Day 9–Natural History Museum and Yankee Stadium

It was extremely interesting to learn about the virulent feelings of racism in New York City during the Civil War due to its impact on their economy (38 cents of every dollar generated through the cotton industry went to some New York City business related to it).  I think few people would be aware of the city’s role as a shipping conduit between southern cotton and Liverpudlian textile mills.  Also, the variety of views about slaves seeking freedom in the north was interesting, too.  There are pieces of this I will be able to use with the third grade classes.  The notebook full of information will be extremely useful as well–particularly the CD.  I almost wish I had had this material a year ago, when I was putting together my presentation about the origins of the Civil War with my information from last year’s visit to the Lincoln Museum and Library in Springfield.  Nonetheless, I see many good ideas coming from this material.

My visit to the Natural History Museum brought back old memories of a serialized TV show I used to watch religiously in the midst of a regular cartoon hour–only this program was an actual film that had real actors.  It took place in New York City, with a bunch of kids getting in one of those boats in Central Park–just like we saw the other day–and rowing under the bridge, only coming out in a prehistoric world full of dinosaurs.  The serial was called “Journey To The Beginning Of Time”, and all my friends watched the show too, and then we would all talk about it the next day at school.  This all comes to mind because of our walking tour of Central Park, and the fact that Natural History Museum paleontologists (I’m pretty sure of this) were used as consultants for the show.  So, when I went into the museum today, I made a beeline for the dinosaur displays.  Any extra informationI can glean from these exhibits will certainly be shared with my students, who generally cannot get enough information about dinosaurs (I have one student who discusses facts about velociraptors virtually every day).  It’s always interesting  to me that with the wealthof knowledge available about dinosaurs, there is still no agreement about the color of the skin on these gigantic reptilians, since there is no old skin to draw from that has survived.

The ballpark experience was a fantastic way to end our stay in the city, and a nice segue to the beckoning Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.  My ticket for a seat behind the right field foul pole may not have been as good as I had hoped, but it was awfully good considering I acquired it online (with great help) last night.  I am not a big Yankee fan, but I always respect them.  They are the standard against which all other teams are measured, no matter how you feel about them. Tonight, they had the luxury of sitting the highest-paid player in the majors (Alex Rodriguez) and still winning (actually the one person I cheer for on the Yankees is their manager, Joe Girardi, a baseball player from my old school, Northwestern).  No matter–there is always something thrilling about sitting in a packed house, with everyone anticipating a certain pitch, a certain play, or the arrival of a certain player into the game–such as Mariano Rivera, an absolute lock for the Hall of Fame, as is Derek Jeter, and likely Andy Petitte.

I just wanted to add a few thoughts about the Grateful Dead exhibit.  As an attendee of 10…or 11 (use your own imagination as to why I don’t remember how many) shows, I can say I enjoyed this band immensely, and the crowds were always unique.  They used to come into Chicago when I was back in college and play three nights in a row, so you always knew you would see at least one show.  They would also do the same in Wisconsin, at a venue just over the Illinois border.  I am under no illusions that these guys were just peace and love hippies, though they did have an open additude towards their fans (i. e., allowing taping of their shows without a hassle, for example).  They were also shrewd businessmen, as Ed O’Donnell pointed out as well.  When The Dead told their fans to give them their addresses to tell about future gigs and band news, they were setting up a rock-solid data base to market their recordings and various paraphrenalia.  And people bought into it bigtime.  In fact, as the exhibit states, ‘…in 1993 they sold 1.7 million tickets, and by the early 1990′s The Grateful Dead were the #1 touring band in the United States.” 

Did I mention how awesome the music was too?  My favorites were “I Know You Rider” and “I Need A Miracle”.

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