What are you doing for Columbus Day?

[Penguin]

I'm going to buy a boat and go exploring! :)

[SanJoaquinSooner]

Everything I normally do, except check my mailbox.

[AggieTool]

Invade a foreign land, rape and pillage, name some stuff after me, spread disease, and get a holiday!:D

[Turd_Ferguson]

Invade a foreign land, rape and pillage, name some stuff after me, spread disease, and get a holiday!:DI didn't know you were Iraqi.

[Penguin]

Invade a foreign land, rape and pillage, name some stuff after me, spread disease, and get a holiday!:D


What are you? A Sooner? :D :D ;) ;)


HIYO!!!!

Just kidding, folks. I'll be here all week. Be sure to tip your waitress.

[Frozen Sooner]

Spreading germs. *cough*

[tulsaoilerfan]

Why on Earth is there even a Columbus Day? It's not like this part of the world wouldn't have been found eventually :)

[AlbqSooner]

Inasumch as I work for a Native American Pueblo, I don't think we will be celebrating with a day off.:)

[SoonerStormchaser]

I was planning on going to a country other than my own and asking their leader for a bailout for a hairbrained idea of mine...

[Rogue]

Recovering from uvulitis. Yup, my uvula hurts and swelled up in a crazy way. Had to get a steroid shot. Maybe going to that pasture party/bonfire after spending all day in bed with a fever and sore throat wasn't a great idea after all.

I will sleep in, take at least one nap, make a meatloaf, and play with the dogs.

I may mow, haul in the recycling, work on a powerpoint for work, winterize some ****, take pics of the kayak and gear for sale, and go to the used bookstore.

I feel icky for even thinking such a thing, but I'm jealous of Aggie Tool.
What would you expect from a guy with a sore uvula? :confused:

[stoopified]

Eat pizza

[Okla-homey]

Reminding everyone that long before an Italian in the employ of the Spanish court arrived on these shores, some Scandanavian cats who drank beer out of cow's horns and wore same on their helmets checked out the place, picked some grapes, partied with some of the native folks, then boogied back to Scandanavia. From where they conducted raids on Britain, Scotland and France, which had hot chicks and cooler stuff to steal.;)

[Rogue]

Homey, weren't the natives also Asians/Mongol offspring that cruised over yonder land bridge, went past the someday Rancho De Palin (also good for watchin' Russkies) and spread over North, Central, and South America?

IOW, the first-first-explorers?

[yermom]

yeah, hopefully no one else "discovers" this place

[SicEmBaylor]

Invade a foreign land, rape and pillage, name some stuff after me, spread disease, and get a holiday!:D

If they hadn't do you think you'd be posting this from a PC onto the internet, or do you think you'd be running around the plains in a loin cloth?

[SicEmBaylor]

Homey, weren't the natives also Asians/Mongol offspring that cruised over yonder land bridge, went past the someday Rancho De Palin (also good for watchin' Russkies) and spread over North, Central, and South America?

IOW, the first-first-explorers?

They didn't come here to explore -- they were following the food. In any case, they certainly weren't native to North America.

[bri]

yeah, hopefully no one else "discovers" this place

We're looking at you, Mexico...

:D

[proud gonzo]

If they hadn't do you think you'd be posting this from a PC onto the internet, or do you think you'd be running around the plains in a loin cloth?
Your argument hinges on the idea that murder and disease and pillage are key components to technological development. But usually, technology develops in several places by different people around the same time. Like television and radio. So I don't think your argument computes.
And my ancestors were European. So...I don't really see loincloths as an option there.

[Frozen Sooner]

They didn't come here to explore -- they were following the food. In any case, they certainly weren't native to North America.

I'm curious what your definition of "explore" is that doesn't include looking for more reliable food but does include trying to open a trade route to East Asia.

[1890MilesToNorman]

Space aliens landed in the new world 10's of towsends of years afore Colombo did and Bigfoot was waiting for them.

[Turd_Ferguson]

Space aliens landed in the new world 10's of towsends of years afore Colombo did and Bigfoot was waiting for them.You on the OVJ...........again?

[1890MilesToNorman]

You on the OVJ...........again?

Why, am I not making sense again? :D

[Turd_Ferguson]

Why, am I not making sense again? :DWell, typically I can decipher your post. This one just took me longer.:D

[Breadburner]

Not sure but I don't think the Cherokee Nation observes Columbus day......

[Turd_Ferguson]

Not sure but I don't think the Cherokee Nation observes Columbus day......so what's your point?

[SanJoaquinSooner]

Not sure but I don't think the Cherokee Nation observes Columbus day......

Neither is Gov. Arnold. He declared Columbus Day no longer a state holiday. A budget move, no doubt.

[StoopTroup]

I'm gonna do whatever the **** I want.

[bluedogok]

Spreading germs. *cough*
I'm trying NOT to do that...

My wife started feeling bad the day we headed back from Denver (last Monday), she was already off all last week but ended up being sick the whole time...it hit me on Friday but I don't have 200 hours of vacation and 300 hours of sick time to use up before the end of the year like she does.

