anEditor’s Blog

A not-so-new but not-well-heard-of Web site has surfaced thanks to a recent article on National Public Radio. The site, FutureMe.org, is intended to enable a person to write an e-mail to himself or herself that will be delivered anytime between a paltry thirty days from now and fifty years into the future. In the past four years, more than 400,000 people have sent messages for a variety of reasons.

Granted, most people address letters to themselves, like a personal time capsule, but a use that would be more pertinent to our areas of interest, is to write letters to others in our lives, letters that will surprise their receivers in the future, just as lost letters and missing postcards have surprised some of us in years gone by. The site does not have a limit yet on the number of letters that can be sent, though abusers who use the site as a simple reminder service are allegedly dealt with . . .

Oh, and in case you’re worried about “moving” (changing e-mail addresses), FutureMe now has a management system that allows updating of addresses—no fair, though, changing or updating those messages! Get started here: FutureMe.org.

Yes, here we go—yet, again. Instead of exposing America’s students to the differences of our society and helping them understand the history of those differences (in essence, teaching them what makes America America), another attempt is under way to just remove a topic from the table and ignore it. Who knew, of course, that Mark Twain used the “n-word” (as this St. Paul Pioneer Press author so safely puts it) two-hundred times in the classic adventure novel? Then, again, who really needed to know? That wasn’t the point of the book then, I don’t think, and, while the point has admittedly changed through the years, it shouldn’t be the point now!

During discussion of the book, [one student] said she was uncomfortable with views she said students expressed—that blacks should go to hell and interracial marriage was immoral, for instance. (see “District may drop ‘Huck Finn’ from required reading list” by Bao Ong; posted online Friday, February 2, 2007)

It’s good that she was uncomfortable, isn’t it? Isn’t that part of the point of educating our youth? To let them know that people are different, that controversies exist and can be debated in a healthy fashion, that times have changed, that we shouldn’t “let history repeat itself?”

No, I should know by now that’s an outdated concept of public education, that such lessons are not on any of the tests today’s students have to pass, so there’s not enough time in the schedule; but, that’s another disturbing story! I guess it could be worse . . . at least they’re not specifically trying to ban The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn—this time . . .

Since the middle of last year, a widower named Peter has been sharing the story of his life on the video blogging site YouTube.com. His life story is fascinating, and, if you know of anyone who still does not understand the value of sharing personal histories, Peter’s stories will serve as an introduction and a justification. From laughter to tears, Peter tells us all about his life in England. Watch a few of his videos (most range in length from three to five minutes; very few stretch to eight) and enjoy him. I’ve always believed that everyone has a story to tell, and Peter’s words of history, reflection, and comment reinforce that belief. While you’re at the site, be sure to watch the video of the sketch artist who drew Peter’s portrait—it is amazing. And, take a look around YouTube, too. Sure, you’ll find lots and lots of junk, but somewhere amongst it all, you might just stumble upon another jewel or two.

The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History provides a host of online learning opportunities—from teacher-directed teaching modules to individualized activities. Other threads on the Web site include “virtual exhibitions,” a keyword-searchable research tool, and an online store that includes a link to History Now, an understandable history journal for teachers.