The 200th anniversary of the births of Charles Darwin and Abraham Lincoln.
Have you ever seen clips of those TV shows from the 50s where they'd have actors play the parts of famous folks from different eras, long past?
It would be cool to imagine Darwin and Lincoln conversing over dinner.
I guess statistically, it's likely that some very important folks will be born on the same day, but really, these are two giants in their century, and how cool is it that we can celebrate their work on this anniversary? Way cool.
One of my all-time favorite exam questions as a student, which many of my colleagues still use, was to imagine a dinner party at which Alexander the Great, Cicero, Thomas Aquinas, Martin Luther, and Charles Darwin were guests, and to recount their conversation. Obviously, as a European history course, Lincoln wasn't invited, but maybe someday I can teach a course that lets me add him to the guest list :)
ReplyDeleteBarb
My checkword is "paters" :)
Very cool.
ReplyDeleteBack in the 1970s(?) there used to be a show hosted by Steve Allen in which people would dress up and converse as famous historical figures at a dinner party. I don't think it would fly today unless Montaigne and Winston Churchill agreed to eat live bugs.