Imagine you’re in a painting studio. You take a deep breath and smell the sweet smell of the oil paints and the crisp air within the painting studio. You look around and see many paintings on the walls, each one telling a different story.

But your attention quickly turns back to the canvas in front of you, which seems to be calling out for your attention. You dip your paintbrush into a palette of different colors and then put it on the canvas. You feel happy and excited when you see the brush moving so easily on the canvas. You create a beautiful picture of a world you want to see, and it makes you feel calm and happy.

You continue to work, feeling the warmth of the paint beneath your brush, and the gentle strokes of color as you add dimension and texture to your creation. As you paint, you feel a sense of peace and contentment that comes from being fully immersed in the creative process.

You continue to work, feeling the warmth of the paint beneath your brush and you see how the colors mix together, creating something new and unique. You love how it feels to make something special with your hands.

When you’re done painting, you step back and admire your work. You feel so proud of what you made and can’t wait to share it with others. You know that it will make people happy and inspire them to look at the world in a different way.

This is what it’s like to be like Bob Ross, a painter who made people happy by showing them how to paint and see the world in a new way.

Bob Ross was born on October 29, 1942, in Daytona Beach, Florida. He grew up in a town called Orlando, where he spent a lot of time exploring the beautiful landscapes around him.

His dad was a carpenter named Jack, and his mom, Ollie, was a waitress. As a child, Bob loved to take care of injured animals which sometimes made his parents unhappy because they never knew what kind of animal they would find in the house! They might see a hurt alligator in their bathtub or an armadillo running around Bob’s room. 

Later, Bob didn’t finish high school. Instead, he left after 9th grade to work as a carpenter with his dad. One day, Bob had a terrible accident that injured his left index finger. He lost the tip of it! Even though he was hurt, Bob didn’t let that stop him. It was an injury he later hid from TV viewers most of the time with his paint palette.

When Bob turned 18, he joined the Air Force which he soon didn’t enjoy. He said that he had to be “mean” sometimes, and that made him unhappy. When he was in the Air Force, he was known for being tough on his fellow airmen, and they even gave him the nickname “Bust ’em up Bobby.”

Although he had a tough exterior, Bob Ross also had a softer side. He discovered his love for painting while attending an art class in Alaska during his time in the Air Force. Many of his painting instructors at the time were more interested in abstract art, but Bob was fascinated by nature and the beauty of the world around him. He found that painting allowed him to capture that beauty and share it with others.

After attending many art classes that focused on abstract painting, Ross found his passion for painting returned through a television show he found called The “Magic of Oil Painting”. The show was hosted by artist Bill Alexander Bill introduced Ross to an old painting technique known as “alla prima” which means “first attempt” in Italian. Ross was fascinated by “alla prima” because it allowed Alexander to finish a painting in just 30 minutes. Alla prima is also known as “wet-on-wet” painting, which means that wet layers of paint are added to paper to create an image. Bob loved this new technique and decided to master it himself.

Bob Ross started earning money by painting Alaskan mountainsides on the inside of gold pans, after observing Alexander’s Wet on Wet technique. He soon became well-known among the local Alaskan people for his artistic abilities and often taught children and the elderly how to paint, too. Eventually, Ross began making more money from selling paintings and offering art lessons than from his day job in the military. After serving in the Air Force for twenty years, Ross left the military and said that he would never yell or raise his voice again, he was known from then on to have a very soft and calming presence. 

In the 1980s after leaving the Air Force, Ross had a burning desire to truly master the art of wet-on-wet painting. He found his favorite artist Bill Alexander in Florida. There, Alexander was a part-time art teacher and happily shared all his knowledge with Ross.

Next, Bob Ross got a job as a traveling tutor for the Alexander Magic Art Supplies Company. He had a soothing, gentle voice, and an encouraging teaching style, and said things like “happy accidents” instead of the word “mistakes” to make people feel happier and more positive about painting and being ok with messing up. 

Have you ever made a mistake? Well, in painting it is very easy to make mistakes and Bob was excellent at helping people understand that even when we make mistakes we can turn those mistakes into something good! This idea that he used in his painting lessons caught the attention of a woman named Annette Kowalski. Annette was fascinated by Ross and thought they might find a way to sell the experience of painting with him. She saw potential in Ross’s teaching style and decided to work with him to build a successful business.

After a meeting with Annette Kowalski and her husband, Ross became convinced that he should leave the Alexander Magic Art Supplies Company and start his own teaching business. Kowalski was so confident in their potential for success that she spent all of her life savings on the business. Ross and his wife spent most of their money too! Unfortunately, their high hopes were met with a harsh reality: the business lost $20,000 in its first year open.

Low on money, Bob Ross decided to take a bold step and change his look. Gone were the days of the strict military haircut, and in its place emerged a new and unexpected style: the classic afro that would come to define him. Ross said that he decided to perm his hair and make it curly because then he could save money and he wouldn’t need to pay for haircuts every week. Little did he know that this bold decision to perm his hair would change his appearance forever. Ross’s afro was so different than what his hair used to look like that many of his friends only recognized him by his missing finger that he lost while working as a teenager. 

It is not totally clear how  Bob became a famous painter on TV. There are two stories about how he was able to get onto the PBS channel. One story says that Bob and his former teacher Bill Alexander filmed a commercial for his art classes, which happened to impress someone important. Another version suggests that his partner, Kowalski, took a video of one of Bob Ross’ 30-minute lessons and sent it to the TV station. It is possible that both stories are true. Either way, it is obvious that Bob Ross was so good that he couldn’t be ignored. Before long he was a famous TV star in a new show called “The Joy of Painting”!

