H2H – Blue Cereal Education

The Year Cecil Rhodes Kicked My *** (Part One)

Blue Cereal — Wed, 23 Nov 2022 16:13:12 +0000

Introduction: If you’ve ever written, painted, composed, recorded, or produced pretty much anything in any medium, you know that sometimes you feel the magic happening and sometimes… well, sometimes you keep sawing the lady in half no matter how much she screams and begs you to stop. Metaphorically, that is. I’ve been trying to write … Continue reading

Flast v. Cohen (1968)

Blue Cereal — Tue, 06 Sep 2022 23:48:29 +0000

The case began when Florence Flast and other New York taxpayers objected to federal legislation which provided funds for the purchase of secular textbooks for use in religious private schools. They argued that using their tax dollars in this way violated the Establishment Clause. The government responded with a derisive chuckle and a gaze full of pity for these poor fools who clearly didn’t understand how these things worked. See, way back in Commonwealth of Massachusetts v. Mellon (1923), the Court had specifically addressed the question of whether or not taxpayers had standing to sue based on being taxpayers. “No,” they said. “Absolutely not. Don’t be stupid.” If the government takes your money against your will and then uses it for something you don’t like – especially something you’re pretty sure they’re not supposed to be doing anyway – take it up with your elected representatives. That’s totally not the job of the judicial branch – “separation of powers” and all that.

Besides, both the gathering of taxes and the distribution of state funds were simply too general and, you know… big. It was impossible to connect specific state expenses to individual taxpayer contributions in more than a theoretical way – like identifying which raindrops were responsible for a flood downriver weeks later. Besides, every act of legislation, particularly when it involves spending, potentially impacts the economy. Maybe the very act you’re opposing is actually lowering your taxes somehow – did you think of that, Little Miss Lawsuit-Pants?

Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye v. City of Hialeah (1993)

Blue Cereal — Mon, 08 Aug 2022 00:22:44 +0000

Santeria is one of those religions that the folks most likely to demand more “freedom of religion” in the United States don’t actually mean to include. What sets Santeria apart – at least in modern times – is the role of animal sacrifice. Historically, the ritual slaughter of various critters as offerings to the gods is pretty standard stuff. The Jews of the Old Testament are the most familiar example, but it was also common among the Greeks, Romans, Celts, Norse, Egyptians, and numerous other cultures. Christians echo the tradition by symbolically drinking of the blood and eating the flesh of the Son of God, thus maintaining the ritual with less clean-up afterwards. Islam rejects the “blood for favors or forgiveness” element and retains a single annual sacrifice of thankfulness each year during Eid al-Adha.

But in Santeria, sacrifices are far more old school...

Holt v. Hobbs (2015): Who Then Can Be Shaved?

Blue Cereal — Sun, 24 Jul 2022 21:08:21 +0000

The Arkansas Department of Corrections doesn’t allow prisoners to grow beards (with some exceptions made for inmates with specific skin conditions). The argument was that inmates could conceivably hide contraband in their beards and that shaving them off would allow them to quickly change their appearance should they escape.

One suspects these were largely rationalizations, but prison isn’t primarily intended to be a great place for personal expression, so maybe officials have the right to tweak a few rules for their own purposes.

Stomping Decisis / A Matter of Degrees (Introduction)

Blue Cereal — Tue, 12 Jul 2022 17:21:00 +0000

NOTE: I’m toying with the idea of a follow-up volume to both “Have To” History: Landmark Supreme Court Cases and “Have To” History: A Wall of Separation. The working title is Stomping Decisis (I’ll probably change it if I can think of something better) and the central subject would be major Supreme Court decisions of … Continue reading

Rabbit Trails: Cecil Rhodes and the Moral Complications of… Everything

Blue Cereal — Wed, 04 May 2022 16:12:51 +0000

NOTE: I’ve been playing with ideas for a future “Have To” History book, tentatively titled “Who In The World?” The premise would be to tackle major events and issues in world history through a series of brief narratives or biographies of world figures whose names may sound vaguely familiar but who aren’t the “A-listers.” Cecil Rhodes certainly fits that bill, but I’ve been having trouble narrowing down what to include and what to cut from his story. The draft I’m sharing today demonstrates both the potential of using biography as an anchor for larger themes and issues and the dangers of the rabbit trails which naturally result from this approach. I doubt most of this will make it into the final version, if such a thing should one day come about.

Empress Theodora

Blue Cereal — Sat, 19 Mar 2022 11:57:40 +0000

Theodora was (most likely) born In 497 CE, a few years short of the dawn of the sixth century. She was the middle child of three, all girls, and more or less destined for disrepute. Her father was a bear trainer in the Hippodrome of Constantinople, capital of what we today tend to think of … Continue reading

“Have To” History: The Boring Parts

Blue Cereal — Sat, 15 Jan 2022 04:13:36 +0000

Many history aficionados get a bit touchy when “outsiders” label something from history “boring.” Like, anything. There’s so much we find fascinating or important or connected or just… weird that it’s easy to take it a bit personally when someone labels our interests “lame” (even when they soften such declarations with more moderate language). And … Continue reading

The 1950s (Part Two)

Blue Cereal — Sat, 09 Oct 2021 15:02:51 +0000

Many questions about the 1960s are actually rooted in the 1950s, so keep that in mind when asked about racial tensions, shifting political dynamics, Cold War anxieties, or anything related to rebellion against cultural norms or “their parents’ generation.” Avoid oversimplifying the 1950s as the sum of its clichés while recognizing that the perception of homogeneity was enough to generate both the pressure to conform and the desire to rebel – sometimes within the same subgroups.

The 1950s (Part One)

Blue Cereal — Wed, 06 Oct 2021 23:59:12 +0000

In reality, the 1950s weren’t quite as universally unified or prosperous as they appeared. Still, it was close enough to give the 1960s something to challenge – a lifestyle and presumed set of values for the youth of the era to reject. (It’s difficult to rebel against the mainstream if there’s no mainstream.) If nothing else, the 1950s made the 1960s possible. The decade became the “ordinary world” for a whole new hero’s journey.