A Possum-Filled Taft Zine

My first introduction to the concept of a "zine" was way back when I was in high school and Sassy magazine would feature one each month. They always seemed to be really edgy, music-oriented things, and I wasn't an edgy, music-oriented kid, so I'd read about them with cautious fascination and then I'd move on.

After that, I never gave much thought to zines until a few weeks ago when I somehow became acquainted on Twitter with a cartoonist named Mike Rosen, who has created (with some other artists) a zine about William Howard Taft, something I could definitely get behind!

Mike sent me a copy of the zine, "Carnival of Knowledge" (Issue 1...I hope there are many more). The booklet is more than 20 pages long and chock-full of actual information about Taft, plus a lot of fun stuff, all presented in a visually appealing, easy-to-read format.

There are recipes, including one for Roast Possum with Sweet Potatoes. That will ring a bell if you're familiar with the tale of the Billy Possum. If you're not familiar with the Billy Possum (and if you didn't click the link I just provided), you'd be intimately familiar with it by the time you're done with this zine. The whole possum-saga is laid out in comic-strip form, and Rosen's depictions of the possum are hilarious. Mainly the possums look like crazed, rabid rodents in top hats, but there are a couple that look like a 1920s Disney-style possum. They're completely brilliant...and disturbing.

Like Taft himself, the zine is jam-packed with possums, including a "Hidden Possum" search (there are 19, but I've only found 18 so far) and a Billy Possum coloring page.

Other features include a piece on Pauline Wayne (the Taft presidential cow) and a word search featuring words and phrases like "mustache" and "Department of Labor." There's a drawing of Taft as a luchador (he was a wrestler in college---though not a Mexican one) with different wrestler-nicknames like "The Bathtub Behemoth," "Taft the Shaft," and my favorite, "The Thriller Who Was Governor in Manilla." I laughed out loud at that one.

I think my favorite part, though, is the Taft paper doll, complete with a suit, a judge's robe, an old-timey striped bathing suit, and---best of all---a bathtub!

The artists are still working on a website for their zines, but you can find Rosen's work here.

Continuing with the presidential-possum theme, Rosen has also created a cartoon featuring Herbert Hoover and a possum, which you can see here.

If you know of any other Presidential-possum-related stories be sure to pass them along so we can get more of these brilliant cartoons.

Presidential Travels

I haven't gone anywhere presidential for a few months, but my aunt and my dad each visited a presidential library recently. They also were kind enough to get me fun postcards from their travels.

My aunt visited the Kennedy Library and found these great cards of JFK with things in his mouth:

Then my dad went to the LBJ Library and got me Johnson on a horse:

They know me so well.

And although I didn't go to a presidential site per se, I was in Las Vegas last week and found myself at the pawn shop from Pawn Stars. It was kind of a letdown: mostly jewelry and coins. But they did have a presidential autograph. Taft!

Sadly I didn't have an extra $3,000 on me, so I didn't buy it.

Happy Birthday, Mr. President

Sometimes I feel like I should rename this "The Taft and Harding Blog." Sorry (not sorry).

Anyway, today we celebrate the birth of one of my favorite presidents: William Howard Taft. I've written about him a few times before (and will again---wait until Thanksgiving!), but on this special day, I'd like to share with you what I guarantee is the catchiest song you'll ever hear about Taft. In fact, I'll guarantee it's one of the catchiest song you'll hear all year.

Doing Taft Proud in Cincinnati

I grew up in Ohio, but until last week I had never been to Cincinnati. See, I'm from Northeast Ohio, which meant I always viewed Cincinnati as "other." As "south." As "the Reds." But since William Howard Taft is one of my favorite presidents, and since his National Presidential Site is there, a trip to Cincinnati became a necessity--and I'm really glad it did, because that's a fun town!

I had intended for this to be a review of just the Taft site, but I'm going to include all the other things we did there, too. It turns out Cincinnati has some great food, and if Taft were alive today, I'm sure he'd enjoy it as much as we did.

First, the Presidential Site. It's not as flashy as Lincoln's or as large as Hoover's (two sites we've been to this year), but it was quaint and informative. When we first got there, we walked past the visitor's center so we could take some photos with the props we'd brought. Yes, you read that correctly. I brought my Taft bobblehead (courtesy of my friend Sunny!) and my daughter Anna brought the Andy Warhol-inspired portrait she made for Presidents Day. A concerned park ranger, thinking we were lost, came over to make sure we knew where the entrance was.

Once we got our portrait and bobblehead tucked back into the car, we headed into the house for an introductory video. Now, we've encountered many nice park rangers (like the ones who helped us when my baby threw up all over Abraham Lincoln's sidewalk--I'll have to blog about that), but our ranger at Taft's house was especially great. His name was Jason, and he was knowledgable, passionate, and funny. We loved him, and I think he might have loved us, too.

