The Burrow

I smiled when I realized that this week was coming up. I have a post for Columbus/Indigenous Peoples/ Second Monday in October Day. I have a post about voting. I have a post about Daddooooo. That gets me to Thursday and something will certainly happen between now and then.  Unfortunately, I read my Columbus Day post and I'm not reprinting it. It just doesn't seem relevant today. What strikes me about today is that the holiday - whatever you call it - falls when it is supposed to fall, on October 12th. The fact that I noticed this let's me know that October 14th is Daddooooo's 104th birthday.... I can never remember which is which.... my dad or Columbus.... the 12th or the 14th. And I think it matters what you call it. It used to be a school holiday, when it celebrated a noted Italian. Now that it is Indigenous Peoples Day, it's the starting date for on-campus, hybrid classes in my district.  I'm trying to feel like that doesn't matter. I'll let y...

Today, October 12, is Columbus Day. Not Amerigo Vespucci Day. Not Leif Ericson Day. Columbus Day. It really is Columbus Day. Chris and his fleet landed at a place he named San Salvador on October 12, 1492. Of course, that was according to the Julian Calendar. In 1582, a papal bull (and what an image that conjures in the brain) restructured the concept of the leap year and named the new calendar after the Pope himself. Suddenly, La Nina and La Pinta and La Santa Maria had landed 9 days later, on October 21st, Gregorian time. Adding 3 days every 4 centuries doesn't seem like a big difference, but try telling that to Columbus. Someone must have agreed with me on this, since we celebrate his arrival on the Julian date. I love it when things that shouldn't change don't change. And that's why I'm smiling about today being Columbus Day. Because, in actuality, Columbus Day is now celebrated on the 2nd Monday of October, regardless of the date. That's just wrong. To...