While filming “The Joy of Painting,” Bob made it feel like he was talking to his audience one-on-one. Almost like a personal teaching lesson. 

Bob Ross put a lot of thought into every detail of his show. He took great care in selecting his clothes, wearing timeless jeans and casual shirts that wouldn’t look old in the future. He also sanded down his painting palette lightly to keep it from reflecting the studio lights, a trick he figured out over time by switching to a clear painting palette for the first few episodes. 

Bob never received payment for his appearances on the show, nor did he sell any of the paintings he created on air. The show served as a platform to promote his teaching business which grew to include Bob Ross paint brushes, paint, and other supplies, soon making him a millionaire!

Even though being on TV made Bob Ross very successful he remained humble and generous with his artwork. He gave away most of the paintings he created on the show, as well as thousands of others he made throughout his life. Some were donated to charitable causes to be auctioned off, while others were gifted to friends and acquaintances.

Bob Ross taught us that mistakes are not failures, they are just happy accidents. When you make a mistake, don’t give up. Instead, use your creativity and turn it into something beautiful. Just like Bob Ross, you can use your talents to make the world a brighter and more joyful place

The post History of Bob Ross for Kids appeared first on Bedtime History: Podcast and Videos For Kids.

Think of some of the objects you saw: family, friends, trees, maybe a pet, or the big blue sky and white moon in the dark of night. Maybe you saw a smile and objects moving, a car speeding by, or someone kicking a ball. Most of these objects are things you are used to. But when you were a baby they were very interesting! You were curious about everything because it was all new and fresh! As we get older many of these things to become familiar and perhaps not as interesting. Tonight we’re going to learn about Leonardo da Vinci, also known as one of the most curious and creative geniuses in recorded history. As we learn about him, think about how he saw the world differently and how you might see the world differently, too. 

When was Leonardo da Vinci born?

Leonardo was born on April 15th, 1452 in the country of Italy in a town called Vinci. Leonardo da Vinci means Leonardo of Vinci, the town where he was born.  He was born during a time that later became known as The Renaissance, which means “Rebirth” because the way people saw the world was changing dramatically during this time. The Medieval Times was over and people were beginning to see themselves as beings who had control over their life and the world and could think differently than those who came before them. 

Childhood & Early Education

Leonardo grew up with his father and spent much of his time exploring the land around their home. He loved to observe the birds and animals and get lost in the beautiful countryside. Around the age of 15, his father noticed he had an interest in and a gift for art. For this reason, his father had him become an apprentice to Andrea del Verrocchio in Florence, Italy. An apprentice is a student to a master artist. And at this time Florence was known for its gifted artists and sculptors. In Verrocchio’s workshop, Leonardo learned from his master how to paint and sculpt. Sculptors used materials like clay or marble to make grand sculptures.   

Leonardo studied and helped with paintings and sculptures in Verrochio’s workshop until he was 20 years old. The next step in an artist’s life was to join a guide and Leonard did just that when he was accepted into the painters’ guild in Florence. A guild was a group of skilled artists who worked and met together. At this time he created many pen and pencil drawings and technical drawings of weapons and other mechanical devices. He was very interested in how things worked and in creating new devices. He loved inventing things! 

Milan and Duke Sforza

In 1482, when he was about 30 years old Leonardo moved to the city of Milan where he worked for the city’s duke, Ludovico Sforza. There he created paintings and worked on inventions for the Duke. The ability to create and improve technical devices is called engineering — and Leonardo was a very gifted engineer. He worked for Duke Sforza for many years. There he painted two of his best-known works The Virgin of the Rocks and The Last Supper depicting Jesus and his Twelve Apostles. He also helped design buildings and gave the Duke engineering advice for his army. 

One of Leonardo’s other biggest projects was a huge, 24-foot bronze horse for Duke Sforza. He spent 12 years designing it out of clay, which would be a mold to be turned into bronze. Unfortunately, before they could pour the metal into the mold to finish the horse sculpture, the project was stopped, because a war started and the metal had to be used for cannons instead of the horse! In our day, someone decided to get together the money to finally build the horse Leonardo always wanted. If you ever visit Milan, Italy you can see it today!

After the war Duke Sforza was no longer Duke, so Leonardo stopped working for him. Leonardo continued working in his workshop in Milan and soon had his own students and apprentices.

Florence

In the 1500s a French army invaded and took over Milan, so Leonardo left and went to Florence, where he had been an apprentice as a young man. In Florence, he painted his most famous painting, The Mona Lisa. Leonardo was a gifted artist, but he wasn’t afraid to learn new topics and never stopped learning. He was infinitely curious! Leonardo began to study math and science. He studied the human body, which is called anatomy. He also observed the flight of birds and studied the flow of air and water. He looked at everyday objects through different eyes. He wondered how bodies worked, how birds flew, and what gave living things their motion. He didn’t take anything for granted and saw the miracle in everyday life and studied deeply to try and understand it. 

Eventually, Leonardo moved back to Milan and continued his scientific studies, writing and creating many sketchbooks to help others understand the human body and how it worked. He came to believe that all bodies and living things worked according to certain laws of nature, which was very ahead of his time. 