When Jason asked if we were stopping by on our way to our destination, I said this was our destination. A bit surprised, he asked, "Taft or Cincinnati?" I said Taft, and he just about fell over. I don't think he'd ever heard that before.

After the video, he showed us around the house. Very little of it is original, as it had been turned into apartments at one point. But it has been restored, and they have some of the family's furniture in there now. The kids got to play with some period toys, which was nice. Usually there's a strict hands-off policy in historic houses, so it was fun for them to get to do something. The upper level had displays we could browse on our own.

I was perplexed there was no information on the Billy Possum. Still, though, I was glad to have been able to visit Taft's home. We bid Jason adieu and headed off to lunch.

This was the first of the amazing restaurants we'd visit in Cincinnati. (We'd had Cincinnati chili the night before, and it was okay, but not drool-worthy.) Melt Eclectic Cafe, on the other hand, was drool-worthy. This place was featured on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives, and if all the places Guy goes to are as good as this one, I'll definitely seek them out. Mr. Presidentressor and I split an Artichoke Melt and a Verde Chicken sandwich, and both of them were the kinds of things you want to savor forever and never finish.

When we did finish, though, we headed over to the Cincinnati Museum of Natural History. Nothing puts me to sleep faster than natural history, but the kids wanted to go and we got free admission thanks to our Museum of Science and Industry membership, so we went. It was actually a pretty good museum. My eyes did glaze over a few times, but there were enough dead birds to keep me interested. What I really loved, though, was the building the museum was housed in. There's a whole complex of museums inside a fantastic art-deco train station from the 1930s. I could have stood there for hours just staring at the architecture and lettering. Ironically, I have no photos of it. I figured I probably couldn't do it justice, so I didn't try.

Following the museum, we went to Graeter's for ice cream. Although this was our first time in Cincinnati, it wasn't the first time we'd had the ice cream. Many years ago, one of Mr. Presidentressor's friends sent him a case of Graeter's ice cream. Mr. Presidentressor, being the nice guy he is, decided he'd just bring home one pint and would distribute the rest to his co-workers. He let them choose, of course, and at the end of the evening he came home with...a pint of vanilla. Yay. In Cincinnati, though, I had Black Raspberry Chocolate Chip, and it was outstanding.

Then that evening, we went to Eli's Barbeque, where we had some of the best pulled pork we've ever eaten. Great ribs and jalapeño cornbread, too.

The next day we went to the American Sign Museum. Initially I thought this would be a chintzy roadside attraction. (We're a big fan of chintzy roadside attractions, so I don't say that with derision. I just wasn't expecting much.) This place is amazing, though!  It's anything but chintzy. It is a legitimate, honest-to-goodness, entertaining-yet-educational museum. We wound up spending three hours there! The first hour we looked around at all the signs, including one Mr. Presidentressor recognized from SoCal.

The second hour or so was spent on a tour led by the museum's founder. I didn't think the tour would tell us anything we hadn't already seen by walking around, but I was wrong again. This guy is incredibly knowledgable about signs, having been in the business his whole life. (His great-grandfather founded a trade publication for sign-makers, and the magazine is still in the family.) There's so much I never knew--and never thought to think about--regarding signs. And as he said at one point in the tour, the museum isn't just about the history of signs; it's about the history of the United States as told through signs, and that's so true.

Finally, we were able to go into the adjacent-but-separate neon shop, where we received a demonstration about bending tubing and lighting signs with different gases. The kids loved that! I highly recommend the Sign Museum to anyone in, near, or passing through the Cincinnati area. I can't say enough good things about it.

Our final meal in Cincinnati was at Tom + Chee, a grilled cheese restaurant. They've expanded beyond Cincinnati, but not into Chicago yet. I had a tomato-y, garlicky grilled cheese with creamy tomato-basil soup, and it was fantastic. The grilled cheese donuts were a fun novelty for dessert, but not something I'd get regularly.

So what did we learn? We learned a lot about signs. We learned that the park rangers at the Taft home really want people to know that William Howard Taft did not get stuck in a bathtub (and they're impressed when you already know that). We learned that Cincinnati has some great food and some funky little neighborhoods. I think Taft would have enjoyed the barbeque.

Awesome Possum

I love this story because it involves two of my favorite presidents: Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft. It's also just a really great story.

(Before we begin, it should be noted that the animal we're actually talking about is an opossum. Possums are Australian. But for the purposes of this post, we'll call them "possums" because that's what they're known as, even if it's technically incorrect.)

Now, everyone is familiar with the teddy bear, but how many people are familiar with the Billy Possum?

You might know that the teddy bear got its name thanks to Theodore Roosevelt (who, by the way, disliked being called "Teddy"). There are various and conflicting stories about how the stuffed bear came to be popular. In some versions of the story, it's because Roosevelt took a bear's life, in others it's because he spared a bear's life, and in still others it's because he didn't encounter any bears at all. One of the stories originates in Mississippi; some in Colorado. The Mississippi story seems to be the most widely accepted and documented version. Basically, TR was out hunting and decided to spare a female bear's life. A cartoonist depicted the incident in a newspaper, and from that touching story and adorable drawing, the "teddy bear" was born.

