The January lull

Check out Stephen's new haircut! I just realized it's been a couple weeks since I posted on this blog. I guess after the big events of the Christmas/New Year's holiday, there just doesn't seem much to write on... Stephen's been advancing by leaps and bounds, and is getting better and better with his walking and language skills. We've been trying to get healthy, but it seems we're constantly battling one illness after another. The kids are back into their school routines, and I've been slugging along at work. This weekend is a long weekend for us, as today (Monday) is a federal holiday. Martin Luther King Jr. Day is also observed at Kenny's school, so we all slept in this morning. We don't have any big plans for the holiday, just some puttering around the house. Later, we'll go over to our church, and I'm planning on cutting some limbs off of some of the trees there to help with traffic flow. We'll also probably work on Kenny's Pinewood Derby car, which has started taking shape this weekend (I'll post a picture once it's finished).

Back to the topic of holidays, I bet most Northerners don't realize that many Southerners at least tacitly recognize a day around MLK Jr's birthday as Robert E. Lee Day. Lee, as those of you with some Civil War history under your belt, was the most successful Southern general, winning battle after battle against hopeless odds until attrition and the coming of more effective Union generals finally led to the defeat and surrender of his Army of Northern Virginia. A commanding figure, Lee is considered by many to be the epitome of the Southern gentleman. Lee's birthday is January 19th, while MLK Jr's is January 15th. This year, they are both observed on the same day, as MLK Jr's is the third Monday of January, which is the 19th this year. I'm sure Lee's birthday was observed by some well before the MLK Jr federal holiday was, but no doubt it came somewhat more to prominence due to lingering hard feelings about race, the "War of Northern Aggression", and federal intervention. It is also very likely that many Southerners take great pride in their past, in family history, and in the romanticism of the Ante Bellum period, if not the stain that was slavery.

Some of this pride can be seen in how the Civil War has been monumented in this area. This weekend, while Hope took Beth to a birthday party, I drove Kenny and Stephen to a few boat launches on the Saline River (to check them out for future canoe trips). At one of them, at a place called Mt. Elba (about a half-hour northwest of Monticello) there is a small cluster of hunting and fishing camps and a boat launch on the Saline. Set off to the side was the above monument, which was not placed by federal or state agencies, or even some big historical society. Rather, it was paid for by some locals interested in preserving this aspect of history. This battle, on an obscure campaign on the far side of the Confederacy, was tiny compared to the wholesale slaughter witnessed in the eastern campaigns during this period--less than a half-dozen Union soldiers were killed, and somewhat more wounded, and two dozen Confederates were killed with dozens more wounded or captured. Yet it epitomized the sharp, nasty battles that occurred in this area, and would have otherwise been lost to history without the efforts of these locals. (The Union forces included troops from Wisconsin, by the way).

During our tenure here in the South, I've often been amazed by the progress that's been made since the 1960s, sometimes disgusted by the discrimination we still occasionally see, but always willing to keep an open mind about race and human relations. Our country, on the verge of inaugurating our first black president ever, has always been less monolithic about race than the pundits often admit. Northerners, though the side that fought against slavery during the Civil War, still were often highly prejudiced against blacks both during the time of Lincoln as well as the modern era--unfortunately, some of the most outspoken bigots I've EVER run across grew up in my home state of Wisconsin, or in nearby Michigan. Many Southerners fought against the Confederacy during the Civil War, even if their objections were largely against the dissolution of the Union more than a rejection of slavery.

Let's hope this year's near intersection of the MLK Jr holiday with Obama's inauguration leads to a new, enlightened period regarding race relations. I will likely disagree with many of Obama's policies, as will many people, but it will NOT be because of his skin color!