Alexander!

I’ve been a fan of Alexander Hamilton since high school. Part of our Junior year curriculum included American History. At some point, we got the assignment to write about an American Revolutionary figure. I don’t know if I chose Alexander Hamilton, or if my teacher made the assignments. However that happened, he was my guy. And this wasn’t a huge research project, it was just a report, a couple of pages or so long.

When I was just three years old, my parents purchased a set of encyclopedias, thinking that they would be a great help to me and whatever sibling came along (turned out to be JoAnne). And the encyclopedias were helpful. For example, at some point, when I was in elementary school, I awoke in the night with the panicky realization that I’d forgotten about a report I was supposed to write a about the sun or moon, or something spaceish. I crept into the den, pulled out the appropriate volume, and sat in my closet (which, thank goodness had a light in it), and wrote the report. So, really helpful.

Years later, when I got the Hamilton assignment, I started with the encyclopedia, reading the entry and then making an outline (as English teachers for a couple of years, or more, had drummed into us). Because my dad had a love of books and a love of history, there was also a one-volume History of the American Revolution, sitting on the built-in shelves, and, I think, another book, whose title I can’t recall. I read through all those, made notes, plugged the information into my outline, and wrote a rough draft. The next evening, I went through it again, and then wrote the final draft to turn in the next day in class.

The day after that, we all trooped into the classroom and sat ourselves down in our chair desks. I was in the second chair in my row. Our teacher walked over to me and handed me my Hamilton report.

“Would you please come up front and read your report,” she said. Hmmmm. It had an “A” on it, so I didn’t think I was in trouble. But of course I did what she asked. I read it all and then sat down.

The teacher stood up and said, “THAT is what a well-researched report should sound like. Copying an entry from an encyclopedia is NOT what I assigned.” And she stalked back to her desk and snatched up the other reports and handed them back. A friend who sat in front of me leaned back and whispered, “What did you do?”

I leaned forward and said, “I had a few books, and I read about Hamilton. And then I made an outline and used all the information I’d read and wrote the report. What did you do?” I asked.

“I copied it from the encyclopedia,” she said.

I like to read, and I like to write. For many years, I wrote preschool Sunday School curriculum and Missions curriculum, and articles and support pieces. That friend, whom I occasionally see at a local sandwich shop, is a CPA. A ‘way different skill set from mine.

Put your heart and soul into every activity you do, as though you are doing it for the Lord himself and not merely for others.

When I learned that there was going to be a Broadway musical about Hamilton, I really wanted to make a trip to New York. But I suppose that those shows would have been sold out for, possibly, longer than I might still be alive. So when I heard that they had actually filmed a version, and that it was actually going to be televised, I was pretty excited. Kevin and April have Disney+ and I thought that they might let me come up on July 3 and watch it. Then I looked and discovered that a month’s subscription to Disney+ was about $7.00 or so, which is less than the cost of a tank of gas to Fort Worth and back. Of course, I subscribed. I’ve watched it three times. So far.

Meanwhile, back to that set of encyclopedias. When JoAnne, who was five grades behind me in school, needed to write a report about satellites, she went straight to them. The entry said that, “The moon is a satellite of the earth. And the earth is a satellite of the sun.” Not exactly what she was looking for.