The Way of Improvement Leads Home.

For the past couple months, I have been contemplating what it means to pursue an education. Is it simply the required schooling until you are 18 and then four more years to pursue a bachelor's degree? Or is there something else I am missing? I have tried to grasp what a true education should look like. I can safely say that I am further along in my pursuit, and yet at the same time, nowhere near completion. I have read books outside of a required syllabi, blog posts on history, and shared numerous lunch conversations with faculty and students, actions which have led me to realize something. For me, education is not just a means to a job. It is a lifestyle of constantly seeking improvement. My pursuit of education is to better myself and to prepare myself to be a citizen of the world around me. I have had the privilege of reading a book recently by Dr. Jon Fea Ph.D. (Check out his blog here!) who is a professor of American History over at Messiah college in Pennsylvania. His book, "The Way of Improvement Leads Home", details the life of Philip Vickers Fithian, a New Jersey man who is on his own quest for improvement. The challenges that Fithian must go through in order to achieve his education have illuminated my own path and inspired me to press on. Fithian does not stop after his formal education is over. He corresponds with others, he debates, he continues to read and record his thoughts on what he has read. Fithian represents something that is lost today. Philip Vickers Fithian is a man who pursued improvement for improvements sake. This pursuit and understanding is something I have been struggling with for about a year. My struggle for improvement, is the reason this blog exists. I hope any readers of this blog, will continue to follow me on my journey and maybe, just maybe, they will decide that it's a journey that they would like to be a part of themselves.

Signers of the Declaration, part 1 - George Read.

Here's a lesson in history for all of you curious readers. A few months ago I wrote about a conversation I had with a former roommate about the signers of the Declaration of Independence. In this post, I wrote about my desire to learn more about the signers of the document. The first post in this series is dedicated to George Read of Delaware.

Born in 1733 in Cecil County, Maryland. At the age of 15, he went to study Law under John Moland. In the year of 1753 he moved to Delaware to open a private practice. Quickly establishing himself as a competent lawyer, he was appointed to the post of Attorney - General of three Delaware counties. Not one to stay behind the scenes, Read resigned his post of A.G. to represent Delaware in the Continental Congress of 1774. While an active patriot in the American cause, he found the first draft of the congress to be a bit strong, but after it was passed he quickly joined with the rest of the congress. During the war, Read was called upon by his state to serve as governor. In 1787 Read was again elected by his state to serve in the Constitutional Convention held at Annapolis, Maryland.

George Read's politics are worth mentioning. Before the war, Read thought the best course to take with Great Britain was reconciliation. This belief caused him to vote against independence, but once it was passed he joined together with his new countrymen to create a new country. During the convention of 1787, Read was a in support of a strong central government. He even advocated dissolving the states altogether.

As for his religious leanings, he was an Episcopalian. Not much else is said about his religious preferences. This is important to understand because his membership in the Episcopal church does not prove or disprove that George Read was a Christian. Most people in the period of the revolution were nominally Christian. In other words, to belong to a church was very common.

You may be wondering why I included this last idea. This blog series has two goals. The primary goal is to educate myself and my few readers (Hi Hannah). The secondary goal is to show that the religious leaning of the founding fathers is not as black and white as some would lead you to believe. It is not true that all the founders where Christians, nor is it true that all the founders were atheistic rationalists who wanted nothing to do with religion.

Stay tuned for part 2, Caesar Rodney of Delaware.

He's back.........

February 6th. Many important events in history have transpired on this 41st day of the year according to the Gregorian Calendar. In 1763, The French and Indian War (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_and_Indian_War) was formally ended with the signing of The 1763 Treaty of Paris. In 2003, Ron Ziegler (Press Secretary to Pres. Nixon) died. And in 2010, Jamie Boehmer last updated his blog....

BUT NOW HE'S BACK BETTER THAN EVER! With all new ideas, new topics for conversation, and a brand new Aspire One Netbook from Acer! That's right ladies and gentleman, my dear wife purchased this brand new Netbook for my birthday which isn't until April 28th (in case you last minute gift givers haven't purchased your gift yet, you have until Wednesday!) I can now blog from my own Netbook while Hannah sits contently on her Apple laptop and places facebook games.

But now we must get to the question that is burning on all of your hearts... "What have you been doing this whole time?" Fear not my fellow readers... fear not! I have not been wasting my time, I have been out saving the world(OK, so the Mass Effect Universe doesn't count in real life, but I did beat both games in a span of three weeks)! I have also been reading selections from my Norton Anthology to Western Literature. I have read selections from Ovid, Aeneid, Augustine's Confessions, The Koran, 1001 Nights, The Divine Comedy (mostly Dante's Inferno) The Prince, and recently finished reading a how to manual for Courtly manners in the 16th century.

