On This Day: March 2nd … Strange Holidays
Old Stuff Day
Dr. Suess Day
National Banana Cream Pie Day
The swing on the amount of so-called holidays fluctuates rather quickly.
If you like banana cream pie, enjoy. Myself, I prefer to peel one and eat it straight away, but that’s me. I’ll do the other two and because the list is short, this would be a good place to highlight the events that happened in March.
And here we go.
Dr. Suess Day
Today is the birthday of Theodor Seuss Geisel and the National Education Association to endorse the importance of reading. A lesser-known fact about Dr. Seuss is that he created the word nerd. The first documented use of the word was in the 1950 book he wrote titled “If I Ran the Zoo” about a boy named Gerald McGrew who visits a zoo and ponders what it would be like if he ran it. So In a way, Dr. Seuss is partly responsible for nerd culture.
Dr. Suess was born on March 2, 1904, in Springfield, Massachusetts and his grandparents were German immigrants. He grew up around a wealthy extended family during World War I which helped shape his patriotism. As a scout, he sold War bonds and as the story goes, he sold so many that he was to be honored by President Theodor Roosevelt. When the award ceremony took place, however, Roosevelt only had nine medals leaving young Seuss without a medal. Teddy asked, “What’s this boy doing here?” and ever since Suess suffered from stage fright.
Seuss attended Dartmouth College where he joined a humor magazine called the Dartmouth Jack-O-Lantern. He would eventually become editor-in-chief of the publication, but when he was caught drinking he was forced to resign. This was the time of Prohibition and there was a zero-tolerance policy.
He drew over 400 political cartoons during World War II for the New York Daily newspaper called “PM.” Many of them were politically charged against the dictators Hitler and Mussolini and Japanese Americans were depicted as latent traitors. In them, he also showed his support of President Roosevelt and critiqued Congress and he wrote films for the U.S. Air Force.
By the 1950’s, he wrote children’s books after the war in La Jolla, California under the pen name Dr. Seuss. Some of these were “The Cat in the Hat,” “How the Grinch Stole Christmas,” and “Green Eggs and Ham,” and he continued to write until his death on September 24, 1991. His legacy lives on as his beloved children’s books continue to sell well and inspire young people to read. In 1997, the National Education Association chose his birthday to celebrate reading and the first Read Across America Day was held the next year in 1998.
Old Stuff Day
When asking someone "What's new?" or "What's happening?", how often do you hear "Nothing really, same old stuff."
Well, today, is Old Stuff Day, in recognition of this all too common response. It is suggestive of a boring time period, or a boring life style, how sad.
Old Stuff Day is not a day to do the same old stuff. Rather, it's a time to recognize the boring nature of your daily routine, and make some exciting changes. Find new and different activities, projects, and hobbies. Attend an event. Do something, anything, different.
And regarding stuff, this is a classic from George Carlin on—stuff.
“Stuff” that happened in March
1 Yellowstone becomes the U.S.'s first national park. (1872)
2 Texas declared its independence from Mexico (1836).
2 Wilt Chamberlain of the Philadelphia Warriors scores 100 points in a basketball game. (1962)
3 The Star Spangled Banner becomes the National Anthem (1931)
4 The Constitution of the United States of America goes into effect. (1789)
4 Mrs. Charles Fahning of Buffalo N.Y. is recognized as the first woman to bowl a perfect 300 game. (1930)
5 The Boston Massacre occurred. (1770)
6 Silly putty is invented. (1950)
6 Well known and loved Walter Cronkite signs off as anchorman off the CBS Evening News (1981)
7 Alexander Graham Bell patents the Telephone. (1876)
7 Monopoly board game is invented (1933)
8 President Ronald Reagan calls the USSR an "Evil Empire" (1983)
8 Baseball great Joe DiMaggio dies (1999)
9 Ironclad ships the Monitor and the Merrimack battle in the Civil War.
10 The U.S. government issues paper money for the first time. (1862)
10 Alexander Graham Bell places the world's first telephone call, to his assistant in the next room. (1876)
11 The most famous storm in American history begins.... the Blizzard of 1888.(1888)
12 Girl Scouts were founded. (1912)
12 Baseball great Joe DiMaggio agrees to a new contract with the NY Yankees, and gets a $6,250 raise. My, how times have changed. (1942)
13 Senate begins impeachment trial of President Andrew Johnson. (1868)
13 Greenwood patented earmuffs, originally called the "Champion Ear Protector". (1877)
13 Harvard University is named after clergyman John Harvard. (1639)
14 Eli Whitney patents the Cotton Gin (1794)
14 George Eastman, founder of Eastman Kodak Company, commits suicide rather than facing the ravages of cancer. (1932)
15 "The Ides of March" Julius Caesar is stabbed to death by Marcus Junius Brutus. (44 B.C.)
16 Professor Robert Goddard launches the first liquid fuel rocket. (1926)
16 The Mai Lai Massacre takes place in Vietnam. (1968)
17 On this day everyone is a little bit Irish on Saint Patrick's Day
17 The rubber band was invented. Can you imagine life without them? (1845)
18 Soviet Union cosmonaut Alexei Leonov becomes the first person to take a spacewalk. (1965)
19 Congress approves Daylight Savings Time. (1918)
20 Harriet Elizabeth Beecher Stowe publishes the book Uncle Tom's Cabin . (1852)
21 The infamous Alcatraz prison is closed. (1963)
23 Patrick Henry declares "Give me liberty, or give me death!" (1775)
24 German scientist Robert Koch announces he has discovered the bacillus that causes Tuberculosis. (1882)
24 Elvis Presley joins the U.S. Army. (1958)
25 The European Economic Community (ECC) is established by the Treaty of Rome. (1957)
26 Ludwig von Beethoven dies in Vienna, Austria. (1827)
26 Dr. Jonas Salk invents a vaccine to fight polio.
26 The Eastman Dry Plate and Chemical Company manufactures the first motion picture film. (1885)
27 The biggest earthquake ever recorded strikes Anchorage, Alaska. It measured 8.3 on the Richter scale. (1964)
28 Nathaniel Briggs patents the washing machine. (1797)
28 The city of Madrid falls to the forces of Francisco Franco, ending the Spanish Civil War. (1939)
28 Three Mile Island nuclear power plant accident occurs in Middletown, Pa. (1979)
29 Ice jams stop the flow of water over Niagara Falls. (1848)
29 Coca Cola is invented. (1886)
30 The 15th amendment goes into effect, giving black men the right to vote. (1870)
30 Jeopardy debuts on television. (1964)
31 The Eiffel Tower opens in Paris, France (1889)
More strange holidays are coming!