[picasso]

I'm gonna go find out where them natives found that gold.

[Gresho Murford]

I'm gonna go find out where them natives found that gold.
I wanna no where da gold at

[Jacie]

I read that some school districts, including some in Dallas (don't know if that meant all of DISD or not) are not out for this increasingly dubious holiday. I notice the fed still observes it (no banking, no mail delivery).

Anyway, some kids at one school held a mock trial for Chris and found him guilty of a whole bunch of crimes against humanity, sentencing him to life in prison. Not what I was taught back in the day but all that passed for U.S. history then was dead white guy stuff.

For a couple of good reads on the topic try either Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond or 1491 by Charles C. Mann.

[I Am Right]

Home / News / Education / K-12
Darker side of Columbus taught in US classrooms
Many will not observe holiday
A statue of explorer Christopher Columbus stands in Wooster Square Park in New Haven. (Jonathan Wiggs/ Globe Staff)

By Christine Armario
Associated Press / October 12, 2009
E-mail this article To: Invalid E-mail address Add a personal message: Your E-mail: Invalid E-mail address
Sending your articleYour article has been sent. E-mail| Print| Reprints| Yahoo! Buzz| ShareThisText size – + TAMPA, Fla. - Jeffrey Kolowith’s kindergarten students read a poem about Christopher Columbus, take a journey to the New World on three paper ships, and place the explorer’s picture on a timeline through history.

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Kolowith’s students learn about the explorer’s significance, but they also come away with a more nuanced picture of Columbus than the noble discoverer often portrayed in pop culture and legend.

“I talk about the situation where he didn’t even realize where he was,’’ Kolowith said. “And we talked about how he was very, very mean, very bossy.’’

Columbus’s stature in US classrooms has declined somewhat through the years, and many districts will not observe his namesake holiday today. Although lessons vary, many teachers are trying to present a more balanced perspective of what happened after Columbus reached the Caribbean and the suffering of indigenous populations.

“The whole terminology has changed,’’ said James Kracht, executive associate dean for academic affairs in the Texas A&M College of Education and Human Development. “You don’t hear people using the world ‘discovery’ anymore like they used to. ‘Columbus discovers America.’ Because how could he discover America if there were already people living here?’’

In Texas, students start learning in the fifth grade about the “Columbian Exchange,’’ which consisted not only of gold, crops, and goods shipped back and forth across the Atlantic Ocean, but also of diseases carried by settlers that decimated native populations.

In McDonald, Pa., 30 miles southwest of Pittsburgh, fourth-grade students at Fort Cherry Elementary put Columbus on trial this year, charging him with misrepresenting the Spanish crown and thievery. They found him guilty and sentenced him to life in prison.

Of course, the perspective given varies across classrooms and grades. Donna Sabis-Burns, a team leader with the US Department of Education’s School Support and Technology Program, surveyed teachers nationwide about the Columbus reading materials they used in class for her University of Florida dissertation.

She examined 62 picture books and found the majority were outdated, containing inaccurate - and sometimes outright demeaning - depictions of the native Taino population.

The federal holiday also is not universally recognized. Schools in Miami, Dallas, Los Angeles, and Seattle will be open, while those in New York City, Washington, and Chicago will be closed.

The day is an especially sensitive issue in places with larger Native American populations.

“We have a very large Alaska native population, so just the whole Columbus being the founder of the United States doesn’t sit well with a lot of people, myself included,’’ said Paul Prussing, deputy director of Alaska’s Division of Teaching and Learning Support.

Many recall decades ago when there was scant mention of indigenous groups in discussions about Columbus. Kracht remembers a picture in one of his fifth-grade textbooks that showed Columbus wading to shore with a huge flag and cross.

“The indigenous population was kind of waiting expectantly, almost with smiles on their faces,’’ Kracht said. “ ‘I wonder what this guy is bringing us?’ Well, he’s bringing us smallpox, for one thing, and none of us are going to live very long.’’

There are people who believe the discussion has shifted too far. Patrick Korten, vice president of communications for the Knights of Columbus, the Catholic fraternal service organization, recalled a note from a member who saw a lesson at a New Jersey school.

The students were forced to stand in a cafeteria and not allowed to eat while other students teased and intimidated them - apparently so they could better understand the suffering that the indigenous populations endured because of Columbus, Korten said.

“My impression is that in some classrooms, it’s anything but a balanced presentation,’’ Korten said. “That it’s deliberately very negative, which is a matter of great concern because that is not accurate.’’

© Copyright 2009 Globe Newspaper Company.

[soonerinkaty]

I'm going to school. Yeah.

[bluedogok]

Austin (AISD) was the only district having class today down here, all the suburban districts were out.

[soonerinkaty]

School as in college. In Oklahoma. The name is a bit misleading now.

BTW, im damn'd proud of you living in the heart of enemy territory.

[royalfan5]

I found the copier in the office. Sure, a bunch of other people already knew it was there and were using it, but I found it too.