March 6th Birthdays

Yesterday was the birthday of Michaelangelo--March 6th, 1475. A look at the Sistine Chapel confirms what we know--Michaelangelo was a genius. But long before the Sistine Chapel, he was an adolescent boy. And it is believed he painted this painting, The Torment of Saint Anthony, when he was just twelve or thirteen. (By the way, this is another treasure found in the Fort Worth arts district. This one at the Kimbell Art Museum.)

But the question is - - did Michaelangelo go to Five Guys Burgers and Fries for his twelfth birthday?

Did his Mom make him a homemade Oreo Cookie Ice Cream Cake for dessert AND did his Dad let him eat it for breakfast the next morning?

And could Michaelangelo Rock the Baby on his twelfth birthday?

We all wait now--what talents will this March 12th boy unleash on the world?

march into March

March 2nd: Tomorrow is the birthday of Dr. Seuss. How will you celebrate? Green eggs and ham for breakfast? Write all of your e-mails in Seuss-style prose? Do a scrapbook page in your best Seuss impersonation?  Hop on Pop? Dig out one of your kids' favorite Seuss books and read together? All of the above?

March 4th-31st: The March March Countdown. Every weekday morning at 7:35am through the year, our local classical radio station, WRR 101.1, plays their "March of the Day." In March they play the top 20 favorite marches chosen by listeners. Even if you don't live in Dallas you can take part in the vote and listen on-line.


If marches aren't your thing, then try a little Vivaldi (March 4th) or Bach (March 21st) this month.

For the visual artists, gain some inspiration from Michelangelo (March 6th) or Van Gogh (March 30th). And to counter your artsy side, memorize an Einstein (March 14th) or Descartes (March 31st) quip.

We celebrate a few presidential birthdays this month: Andrew Jackson (March 15th), Grover Cleveland (March 18th), James Madison (March 23rd), John Tyler (March 29th).

For those of us who observe the Christian calendar, the Lenten season is upon us. For our Eastern brothers and sisters, the Great Lent begins on Clean Monday (March 7th). For those in the West, it begins on Ash Wednesday (March 9th). For all it is a period of preparation for celebrating the greatest holiday of the Christian calendar: Pascha/Easter. This year our family will be spending time during Lent going through a book by Justo González The Apostles Creed for Today.

Of course, we can't think of March without also remembering the celebration of that famous Christian missionary to Ireland, Patrick (March 17th). But there are Christian commemorations of other notable figures (Joseph-March 19th; Irenaeus-March 26th) and events (Annunciation of the Lord, March 25th).

For those of you who live near a Rita's Italian Ice, don't forget to swing by for your free Italian Ice on the First Day of Spring--March 20th. The 19th year they've been doing it!

This will certainly put you in the mood to read a little Ibsen (March 20th), Houseman or Frost (March 25th).

Adieu Februar

The last twenty-four hours of the twenty-eight day month. And a right-nice twenty-eight days it's been.

• Starting February being iced in and re-memorizing a Langston Hughes poem--ending this weekend out and about Fort Worth enjoying the warm weather.
• Watching the celebration of Ronald Reagan's 100th b-day on Feb 6th while running on a treadmill--seeing Reagan's photo on a sign at mile 21 yesterday on my marathon route with the words "Mr. Gorbachev: Tear Down this Wall!"
• Buying the rest of the Laura Ingalls Wilder series to round out our collection.
• Listening to and reading Our American Cousin, the play Lincoln was attending the night he was shot.
• Enjoying the kids' Valentine's gifts especially Calvin's DVD of West Side Story which we watched this weekend over two nights. (And hearing Lelia compare and contrast it with Romeo and Juliet which she saw at the Dallas Opera last week on a field trip. And hearing Wesley compare it to Hugo's Hunchback of Notre Dame.)
• Letting Winslow Homer teach us about skies and clouds on the 24th--seeing an original Winslow Homer while we were in Forth Worth this weekend at the Amon Carter Museum.
• Remembering the art of Grant Wood on the 13th--seeing an original Grant Wood Parson Weem's Fable at the Amon Carter Museum. This one was more exciting, I think, than the Homer painting they had. It had a little for everyone. The kids loved finding details they hadn't seen in the on-line viewing. For example, the cherries lining the curtains and that the face of George Washington was an adult face on a child's body. I enjoyed the hermeneutical lessons exemplified in this painting--which I'm still processing and hope to incorporate into my teaching at some point in the future. 

• And it's not quite over, if you have a chance, watch the Senate's annual reading of George Washington's Farewell address today on C-SPAN 2. Or read it together with the family tonight.