Hands off Lincoln's Nose?

When I was 10, my dad and I drove from Chicago to Disney World. Along the way we made several stops, including Springfield, Illinois, to see Lincoln's tomb. My dad had been there before, but it was new to me, so I was surprised when I saw the bust outside Lincoln's tomb. It looked like any old statue, really, except that the nose was bright and shiny. My dad explained that people rubbed the nose for good luck, so I did, too.

It's unclear how the practice got started. It seems that rubbing statues' noses in general is considered good luck, and Lincoln is a popular guy. It does seem a bit weird, though, as Lincoln wasn't exactly the luckiest guy in the world. Yeah, he won the Civil War (the bloody, devastating Civil War), but he also lost his mother at a young age, buried two children, and, you know, got assassinated, hence the bust outside his tomb.

But whatever. I find it a delightful, if strange, tradition.

This morning my 6-year-old asked me if Lincoln had a shiny nose in real life. (I told her probably not.) She knows all about the nose because we've been to Lincoln's tomb a couple times, and because we live in Illinois where tributes to Lincoln are as common as Starbucks. Many of those Tributes come in statue or plaque form, and if the nose is accessible, it will be rubbed.

We encountered this plaque at a state park nowhere near Springfield a few months ago. You can see that the nose is significantly shinier than the rest of it.

You should never pass up an opportunity to rub Lincoln's nose. Or should you?

Apparently not everyone is happy about the tradition. An angry columnist from Springfield's newspaper is mad that people are leaving pennies at the statue and the tomb. He, and a cemetery worker, find it "tacky." In my four visits there I've never seen any pennies, so maybe it was a short-lived fad (the column is from 2013). But leaving coins on graves---any grave, not just Lincoln's---is something people do, isn't it? This columnist is also up in arms about people rubbing the nose, because apparently you aren't supposed to.

Then I felt bad. Have we been defacing Lincoln's face? Should we stop? So I looked for some warnings online, because there certainly aren't any at the tomb itself. The website for the Lincoln Tomb Monument Association has no warning against rubbing Abe's nose. The Lincoln's Tomb page at Oak Ridge Cemetery's website makes no mention of keeping one's hands off. In fact, the first image on the cemetery's home page is a photo of a person rubbing Lincoln's nose. It doesn't exactly seem like anyone's trying to discourage the rubbing, except Mr. Angry Springfieldian.

I did find some information about how in the 1970s the Illinois State Historical Society worried that the constant rubbing would erode Abe's nose, so they raised the bronze bust to make it harder to reach. Frustrated schoolchildren wrote letters of complaint, and the bust was restored to its regular height shortly thereafter. And apparently today, caretakers have a stepstool available for kids (or short adults) who need a boost to reach the nose. If they're trying to keep people's hands off, they're not doing a very good job communicating it.

I would hope that if the bust truly is in danger of being destroyed, they'll put it off-limits for good. Maybe they can use those pesky pennies and $5 bills being left at the tomb to help fund something.

So, until I'm told otherwise I'll keep rubbing Lincoln's nose whenever I see one. It might not bring me luck, but it brings me a little happiness.

FUN Presidents Day Ideas

It's the mooost wonderful tiiiiiiime of the year.....

Ah, yes, Presidents Day is upon us, and if you're like me, you're gearing up for a huge celebration! I'm here to help you with all of your Presidents Day needs, but first let's clear up a few things.

1. Apostrophes. Those little buggers. You'll see references to Presidents Day, President's Day, and Presidents' Day. I'm going with AP Style on this one: no apostrophe. It's just easier.

2. Whose Holiday is it Anyway? Some people want to nitpick about how Presidents Day isn't really a "thing," and that really it's Washington's birthday we're commemorating, or maybe a Washington-Lincoln mashup, or or or... I say screw that and celebrate it however you want. It's like debating whether Christmas is about the birth of Christ, the Pagan return of the Sun King, or Santa bringing presents down the chimney. Just do whatever works for you.

Now that we've cleared that up.

You might be looking for some exciting Presidents Day activities for yourself or your kids. You might check Google and Pinterest. You might then find some word searches and projects like gluing a penny onto a toilet paper tube and calling it a Lincoln puppet.

No. That's not fun.

I am forever in the process of collecting exciting ideas, but here's what I have so far.

Warhol-esque Presidential Portraits
I found this idea on this site last year. You search the web for a presidential-portrait coloring page of your choice, print out four copies, and then paint/color them in unusual ways. Center each one on a bright background, then place all four together. Yeah, it might just be coloring in presidents, but it's a lot more interesting than the typical coloring page.

Last year my two youngest kids picked William Howard Taft and James Garfield. I was so proud. My oldest refused to participate.

Speaking of Coloring Pages
Yes, usually they're boring, but not when Presidentress makes them. This coloring page allows you to explore Chester A. Arthur's pants. (I realized the other day I should have named this "Chester Drawers," except it's about pants, not underpants.)

Articulated Doll
Another Presidentress original craft, the Woodrow Wilson articulated doll can provide hours of excitement. Full backstory and directions can be found here.

Racing Presidents Dolls
Okay, yeah, it's just gluing stuff onto toilet paper tubes, which I specifically ridiculed up above, but these are far more interesting than the typical stuff you'll find in a teacher's guide. These are dolls based on the Washington Nationals racing presidents. Templates and instructions here.

Jelly Bean Pictures
You might not have enough jelly beans lying around to make a portrait of Ronald Reagan, but you can probably scrounge up enough to make a picture of something. If you do, make sure to share it with me. (To be clear, I did not make that Ronald Reagan portrait.)

Food and Drink
Perhaps you're not the crafty type but would like something to eat? You can always bake up some Dolley Madison Cake or John Quincy Adams Pumpkin Bread. Or just pour yourself a nice cocktail. Teddy Roosevelt's Hat, perhaps?

Do you have any fun projects or plans for Presidents Day? Let me know! Whatever you have is likely better than the one I came up with the other day: Giving the kids cardboard boxes and having them play "Hooverville." Not all ideas are winners.

Groundhogs and Presidents

Happy Groundhog Day, everyone! As with many things, I say that un-ironically. I love Groundhog Day! I even woke up at 5:45 this morning to attend my local groundhog prognostication. (Woodstock Willie says early spring!)

Needless to say, I was overjoyed a few months ago when I came across this t-shirt combining two of my favorite things: marmots and presidents!

Get your own at this Etsy shop.

The Roosevelt in question is Franklin D., and this was a logo created for a button during his 1932 campaign.

Naturally I was curious about these Virginia Groundhogs. I mean, what? I assumed it was some sort of fraternal organization, and that appears to be the case. The group was officially known as the "Ground Hog Club of America," but seems to have existed exclusively in Roanoke, Virginia, at least as far as I've been able to find.

Here's a photo of one of their meetings from Groundhog Day, 1926:

Courtesy of Roanoke Public Libraries

You can see the organization consists entirely of white men (with the exception of the white boy in the front row), which isn't surprising for a fraternal organization in 1926. The "African American" standing in the middle is actually a white man in blackface. So, that happened...

There's not a lot about the Ground Hogs on the web. An old newspaper mentions something about a wedding between two groundhogs (I think actual groundhogs, not members of the organization) in 1921. The group seems to have been active from the 1920s until their meeting hall burned down in 1957. They met again in 1962, but I don't know how long the organization survived after that.

Here's the shirt in action at today's groundhog festivities in Woodstock, Illinois, filming location for the Groundhog Day movie.

In other presidential-groundhog news, last night I was reading the book Groundhog Weather School to my 6-year-old (fantastic book, by the way), and in the section about famous groundhogs, we learned about Buckeye Chuck, Ohio's official groundhog. Where does Buckeye Chuck live? Marion, Ohio, home and burial site of Warren G. Harding! I might need to take a road trip next February...

Separated at Birth, part 12

Presidential hopeful Chris Christie and the captain from Wall-E.

This is my favorite one yet. Look at them. The mouth, the jowls, the eyebrows, the hairline, the tie, even the little button/pin. Eerie.

James Madison's Favorite Lip Balm

Last week I read with great interest an article about lip balm because I live in Illinois and we're in the depths of winter and my lips are falling off. None of the balms in the article interested me, but someone in the comment section (yeah, I read them sometimes) mentioned this stuff called Hurraw! Lip Balm. Being in favor of products with fun names, I decided to check them out.

The Hurraw! balms are everything-friendly: all natural, vegan, organic, free-trade, cruelty-free, etc., but I was more interested in the scents because I'm selfish. Many caught my eye: Chai Spice, Earl Gray, Green Tea (plus more "typical" flavors like Black Cherry and Orange). The one that really stood out, though, was called Vata. It's described as "soothing almond, spicy cardamom, and a lovely lingering of rose."

Cardamom and rose? Hello! That sounds just like my Dolley Madison Cake! I've actually been dying for that cake lately, but I'm on a diet, so it's a no-go. I figured a similarly-scented lip balm might be next best thing, or possibly torture. So I ordered some.

My order arrived quickly, and whoever packaged it had drawn little hearts all over the invoice. It was kind of a cute human touch. The lip balm itself isn't a typical cylinder; it's more of an ellipse, making it easier to fit in a pocket without creating a weird bulge. I like it.

And this Vata Balm...oh my gosh, it really does smell like my cake, and it feels wonderful. It's possibly the most exquisite thing my lips have ever touched (apologies to Mr. Presidentressor and any ex-boyfriends who might happen to stumble upon this). It's like kissing James Madison! Or Dolley! I don't know. But I do know I want cake, and more of this lip balm.

Without saying anything about the scent to my 6-year-old daughter, I stuck the lip balm under her nose and she said, "Mmm! It smells like cardamom! Like that cake!" Definitive proof that it's not just me.

You can order some of this wonderful stuff from the Hurraw! website, and most (all?) flavors seem to be available on Amazon with free Prime shipping, too. (Although it sounds like it, I haven't received anything free nor have I been compensated for my opinion on this lip balm. I just really love it.)

I'm not sure what James Madison used for keeping his lips moist and supple, but I think he would have been a fan of this stuff.

The Presidential Mystery Doodle

Dear readers, I need your help in solving a presidential mystery.

As you might remember from my recent post about a bawdy picture that was sent to James Monroe, I'm currently reading a book called Presidential Doodles. I first became intrigued by presidential doodles after reading this post from Mental Floss. There are some fascinating doodles there, but I was especially drawn to the strange bird and goofy-looking face from Warren G. Harding. (Because they look cool, not because of my growing obsession with Warren G. Harding.)

So imagine my surprise as I was flipping through my book and saw these doodles not in the Harding section but in the---gasp!---Benjamin Harrison section. Long-time readers will remember that I consider Benjamin Harrison the most forgettable president, and that I'm actually a bit confused as to why that is.

I had a conundrum on my hands: Who drew the weird bird and creepy face? Harding or Harrison? I decided to do some research, and by "research" I mean that I sent an email to the Harding Home Presidential Site and the Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site to ask which president doodled the doodles.

I heard back almost immediately from the Harding folks: It wasn't him.

It's been a couple weeks now and I haven't yet heard back from the Harrison people. Maybe they have better things to do than worry about some doodles. I'm going to go ahead and assume that my book has it right, and the doodles really are his. That's good news because Benjamin Harrison finally has meaning for me! He's grown a nugget! (If you don't understand what I mean, click the link up above about Harrison being the most forgettable president.)

But there might be an even greater mystery surrounding these doodles. While I was thoroughly scouring the web trying to find the source of the doodles, I came upon a blog post that compared the presidential doodles to album art. Amusing, but not really my thing. In the comments to that post, though, was an interesting observation by someone who said both doodles are "actually drawings that result from a cute story you tell kids" and that the bird one is found in a Little House on the Prairie book.

