History of the Day: 10/25

On this day in 1983, the U.S. and it's international coalition of really, really small Caribbean allies invaded Grenada to the consternation of almost every other world power. When Thatcher expressed her displeasure (as Grenada was part of the Commonwealth and all), Reagan did that blank expression thing all my students do when I ask them why they have the teacher version of the textbook while working on the chapter questions, and then said, "Well ... ummm ... it's because ... ummm ... you say GreNAYda, and I say GreNAHda ...," at which point Dan Quayle joined in and said, "You say potato and I say ... pee oh tee a ... toe?" Mostly, I'm just embarassed because they called it "Operation Urgent Fury" which, I'm sorry, just kind of sounds like a bowel condition. Happy Birthday to Johann Strauss the II, Austrian composer of the Blue Danube, born on this day in 1825. I tried to think of a good joke for him, but nothing presented itself, and I knew if I tried I'd just be grasping at Strauss. Georges Bizet, the French composer responsible for the opera Carmen (you've probably heard Toreador) was born 13 years later. Of being a composer and musician he once said: What a beautiful art, but what a wretched profession. Speaking of art, Happy Birthday to Pablo Picasso (1881) who, somehow, was able to capture the uncertainty of his age and the human condition by painting the world through beer goggles. Guernica commemorates the bombing of a Spanish town by Germans during the Spanish civil war. Weeping Woman ... well, it's kind of self-explanatory. Crucifixion is an odd one. Although you can barely tell what's going on, it contains all the elements of a traditional rendering of the crucifixion (sun and moon, Mary and St. John, wounds). But my favorite painting of his is Don Quixote. Cool. Two more modern musicians were also born on this day. Jon Anderson (1944) fronted the band Yes. If you tune into your local rock station, you're likely to hear Roundabout or Seen All Good People even today. Remember that 80s movie Legend where Tom Cruise was a woodland kid and Tim Curry was a ginormous devil? Anderson also sang the main theme from that movie, Loved by the Sun. Ed Robertson (1970) is the lead singer and songwriter for Barenaked Ladies. The lyrics to their songs are unbelievably complex, often depressing and usually quite deep (or playful, depending on the song). Here's two of their lesser-known but truly fantastic ditties, When I Fall and What a Good Boy. Geoffrey Chaucer (pictured here) died on this day in 1400. If you haven't read the Canterbury Tales, you should. It's a nasty, nasty book. You'd be surprised. Here's a small excerpt from the prologue to the Summoner's Tale. I'll leave it in the Middle English, but you can get the main gist of his point. This part details a trip to Hell where the speaker is looking for the friars and wonders why he can't find any. Just so you know, the Summoner does NOT like friars: Hold up thy tayl, thou sathanas!--quod he; --shewe forth thyn ers, and lat the frere se Where is the nest of freres in this place!-- And er that half a furlong wey of space, Right so as bees out swarmen from an hyve, Out of the develes ers ther gonne dryve Twenty thousand freres on a route, And thurghout helle swarmed al aboute, And comen agayn as faste as they may gon, And in his ers they crepten everychon. He clapte his tayl agayn and lay ful stille. EEK! Finally, today is the feastday of Saints Crispin and Crispian. Their beagle, Crispy the wonder-dog, didn't make it onto the roster. They are patron saints of cobblers because they acted kind of like those elves in that one fairy tale, making shoes by night so they could preach in the day. The resident king killed them because he wanted a pie and all they could provide him was a shoe. (Get it, get it????) Shakespeare immortalized the day in his play Henry V, when said king rouses his men to battle with one of the truly great inspirational speeches: This story shall the good man teach his son; And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by, From this day to the ending of the world, But we in it shall be remember'd; We few, we happy few, we band of brothers; For he today that sheds his blood with me Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile, This day shall gentle his condition: And gentlemen in England now abed Shall think themselves accursed they were not here, And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day. Here is Kenneth Branagh (who will be directing the new Thor movie coming out in 2011, hooray!!!) as Henry V giving the speech. And here is the greatest inspirational speech of all time. I listen to it every day right before 5th period. Once more onto the breach, dear friends, once more or close up the wall with our English/Math/Science/Social Studies dead!!