IT'S BACK!

I will post more on this at a later date, and as the premier draws closer. But for now I just wanted to let everyone out there know...THE LEAGUE is back! I am pumped for season 2.

Books: As If an Enemy's Country

This book took me a while to finish, but not because I did not enjoy it. In fact I loved it. The Richard Archer book came out earlier this summer. It is one of a very few books on one of my favorite subjects that transcends the gap between intellectual study and popular reading material. The book is not as dense as some of Gordon Wood's works on the Revolution, but still provides intelligent analysis from Archer's comprehensive research into on of the most fascinating times in American history, the British occupation of Boston. It is easy to become accustomed to the geographical, and often social distance between us and war. Yes I have great respect and empathy for the nature of warfare, but my life has not changed in the slightest since Iraq and Afghanistan. While I experience the changes in prices of oil and other goods, that is about the extent that the war has affected my day to day life. We are extremely fortunate for this distance. I think it is fascinating that American soil has only been actively occupied by enemy troops twice in our history. The last time foreign troops fought a war on our soil was the War of 1812, and before that was the Revolutionary War. Can you imagine living in a city and having your world turned upside down by thousands of foreign troops that were sent to "keep the peace". As you can imagine, over time the tensions between residents and soldiers grew greater and greater. As If an Enemey's Country describes the torn relations of Boston's citizens over the occupation. There is so much more to this situation than the Boston Massacre. In particular there was fight between soldiers and rope makers on the docks just days before the Massacre. This book isn't very long (227 pages) and is a great read if you have even a remote interest in American history and the Revolution. I give it 5 red hunting caps. Great book.

Activity: New England Aquarium

I think it's safe to assume if you are from New England, chances are that you have been to the New England Aquarium in Boston either with your familiy or on a school trip. Yesterday, I went back to the aquarium for my first visit in about 10 (that doesn't count going in to apply for a job last summer. Unfortunately, they don't just let anyone play with the seals and feed the sharks). First thing I noticed was that the aquarium felt a whole lot bigger when I was younger. All in all, I don't think you'll see anything here that you won't at another aquarium but it is still a good aquarium. What makes it a great destination is the Boston Harbor and the attractions in the area. A popular tourist destination, a Tuesday afternoon felt like a Saturday. It was lively, people were excited to be out in the nice weather. Go grab lunch on the dock of Joe's or any of the local restaurants before or after the aquarium. The highlight of the aquarium is the seal shows. The fur seal show is a bit more interactive and lively than the harbor seal show. After watching these I have come to the conclusion that seals are the puppies of the ocean. I had to hold back from jumping over the barrier and grabbing one of the fur seals as it danced and howled at the trainer. Boston Harbor Cruises are a great activity too, whether you are boozing or not. The evening cruise is especially cool because they pull up to the USS Constitution, which dates back to about 1800, and the crew fires off a canon at sunset. You prepare for the blast and I can't describe how loud and powerful it actually is. There are some cool facts about the Harbor Islands and buildings in Boston and the tour does not overwhelm you with boring information, just quick and interested tidbits about the city. Never felt too touristy to me. I highly recommend going down towards the aquarium on a sunny day and walking around, do some activities and head over to the North End for a bit. Great location.

Video of the Day

I am sure most of you have heard this song...but I don't think you've all seen this video and it is really exceptionally cool. If you don't know the song, it is "Home" by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros. I just saw this on sunset and had to post (gotta give credit where its due). Tell me what you think.

The Dog Days of Summer

This tune just makes me feel upbeat. It is just a great summer tune. I think that's about all there is to say...listen and you'll know what I mean.

Activity of the Week: Old State House Sunday Series

More than likely I am the only one interested in this event but I wanted to pass it along anyways. No sense in wasting a Sunday sitting around when there is stuff to do in town. The Bostonian Society runs great historical events and is a very active historical society. They do a great job at the Old State House, one of my favorite buildings in Boston. I went and saw a Boston Massacre re-enactment there this spring and it was very impressive. The best part about their program and events is that you can be a history professor or just a casual observer and you will not feel uncomfortable. The events are as intellectual or hands on as you want them to be. They call this the Sunday series and I think it is a lecture or forum. This topic is of particular interest to me and I spent the spring semester studying the conflicting ideals of middle class Bostonians' in the 15 years leading up to the Revolution. Here is the description from their website.

