as an exploratory journey through that old party question: if you could have a drink with anyone in history, who would it be? History is full of people you’d love to have a drink with. Let’s meet a few.
as an exploratory journey through that old party question: if you could have a drink with anyone in history, who would it be? History is full of people you’d love to have a drink with. Let’s meet a few.
Have a drink with: Glenn Miller Pennsylvania six-five-thousand! Ask him about: giving Sousa some swing Chances are, if I say “Glenn Miller,” something like “Moonlight Serenade” floats into your mind on cottony clouds, the dreamy musical equivalent of a Vaseline filter; or maybe it’s the sharp, perky big-band swing of “In the Mood.” Point is,…
Have a drink at: Your College Dining Hall Cabbage: now with extra protein! Discuss: FOOD FIGHT Today, a college’s dining hall is part of its overall outreach in the competition to attract students, and to keep them happy and achieving while they’re on campus. So much is put into the food and the architecture that…
Have a drink with: Daylight Saving Time Spring forward, fall back. Ask about: How do I change the clock in my car, again? You may think you have it bad this week, with Daylight Saving Time going into effect: it’s hard to get going in the dark mornings, who knows which clocks you forgot to…
Have a drink with: Elias Howe Adventures in sewing: now with cannibals! Ask him about: patent trolls It’s kind of easy to knock Elias Howe, historically speaking. There is a statue of him in Bridgeport, Connecticut, where he is claimed as a famous son despite the fact that he was born in Massachusetts; he is…
Have a drink with: Henry Opukaha’ia Aloha oe. Ask him about: No pineapple on Pepe’s, right? We’ve talked before about how Connecticut has given the world a wide assortment of innovations, some good, some bad: speed limits, law schools and scary Puritan judges, sure, but also Pepe’s pizza, submarines, constitutional government (maybe?) and P.T. Barnum….
Have a drink with: The Committee of the Proprietors of Common and Undivided Lands at New Haven Say that one five times fast. Ask them about: Food trucks, church buildings and underground parking structures There are situations in which you are pleased to find your hometown has made national news. A horrific instance of mass…
Have a drink with: The Yale Medical School Class of 1824 Did you bring a shovel? Ask them about: Buying your own school supplies On a cold January morning almost 200 years ago in New Haven, Connecticut, someone came knocking on Jonathan Knight’s door. This itself was not necessarily unusual, as Knight had his thumb…
Skip drinks because it’s: The Speed Limit You there, do you know how fast you were going? Ask it about: Can it drive 55? Most of us like to think that history is a parade of accomplishments, but when you get down to it somebody has to invent the everyday stuff, too – and as…
Have a drink with: David Bushnell Damn the torpedoes. Ask him about: The one that got away Folks in Warrenton, Georgia were understandably sad when Doctor David Bush passed away in 1826. Single and in his eighties at the time of his death, the old man was a local institution: in more than thirty years…
Have a drink with: New Haven Puritans Judge swung his fist down, plunk plunk… Ask them about: Anything but Quakers. It’s election season, which means we are faced with ample opportunity to confront our worst tendencies and unresolved problems as a society, along with the inevitable call to harken back to a better, simpler, more moral…