My historical pursuits are also coming along quite nicely. I recently finished a paper on John Dickinson and how the political philosophy of Quaker Constitutionalism impacted his actions in the American Revolution!

I hope to post soon, I know I promised a series on the Signers of the Declaration of Independence, starting with George Read from Delaware.

I'll leave you with a quote from Thomas Jefferson to stew on:

An honest man can feel no pleasure in the exercise of power over his fellow citizen.

My literary ambitions....

As promised here is a complete list of the books that I want to tackle before the end of 2010. The list of books is probably not complete because more will be added I'm sure. This list is simply the list of books that I currently own. If you would like to borrow one of these books shoot me an e-mail and we can work something out :) I hope this encourages you to make a reading list for the year as well. LETS GET READING!!!

- The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Civil War - H.W. Crocker III
- From Colony to Super Power: U.S. Foreign Relations since 1776 - George C. Herring
- A Patriot's History of the United States: From Columbus's Great Discovery to the War on Terror -- Larry Schweikart and Michael Allen
- The Hemingses of Monticello -- Annette Gordon Reed
- The Road to Disunion: Secessionists Triumphant -- Freehling
- Liberty and Freedom: A visual History of America's Founding Ideas -- David Hackett Fischer
- The Politics -- Aristotle
- Fall of the Roman Republic -- Plutarch
- How Rome Fell -- Adrian Goldsworth
- The Shield of Achilles -- Phillip Bobbitt
- The Enemy within: 2000 years of witch hunting in the western world -- John Demos
- The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam and the Crusades -- Robert Spencer
- Albion's Seed -- David Hackett Fischer
- Liberty's Blueprint -- Michael Meyerson
- 1776 -- David McCullough
- The Drillmaster of Valley Forge -- Paul Lockhart
- Saratoga -- John Luzader
- Battle Cry of Freedom -- James McPherson
- Nathan Hale -- M. William Phelps
- Henry Knox: Visionary General of the American Revolution -- Mark Puls
- American Creation -- Joseph Ellis
- Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln -- Doris Kearns Goodwin
- Lincoln as I knew him: Gossip, Tributes and Revelations from the Best Friends and worst enemies -- Harold Holzer
- Clash of Extremes: Economic Origins of the Civil War -- Marc Egnal
- Confederate Emancipation: Southern Plans to Free and Arm Slaves during the Civil War -- Bruce Levine
- Confederate Raider -- John Taylor
- The Summer of 1787 -- David Stewart
- The Cambridge Companion to Thomas Jefferson -- Cambridge
- The Impending Crisis -- David Potter
- The Templars -- Barbara Frale
- Hitler's Empire: How the Nazis ruled Europe -- Mark Mazower
- A History of Russia -- Riasanovsky
- The Romanovs -- Lindsey Hughes
- The Soviet colossus -- Michael Kort
- The French and Indian War -- Walter R. Borneman
- The Mind of a Patriot: Patrick Henry and the World of Ideas -- Kevin J. Hayes
- The Birth of Freedom -- Jon E. Lewis
- The Politically Incorrect Guide to Western Civilization -- Anthony Esolen
- The FBI -- Rhodri Jeffreys - Jones
- Legacy of Ashes: History of the CIA -- Tim Weiner
- Lies My Teacher Told Me -- James W. Loewen
- The Bondage Breaker -- Neil T. Anderson
- Victory Over the Darkness -- Neil T. Anderson
- William Ewart Gladstone: Faith and Politics in Victorian England -- David Bebbington
- The Communist Manifesto -- Marx and Engels
- The Purpose Driven Life - Rick Warren
- Miracle at Philadelphia -- Catherine Drinker Bowen
- God's Final Word -- Ray Stedman
- No Small Snakes: A Journey into Spiritual Warfare -- Gordon Dalbey
- Healing the Masculine Soul -- Gordon Dalbey
- Don't Waste your Life -- John Piper
- The Search for Christian America -- Noll/Marsden/Hatch
- How to Pray for Lost Loved Ones -- Dutch Sheets
- Too Small to Ignore: Why the Least of These Matters to the Most -- Wes Stafford
- The Silence of Adam -- Larry Crabb
- The Tempting of America: The Political Seduction of the Law -- Robert Bork
- Leave us Alone: Getting the Government's hands off our money, guns and lives -- Grover Norquist
- Liberal Fascism: The secret History of the American Left form Mussolini to the politics of meaning -- Jonah Goldberg
- Blowback: The costs and consequences of American Empire -- Chalmers Johnson
- Politically Incorrect guide to the Constitution -- Kevin R. C. Gutzman
- The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the world -- Niall Ferguson
- John Adams -- David McCullough
- One dayin the life of Ivan Denisovich -- Alexander Solzhenitsyn
- Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell -- Susanna Clarke
- The Count of Monte Cristo -- Alexandre Dumas
- The Three Musketteers -- Alexandre Dumas
- The Great Gatsby -- Fitzgerald
- The Partner -- John Grisham
- Archangel -- Robert Harris
- Scarlet Letter -- Hawthorne
- Screwtape Letters -- C.S. Lewis
- The Lost: Search for six of six million -- Daniel Mendelsohn
- The Hobbit -- J.R. Tolkien
- Lord of the Rings -- J.R. Tolkien
- The Shack -- Young

