Bravos’ stances through the years, on youtube
I could watch this over and over – this is a certain (very specific) kind of genius.
I miss the Crime Dog.
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I figured now that Reba is with us, I’d post this about the names of our kids. These graphs are copied from the Name Voyager website, which is well worth a visit, though it takes a little time to load.
Using Social Security Admin. info from the last 100 years or so, the popularity of names throughout the decades is tracked (assuming the name has been one of the 1000 most popular in that time. For the charts below, notice on the righthand side the scale – e.g., for Atticus, there were about 40 boys w/ that name per 1,000,000 births in 2004, while for Jack, there were about 2,000. (I realize our Jack is really John, but “Jack” is more fun to look at.)
Atticus:
Presumably on the rise because of the attention from Gregory Peck’s passing in 2003, and a well-publicized poll that showed Atticus Finch as American’s most-loved fictional character. Still, there probably won’t be too many others in his kindergarten class (though we have met a boy here in Cambridge very close to our age whose middle name is Atticus.)
Jack:
Rocketing up, I’m not sure why — yet, we too were definitely thinking about it in the early going. His name’s curve does definitely show what is apparently a very common trend, peaking every 80 years or so, or every 3 or 4 generations, as the name becomes less associated with older people as their generation passes, and the name’s connotations are freed up, in a subconscious way, for parents to use on their new young people (the classic current examples are names like Max and Sophie).
Reba:
She may be, even more than Atticus, our sweet girl who will always be able to go just by her first name (like Cher, or Charo, only different).
and, for who we thought Atty was until the sonogram showed us otherwise, Lucy:
If we were to have a girl in the future, we’re really on the fence about whether to use the name still, given its rise – though the path by which we came to the name, from a favorite character from The Chronicles of Narnia, remains the same (also, since Atty’s birth, we’ve had a great neighborhood dog friend named Lucy).
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Other links of interest on naming:
Baby’s named a bad, bad thing
Trading Up – Where do baby names come from?
A Roshanda by Any Other Name
the Social Security Admin. on baby names
Keep the dream alive , from the MLK memorial sculpture in downtown Atlanta (via flickr)
A little after his day of honor, but some worthy rememberances for any day -
From Dr. King’s speech on April 3, 1968 in Memphis, hours before his death:
Well, I don’t know what will happen now. We’ve got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn’t matter with me now. Because I’ve been to the mountaintop. And I don’t mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will. And He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over. And I’ve seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land. And I’m happy, tonight. I’m not worried about anything. I’m not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.
This speech and a lot more of our greatest speeches are available to hear at this American Rhetoric site.
From “Remaining Awake Through a Great Revolution”, delivered at the National Cathedral, Washington, D.C., on 31 March 1968:
Through our scientific and technological genius, we have made of this world a neighborhood and yet we have not had the ethical commitment to make of it a brotherhood. But somehow, and in some way, we have got to do this. We must all learn to live together as brothers or we will all perish together as fools.
Benjamin Franklin:
Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve.
Randy Moss:
When you’re rich, you don’t write checks. Straight cash, homey.
Dag Hammarskjold:
Life only demands from you the strength you possess. Only one feat is possible – not to have run away.
Marion Parker:
Be kind – Remember every one you meet is fighting a battle – everybody’s lonesome.
Chinese proverb:
Talk does not cook rice.
Franklin P. Jones:
Honest criticism is hard to take, particularly from a relative, a friend, an acquaintance, or a stranger.
W. C. Fields:
I always keep a supply of stimulant handy in case I see a snake–which I also keep handy.
Edgar Watson Howe:
When a friend is in trouble, don’t annoy him by asking if there is any thing you can do. Think up something appropriate and do it.
Theodore Roosevelt:
Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs even though checkered by failure, than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat.
Thomas Guthrie:
Do it now. It is not safe to leave a generous feeling to the cooling influences of the world.
Orson Welles:
I hate television. I hate it as much as I hate peanuts. But I can’t stop eating peanuts.
Formula 1 auto racing president on Danica Patrick, female driving sensation:
“…women should be dressed in white like all the other domestic appliances.”
Alfred Lord Tennyson:
The greater man the greater courtesy.
FEMA chief Michael Brown, in an email a few days into the Katrina disaster:
“Thanks for the update. Anything specific I need to do or tweak?”
Marcel Proust:
Let us be grateful to people who make us happy: They are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.
vintage kid – a photoset on Flickr
As happened with some of the great stuff above, seeing some image that occupies a tiny, remote part of your memory from 30 yrs ago is thrilling but peculiar, too.
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