having a hero

We all know that President's Day is coming up next week (hooray for 3-day weekends!) originally celebrating the combined birthdays of two of our greatest presidents, George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. 

Washington is the hometown hero around these parts. There's a parade in Alexandria in his honor and his home, Mount Vernon (incidentally, one of my favorite places to visit in the area), holds special wreath laying ceremonies and has birthday cake and everything. There's even a visitation by the general (he tends to take this label more often than president) himself. His actual birthday is February 22.

Lincoln's birthday gets a tiny bit of fanfare.  We do have a beautiful monument to him after all. But unless it's a noteworthy anniversary (like the 200th a few years ago) he's mostly just lumped into the general celebrations on the Monday holiday. His actual birthday is February 12. Today! 

A friend posted this link on her facebook wall and it made me giggle so I just had to share.

I've long been fascinated by Charles Darwin and Lincoln is also a hero. I love imagining the two of them chilling together complimenting each others' beards! In reality though, could you imagine the conversation between those two great minds? What I wouldn't give to be a fly on the wall!

Care to learn more than what wikipedia might have to say about them? Give these things a glance.

Darwin's Four Great Books
I haven't read them in their entirety yet but have perused both On the Origin of Species and Voyage of the Beagle. Fascinating stuff.

Charles and Emma: The Darwins' Leap of Faith
An engaging biography focusing on the relationship between Darwin and his very religious wife.

Along the same lines, the movie Creation looked at their relationship and his struggles with faith and belief in God (and his decline in health.)

This award-winning photobiography gives a great overview of Lincoln's life and has stunning pictures to boot.

This sweet fictionalized picture book
focuses on Lincoln's relationship with his sons and the heartache he experienced after losing young Willie.

 And of course, there's the highly acclaimed movie based on Doris Kearns Goodwin's book.  I haven't seen it yet but have heard nothing but good about it. Perhaps I'll find a matinee on Monday. It seems only appropriate!






What have I missed? What are your favorite books, movies, mentions about these great subjects? Who are your heroes?

Happiness is...a hero to cheer for.

Apparently I'm a nerd.  No, not the extremely smart kind (oh how I wish, and no comments from the peanut gallery, please) but the superhero/comic book loving kind. Who knew?

A group of friends (all girls) and I went to see Thor this weekend.  It was predictably enjoyable; explosions and muscles, good vs. evil and a happy ending with the promise of more fun to come. (*HINT* If you go, stick around to the end of the credits.)  After we'd spend ample time drooling over the beauty of the Norse god of Thunder (I myself would love to drown in the man's eyes and never surface!) we spent almost as much time out in the lobby discussing the various other superhero movies to come this summer in anticipation of The Avengers. We easily listed all the members of The Avengers and then compared them to the Justice League.  We debated over who would win in a battle between the two, the lack of female representation (Wonder Woman and her invisible plane just haven't held up to modern standards) and then launched into a lengthy conjecture over who would garner an invitation to the ultimate hero movie. To be fair we branched out from the 'super' hero to just any old hero and included the likes of Legolas and Aragorn, Captain Kirk (aka Chris Pine not William Shatner) and Han Solo. And then in true girl fashion the conversation wound its way to Jane Austen and then North and South. (There was logic behind it, trust me!)

I've always enjoyed a good cheesy adventure movie with a strong good vs. evil plot (good clearly triumphing of course) and there has been a dearth of  superhero/sci-fi/fantasy movies lately that fit the bill. However, I was amazed at the depth of my own knowledge.  I had no idea I knew which heroes were in which group nor did I realize how vehemently I rooted for some over others or just how excited I for the movies to come.  I am a closet nerd who has now officially come out of the closet.  (And as my friend Katie so astutely asked...why aren't any of us dating?! What guy wouldn't love a girl who would not only go to those kind of movies with him but would then have a (reasonably) intelligent conversation about it afterwards? If you're out there and happen to be reading this, I'm available!!!!)   :)

  

Hello. My name is Amy. And I am a nerd!