Ah, thank you. I haven't heard such a heart-felt and sincere tirade about Christopher Columbus since the last Columbus Day I spent with my freshman year college roomie, who was a Navaho. It's refreshing, and it sure takes me back.
You should have heard her on the subject of John Wayne, who, according to her, genuinely subscribed to the "The only good Indian is a dead Indian" theory, and was (as he was battling lung cancer at the time) being lionized everywhere as a True Patriot, and Genuine American Hero.
She was an army brat, and her great-uncles were code talkers, her dad and her half brother were lifers, and she'd grown up all around the U.S. and the world. She felt like her family put their lives on the line, and proved their patriotism with action, as compared to just acting it.
Heh! The real irony is that Spain, Italy, the Bahamas, & Cuba don't commemorate Christopher Columbus, and he'd actually BEEN to those places. He never set foot on the continental US, so I'm confounded as to why we have a holiday named after him.
John Wayne might've lived longer if he hadn't smoked 6 packs of cigarettes a day.
Amen to the dangers of smoking! In fairness, though, my mom (who is 73 this year) remembers reading information (diguised as medical advice) that smoking was good for your T-zone (basically the throat and windpipes). Wayne might have genuinely believed he was starting a healthy habit, and it's much harder to quit than to start.
We have a holiday named after him because the Knights of Columbus saw what St. Patrick's day did for Irish Americans, and they used the campaign to get the Federal holiday as an exercise in showing the voting clout and importance of Italian Americans in the politics of the time, in a day when many politicians tended to be focussed almost exclusively on the WASP vote.
Mr. Campy smoked a pack-and-a-half per day until 8 years ago. He promised when we met to quit; it took him 5 years. Yep, I know second hand how hard it is to quit the tobacco habit. The old 1950s ads touting the "benefits" of cigarettes are ridiculously frightening.
We have a holiday named after him because the Knights of Columbus saw what St. Patrick's day did for Irish Americans, and they used the campaign to get the Federal holiday as an exercise in showing the voting clout and importance of Italian Americans in the politics of the time, in a day when many politicians tended to be focussed almost exclusively on the WASP vote. That's astounding, and a cogent argument to discontinue the name of the holiday.
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You should have heard her on the subject of John Wayne, who, according to her, genuinely subscribed to the "The only good Indian is a dead Indian" theory, and was (as he was battling lung cancer at the time) being lionized everywhere as a True Patriot, and Genuine American Hero.
She was an army brat, and her great-uncles were code talkers, her dad and her half brother were lifers, and she'd grown up all around the U.S. and the world. She felt like her family put their lives on the line, and proved their patriotism with action, as compared to just acting it.
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John Wayne might've lived longer if he hadn't smoked 6 packs of cigarettes a day.
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We have a holiday named after him because the Knights of Columbus saw what St. Patrick's day did for Irish Americans, and they used the campaign to get the Federal holiday as an exercise in showing the voting clout and importance of Italian Americans in the politics of the time, in a day when many politicians tended to be focussed almost exclusively on the WASP vote.
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We have a holiday named after him because the Knights of Columbus saw what St. Patrick's day did for Irish Americans, and they used the campaign to get the Federal holiday as an exercise in showing the voting clout and importance of Italian Americans in the politics of the time, in a day when many politicians tended to be focussed almost exclusively on the WASP vote.
That's astounding, and a cogent argument to discontinue the name of the holiday.
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