Sunshine, the Theater, and Comic Book History

The temperature says 75 degrees but it feels much warmer. It's a beautiful day. Everyone seemed to be walking their dogs or doing yard work. (Why people want to work on a nice day seems odd to me.) There were even some poor people on the roof of the house ripping the roof off! Way too warm for that. I never felt up to walking yesterday so it was nice to go out today. The girls and I walked 3+ miles today; they were so happy when we got to the creek on the home stretch and they could wade through it. Misty especially likes it - she actually lays down in the water. Looked very inviting actually.

I listened to several different podcasts from NPR regarding the Theater. Several of them dealt with the tragic Spider-Man musical. It seemed crazy how many different things could go wrong with one show and how many people wanted it too fail. I'm not too sure of the idea of a Spider-Man musical - or any comic book musical - but people should really give it a chance.

Book of the Day: The Ten Cent Plague: The Great Comic Book Scare and How It Changed America by David Hajdu. I am a big history nut and usually am reading at least one history or historical fiction book at any given time. This book is a great history of the rise of comic books as well as the great tragedy that befell them after the Second World War. It is always horrifying to hear of the terrible crimes against free speech that occurred against Americans in the '50s. The House Committee on Un-American Activities. Just the name gives you chills. But it is even scarier when you realize that many people on Capitol Hill learned nothing from this time. You just have to hear Congressman King to speak about Muslims to realize that these things can happen again. The so-called enemy has changed, that is all. FDR was right to say all we had to fear was fear itself. Fear can tear our democracy apart.