Sunday July 25, 2:00p.m Sunday Series Tour: The Better Sort and the Meaner Sort: Class in the 18th Century Boston
How did social class affect the lives of the revolutionaries? Learn how rich and poor lived in 18th century Boston and how they all joined together to fight for American independence.

UPDATE: Be glad that there wasn't a massive inflow of College Take followers at the Sunday Series today. I was very disappointed. First of all, the event was scheduled for 2 PM, as the website clearly stated yesterday. When I showed up at 1:55, the staff informed me that the talk was at 1 PM. They were extremely rude and their explanation for the time change was that the director of educational programs decided to change it to fit his schedule better. There was no update on the website. Very poorly handled and the staff was pretty disorganized. To their credit they decided to do another one at 2:15 for a group of about 5 people. The guy giving the talk was impersonal and did no more than outline the basic characteristics of each social class that any 7th grader could do in a 5 minute talk. It was not intellectual and the generalizations did not teach me, or anyone there, anything new. The guy giving the talk tried to use props to get the crowd involved and it was pretty pathetic. The only good thing that came out of the visit was that I was reminded of how great the museum and artifacts they have housed there are.

Song of the Day

The Avett Brothers are similar to Noah and the Whale in their piano and other instrumentals... and I really like Noah and the Whale. This song is awesome, make sure to listen to the lyrics. And the video is old school yet original, so i love it. Enjoy!

Song of the Day

This song is just unreal...the band, The Freelance Whales, is as unique as it gets. This live performance is great, and the studio version is even better. Be sure to download this! This just may be the song of the summer for me. Enjoy!

Seasons Man

For all the rap fans out there (and even just music fans), this is a mix that should give you goose bumps. Not much else to say...have a listen

Jebidiah Likes Nick Drake

You may recognize this tune from an AT&T commercial...and sometimes it bothers me when songs I like are on commercials. Not this time, I'm just so happy AT&T introduced me to Mr. Drake. This song is beautiful. Have a listen...

Movie of the Summer

Those who know me are well aware of my fascination with Pat Tillman's life. It was only a matter of time before there was a film about his life. Thankfully this is a film that embodies what Pat believed in and the terrible lies that were told by the Government to cover up his fratricidal death. This film is getting a lot of buzz at movie festivals like Sundance and Cannes. It is set to come out in August. I am not sure if it will be a nationwide release, or where to see documentaries like this but I will certainly find out by August and pass along that information. Here is a trailer to the film.

4th of July

The Fourth of July is my favorite holiday. No American summer would be complete without the fourth. As a friend once put it, "the fourth of July is like Christmas with sundresses". You can't go wrong on the fourth. Is there anything better than sunshine, beaches, barbecues, baseball and fireworks? I just watched a flyover at Fenway and got chills. Just awesome and I don't think any post will do justice to the importance of this holiday. The Continental Congress voted on July 2nd to officially move to break from England and a couple days later the text of the Declaration was finalized by Thomas Jefferson with the help of Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, John Locke, Roger Sherman and Robert Livingston. The Declaration is masterfully written and I think everyone should read it at least once a year to remember the origins of our country and the debt we owe to all the men and women who devote their lives to uphold the truths and spread American values as laid out 234 years ago by wise men. Here is a scene from the HBO series John Adams when the Congress voted to break from England and the first reading of the Declaration in Philadelphia. Happy Fourth of July everyone!

IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America

hen in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.

— John Hancock

New Hampshire:
Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton

Massachusetts:
John Hancock, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry

Rhode Island:
Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery

Connecticut:
Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott

New York:
William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris

New Jersey:
Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark

Pennsylvania:
Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross

Delaware:
Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean

Maryland:
Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton

Virginia:
George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton

North Carolina:
William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn

South Carolina:
Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton

Georgia:
Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton