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Tag Archives: Smith Sundays

I always try to think

before I talk.

If you guessed that headline is a quote from somebody named Smith, you are right!  Because…it’s Smith Sunday!

Today, we would like to bring to your notice Margaret Chase Smith.

While we’re all being enthusiastic (or outraged, as the case may be) over Hillary Clinton’s past, and possible future, run for the Presidency—and some of us who are a bit older remember the excitement over Geraldine Ferraro’s nomination to the Vice Presidency—it’s worth remembering that Margaret Chase Smith was the first woman placed in nomination for the Presidency at a major party’s convention.

Ms. Smith served her country as a Congresswoman and a Senator and, until Senator Barbara Mikulski, was the longest serving woman in the Senate.   What may be even more impressive is that she held an all-time voting record in the Senate until 1981.  2,941 consecutive roll call votes.

When you consider that, these days, legislators don’t seem to even show up to work, let alone vote, I think that’s pretty good.  (Hey!  Maybe we should pay them by the vote and see if that gets any more work out of them?)

She was also a moderate Republican and was not afraid to break ranks with her party when she disagreed with them.

Now, admittedly, she was only a Smith by marriage, but with a record like that—we’ll take her!

In honor of

the fiscal cliff.

Today’s Smith Sunday entry is none other than. . .Adam Smith, the father of modern economics.  Now, I’m not an economist, and I don’t understand economic theory.  Clearly, or my own personal economy might be in better shape—and this post would be more substantial.

I’ll be using part of today to go off and read about Adam Smith both at the link above and at the Adam Smith Institute, and see if I can’t understand a little bit of it and what, if any, impact he has on the nonsense that’s happening in Washington just now.  But I do wonder if the fact that Adam Smith lived from 1723 – 1790 might not be part of our problem.

Shouldn’t our economy have evolved over the last two hundred and twenty-two years?

The Empress

of the Blues.

Smith Sunday!  In which we investigate other folks with the same last name as mine.

Today’s topic will be Bessie Smith, the Empress of the Blues (because, you know, with a name like “Smith,” you very rarely get to be associated with royalty).  Bessie’s ‘title’ comes from her extraordinary popularity in the 1920s and 30s.  She’s got recordings in the Grammy Hall of Fame, was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame, the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame among other honors, had a commemorative postage stamp, figured in a short story by J. D. Salinger and a play by Edward Albee.  She appeared on Broadway and made a film.

Not bad for a busker, I’d say.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MzU8xM99Uo&playnext=1&list=AL94UKMTqg-9Dff4ysz1YcPDSwUOhL1xB3

Write Me a Poem,

Baby.

That is the title of a book by H. Allen Smith, an American author and humorist, who is also the author of a book titled…drumroll…People Named Smith.

I thought he might be an appropriate candidate for my first Smith Sunday blog post.  Smith Sunday is a new feature wherein I mention and, perhaps, comment upon some famous person with whom I share a surname.

It may not be a long-lived feature, because, really, what can I accomplish here that a link to Wikipedia cannot do as well?  But I’m going to give it a try and see what happens.

My first thought was Captain John Smith.  I bet he was yours, too.  Captain John Smith is pretty much the first famous person named Smith to leap to anyone’s mind.  It’s the clothes.  That Elizabethan getup is…memorable.  And the Native American princess.  Apocryphal though the story may be, Pocahontas makes for a helluva good story, and most of us learned it in grade school.

But I hate to be obvious.

We’ll come back to him, maybe.

H. Allen seems like a good second thought for a first Smith Sunday post precisely because he wrote People Named Smith.  I have a feeling I might be consulting it frequently in the coming weeks.

I would suggest you read it, except that I would then have no reason to pursue the Smith Sunday blog posts.  Mr. Smith is far more amusing than I…and certainly did more research.  His books, by the way, are laugh-out-loud funny, so if you did happen to sneak off and read one or more of them, I could hardly blame you.  However, if you can’t resist picking up a copy of People Named Smith, please don’t mention it.  And, you know…common politeness should dictate that you not give away any punch lines if you see them heading your way on future Smith Sundays.  Just bask in the knowledge that you are well-read and know your Smiths and don’t rain on my parade.

Okay?  Thanks!


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