Penelope’s Loom

                                                                          Bully! Why am I writing about such a controversial man? Someone who broke up many trusts, and yet still held eugenical beliefs? Because he was such a fascinating mixture of contradictions--perhaps one of the truly American men, in the full flower of his fallibility.   But, he was a naturalist.   A reformer.  An avid taxidermist (ewwwww, gross!), An historian.  A husband and father of six loud, happy children.  A genus, who could speed read, and sometimes read three books in a single day.  He was a self styled rancher, who wielded a Bowie knife crafted at Tiffany's.  He was also a man of firsts, who was the first president to invite an African American to dinner (Booker T Washington) in the White House. Alright.  What were his less attractive traits?  As I've already said, eugenics.  Ewww again. Does anyone remember eugenics? OK--here's a brief refresher for you--it was EVIL! There was negative and po

 First, Happy New Year Dear Reader! So, in keeping with my evolving subject matter, let’s raise  a glass of champagne to the new year, and be grateful that Donald baby is no longer in the White House! Let us also be thankful to be living in such an exciting time! And, I mean excitement in not always a pleasant sense! And, so let us investigate a bit of the holiday known as New Years, shall we?  Here's a nice quote from a fairly reputable source: Caesar instituted January 1 as the first day of the year , partly to honor the month's namesake: Janus, the Roman god of beginnings, whose two faces allowed him to look back into the past and forward into the future. https://www.history.com/topics/holidays/new-years#:~:text=January%201%20Becomes%20New%20Year's%20Day,-The%20early%20Roman&text=As%20part%20of%20his%20reform,and%20forward%20into%20the%20future. So, who exactly was this god named Janus?  He was also known as the god of two faces, one perhaps facing the past, and the

WARNING.  If you are religious, and pious, don't read this.  As an avowed pagan, I am going to write about Christmas--one of my favorite holidays. Did you know, that Santa Claus, Christmas Trees, lights, tinsel, carols, turkey, etc., are all a part of traditions begun (largely) in the nineteenth century? And, there is a story, among historians interested in the Roman Empire, that later Roman emperors chose December 25 as a day for pagan winter festivals to essentially celebrate on one day, perhaps to escape the chaos of multiple days of celebration during the winter season. It is fascinating to me, how modern traditions evolved.  Truly, I don't think that people in general care about these things. Let's take Christmas trees... It was Prince Albert, who transplanted the pagan custom of greenery at Christmas, which was ritually practiced in Germany, to England.  On the Christtmas trees in the palace, Albert had candles placed on most of the branches, and that's how we got