Allison Silberberg tells the history of how Martin Luther King Day became a real holiday. This is quite a story...and be sure you click on some of the links which will take you to newspaper articles of the time. Thanks to Kerry Frey for a great suggestion.
I just read a couple of posts on other weblogs about Dr. Martin Luther King and it occurred to me that I've never mentioned him on this site; that his past birthdays have gone unnoted here. I decided I should write something but after pummelling and slapping my brain, I've been unable to come up with anything that didn't sound obvious or self-serving. I certainly didn't want to write one of those annoying (even when sincere) screeds where the person likens his own current crusade for whatever to Dr. King, hoping that a little of M.L.K.'s stature will rub off. We ought to all respect the Civil Rights movement in this country, and Dr. King's role in it, enough to not exploit it for our own little causes.
But I also couldn't figure out what to write here if I didn't do that...because the principles of human respect for which Dr. King fought, marched and died are now so obvious and so accepted. Even a lot of the people who still trample on those principles or commit acts of racism seem to realize that's what they're doing and do it anyway. Martin Luther King and his followers raised the bar on what constitutes simple decency in our society today.
Wish I had something profound to say about any of this but it's all been said...mostly by Dr. King, himself. I'm glad we got this holiday to underscore his importance and I still think the people who tried to oppose it should be ashamed of themselves.
I'm embedding this because so many of my friends — including one George W. Bush supporter (!) — have e-mailed me the link to it. And also because it's pretty funny.
Back when he used to be on Saturday Night Live, they described A. Whitney Brown as "One of the great pontificators of our time." He's still at it, explaining here why he became a John Edwards supporter and here why he's giving up on the guy. Thanks, Robert Spina, for telling me these were up.
I didn't see it mentioned in any of the obits for Suzanne Pleshette but there was one more note of sadness about her passing. A week from Thursday, on what would have been her 71st birthday, she was to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. No word yet on whether the unveiling ceremony will be postponed but apparently she'd been ill for some time, undergoing chemotherapy treatments, and her friends were really pulling for her to make it to that day.
It's not a surprise since he told me he was considering it. Still, I'm sorry to see Roger Price announce that he's retiring as the promoter of Mid-Ohio Con, which has been held guess where for several decades. I've been to more than a half-dozen of them — including the last two — and I always had a great time. Having been to many comic book conventions in my day, I know a good one from a bad one, and I also know how hard it is to put on a good one. Roger put on one of the best. He's hoping to find someone else to take it over and carry on the tradition and I hope he does. Just on sheer momentum, there are still a lot of good Mid-Ohio Cons to be convened if only someone will step in.
This is a short one...about a minute. Our pal Floyd Norman accepts his award at the Disney Legends ceremony last October. Floyd is a very clever writer and cartoonist who worked at Disney (with occasional forays elsewhere) from 1956 on, and he's lately been getting recognition for his fine work.
If you're interested in cartoon history, keep an eye on Floyd's columns for Jim Hill Media. Here's a page listing them all.
January 22, 2008