Rome

In 1513, around the age of 60, Leonardo again moved to Rome where he lived in the Vatican and worked for Giuliano de Medici. At this time many of the popular Renaissance artists were living and creating amazing works of art in Rome. The famous St. Peter’s Cathedral was being built at the time and Raphael was painting walls in the Pope’s new apartments. One of the most famous artists of all time, Michaelangelo, was also in Rome working on the Pope’s tomb. 

By the age of 65, Leonardo was asked by the King of France to move there, where he became his main painter, architect, and engineer, which was a great honor. There he continued his sketches and consulted other artists in their works. He also helped plan a palace and garden for the king. He spent a lot of time arranging his writings and sketches about nature in his many notebooks, which fortunately we have today! Leonardo passed away at an old age while living in France.

Leonardo’s Influences

Today we’re lucky to have many of Leonardo’s paintings and notebooks. Many of the ideas he had were for machines that wouldn’t be invented for hundreds of years. For example, in his study of birds and flight, he had the idea for an airplane, a helicopter, and a parachute, which he sketched in his notebooks. He also had the idea for many military machines, such as an armored car, a giant crossbow, and a three-barreled cannon. When you get the chance you can find a book about Leonardo’s inventions at the library or look at them online. They are amazing!

What can you learn from Leonardo?

One of the most interesting things about Leonardo was his ability to take his artistic talents and engineering skills and combine them. He became known as a Renaissance Man because of his curiosity and ability to combine many different skills to invent amazing things. He believed artists were the best qualified to achieve true knowledge, because of the unique way they were able to view the world. Think about that as you observe the miraculous world around you. Never take for granted the little things. Even the smallest living things like a flower or a bee are extraordinary as you look at them closely and learn more about them. Think about what you might do to learn more about the world around you like Leonardo. You could take the time to study a rock or a leaf and sketch it into a notebook as Leonardo did. This is the way he came to better understand the world, one simple object at a time. 

Listen to the audio

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Chances are you’ve heard of an iPhone before and probably an iPad. What about an iMac, an iPod, and a Macbook? These are all devices created by a company called Apple. Did you know last year they sold more than 40 million iPhones; and over 2 billion since they started creating them! That is a lot of phones! Did you know the very first Apple computer was created in a garage by two guys named Steve? And at one point it looked like Apple might fail. Pretty crazy, right? Well, tonight we’re going to learn about one of those Steves named Steve Jobs and how he came to create Apple and all of the billions of devices that came with it over the years.

Birth

Steve Jobs was born on February 24, 1955, in San Francisco, California to a woman named Joanne Carole Schieble. Steve’s father’s name was John Al Jandali and he was an immigrant from Syria, which is a country in the Middle East. He left Syria because it was dangerous at the time. But even before Steve was born, his mother decided it was best to give him up for adoption, because she and his father weren’t ready to have a family together.

Baby Steve’s new adoptive parents were named Paul and Clara Jobs. They weren’t able to have their own children, so they were very excited for Steve to join their family. Later in life, Steve said he was fortunate to have them as parents and they showed him lots of love. A couple of years after adopting Steve, Paul and Clara Jobs adopted a girl, giving Steve a sister. Not long after this, they moved to Mountain View, California, where Steve’s dad worked as a machinist. A machinist is someone who works in a shop building different types of machines. At home, his father had a shop in their garage and often he and Steven worked on their car and built things. Steve was impressed that his father could build so many things and it made him interested in doing the same. But mostly he just enjoyed spending time with his father.

School Years

Growing up Steve struggled in school. He liked to play pranks and often didn’t listen to his teachers. But he was a pretty smart kid, so his parents often thought it was because he was too bored with what was being taught and he needed more challenging problems to solve. In 4th Grade, Steve’s teacher was named “Teddy” Hill and she told him that if he’d complete his math workbook she’d give him 5 dollars. Steve jumped at the chance and quickly worked through all of the problems in the workbook. For the first time, he was excited about doing school work and realized if he put effort into learning it could actually be fun! Have you ever had a problem to solve and completed it and it felt good inside?

Steve’s next few years in school were tough. In Middle School, he was often bullied and didn’t have any close friends. It feels horrible to be bullied. Be sure to never treat others this way. Or if you’re being treated this way be sure to let someone like a caring parent or teacher know! Because of the bullying, Steve was transferred to a new school. It was expensive for his parents to move to a better neighborhood, but they loved Steve and wanted the best for him so they did it anyway. 

In his new school, Steve found more kids like himself and especially those who were interested in subjects like engineering — which is the science of building things. His other favorite subject in high school was literature, which means reading and studying good books. He especially loved books by the English writer William Shakespeare. 

Steve Wozniak

In high school, Steve became friends with another student named Steve Wozniak. Wozniak loved electronics, too, and after they graduated high school they worked together to build their first device called a “blue box,” which allowed someone to make long-distance calls for free. They thought it was pretty cool that they were able to create a device that did something so useful. They sold the blue boxes and it was at this time that Steve realized building devices could be fun — and make money! This was also a time when Steve wasn’t sure what he wanted to do with his life and just took college classes for fun. One of his favorite classes was about calligraphy, which means writing beautiful lettering with ink. 

Apple Computers

One of Steve’s first jobs was at a company called Atari, one of the very first video game companies. During this time he also traveled to India and learned about Buddhism and meditation, which he often used throughout his life. After returning home, Steve started tinkering with Steve Wozniak again, who was building a computer. At this time computers weren’t as common as they are now, most people did not have a computer in their home. Most people never imagined they’d own a computer. Steve Jobs thought they could sell their computers, so they spent time working on them in the Jobs family garage. To buy parts Jobs sold his car and Wozniak sold his favorite calculator. One day after spending the morning at an apple orchard, Steve Jobs told Wozniak he thought they should call the computer “Apple.” It was also his favorite fruit. “Apple” later became the name of their computer company.

The two Steves and the people they hired built more computers and sold them and later Steve found others to invest in Apple computers. Investment is when someone with extra money gives you their money to help your business grow. But you have to agree that when your business starts to make money you’ll give them that money (and hopefully more) back. This is how most companies grow today. 

At this time Steve started shaving his head like the Buddhist priests he admired and wearing a black turtleneck, which later became his signature outfit. 

Apple computers began to sell even more computers as they focused on selling computers for personal use. They wanted everyone to have a computer in their home and to be easy to use. Soon Apple was a very profitable company and by 1980 worth over 1 billion dollars! At this time Apple competed with IBM, which was the other very big computer company selling computers for home use. 

In 1984 Apple released the Macintosh computer, which did well but still couldn’t sell more than IBM. The new President of Apple and even friends like Steve Wozniak didn’t like the way things were being done at Apple and Wozniak left. The new President of the company decided that although Steve Jobs started Apple, he was also causing problems for the company.  Steve eventually left to start a new company. 

Pixar

This was a frustrating time for him as he struggled to start a new company, which ended up failing. You can imagine that many would stop trying when they failed, but Steve wasn’t the type to give up. He kept exploring different ideas and eventually became interested in computer graphics. At the time there were a group of graphics designers who were doing some pretty cool things with computer graphics. They were tinkering with 3D models and working to make graphics on the computer more realistic. If you’ve seen graphics from old computers they don’t look very real like the video games and animated movies you see today. Steve used some of his money from Apple to buy The Graphics Group and together under the direction of John Lassetter they created their first computer-animated movie called Toy Story! I’ll bet you’ve heard of Toy Story. This Graphics Group was renamed Pixar and later became part of Disney making such movies as Cars, Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Wall-E, Monsters Inc., Inside Out, Coco, and most recently Onward. Yes, Steve Jobs is one of the people to thank for the creation of Pixar and all of these amazing movies!

After starting Pixar, Apple computers asked Steve Jobs to return and run the company. There he oversaw the creation of the new iMac computers, which were powerful, efficient, and designed elegantly as Steve wanted. Steve loved designing beautiful devices and spent many, many hours thinking about how the devices looked and trying different designs until they were nearly perfect in his eyes. He believed that electronics needed to be powerful on the inside but also be enjoyable to look and feel a certain way that was pleasurable to the user. If you notice this is one way that Apple devices are different. 

iPods and iPhones

At Apple Steve also helped design the iPod, which played digital music. Later helped design one of the first smartphones, the iPhone, which wowed the world with its powerful computer on the inside, its beautiful design, its many features, and its app store. The iPhone was the device that really made Apple popular again. Before smartphones, computers and phones were separate devices. With inventions like the iPhone, they became one and the same. This was a revolutionary technology that even your parents didn’t grow up with. You’ve probably heard them say “I didn’t have a phone when I was your age.” Because it’s true, personal phones you could carry around weren’t invented yet! Early on most computers were so big they took up an entire room. Now they fit in the palm of your hand. We live in a pretty amazing time, right?  

In October 2003 Steve was diagnosed with cancer and tried to get rid of it in many different ways. Slowly others took over his positions at Apple until in 2011 he passed away.

Conclusion

Later Apple also created the iPad and many new iMac computers, iPhones, Macbooks, and many other original devices up until today. Apple soon grew to be one of the most profitable companies in the world and today Apple devices can be found everywhere. Over 47,000 people work for Apple in locations across the world. It’s incredible to think what has come from someone like Steve who worked very hard to build his company and create these devices. And remember, he didn’t do it alone! His friend Steve Wozniak helped him create the first computer, and over the years many people who work for Apple helped come up with the designs and parts that have made these devices so incredible. Do you think you’d like to work for a company like Apple someday? For fun, you’ll have to look into the type of jobs there. It might be design or coding. If you are interested, think about what you might do to start learning some of these basic skills. 

The post History of Steve Jobs and Apple for Kids appeared first on Bedtime History: Podcast and Videos For Kids.

Climb aboard my invisible, supersonic jet and take a seat.  The jet roars to life and we rush down the runway, zooming into the sky like a speeding rocket.  We pierce floating, fluffy clouds and settle at cruising speed among the stars, zipping along at lightning speed.  The night settles in and we fall off to sleep.

The next morning, we land in Germany.  We exit the plane and board a bus for the castle, driving up a steep hill into a thick forest.  We zig-zag back and forth up the mountain, then suddenly stop.  Jutting high above us, peeking above the pine trees is a gleaming white castle with tall towers piercing the blue sky Neuschwanstein – just like the castle at Disneyland!  We are on the top of a mountain and the castle is perched on the edge of a rocky outcrop that drops two thousand feet to the valley below.  How did they build this amazing castle so high on this rocky ledge?  The workers who built this castle must have been VERY brave!  Let’s go inside!

A friendly tour guide named Gunter meets us as we enter a courtyard.  He tells us that this castle was created from the imagination of a ruler named Mad King Ludwig II in the 1800s.  This king was very creative and had a wonderful passion for beautiful things – like plays, operas, and architecture.  He didn’t like fighting wars or discussing laws – those things were boring and sad!  He wanted to build castles all over Germany that reminded him of castles from the past and the knights who protected them.  He lived in a world of his own imagination. He drew detailed sketches of ballrooms, throne rooms, and indoor caves with sparkling lakes.  This is why many people called him “mad” or crazy.  Who had the time or money to do such silly things?  Most people were working in the fields or the town to earn just enough money to eat.  

Inside the Neuschwanstein Castle

Our tour guide, Gunter takes us inside the Neuschwanstein castle and we walk through long hallways with arched windows overlooking the countryside below.  Lakes glisten in the distance and a cool breeze wafts through the windows.  We enter the throne room – a huge hall straight out of a Disney movie!  The hall glistens with gold everywhere – on the walls and ceilings – and drips chandeliers as big as cars!  Red marble pillars line each side of the hall.  Paintings of saints and angels in brightly colored robes look at us from the gleaming gold walls.  The marble floor glistens with images of trees and animals.  At the far end of the room, white marble stairs lead up to a landing surrounded by more golden walls and smiling saints.  No throne is there but the room is glorious!  Definitely fit for a king!

Next, we walk to Singer’s Hall – another huge room with a massive beamed ceiling of dark wood.  Tall golden candelabras stand along the walls.  They look exactly like “Lumier” from “Beauty and the Beast” – only taller!  I would LOVE to see these candelabras come to life and dance around the room!  Red velvet benches and large windows line the walls.  The room is so big you could throw a football or baseball in here!  Gunter tells us that this is the room where plays and musicals take place.

He then walks us down a long hall to the king’s bedroom.  Dark wood is everywhere – the walls, the ceiling, the floor – even the bed.  This room is much darker and less fancy than the other rooms.  Tapestries of medieval knights hang on the walls.  The bed is HUGE.  Gunter tells us it took 14 carvers working day and night for 4 years to carve the bed and canopy!  

Neuschwanstein Castle’s Hidden Cave

He then tells us he has a surprise for us.  He walks us through a narrow passageway into a dark, spooky cave!  They call this a “grotto” and there is a small waterfall flowing down one side of the cave.  Stalactites hang down from the walls dripping beads of water.  Colored lights bounce reflections across the cave.  We look around for bats – this is the perfect hangout for bats.  Luckily there are none.  Gunter tells us that the king liked to sit in this cave and read or write, hidden away from all the noise of the castle and town below.  He was a hermit and loved to be alone in this cave or out in the woods at night.  Gunter said the King liked to take midnight sleigh rides in the winter, riding for hours in the cold and darkness.  

This hidden cave is amazing.  Do you think Neuschwanstein castle is where Walt Disney got the idea for a tunnel into the Disneyland castle?  We ask Gunter about this and he tells us that King Ludwig built another castle called Linderholf that actually has a huge cave with a lake, boats shaped like clam shells, and music set to lights where he could watch plays and operas.  How cool is THAT?  This guy wasn’t crazy – he was AMAZING – and it looks like Walt Disney thought so, too!!!

No Longer King

Gunter tells us that King Ludwig never finished Neuschwanstein castle and actually only spent 5 months here.  He was always planning and building more castles. King Ludwig’s uncle, Leopold, and the government ministers became very upset by King Ludwig’s building of castles. He was spending a lot of money on these castles and not doing the normal work of a king, so they decided to remove him as a king.  They lied and said he was crazy and had him arrested.  He was taken to another town to be put in jail.  The poor king was only 40 years old and never completed all of his amazing castles.

His castles sat unused for many years.  During WWII, the Nazis used this castle to store their stolen artwork from palaces, museums, and homes in France.  They were ordered to destroy the castle and the stolen goods when they were losing the war, but thankfully they never did it!

Not So Crazy After All

But King Ludwig’s legacy lives on. Today his castles attract millions of tourists a year – and his creations continue to inspire people to this day – like Walt Disney himself!

So, what do you think of King Ludwig?  Do you think he was crazy?  Lots of amazing people were thought to be crazy when they said things like the world was round or tiny organisms cause diseases.  Is that crazy?  Does Ludwig’s passion for architecture and plays make him crazy?

Maybe he was just a misunderstood man who liked using his imagination.  He envisioned amazing palaces with no wars or troubles, surrounded by music and water and light.  He liked to be alone with his thoughts and ideas.  His beautiful cousin, the Empress Elizabeth of Austria, said of King Ludwig: “The King was not mad; he was just an eccentric living in a world of dreams.”

I think this is a good lesson to show kindness and tolerance for everyone and to accept them the way they are.  Everyone is unique and has their own special gifts and talents.  Some people are outgoing and chatty; others are quiet and shy.  Some like to play sports; others like to draw, paint, build, experiment, or explore.  Everyone is special in their own way.  So, let’s appreciate each other and be kind.  Remember, kindness is truly universal.

The post History of King Ludwig II and Neuschwanstein Castle for Kids appeared first on Bedtime History: Podcast and Videos For Kids.

Have you ever noticed how different music can make you feel different things? Some music makes you feel joyful and energetic, like you need to get up and dance. Some can make you feel sad, even make you cry. Other music might make you feel calm or hopeful. Music can remind you of things that happened a long time ago, or of people you love, and make you feel like they’re right there. But for some people, music doesn’t just change the way they feel. It changes their entire life.

Louis Armstrong didn’t start out with many advantages in life. Born in 1901, in New Orleans, Louisiana, his family was extremely poor and their neighborhood was so dangerous, it was nicknamed “the Battlefield.” His father left the family when he was a baby. At different times, Louis lived with his mother and grandmother, and had to support his family by doing odd jobs even as a small child. 

But, Louis did have something special. He had a horn and a voice, and he could make music with both.  He would often hear jazz music coming from the clubs and dance halls of New Orleans. He learned to sing some of the songs that wafted out into the warm night air, and even play some of them on a beat-up old tin horn.

As a child, he organized a quartet with his friends and sang on street corners for coins. Some people think this is how he got the nickname Satchmo, which would stay with him all his life. The story goes that when passersby tossed coins on the sidewalk, Louis would snatch them up and put them in his cheeks so that the older boys couldn’t steal them. He was using his mouth like a satchel or bag, which led his friends to start calling him “Satchel Mouth,” then Satchmo for short. 

There are many stories about how Louis got his first real horn, many of which he told himself! One of the best known involves a family he worked for. At age 7, Louis went to work for the Karofskys, a Jewish family from Lithuania who ran a junkyard. The Karnofsky family treated Louis like family, sharing meals with him and treating him with kindness. Louis helped them deliver coal and collect junk. Sometimes, he would play his tin horn to attract business. Even though Louis managed to get tunes out of this horn, it was really just a toy.  He longed for a real horn.

Knowing how much Louis loved to play, the Karnofskys lent him money to buy his first real cornet, which is like a smaller version of a trumpet. For the rest of his life, Louis wore a Star of David, a Jewish symbol, on a necklace in honor of the family. 

Unfortunately, getting the cornet wasn’t quite a ticket out of Louis’s hard life. When he was 12, Louis took out his stepfather’s gun on New Year’s Eve, and shot it into the air. This was a common thing to do at celebrations in the past. No one was hurt, but Louis was arrested. He was sentenced to spend two years in the Waif’s Home for Boys. “Waif” is an old-fashioned word for a child who was unhealthy or uncared for. But the home was closer to being a prison than a real home. There were no mattresses to sleep on, meals were usually bread and molasses, and discipline was harsh. 

But, there was one good thing. There was music. There was a band, and a music teacher, Peter Davis, who came every week to teach music and conduct rehearsals. Davis taught Louis to play cornet, and then trumpet. Eventually, he made Louis the band’s leader. 

Louis was released from the Waifs’ Home after two years. He could play very well now, and he started performing in clubs and on riverboats as part of a band. He got to meet other musicians, including Joe Oliver, often called “King” Oliver. King Oliver was the best cornet players in New Orleans, and Louis idolized him. He began to take lessons with Oliver.

In 1922, Oliver asked Louis to join his band, the Creole Jazz. Band. They set off for Chicago, where they performed in clubs and made records. By now, Louis was becoming famous in his own right, and left Oliver’s band in 1924 in search of new opportunities. He moved to New York City. There he worked with many of the most famous jazz musicians of the time, and formed his own band, “The Hot Five” within a few years. 

Along the way, Louis developed his own unique style of playing and singing. At the time, most jazz was played in groups, but Louis would improvise amazing solos in the middle of his songs. Improvising means to make up something as you go along, and it isn’t easy to do it well, but Louis was one of the best. This is part of what made his music so new and exciting to listen to, and it would change jazz forever. 

Louis also continued to sing in addition to playing the horn. He became known for his unusual singing voice, which was deep and gravelly.   He was one of first performers to popularize scat singing, in his 1920s hit “Heebie Jeebies.” This technique involved singing improvised made-up syllables, like dee-dop-a-dee-ya, and would become very common in jazz.

In 1943, Louis moved back to New York and settled in Queens with his wife Lucille. He would live there for the rest of his life. But even though he had settled in one city, Louis’s career was far from winding down. He continued recording, performing, and making movies for nearly three more decades. Sometimes, he would play more than 300 shows per year. He was internationally famous by this time, and popular with both black and white audiences at a time when much of the United States was still segregated by race.  

Actually, some civil rights activists were critical of Louis because they thought he wasn’t a strong enough supporter of civil rights for black Americans. Louis didn’t like to get involved in politics though, and tried to keep a positive, happy outlook on life. But he understood that big changes needed to happen. He did eventually speak out against how the government handled school integration, saying that it hadn’t done enough to protect black students trying to go to schools that had previously been all-white. 

Louis’s career kept him busy throughout the 1950s and ‘60s. His single “Hello Dolly”, recorded in 1964, pushed the Beatles out of the number one spot on the Hot 100 chart, where they’d been for weeks. It was the best selling record of his career. He made more than thirty movies, with people like Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra, and Barbara Streisand, and worked with many famous jazz musicians, such as Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Bing Crosby. 

Even though he loved playing music, the trumpet can be hard on a player’s mouth. Louis developed health problems, some of which were related to his playing, when he was in his 60s. He had to quit playing altogether at times. He always went back to his horn though. The last time he went against the advice of his doctors, he said, “My whole life, my whole soul, my whole spirit is to blow that horn.” 

That was in 1971, and Louis’s health was deteriorating. He played his last concert just a few months before he passed away peacefully in his sleep.

Louis recorded his last major hit single, “What a Wonderful World,” in 1967. If you know one Louis Armstrong song it’s probably this one. In it, he sings about all the beautiful things in this world: trees of green, rainbows, blue skies, and friends. He ends by singing:

I hear babies cry

I watch them grow

They’ll learn much more

Than I’ll never know

And I think to myself

What a wonderful world 

I don’t know about you, but this song–and Louis’s story–make me feel hopeful. Louis Armstrong started his life having almost nothing, and lived through a lot of hardship early on. But he found something–music–that he excelled at and that he loved doing. Louis shared his gifts with everyone. He entertained the rich and famous, but also played his horn for neighborhood kids on the stoop of his house in New York.  His contributions to jazz changed music forever. Just as important, his music inspired millions of people around the world to see just what a wonderful world it is. 

Sources

https://www.biography.com/musician/louis-armstrong

https://www.commentary.org/articles/terry-teachout/satchmo-and-the-jews/

https://www.larmstrongsoc.org/quotes

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Armstrong

The post History of Louis Armstrong for Kids appeared first on Bedtime History: Podcast and Videos For Kids.

Imagine that you are living in South America in the 1940s.  Life is fun in Argentina, the country where you live, but also hard for your family and for many people you know.  Most people are poor and cannot find jobs that pay well.  The jobs that your aunts, uncles and parents have don’t pay very much.  And so people are not feeling very hopeful about their futures.  There is a lot of talk in the evenings about what people can do to make life better.  

You listen to what the adults talk about and one day, you go into the city with your mother and hear someone speaking on stage.  It is a famous woman who comes out.  She is dressed well and speaks with great passion about what should be done to make the lives of regular people better.  “Who is that?” you ask your mother.  “It is the president’s wife,” your mother responds.  “Her name is Eva Peron and she is a great saviour of our country, Argentina.”

Eva Peron was the wife of the president of Argentina in the 1940s.  She became very famous because she was good at speaking in public and she was passionate about helping poor people of her country.  People loved her and felt that she played a big role in improving the lives of the people of the time.  But Eva Peron was not always rich and famous.  She was actually born into a poor family, which helped her to understand the struggles of being poor. 

Eva Peron was born in May 1919 in Los Toldos, Argentina.  When she was born, her name was actually Maria Eva Duarte.  She was born to a poor family.  She grew up in poverty, meaning that she didn’t have a lot of money or access to good things in life.  She had three siblings, but her closest was a sister named Erminda and together, the two girls dreamt of becoming famous actresses.  They made up plays together and put them on for their parents and friends. 

Her mother was named Juana Ibaguren and her father was named Juan Duarte.  Unfortunately, when Eva was 7 years old, her dad died suddenly.  Everyone was very upset and their money problems suddenly got much worse.  Eva’s dad had previously been married and when he died, all of his money went to his first wife and children. Juana Ibaguren and her children were now even more poor than before.

Eva and her family struggled to have enough to eat and pay rent for their home.  So the older children had to get jobs to help earn money.  The family moved to Junin, a city in the Province of Buenos Aires in 1930.  The older children took jobs as teachers and cooks.  Eva’s mother also started taking in boarders, or people who pay money to stay at a home and be fed meals.  Eva’s mother also earned money by cooking and sewing clothes.

When Eva was 15 years old, she needed to get a job as well to contribute and bring in money.  But instead of taking one of the jobs that were available in their town, Eva did not lose sight of her dream to become an actress.  She decided to move to the big city of Buenos Aires to become an actress.  She packed her bags and caught a bus into the city.  There she found a cheap boarding house to stay at and she started trying out at various theatre houses for auditions.  

Eva was a talented actress and a beautiful young girl.  She found work at a number of theatre companies and landed roles in plays that they were performing.  While she was a teenager, Eva was in many plays and theatre productions and and even landed her first film role, or role on TV.  She also got a contract, or paid position, performing as a voice actress on the radio. 

Eva made a good amount of money as an actress and when she was about 20 years old, she decided to invest her money in starting a business.  To invest means to use your money to try to make more money.  Eva’s new business was an entertainment business called “the Company of the Theatre of the Air.”  In her new business, Eva produced radio programs like the ones she had acted in. 

At first business was difficult and stressful, but over time Eva had great success: she made a deal to create a special radio series in which she would act like famous women in history.  She was very excited to get the chance to play famous historical figures like Queen Elizabeth I and Catherine the Great.

When Eva was in her early 20s, she met a man that would dramatically change her life.  He was an older man named Juan Peron.  Juan was a colonel in the army and a government official.  They met in Buenos Aires and fell in love.  It wasn’t long before Juan asked Eva to marry him and they got married in 1945.  

Only one year later, Juan became the president of Argentina!  Can you imagine what it would be like to go from being an actress with a radio program to the president’s wife within one year?  That must certainly have been a wild time for Eva.  

Eva became a very powerful influence on Juan’s politics.  Influence means the power to shape how things are. Eva used her position as first lady to fight for causes she believed in.  This included fighting for women to have the right to vote and improving the lives of poor people in her country.  She also had a lot of influence over health andworker’s policies in the government while Juan was president. 

Because Eva was a voice actress on the radio, she was very good at speaking .. and very good at speaking in front of crowds. People who heard her speak liked listening to her a lot.  She spoke about all the ways that she wanted to help poor people make their lives better.  Eva started giving speeches while her husband was president.. And people loved her!  She was very easy to listen to and poor people who heard her speak loved to hear her message about how the president planned to help them.  

