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2011-01-27 18:37:42.000 – Stacey Kawecki,  Observer and Meteorologist

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By no means would I consider myself a history buff, but I do enjoy learning about how the United States of America became the United States of America (I also harbor a strange obsession with King Henry VIII – but I digress). Let’s rewind to the last Independence Day. I wrote a comment about the Revolutionary War and how on July 4th, the Declaration of Independence was read and distributed to the public. In retrospect, I am shocked at how little I actually know about the American Revolution.

Growing up in New Jersey, one learns an awful lot about General Washington crossing the Delaware River. However, I feel that my education about how it all began was seriously lacking. We learned about the Boston Tea Party, the Boston Massacre, old Iron Sides (the U.S.S. Constitution). We learned about Paul Revere’s ride, Lexington and Concord, and the ‘shot heard round the world’. Reading a few paragraphs out of history book does not do justice to the passion and injustice the colonists experienced.

Being in Massachusetts and visiting the Lexington Green, the U.S.S. Constitution, and Concord (not only home to one of the most famous battles in American history, but also home to many influential authors like Emerson, Alcott, and Hawthorne) was a more profound history lesson than the years of taking notes out of boring textbook.

Turns out, another effective medium of translating history is drama (or nowadays, DVDs). Yesterday our volunteer proffered a mini series for the evening’s entertainment. It’s John Adams, as written by David McCullough. After the first episode, we are all hooked! As soon as I’m done writing this comment and we’ve watched our obligatory episode of Jeopardy!, we’ll be watching the next episode to see what happens and how, from John Adams’ perspective, we were brought to war.

Stacey Kawecki,  Observer and Meteorologist