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: 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: 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…
Have a drink with: The Gideons Rocky Raccoon checked into his room, only to find… Ask them about: Getting into your hotel room Now Rocky Raccoon, he fell back in his room, Only to find Gideon’s Bible. Gideon checked out, and he left it, no doubt, To help with good Rocky’s revival. – The Beatles…
Have a drink with: The Gordon Rioters Angry Protestant mob, muse to Charles Dickens Ask them about: Looting, pillaging, using the word “popery” without laughing. (Try it: popery popery popery.) “If they touch my work that’s a part of so many laws, what becomes of the laws in general, what becomes of the religion, what…
Have a drink with: Queen Isabella of Spain Queen, ass-kicker, Rules girl, working mom Ask her about: kicking everyone out of Spain A few year-end lists recommended Kristin Downey’s biography of Queen Isabella, so lately I’ve been knee-deep in early modern Spain and a lot of questions about the famous lady. What is image-making and what…
Have a drink with: Akhenaten Pharaoh, gender-bender, sun-worshiper, innovator Ask him about: Starting your own religion in five easy steps It’s amazing that so much interest persists in the ancient Egyptian ruler Akhenaten, a king about whom precious little is clear: no one knows when he was born or when he died, why he made…
Have a drink with: St. Teresa of Avila Reformer, mystic, dreamer, smart lady. Ask her about: that time she told the devil to piss off. I grew up thinking saints were terribly stodgy, righteous people who had somehow gotten themselves onto life’s “Do Not Call” list for doubt and temptation. It wasn’t until later in…
