Tag Archives: US History

May 19, 2011 · 6:19 pm

Ocracoke Island Vacation Journal: Part 3

Well, yesterday didn’t go quite as planned.

But that’s okay.

We’re on Ocracoke.

We had been looking forward to hearing Katy Mitchell sing at “Dajio’s” last night, but unfortunately, she canceled at the last minute.  We still had an excellent meal that seals Dajio’s place, along with “Jason’s” and “The Flying Melon” as one of the top three restaurants on Ocracoke- and on the whole Outer Banks.  I’ve never eaten anywhere else on the Outer Banks that could touch these three…

Hopefully, we’ll get to hear Katy Mitchell someday.  Her CD is really excellent.  This just give us something to continue to look forward to….

I just finished Michael Parker’s brand new book, “The Watery Part of the World.”  Anyone who loves Ocracoke and the Outer Banks should read it.  It is a work of fiction set on fictional Islands on the Outer Banks, but you will readily recognize Portsmouth Island, Ocracoke and their history as being an inspiration.

Speaking of history, there is a lot of it on Ocracoke.  Blackbeard, the pirate, was killed here.  There is a great historical museum on Ocracoke, run by the Ocracoke Preservation Society, that gives you a lot of other local history and a real feel for how life used to be on the Island.

For more history, visit Philip Howard at  “The Village Craftsmen” and take one of his Ghost Walks.  They may touch on the supernatural, but they really offer a great deal of fascinating local history.  Philip also publishes a great blog at the Village Craftsmen’s Website.  http://villagecraftsmen.blogspot.com/

Speaking of the Village Craftsman, this is one of several great shops on Ocracoke.  A lot of the art in our house- and we have a lot of art- came from these shops and Orcracoke and Outer Banks artists and potters.  Kathleen O’Neal’s shop- Island Artworks- is another stand out shop.  Just take the time to roam through them all…

We had a great walk down the Ocracoke Nature Trail, across from the Campground, this morning.  In all the years we’ve been coming to Ocracoke, we had never done that before..  It’s nice to know we still have more to discover here as we intend to keep coming back.

We also had another lovely walk on the beach…

Tonight it’s off to the wine tasting at “Zillie’s Pantry” with our friends Lee and Michael.  Then we will try to pull together dinner at their cottage.  But who knows?  Anything can happen on Ocraoke and those wine tastings can always lead to a change in plans!
More to come…..

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March 25, 2011 · 5:59 pm

How Ignorant Are Americans? – Newsweek

This helps explain how the GOP keeps winning elections in spite of their screw ups….

I am very much aware of this difference when I travel internationally.  Americans seem to be proud of their ignorance, but knowledge and sophistication still matter in other places…

They’re the sort of scores that drive high-school history teachers to drink. When NEWSWEEK recently asked 1,000 U.S. citizens to take America’s official citizenship test, 29 percent couldn’t name the vice president. Seventy-three percent couldn’t correctly say why we fought the Cold War. Forty-four percent were unable to define the Bill of Rights. And 6 percent couldn’t even circle Independence Day on a calendar.

Don’t get us wrong: civic ignorance is nothing new. For as long as they’ve existed, Americans have been misunderstanding checks and balances and misidentifying their senators. And they’ve been lamenting the philistinism of their peers ever since pollsters started publishing these dispiriting surveys back in Harry Truman’s day. (He was a president, by the way.) According to a study by Michael X. Delli Carpini, dean of the Annenberg School for Communication, the yearly shifts in civic knowledge since World War II have averaged out to “slightly under 1 percent.”

But the world has changed. And unfortunately, it’s becoming more and more inhospitable to incurious know-nothings—like us.

To appreciate the risks involved, it’s important to understand where American ignorance comes from. In March 2009, the European Journal of Communication asked citizens of Britain, Denmark, Finland, and the U.S. to answer questions on international affairs. The Europeans clobbered us. Sixty-eight percent of Danes, 75 percent of Brits, and 76 percent of Finns could, for example, identify the Taliban, but only 58 percent of Americans managed to do the same—even though we’ve led the charge in Afghanistan. It was only the latest in a series of polls that have shown us lagging behind our First World peers.

via How Ignorant Are Americans? – Newsweek.

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