned. Interesting, huh? Some people celebrate Columbus Day and some don't. Some people recognize Columbus Day on the second Monday in October each year; some people don't recognize it at all. Some people celebrate the day by calling it another name. Then there are people like me who recognize the observed day and the traditional day. We might celebrate and we might not. We're right in the middle of two Columbus Days! And it certainly gives me something serious to think about. . . . (Source: Wikipedia www.wikipedia.com)

Listen To These Craaaaazzzzzyyyy Titles!

There's a children's author who writes stories with the craziest titles! Just listen to these: The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Stories, The True Story of the Three Little Pigs, Squids Will be Squids, and Cowboy and Octopus. This author also writes a number of books featuring The Time Warp Trio, a group of children who go back in time to various moments in history. Some of the titles in that series are: Summer Reading Is Killing Me!, Knights of the Kitchen Table, The Non-So-Jolly Roger and Me Oh Maya. Who is this guy? you ask. He is John Scieszka (pronounced SHEH-ska), who writes books because he "loves to make kids laugh." Most of his noted works have come via collaborations with illustrator Lane Smith, who does the artwork for Scieszka's words. Smith and Scieszka have won various awards and are still coming up with wacky and zany ideas for new children's books. There's another book you should know about also. Scieszka edited an essay compilation titled Guys Write for Guys Read, which featured over eighty essays from noted authors who shared stories from their own childhoods. The Guys Read compilation stems from his personal nonprofit literacy program for boys and men, Guys Read, which he created due to his reaction to United States government statistics regarding literacy among boys, as well as society's attitudes toward masculinity. You can check out John Scieszka's Web page or read about him at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon_Scieszka where you'll find lots more than I've told you here. And be sure to ask Norma or Cray in the Children's Library where they keep his books. You'll love them! And so will your kids! (Source: Jon Scieszka's Website and Wikipedia)