the best laid plans...

I'm sitting in my office at work on pins and needles. This morning I will teach an ancient art class at the university where I normally work (I'm holding office hours for my ancient art students right now), and this afternoon I will be teaching a Renaissance course at a university located a few hours away, nestled in the mountains. (Yes, I have a full-time job teaching at the university near my house, but due to a series of events I wound up teaching this other class at another school.)

Anyhow, I sure hope that I make it to this new school tonight - which is why I am on pins and needles. I woke up extra early this morning and made sure I prepared everything before I left. But as I drove to my local school, I noticed a warning light turn on for my tire pressure. And upon arriving at my local university to teach this morning's class, I noticed that one tire was really low. Not flat, but low. I'm not sure if the tire has a slow leak or if something punctured the tire. [Deep sigh.] I also have no idea what the tire condition will be after I emerge from my ancient art class at noon. Completely flat? Driveable? Hopefully I'll be able to drive far enough to a gas station (to put in some air), and then rush home and exchange cars so that I can be at the far-away university before my class begins this afternoon.

What an ironic twist of fate - especially since today is the first day of class for my Renaissance students. Everything depends on that silly tire.

birthday dad

Unless J checks my blog while riding the bus home from work (which I doubt), he'll be surprised to see this when he walks in the door:

This is the surprise party which Sam and I have orchestrated. We went to the grocery store and picked out these items. Can you tell which contributions were made by me and which ones were by Sam? You might be surprised:

• "Happy Birthday" banner: Me

• Party hats: Sam

• Red rose: Sam (All week he has been fixated on buying J a "special red flower" for his birthday. I think Sam has seen someone give me red roses before, and he now associates them as gifts for a special occasion. I think it's very darling. I don't think I've ever given J a red rose before, and I'm glad Sam had the idea instead.)

• Birthday balloon in the shape of a cake: Sam

• Spiderman "blowout" party favors: Sam
  

• "You are Special" red plate: Me (This isn't something that Sam and I bought expressly for today - it's a plate that we use on special occasions.)

• Homemade lasagna: Me
  

Here is my other contribution:

A pie inspired by Gene Davis! (J requested pie, which is a good thing, because I don't know if I could bake a Gene-Davis-esque cake)

We love J so much and are so lucky to have him in our lives. He makes me and Sam very happy.

P.S. We've moved to a new place! Can you tell? I promise to post photos soon, but I can't bring myself to take photos until we have mounted all of our pictures on the wall.

sam's take on art

Sam knows that I teach my students about art. Lately, he's been wanting to have pretend school sessions, and I am often designated as the teacher. Sam lines up his stuffed animals (his fellow classmates) and we have discussions about sundry topics. We often talk about upcoming holidays, different types of weather, letters in the alphabet, or numbers. And we'll usually end up talking about art for at least a few minutes during each school session, which is fun.

As a result, Sam has shared a few of his own opinions about art. The other week I asked Sam what was his favorite type of art, and he immediately replied, "Mummies." I had to laugh, especially because he was so sure in his response. A few months ago we were looking at one of my survey art textbooks, and he noticed images of King Tut's sarcophagus (including the mummy mask shown on the right).

Sam has also informed me last week that statues can't be lots of colors. They are "just white." I guess he really is a part of Western culture, if he already realizes that marble is preeminent around here!

Today in "school" we talked about where people can display art. He quickly agreed that art can be displayed in a house and in a museum. (He gets most excited to talk about art being in museums, since we take him to the local art museum fairly regularly. His favorite place to go is the African art section, since he likes to look at the masks of animals.)

Anyhow, after a little bit of discussion today, Sam finally agreed that art also can be displayed in a park. But he said, "Yeah, art can be in a park. [Pause.] [Grimace.] But it will get a little bit dirty." Ha! Either he was born with (or has been taught) my aversion to uncleanliness, or perhaps we have a future curator/conservator in our midst.

in defense of history: louis xvii and mormon lore

I had a realization in church today, and unfortunately it had nothing to do with the improvement of my character. Instead, I realized that the reason I am consistently bothered with "Mormon lore" is that such stories are usually untrue in terms of historical events and facts. It's the historian in me that gets bugged when I hear a bit of Mormon lore.