(Incidentally, I bought a Teddy Bear from a Colorado hotel that claims to be the site at which the teddy bear was really born, but considering the hotel itself has at least three different stories about how the bear came to be, I'm reluctantly inclined to believe the Mississippi version. At least I got a bear with a vest and wire-rimmed glasses from it.)

Anyway, suddenly teddy bears were all the rage, and 100 years later, they still are.

So what's the deal with the Billy Possum?

It seemed logical at the time: If children loved playing with an animal associated with President Roosevelt, surely they'd also love an animal associated with President Taft. Unfortunately, there were no touching stories about William Howard Taft sparing a bear's life, so promoters chose the next best thing: a meal of possum and sweet potatoes that Taft enjoyed while campaigning in the south.

Several companies tried to capitalize on what they assumed would be a flood of requests for Billy Possums, but despite their best efforts, the Billy Possum never took off.

This podcast (presented here on YouTube, complete with Ken Burns-style photography) gives three possible explanations for why the Billy Possum fizzled.

Their reasons are:

1) Possums are scary, ugly creatures.
I'm not buying this explanation. Possums are actually adorable. Yes, they're horrid creatures and you wouldn't want one in your backyard, but the same can be said of bears.

2) Mechanical toys were becoming popular, so why would someone want a floppy possum?
Maybe true, but why not make a mechanical possum? (Also, "Floppy Possum" would make an amazing name for a band.)

3) The Billy Possum didn't have a heartwarming story attached to it.
This one is definitely true. Roosevelt sparing the life of a helpless bear is certainly a more endearing image than someone chowing down on possum. (As the podcast mentions, though, Roosevelt later had one of his fellow hunters kill the bear instead. And then they ate it. With a side of possum. For real!)

What the podcast touches on but doesn't emphasize enough, in my opinion, is that it really came down to the men themselves. Roosevelt was a larger-than-life being bursting with charisma. People idolized and admired him. Taft was kind of...a wallflower. (Even that isn't completely accurate, because Taft was supposedly quite personable and friendly, but he certainly didn't have Roosevelt's public persona.) If someone had made a possum to commemorate Roosevelt's eating of one, we'd probably still be cuddling with Teddy Possums today.

My Favorite Presidents

You'd think "Who's your favorite president?" is something I get asked a lot, but it isn't. Mostly people ask "Why presidents?" in the same incredulous tone they use when asking why I moved from Southern California to Northern Illinois.

So, you didn't ask but I'm going to answer anyway, about my favorite president at least. (As for why the obsession, I have no answer. As for the California-Illinois thing, that's a discussion for another day.)

The truth is that I have a few favorites. In no particular order, they are:

Abraham Lincoln

This one seems kind of obvious. When people discuss the greatest presidents, Lincoln is always at or near the top, although I don't see how he can ever be rated lower than number one. Abraham Lincoln is like Babe Ruth. Babe Ruth is the greatest baseball player of all time. Not Mantle, not Mays, not Williams, not DiMaggio. It's Ruth. And it's Lincoln. It just is.

That's not to say that "the best" always has to be "the favorite" (Babe Ruth isn't my favorite baseball player), but Lincoln is definitely part of the three-way tie for my favorite.

Theodore Roosevelt

I'm a little conflicted on TR's presidency because I'm not just a fan of presidents; I'm also a fan of turn-of-the-century business moguls. (I totally need to make another blog called RobberBaroness.com.) Teddy as Trust-Buster caused some of my favorite historical figures to be pitted against one another, and that's uncomfortable but also kind of awesome. He was more hawkish than I'd like, but his administration did result in several important reforms.

More than anything, though, he was a fascinating human being. The guy taxidermied his own animals as a kid. He wrote several books, including a history of the War of 1812, just for fun. He overcame severe asthma to become a star athlete, and was partially blinded in one eye while boxing...when he was president. And there was the whole Rough Rider thing. And he was president. And so very, very, very much more. 

The guy was truly the most interesting man in the world. Wait, I feel a meme coming on.

There we go.

William Howard Taft

Remember I said that "favorite" and "best" don't always align? No one will ever accuse Taft of being among the greatest presidents, and it's not Taft's presidency that landed him on this list. Instead, it's because of his character, and also because I've always felt bad for him. Everyone knows he's the "fat guy," but most people don't know he was also Chief Justice of the Supreme Court (after he was president). Supreme Court Justice is the role he always aspired to, and he sort of got thrust into the whole presidential thing against his will. He didn't like acting as a politician and he didn't want to be president. In many ways, he was too principled to succeed in politics, which is probably why he didn't.