Meeting of the Minds

I  remember vividly - and with fondness - the old Steve Allen show Meeting of the Minds that aired on PBS from 1977-81.  It was filmed in Hollywood and featured a round table discussion between some of the world's most notable historical characters.

Perhaps some of you remember it too.

For example, Allen might moderate a discussion that included William Shakespeare, Voltaire, Karl Marx, and Catherine the Great.  Or, perhaps, a debate between Oliver Cromwell, Socrates, and Thomas Paine.

Have you ever thought about your "dream team" dinner party of historical characters?

I think if I could host my first dream team dinner party, I would include soldier Henry Knox, poet Phyllis Wheatley, writer Ernest Hemingway, and director John Ford.

Here's why...

Henry Knox (1750-1806)  Knox is one of my heroes because he conducted one of the most daring and exciting missions of the American Revolutionary War.  He was dispatched from Boston by George Washington on November 16, 1775 to conduct a forced march - through snow, ice, and mud - of over 300 miles to Fort Ticonderoga in order to seize mortars and cannons.  (Those cannons were critical to the American cause and would stay in steady service for the remainder of the War.) That Knox did so is a miracle.  As the noted historian David McCullough writes in his book 1776,   "[Knox] had fulfilled all expectations, despite rough forest roads, freezing lakes, blizzards, thaws, mountain wilderness, and repeated mishaps that would have broken lesser spirits several times over.  The story of the expedition would be told and retold for weeks within the army and for years to come" (McCullough, 82).    Find time to read about Knox.  He must have been an extraordinarily creative problem-solver.  A real man of initiative.

http://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-by-era/war-for-independence/resources/dragging-cannon-from-fort-ticonderoga-boston-1775

Phyllis Wheatley (1753–1784)  I've taught about - and admired - Wheatley for many years and her story appears in our history texts.  She was a slave and one of the most celebrated poets of the colonial era.  She was seized by slave traders in West Africa sometime around her eighth birthday and arrived in colonial Boston in 1761.   She was a brilliant learner, a voracious reader, and must have had an incredibly fertile mind.  She ultimately penned more than 140 poems.  Her Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral was the first volume of poetry published by an African-American in modern times.  In October 1775 she even sent a poem of adulation to George Washington, and his thank-you note (and desire to meet her) is thought to be his only correspondence with a slave.  Carve out some quiet time in your busy day and read some of her poems.  I think you will enjoy them.  Wheatley must have been an incredibly intelligent and courageous woman.

http://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poet/phillis-wheatley

Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961)  Hemingway is my favorite fiction writer.  The Sun Also Rises.   A Farewell to Arms.  The short stories The Snows of Kilimanjaro and Old Man at the Bridge.  And who can forget The Old Man and the Sea?  I also really like his non-fiction work Death in the Afternoon because of his vivid descriptions of the great matador Joselito.  (I know some think Hemingway vulgar and his sentences confusing.  But I don't think so.  I believe his short, clear, staccato sentences are honest.)  Take a few days and reread a Hemingway novel.  I guarantee you'll appreciate it more as an adult than you did as a teenager.  Hemingway must have been a remarkably honest, insightful, and diligent writer.

http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1954/hemingway-bio.html

John Ford (1894-1973)  I grew up on Ford films.  The Searchers.  She Wore a Yellow Ribbon.  My favorite is probably Fort Apache because it was my introduction to John Wayne, Henry Fonda, Shirley Temple, and Ward Bond.  (I believe Ward Bond to be perhaps one of the greatest 'unknown' actors.)  I know these films are a bit dated and may not top the AFI 100, but I like them.  I am an unrepentant fan of old Western films, and I think Ford had a great eye for talent as well as location.  That so many of his films were shot in Monument Valley is not coincidence.  Check out The Searchers.  Wayne's complex character fascinates, confuses, and intrigues me and it's fun to see Natalie Wood in her first role.  Ford must have been a visionary artist.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000406/bio

My dream team - Creative.  Bold.  Intelligent.  Courageous.  Honest.  Diligent.  Insightful.  Visionary.

Sound like a great party?  It does to me.

Dinner table conversation of the week:

Who would you invite to your "dream team" dinner party?