Today I had to refrain from shaking my head in disagreement during sacrament meeting, when a woman stood up to tell a story about Louis XVII (shown on the right in a 1792 portrait by Kucharsky). To give you a little bit of (accurate) historical background: this young prince was the son of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. During the French Revolution, he and his family members were taken into captivity. Louis XVII was imprisoned in the tower of the Paris Temple from 1792 until his death in 1795.

The speaker in today's sacrament meeting decided to quote a story which seems to have originally appeared (among LDS circles) in a New Era article by Vaughn J. Featherstone (1975). According to this alleged historical account, Louis XVII maintained high standards of morale and character during his imprisonment, despite his captors' attempts to introduce the boy to foul language, lewd women, rich foods, etc. Instead of buckling to slavish appetites and crude ways, the boy defiantly resisted, saying, "I cannot do what you ask, for I was born to be a king." Countless LDS speakers, articles, and church manuals have since used this quote (for example, it appeared last year in a talk by Elaine S. Dalton), and Steven R. Covey apparently references the story in his book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Teens. In fact, when I did a Google search for this quote, almost all of the references were from LDS sources - none of them were from scholarly, historical accounts.

Now, for a little bit of accuracy and scholarship: as of yet, I have never come across any historical source that discusses Louis XVII resisting foul language and worldly pleasures. Perhaps he may have resisted at some point, or perhaps this story originated by a group who was sympathetic to the royal family - but I am not familiar with any such account. Actually, the history books I have read (including one that I read just over a year ago) tell quite an opposite story: captors did want to affect the boy's morale, and were delighted to see him using foul and rude language. I remember reading something about a doctor visiting the prince, and noting that the boy had formed uncouth habits (which I will leave to your imagination - you can email me if you want specifics). Louis XVII was taught to say horrible things about his mother and sister (who would have been able to hear the boy say these things from another floor in the tower) and to sing the Carmagnole. The list goes on and on. Really, the story is quite sad, especially since Louis XVII was only seven years old when he was brought into captivity. This was a very young, impressionable boy who died after a few years in his captivity. Despite stories of a "Lost Dauphin" prince who escaped from the prison, DNA testing proved in 2000 that the boy actually died in the Temple tower.

If the "for I was born to be a king" quote and story did not originate from a royalist sympathizer in the late 18th century, it's very likely that it originated in the early 20th century. In 1903, this quote appeared in a book that contained moral stories ("illustrations") which were intended to be used from the pulpit to help "save a sermon from unbroken dulness [sic]."¹ The Princeton Theological Review suggests that this Louis XVII quote might have been "absolutely new" at the time (perhaps inferring the story would have been a new addition those "illustrations" which were currently used in religious sermons, but I think it also could suggest that the story had been concocted around the time of the book's publication). I think that Featherstone became familiar with this Louis XVII story in the 1970s because it had become popular among religious circles and used in sermons. The story obviously continues to be popular, at least among Mormons. And the rest, my friends, is history. Mormon lore history.

P.S. I know that there is a nice sentiment behind the "for I was born to be a king" story, and I don't mind that. If people can derive some type of moral or inspiring message from the story, go for it. But I really dislike propagating or telling these kinds of stories, because they simply are not true or cannot be verified. If we're going to tell a story from the pulpit, can't it just start with "once upon a time?" The meaning of the message will be just as clear, and then we won't be propagating historical inaccuracies.

1 Princeton Theological Seminary, The Princeton Theological Review, vol. 2 (MacCalla & Co. Inc., 1904), 353. Available online here.

fictionist for rolling stone!

Last night, the Jimmy Fallon Show announced that Fictionist (the band that J played with for several years in college) will be competing in the Rolling Stone Cover Competition! This is a huge, huge deal for the band. We are so excited that they are getting such a great opportunity. The band will be competing against 15 other bands and the winners will 1) play on the Jimmy Fallon Show and 2) have their band on the cover of Rolling Stone. Have a listen to their music and rate them here:



I can tell that J's a wee bit sad that he's not part of the band right now. I don't blame him.