The joy of the Library!

On Saturday the Wife and I went out on a little adventure. Our first stop was at the local Maplewood Menards. We had to trade a broken lamp in for a replacement. I know it sounds like a blast, DON'T KNOCK MY LIFE! Anyways after that business was concluded we made our way to the Maplewood Library (see picture below)

I know that most people already know the magnificent pleasures that a library can bring a patron, but let me tell you something. It was amazing! It sounds so ridiculous but I loved being in this place. Surrounded by books that I was allowed to take for free! I don't know why I haven't taken advantage of this earlier. Libraries rule!!! At this time I would like to make a plea for anybody who is reading this blog to check out your local libary. If they don't have the specific book you want to read, request it through an interlibrary loan. Below are three books that I checked out that I have wanted to read but didn't want to buy... now I don't have too!!!!!

With so much information available it is a intellectual crime for our generation to not be better read. Please sign off of facebook, get in your car, and go to the Library. You'll be surprised at what you find there! Being at the Library inspired me to read as much as I can about as much as I can. I have decided that before the end of this year, I want to read everybook in my house. For my next post, I will be composing a list of the books that Hannah and I own and which ones I haven't read. As I read and finish each one, I hope to give it a little plug on this blog for the few readers that I have. If you are interested in borrowing any of the books that I mention, feel free to contact me and I'll send it to you!

Follow me wifes Blog :)

You should all follow my wifes new blog.

http://angelairshow.blogspot.com/

That is all. Look forward to this weekend when I will be posting the first blog from my new series: The signers of the Declaration.


PEACE!

Join me on my latest quest to educate myself

A while back I was talking to an ex - roommate of mine. We were discussing the religious beliefs of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. As we were talking (I did most of the listening) I started realizing that not only did I not know the religious beliefs of these men, but I did not even know who most of them were!!! This realization has prompted me to write this series of blog posts about the signers of the Declaration of Independence. Each post I am going to go through and look at the lives of one of the signers. Who were they? What positions did they hold? When did they die? Did they leave a legacy? Below is a list of the signers if you are interested.

Delaware
George Read • Caesar Rodney • Thomas McKean
Pennsylvania
George Clymer • Benjamin Franklin • Robert Morris • John Morton • Benjamin Rush • George Ross • James Smith • James Wilson • George Taylor
Massachusetts
John Adams • Samuel Adams • John Hancock • Robert Treat Paine • Elbridge Gerry
New Hampshire
Josiah Bartlett • William Whipple • Matthew Thornton
Rhode Island
Stephen Hopkins • William Ellery
New York
Lewis Morris • Philip Livingston • Francis Lewis • William Floyd Georgia• Button Gwinnett • Lyman Hall • George Walton
Virginia
Richard Henry Lee • Francis Lightfoot Lee • Carter Braxton • Benjamin Harrison • Thomas Jefferson • George Wythe • Thomas Nelson, Jr.
North Carolina
William Hooper • John Penn • Joseph Hewes
South Carolina
Edward Rutledge • Arthur Middleton • Thomas Lynch, Jr. • Thomas Heyward, Jr.
New Jersey
Abraham Clark • John Hart • Francis Hopkinson • Richard Stockton • John Witherspoon Connecticut
Samuel Huntington • Roger Sherman • William Williams • Oliver Wolcott
Maryland
Charles Carroll • Samuel Chase • Thomas Stone • William Paca

Join me on my latest quest to educate myself!!!!