Jethro Tull's Thick as a Brick

"Really don't mind if you sit this one out/ My words but a whisper, your deafness a SHOUT." Jethro Tull's fifth album, "Thick as a Brick", was released on March 3, 1972. OMG, I still love this album, after first buying it from my cousin's local store that summer! Ian Anderson had been annoyed that "Aqualung" (1971) had been called a "concept album".  He decided to make "the mother of all concept albums" as a spoof, in the comic tradition of Monty Python. The album contained one song, filling both sides of the LP. The spoof was that the lyrics were supposedly an epic poem written by an 8-year-old named Gerald Bostock. According to the story, the boy was disqualified from a poetry competition when readers were offended by his attitude and his social commentary--starting with the poem's title. ("Thick as a brick" means a person who's really stupid.) All of this was packaged in a 12-page gatefold album cover that was a "newspaper" from Bostock's town. Anderson said in an interview that the newspaper took a little longer for band members to write that the whole album took to record. John Evan's keyboard prowess really shines through the long song's sections. A prog rock classic turns 54!

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Texas History!

March 2 is not only Sam Houston's birthday (see below). It is also Texas Independence Day. By 1834, American settlers in Mexican Texas outnumbered Mexicans. The Texians (Anglo-American Texans) felt that Mexico was reneging on its generous 1825 Colonization Law, and Mexico was alarmed at the influx of slavery into Texas. On March 2, 1836, 59 Texians who were delegates to the convention approved the Texas Declaration of Independence and declared the Republic of Texas. George Childress (1804-1841) was the principal author of the document. Texas' southern border remained controversial--the Rio Grande, or the Nueces? That issue was critical at the beginning of the Mexican-American War. The republic existed from March 2, 1836 until February 19, 1846, when it became the 28th state following American annexation.  https://www.tsl.texas.gov/treasures/republic/declaration.html?fbclid=IwY2xjawQSmiZleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFyekN0TFBwQnlKNU9DRTZSc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHvKRJSKMklzRtahzjRoAjEe1Gyb1uNgXIGX8OdhXhNu2HcvrmKLIgzHRR-NP_aem__FS3cTgGLRAvCS-a2faLJw

 

During the Texas Revolution, Sam Houston led the Texan Army to decisive victory againt Mexico at the Battle of San Jacinto. Subsequently, he was elected the first and later the third president of the Republic of Texas. He also was one of the first two senators from the state of Texas in Congress. As governor of Texas (1859-1861) and also of Tennessee (1827-1829), Houston was the only person to be elected as governor of two different states.  He was born March 2, 1793. 

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Three Papal Birthdays!

Pope Leo XIII was born March 2, 1810. He reigned in 1878-1903, the third longest pontificate after Pius IX and John Paul II. He is remembered as a pope concerned for social justice. In his 1891 encyclical "Rerum novarum," he argued for the rights of workers to a fair wage, to trade unions, and safe work places. His upholding of free enterprise and property rights steered a course between laissez-faire capitalism and socialism. He also promoted the use of the rosary and the revival of Thomism. When our current pope took the name Leo, he made an explicit connection to the teachings and example of his predecessor. 

Born March 2, 1876 as Eugenio Pacelli, Pope Pius XII reigned in 1939-1958. He oversaw canon law reform and liturgy reform. He clarified the nature of the church's teaching office, and also encouraged biblical scholarship. He defined ex cathedra the dogma of the Assumption of Mary. Pius remains controversial because he did not condemn Nazi atrocities contrasted to his opposition to Soviet Communism. This article from the Holocaust center Yad Vashem discusses the issues: https://www.yadvashem.org/articles/academic/pius-and-the-holocaust.html?fbclid=IwY2xjawQSglNleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFwa2UyQnoyYnBKZURCdmlUc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHl0Tj2Si5zhTQUdpKpMHqeEPfsNDQRHLuSoJ1byMii6bQvkeF-Wq8TLDPBn2_aem_a9F1Be-ansprsKFL7SlClw

Pope Adrian VI, born in Utrecht as Adriaan Florensz Boeyens on March 2, 1459. He ascended to the papacy in January 1522. He inherited dire challenges: the difficult situation of the papal finances; the early years of the Protestant Reformation; and the challenge of the Turks under Suleiman the Magnificent in the east. Adrian had only twenty months as pope before he died; poison was suspected but more likely he succumbed to stress-related illness. He was the only Dutch pope. He was the last non-Italian pope until the Polish archbishop Karol Wojtyła was elected as John Paul II in 1978.

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Poinsett and Poinsettias

Born March 2, 1779, Joel Roberts Poinsett was a physician, botanist, diplomat, and politician. He served in the South Carolina state legislature as well as representing the state in Congress. He was very opposed to nullification and led South Carolina's Unionist efforts in the 1830s. A respected expert in Latin American affairs, Poinsett was also the first ambassador to Mexico. He was also interested in Russia and was offered a position by Tsar Alexander I, which Poinsett declined as American and England approached war in 1812. Tragically, Poinsett oversaw the Trail of Tears during the late 1830s. He is perhaps best known for introducing what was then called the Mexican flame flower or "Flor de Nochebuena" (Christmas Eve flower) to the U.S. The plant soon became known as the poinsettia. I've read that the indigenous name of the plant is Cuetlaxochitl (kweh-tla-SO-cheetl). Should the plant be called that, rather than by the surname of an Anglo slaveowner?  

Black History Month's History

I read something about 100 years of Black History Month, so I looked it up. In 1926, historian Carter G. Woodson (pictured) along with the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (ASNLH), created "Negro History Week" for the second week of February, coinciding with the birthdays of Lincoln (Feb. 12) and Frederick Douglass (Feb. 14). African-American communities were already observing those days. In the 1930s, Negro History Week was a helpful antithesis to the growing southern "lost cause" idea that slaves had been well treated. Then, in 1969, black students and teachers at Kent State University proposed a Black History Month. The first such month happened at Kent State the following year. The observation caught on and soon was celebrated across the country. President Gerald Ford recognized Black History Month in 1976 during the national Bicentennial.

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Happy Birthday, Fayette County, Illinois

Fayette County, Illinois, where I was born and raised, was established 205 years ago, February 14, 1821. Here is part of the 1821 law. From parents to a few 4th-great-grandparents, I have 36 ancestors buried over there (42 if I include folks who may be buried there but have no stones), and lots of other relatives. Lots of living relatives, too!  The county is one of MANY places in the country named in honor of the Marquis de Lafayette. .... Regarding the law: the reason for the need to establish a county seat for Bond County, is that when Fayette was created, the Bond County seat--Perryville--was consequently within the bounds of Fayette. Thus Greenville became the Bond County seat, and Perryville (in the southwest corner of Fayette) soon became a ghost town.... Illinois was settled south to north. Like many counties of the time, Fayette was larger than it became and extended into northern, sparsely settled land: https://genealogytrails.com/ill/1825map.html

Zitkala-Ša : 150 Years

So interesting to learn about this woman this evening. Zitkala-Ša, who also used the name Gertrude Simmons Bonnin, was a Yankton Dakota writer, editor, translator, musician, educator, and political activist who wrote about Dakota culture, cultural identity, and Native American stories. She co-founded the National Council of American Indians, that fought for citizenship and civil rights for Native Americans. She also took issue with the boarding school system. Zitkala-Ša studied and played the violin at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston and taught music to Native children. She also wrote the libretto and songs for the first American Indian opera, The Sun Dance Opera (1913). Zitkala-Ša was born February 22, 1876.

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