I'm not as familiar with those books as I should be, so I turned to some people who are. Through their help, I located the bird story, which Ma tells the girls in On the Banks of Plum Creek.

This blog post does an excellent job showing how the story is told/drawn, but if you don't want to click over there, the idea is that the bird's body is a pond, and the feet are houses where people live, and the legs are the path the people in the houses take to get to the pond, etc. By the time you're done telling the story you have the complete bird. (The tail is fish flying out of the pond, and the beak is an old guy's nose. But click over to that blog to get the complete idea.)

Now, I have to admit that Harrison's bird does look like it could be telling that story, although the bird's head is supposed to be a house, and his bird's head isn't a house. But maybe there's another version.

What I'm having a hard time with, though, is finding a story that goes with the face. Now that I've seen that bird story, the face looks like it really could be part of a story like that...but what is it? My exhaustive google searches are too broad to have brought up any results. AND I NEED TO KNOW!

If anyone has any idea what story might go with that face, please let me know! Or make one up. Maybe those little dots are cabinet members or something.

Prez Dispenser Analysis

I know there's nothing you'd rather do right now than scrutinize Presidential Pez Dispensers. So let's get to it!

This past Christmas, I was able to complete my collection of Prez Dispensers. I forget exactly how they released these, but I think they did two sets of five presidents per year. This year they released the final (for now) two sets, but since there weren't enough presidents to release two sets of five, the final two sets each have four presidents plus a presidential seal. Woo.

Anyway, when I got this year's sets, I was disappointed in the quality. I mean, yeah, they're Pez dispensers, but until now I'd been fairly impressed with their resemblance to the presidents they represent. Sure, they weren't all perfect. Calvin Coolidge was questionable. But generally, you could tell who they were supposed to be, and some were shockingly accurate.

But these last two sets are...off.

First, let's take a look at the quality between the first set and the last. Here's John Adams, and some guy.

Do you know who that guy is?

If you said Bill Clinton, I'm not sure whether to be impressed or concerned, because that looks nothing like Bill Clinton.

Even putting the facial features aside, you can see the difference in whatever materials/paint they used, too. Adams looks almost like a wax sculpture, whereas Clinton looks like a Pez dispenser.

Here's the first set compared with one of this year's two sets.

Okay, Jefferson looks more like Stephen Douglas than Thomas Jefferson, but at least he's detailed. Carter and Ford? Really? (Reagan is rolling his eyes at the whole thing.)

As I looked more closely, I noticed that many of the other sets also had that cheaper plastic look, but the guys still pretty much resembled themselves. Here's the FDR-LBJ set.

They're that fake shiny plastic, but they pretty much look like themselves. (Kennedy is a little questionable, but Truman and Eisenhower actually look more like themselves than the photo gives credit for. If you put these all in front of me with no names attached, I'd know who they're supposed to be.)

I'd never done a side-by-side comparison, and usually the Prez Dispensers live in their boxes on a shelf because Mr. Presidentressor hasn't yet built me a custom display. Because of that, I wasn't sure when exactly Pez changed from the "good" quality to the less-good.

Like American history itself, the tide seems to have turned between Buchanan and Lincoln.

You can see how the Lincoln set looks more "fake," but at least they pretty much resemble who they're supposed to. (Also, Buchanan doesn't really look like himself, but at least he looks real.)

Now, let's take a look at these two guys. Tell me who they are.

If your memory is good, you got Clinton (on the right) from when I mentioned him a minute ago. The guy on the left? That's George H. W. Bush (Bush the First), but I'd also give you credit if you said Ted Cruz, because it looks way more like Ted Cruz than George Bush.

See? Ted Cruz.

Here's the rest of the latest set.

I can't say I'm too impressed. W looks maybe passable. Obama...no, not really. And we've already discussed "Clinton" and Ted Cruz.

If Pez keeps with its tradition of releasing four or five presidents a year, it'll be at least 16 more years before we get another set. That should give them plenty of time to work on making the guys (and ladies?) more realistic again.