Happy Birthday to Me, The USA and Terrance Dean Jr.

Photo courtesy of The Dallas Morning News

I was considering what to write about this July 4th since I've written about it before and don't want to bore readers with the same ol' same ol'. Then I read about this amazing 10-year-old, Terrance Dean Jr. and discovered his birthday is today, too. 

In addition to sharing my birthday with the good old U.S.A, I share it with some pretty famous people: Neil Simon, Mitch Miller, Eva Marie Saint, Gina Lollobrigida, Malia Obama, and many others. Pretty soon when you do a Google search for "famous July 4th birthdays" the list will include Terrance Dean Jr.

This young man attends the Black Academy of Arts and Letters in Dallas, and is an incredible orator. On a Sunday evening in March he gave an impromptu speech during a rally for Trayvon Martin, the young teen killed in Florida. He captivated the audience of hundreds and spoke with the eloquence of seasoned speakers.

Terrance has been speaking and/or singing in church since he was six and has a gift for both. His grandmother, a music teacher, says sometimes she had no idea where the things come from that come out of his mouth. He is a frequent speaker at many churches and civic organizations, and is a youth choir leader at his church. He also performs in the theatre program at the Black Academy.

Last month, Terrance had the honor of going to New York to speak and then introduce Ruby Dee who was the headliner that night. His mentor, Curtis King, founder and director of the Black Academy, arranged for the boy to go to the Apollo and wrote most of the speech Terrance delivered. Of the boy's ability to mesmerize an audience, King says, "There's something going on deep inside. It's like he's been here before."

King lists Terrance among the most exceptional youths he has worked with in 35 years with the academy and firmly believes the young man is "Destined to be a world leader."

It is always such a thrill to find a story like this that is celebrating such a special young person, so I am thrilled to share it with you.

So Happy Birthday to me - Happy Birthday to the United States - And Happy Birthday to Terrance.

 

To see some fireworks from the show my kids put on here at Grandma's Ranch, check out The Blood Red Pencil Blog, where I wrote another piece about the day and what it means to me.

The Real Alice in Wonderland

Cathy Rubin co-author of The Real Alice in Wonderland contacted me recently with an interesting bit of trivia.

American Independence Day and Alice in Wonderland share the same birthday. So, I not only share my birthday with my country, I share it with a timeless story.

According Cathy, Friday July 4, 1862 is credited with the first time Lewis Carroll told Alice Liddell and her sisters the story of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.  It was shortly after the first telling of Carroll’s story that Alice began to urge the author to write it down for her.

I've been intrigued by this book since I first heard about it, so I went to Cathy's Web site to get more information about how and why she came to write this book. 
"In 2007, my daughter’s school  selected  Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland for Book Day.  My daughter Gabriella remembered we had a connection to the Liddell family.  Alice Liddell inspired Charles Dodgson (aka Lewis Carroll) to write the original story.  At this point I knew very little about Alice Liddell’s story other than what my grandmother and my great aunt Phil Liddell had told me about her when I was a child.   Gabriella bugged me to help her research the story. You could say we jumped down the rabbit hole together. It took us several months to research the content for our Book Day workshop  which we called The Real Alice In Wonderland. After we presented the workshop to Gabriella’s school and other groups we were encouraged by educators, friends and family to turn our story  into a film or book.  The book as you can see came first!"


Like many other readers, I did not know that Lewis Carroll wrote about a real  person. It was interesting to find out a bit about her:   

Alice Liddell was born into a privileged, academic family on May 4, 1852.  She was the fourth child of Henry and Lorina Liddell.  Her father, one of the most prominent educators of his day, was the Dean of Christ Church College, Oxford University.  Alice was home schooled by some of Oxford University’s finest tutors.  She was a bright child with significant artistic talents.  Alice was also known to be free-spirited (largely due to her never-ending curiousity about everything).   She grew up to become a beautiful and cultured young woman.  Her beauty inspired many distinguished photographers and artists such as Charles Dodgson, Julia Margaret Cameron and Sir William Blake Richmond.  She also inspired the devotion of many suitors including Prince Leopold, Queen Victoria’s youngest son.  In 1880, she married a wealthy landowner, Reginald Hargreaves, with whom she had three sons.

So, I wish a Happy Birthday to the gool ol' U. S. A. and to the wonderful story of Alice and the rabbit hole.

Special Surprise Tomorrow

The Fourth of July is my birthday. For years I thought all the fireworks and picnics and parades were just for me, and, boy, did I feel important. Then I found out that 99.99 percent of the American public was celebrating Independence Day, and just my family cared about my birthday.

When I matured, just last year, I got over the disappointment and was thrilled to share my birthday with America. I get tingly all over when I hear "I'm a Yankee Doodle Dandy."

Just this week, I found out I share my birthday with another significant event. Perhaps not as important as the independence of a nation, but still pretty significant.

I know this is a big holiday weekend here in the States, but if you have time and are interested, stop by tomorrow and discover the surprise. It's a good one.