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October 24, 2009 at 13:51:08     Permalink Where were You when They Dropped the Bombs? Diary Entry by Margaret Bassett (about the author)

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If you were not born yet, that's okay. You can be an historian, and this is just as good a topic as any. Less gruesome, maybe, are other wars. When the Guard shot students at Kent State or Jackson State, perhaps. How did you spend November 11, 2001? Wars are not all that history has to offer, however.

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If you were not born yet, that's okay. You can be an historian, and this is just as good a topic as any. Less gruesome, maybe, are other wars. When the Guard shot students at Kent State or Jackson State, perhaps. How did you spend November 11, 2001? Wars are not all that history has to offer, however.

This is my personal constructive criticism of many articles at OpEdNews--boring! I grant topics like the public option and Glen Beck are important, but they are of the moment. One has a tendency to make personal observations and then go on, maybe even giving Barack Obama a little advice. So, as an example of advice needed, why not remember two thoughts: The President won the Nobel Peace Prize and he previously announced he wanted to work on nuclear non-proliferation. Considering that his advisers have researched the subject for him, I wonder if members here might not want to discuss some events they've learned to share with their readers.

And that's just one suggestion for a topic more exciting than Fox News. Another very well might deal with the issue of early childhood education in the future. Just supplying basic needs of food and shelter becomes important in a time of economic recession, but children grow so fast and need to learn while they are young. How about better land use as we tackle global warming? Or maybe the best way to change a national mindset to wellness from sickness. If American history shows that handling personal economics needs to change from disaster relief to planned usage--it's also a topic which can be understood from historical perspectives.

Instead of using the term "history" might we want to embark on a timeline of trends. Take, for example, the process of political protest. Would we not be richer for knowing how the SDS (Students for a Democratic Society) came to be? Would it now help to see what persons like Tom Hayden, Bobby Rush, or Bernadine Dohrn are doing during their later years?

I suggest you dig around and come up with new material for our venue. The purpose of any publication is to inform. Writing profiles of those instrumental in earlier affairs is a way to do this. Reviewing books, already documenting American history, will add to our knowledge. Finding videos of earlier events will be helpful.

For the really poetic, an article could be fashioned between the Grant Park of 1968 and 2008. It's a metaphor of change and hope for the Democratic Party.

 

Margaret Bassett--OEN editor--is an 87-year old, currently living in senior housing, with a lifelong interest in political conumbra. Bachelors from State University of Iowa (1944) and Masters from Roosevelt University (1975) help to unravel (more...)
 

 

 
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