HISTORY ALL AROUND US
In Chicago, we periodically get a glimpse of our history when people dig east of Michigan Avenue downtown. Much of this area is landfill from the Chicago Fire, and the area just north of the river is landfill from Streeter's garbage dump. In addition, Grant park (or parts of it) were once a municipal cemetery. Two stories today touch on this sort of history.
First, the Moscow Times has an article about remains of Italian soldiers from World War II being returned to Italy from Russia. These soldiers were sent into Russia with the Nazis in Operation Barbarossa. For decades the Soviets would not even say where their graves were, but now the Russians and Italians are working to repatriate the remains to Italy. Proving that Hitler was not a good ally, the article indicates that fewer than half of the 230,000 Italian soldiers sent to Russia in the war returned alive.
Second, the New York Times has a very interesting article (registration required) about the reburial tomorrow of the remains of 400 black people buried in New York City during the Colonial Era. The tale of the disinterment of these remains is not very interesting. However, the article does have several interesting tidbits that I, for one, was unaware of:
• At one point during the Colonial era, up to 20% of the population of New York (then only Manhattan) was black;
• New York had more slaves than any city other than Charleston, South Carolina during this era.
• The New York City slave exchange was at South and Wall Streets. Yes, the very same Wall Street…
The pure number of slaves in New York makes some amount of sense, since Philadelphia, while wealthier than New York, was still heavily influenced by Quakers, who would not have owned slaves. Similarly, Boston was still heavily influenced by the Cotton Mather types and also would not have looked kindly upon slavery. Still, it is interesting, since we think of slavery as a Southern phenomenon.
Finally, the article contains a fine example of the problem with Manhattan addresses. Because there is no centralized point from which all street addresses start , even when you have an address (here, 290 Broadway), you need the intersection to actually know where it is (Broadway at Duane Street). That's just silly.
I GOT WHICH PART!?!
The Nation's Finest Newspaper picked up a story about the musical a Mr. George O'Dowd composed and wrote the lyrics for. You might know Mr. O'Dowd by his alter ego—Boy George. The story is not very interesting (at all), except for a little casting tidbit. The principal character in the musical is Boy George, with a man named Leigh Bowery being another important character. However, George O'Dowd chose to cast himself as . . . Leigh Bowery. Some Scots kid was cast as Boy George. I bet THAT was a surprise.
MAYBE RUSH WAS STONED
As many of you know, Rush Limbaugh recently resigned from ESPN's football show because of the reaction to comments he made stating that Donovan McNabb was favored by the media and NFL because he was (and is) black, and that he was overrated. These comments (particularly the latter) are demonstrably false. However, now it appears that Rush may have an excuse for these idiotic statements. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is reporting that Rush's former housekeeper claims to have procured thousands of prescription pain killers for Rush over the course of four years. She also alleges that she has an e-mail from him saying, "you know how this stuff works . . . the more you get used to, the more it takes." Finally, the authorities are alleged to be investigating this, although they have no comment at this point.
A few things are striking about this story. First, as little as I like Rush, I don't believe that even he would be stupid enough to send an e-mail regarding his illegal drug dealings. Second, for all of us his law-and-order rhetoric, if these allegations are true, he should be sentenced for drug crimes equivalent to the street value by weight of crack for these pills.
In Chicago, we periodically get a glimpse of our history when people dig east of Michigan Avenue downtown. Much of this area is landfill from the Chicago Fire, and the area just north of the river is landfill from Streeter's garbage dump. In addition, Grant park (or parts of it) were once a municipal cemetery. Two stories today touch on this sort of history.
First, the Moscow Times has an article about remains of Italian soldiers from World War II being returned to Italy from Russia. These soldiers were sent into Russia with the Nazis in Operation Barbarossa. For decades the Soviets would not even say where their graves were, but now the Russians and Italians are working to repatriate the remains to Italy. Proving that Hitler was not a good ally, the article indicates that fewer than half of the 230,000 Italian soldiers sent to Russia in the war returned alive.
Second, the New York Times has a very interesting article (registration required) about the reburial tomorrow of the remains of 400 black people buried in New York City during the Colonial Era. The tale of the disinterment of these remains is not very interesting. However, the article does have several interesting tidbits that I, for one, was unaware of:
• At one point during the Colonial era, up to 20% of the population of New York (then only Manhattan) was black;
• New York had more slaves than any city other than Charleston, South Carolina during this era.
• The New York City slave exchange was at South and Wall Streets. Yes, the very same Wall Street…
The pure number of slaves in New York makes some amount of sense, since Philadelphia, while wealthier than New York, was still heavily influenced by Quakers, who would not have owned slaves. Similarly, Boston was still heavily influenced by the Cotton Mather types and also would not have looked kindly upon slavery. Still, it is interesting, since we think of slavery as a Southern phenomenon.
Finally, the article contains a fine example of the problem with Manhattan addresses. Because there is no centralized point from which all street addresses start , even when you have an address (here, 290 Broadway), you need the intersection to actually know where it is (Broadway at Duane Street). That's just silly.
I GOT WHICH PART!?!
The Nation's Finest Newspaper picked up a story about the musical a Mr. George O'Dowd composed and wrote the lyrics for. You might know Mr. O'Dowd by his alter ego—Boy George. The story is not very interesting (at all), except for a little casting tidbit. The principal character in the musical is Boy George, with a man named Leigh Bowery being another important character. However, George O'Dowd chose to cast himself as . . . Leigh Bowery. Some Scots kid was cast as Boy George. I bet THAT was a surprise.
MAYBE RUSH WAS STONED
As many of you know, Rush Limbaugh recently resigned from ESPN's football show because of the reaction to comments he made stating that Donovan McNabb was favored by the media and NFL because he was (and is) black, and that he was overrated. These comments (particularly the latter) are demonstrably false. However, now it appears that Rush may have an excuse for these idiotic statements. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is reporting that Rush's former housekeeper claims to have procured thousands of prescription pain killers for Rush over the course of four years. She also alleges that she has an e-mail from him saying, "you know how this stuff works . . . the more you get used to, the more it takes." Finally, the authorities are alleged to be investigating this, although they have no comment at this point.
A few things are striking about this story. First, as little as I like Rush, I don't believe that even he would be stupid enough to send an e-mail regarding his illegal drug dealings. Second, for all of us his law-and-order rhetoric, if these allegations are true, he should be sentenced for drug crimes equivalent to the street value by weight of crack for these pills.
posted by David at 1:26 PM
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