And hey, while you're at it, check out their new music video:

h. v. d.

I hope everyone is having a nice Valentine's Day! This morning my friend posted a nice reminder on Facebook: not only is St. Valentine the patron saint of love, but he is also the patron saint of bee keepers, epilepsy, fainting, greetings, plague, travelers, and young people. So if you don't have a sweetheart this year, don't despair: St. Valentine offers something for everyone!

I'm stuck at home with laryngitis, but I'm making the best of it. I actually was pleased to get some a personal research projects done this afternoon, so I don't feel like the day is a total waste. And I'm making the best of my non-existent voice, too: I told J that I'm heightening the level of intimacy for Valentine's Day by speaking in an ever-constant whisper.

J made me a sweet little Valentine webpage this morning. As you might deduce from the page, we've found a house to rent. We filled out the renter application this morning, and hope to find out soon if we got selected. J has been following the house market for months (ever since knew he was getting a new job this year), and this is the first house that we have really liked. The house isn't perfect (the house has been completely remodeled, but some of the workmanship is a bit shoddy), and we weren't planning on moving until the summer, but this opportunity is too good to pass up. We're really excited to be in our own home, too (even though we have really appreciated the time that we have lived in my in-laws' home). Plus, I think it will be good for J to get a new hobby beside house-hunting online.

The other exciting news (for me, at least) is that a Caravaggio show is coming to the United States! Caravaggio is one of my favorite artists of all time, and this show is a really big deal. There hasn't been a Caravaggio show in the US since 1985. We're going to go to Texas for the show later this fall. (And in case you're wondering, the image that J referenced on my Valentine webpage was Caravaggio's David with the Head of Goliath (1606-07).

I hope this laryngitis goes away soon. I feel like this past year has been a little too busy - it's been hard to keep perfectly on top of things because of unexpected changes to our plans: ear aches, colds, funerals, new houses, etc. I'm ready to settle into a good ol' boring routine.

**Addendum: Sam read his first word today! We have been working on letter sounds for several months, and lately he's been asking how to spell words, too. Tonight we were playing with some letter magnets and he sounded out "D-A-D" without any help. I'm so proud of my little buddy!

dinosaur birthday parties

This past week has been unusually festive at our house. Sam has latched onto the idea of "dinosaur birthday parties" (he throws parties to celebrate the "birthday" of his dinosaur figurines), and we have had several parties each day. Each party consists of the following events:

1) Humans and dinosaurs don party hats.

2) Sam will inform both me (and the dinosaur-of-honor) that it is the dinosaur's birthday. The conversation unfolds something like this:

• Sam: "Today is Mr. Stegasaurus' birthday!"
• Me [in a dinosaur voice of disbelief]: "It is?!?!? How old am I?"
• Sam: "You are [insert number between one and five] years old!"
• Me [as dinosaur]: "I am?!?! Hooray!"

3) We sing "Happy Birthday" to the dinosaur. After singing the song for several hours on Tuesday, I decided to buy a toy birthday cake which would play the song instead. Not only has it given my vocal chords some rest, but it also helps make our party seem more "real." Plus, the toy plays "Happy Birthday" at a fast tempo, which has become essential for me in terms of time (see Step #9).

4) We clap and cheer after the dinosaur "blows out" the "candles."

5) We eat imaginary cake.

6) We give imaginary presents and watch the dinosaur "unwrap" them.

7) We play with party favors.

8) (Optional) We play a game. We either play hide-and-go seek (I hide the dinosaurs and Sam finds them) or do an activity in Sam's dinosaur coloring book.

9) (And this is the most important step) Repeat Step 1 - Step 8 over and over and over.

Although I have gotten tired of parties at various points this week, it's really cute to see Sam so excited. We've had a pretty fun time. Here are some pictures of our recent celebrations: