August 13th calls for some schooling, at least a few memories of going to school. The first will be a history lesson.
August 13th, 1521, Cortez defeated the Aztecs, and took the capital of Tenochtitlán. He rebuilt the capital as Mexico City. I start with the book “The Story of Old Europe and Young America” by William H. Mace and Edwin 1920. It tells in a few pages, how “Cortez had found one of the richest cities in the world-Mexico. He landed with twelve ships, and 600 men and horses. He sent every ship to the bottom of the sea in order to keep his men from deserting.”
He men had to follow him or die. They almost did several times, as they made their way to the Aztec capital and back.
My next book is a little more dramatic on the events. I have (another!) Landmark Book, Captain Cortez Conquers Mexico” by William Johnson 1960. He calls it a “Stirring saga of victory and death with all of its thrilling swordplay, plunder and violence.” The book describes the incredibly beautiful Aztec culture and city, with so much gold, yet using chocolate beans for currency. Also how only a few hundred soldiers from Spain, took over an enemy stronghold of thousands of well trained fighters.
While the book treats Montezuma as a wise leader killed by his own people, it focuses a lot on how Cortez got out of unbelieveable trouble, rather than why he got in the predicaments in the first place. It was history taught in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, so there was no debate where Cortez was a hero or a villian, just an underdog finding lots and lots of gold while converting heathen souls.
In school, I really enjoyed reading a whole book about a subject that we covered in only a few pages, or a chapter in a class textbook. I loved reading, and especially on a topic that was exciting. That is why for one, I read a lot of those Landmark Books of American and World history.
August 13th is International Left handers Awareness Day. I am left handed. My mother was left handed, and I think she may have had her hand slapped a few times before she convinced her teachers that she was going to remain a left handed writer. She had no problem with me being left handed, except when it came to good penmanship.
She was going to ensure that I wrote properly and prettily. I have two different copies of “I learn to write” teachers editions by Ethelyn Davidson and Rosa Cornelia Veal, 1963. They were Mom’s. These were the beginning books on how to write cursive, each one focusing a little differently than the other. Mom had gotten them both from my teacher.
The books were used to train students in the transition from manuscript to cursive. As the books say, “writing an entire word without lifting the pencil.” First the students learn to write in cursive, then there is the emphasis on slant.
Mom would ensure that I was holding my pencil properly as a left hander. Then I would have to properly place my paper on the desk for left handed writing.
While I learned like all of the right handers did, there was a line in the teachers handbook that was troubling: “It is very important to pay careful attention to the position of left-handed children-not just during a writing lesson, but at all times when they are writing.”
I don’t know if it was because teachers might allow lefties to write with their hand curled around so it looked like a right handed child, or if left handed kids are just messier writers. I do know that my mom had these copies of the teacher’s book. She would make me do penmanship homework even if I was not presented with any from school.
Mom was determined to ensure I wrote well. I spent hours, not at school working my swirls again and again on large writing papers with those dashed red line centers, but at home. “You may be left handed,” said my Mom “but you are going to write better than right handers.” I tried for several years, and then laziness and sloppiness took over. Mom picked different battles with me and school-It seems that left handers may have a higher Divergent Thinking process, leading to some correlation of figuring out more ways to get in trouble at school. Or I could just have been bored.
I do appreciate my mom trying. My daughter is also left handed. However, not one extra swirl was ever demanded from me for writing. But despite that, there are three generations of this family that as one, hate those damn right handed scissors…
Librarytomes 