Eva became very popular.  Everywhere she went, people knew who she was and were very excited about her messages of hope for the future.  She became even more famous and she used her fame to continue spreading her message around the country of Argentina.  She spent about 5 years doing this and her popularity grew and grew.

Unfortunately, Eva started to experience health problems.  She wanted to continue working to help her fellow people of Argentina and to help poor people.  But unfortunately she got sicker and sicker and soon she was not able to work.  The people of Argentina were very sad when they learned that she was sick.  They brought her flowers and chanted her name.  They knew that she had helped them so much and they wished she would get well and stay with them for years to come. 

Eva made her last appearance in front of a crowd June 1952, when her husband was elected president for a second term.  She passed away the following month from cancer.  She was given a large funeral and millions of people showed up to say farewell.  It showed how much support Eva had from the Argentine people at the time. 

Eva Peron is a famous person in her home country of Argentina and around the world still today.  Many people are fascinated by the story of how a poor girl became a famous political power house.  Her life story has been made into a number of books, films and plays.  This includes a famous play called Evita in 1979. The most famous song is “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina” and made her legacy even more known across the world.

Spend some time thinking about Eva and her life. Growing up, her life wasn’t easy but rather than sitting around and feeling sorry for herself, she started working and practicing to become an actress. It took time for her skills to grow and for her business to take off, but she stuck with it until it became successful. And when Eva became successful and the wife of the President, she used her power and influence for good. She spoke out for people who had less people, those who couldn’t vote or who were poor. Even though most of us don’t have the same power as Eva, we can use what we have to help others. This may mean donating clothes or food or money to help those in need. Our family likes to go to a place where we prepare and box food for people in need. Ask your parents if there’s a place like this near you where you can volunteer your time. Every little bit helps and makes the world a better place like Eva Peron strived for herself!

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Take a minute to imagine that you have traveled with your family to Italy.  You visit a popular tourist spot to check out one of the most famous buildings in the world: the leaning Tower of Pisa.  As you approach the tower, you can see that it is leaning over at a strange tilt.  How is this tower even standing?  It has white pillars and arches.  It leans at an angle that is scary, but you can see that it is held up by large metal wires pulling against its weight.  Your family decides that they are going to go inside to explore. It sounds a little risky to go inside a leaning tower.  Will you go inside too?

The Leaning Tower of Pisa is one of the most famous buildings in the world.  It is a freestanding bell tower in the cathedral of the Italian city of Pisa.  A cathedral means a church that has a section where a religious leader, a bishop, lives inside.  The tower is known around the world for its strong lean.  The tower leans at an angle of four-degrees.  The lean is due to a foundation that is not stable.  This means that the base of the tower that holds the tower up is likely to fall.

The Tower of Pisa is 183 feet from the ground on the low side and 186 feet on the high side.  It has 295 steps to the top level. 

The Tower first began to lean during the time it was built in the 12th century.  This happened because the ground that the Tower was built on was soft and could not properly support the weight of the huge tower. Throughout the building of the tower, the leaning only got worse. Oops! And it continued to lean more over the next few hundred years. By 1990, the tilt had reached 5 ½ degrees!  This was so far over that the Italian government decided to add extra support beams to help stabilize the tower.  Their work was successful and after 8 years of extra work the tilt of the building was reduced to 4 degrees. 

There is some mystery around who designed the Leaning Tower of Pisa.  For many years, people thought that the architect was a man named Bonanno Pisano.  This was based on a piece of metal found in the earth at the base of the tower.  But later scientists concluded that a different man named Diotisalvi was that actual architect and that Pisano likely just made the door frame.  This was due to the fact that the tower is very similar to at least two other buildings that Diotisalvi designed in Pisa. 

The Tower of Pisa was built in three stages over almost 200 years. In the year 1172, a woman named Donna Berta di Bernardo inherited a large sum of money from her husband.  She gave some of this money to the local Opera house in Pisa and she used the rest towards buying a few stones that are still part of the base of the bell tower.

One year later, the government had enough money to hire a crew of workers to continue to build the tower.  The government had more money than in recent years due to the fact that the army had successfully taken over some additional areas.  The crews started by building the foundations of the tower.  Later that year, they laid the ground floor of the tower with white marble. This ground floor has a “blind arcade”.  This means that the bottom had columns with classical looking arches but the other side of the arches have no actual openings.  Instead, it is just a hard surface of a wall with arches that are decorative, or there to make it look nice.  

The arches also aren’t “load-bearing”.  This means that they do not support the weight of the structure. 

About 400 years later, a man named Giorgio Vasari wrote that Guglielma together with sculptor Bonanno laid the foundation, or base, of the bell tower in the tower of Pisa.

The tower began to sink after construction had progressed to the second floor in 1178. The reason was because the foundation was not built to be high enough.  It was only three-metres high, which was very low for a tower of that height.  

Unfortunately, the tower was set in weak, unstable soil or dirt.  This was a problem that was there right from the beginning. Because the tower started to sink, the people who were building the tower stopped construction.  The tower then sat there for almost 100 years with nothing being done.  The country that the tower was in was called the Republic of Pisa. The Republic was almost constantly battling with the neighbouring countries of Genoa, Lucca and Florence. 

The 100 years that the tower sat there was actually a good thing.  This allowed time for the soil underneath the tower to settle, or become more stable. If the original construction crew had carried on building the tower, the tower would have almost definitely fallen over.

In the year 1233, a father and son started to do further construction work on the tower to try to finish it.  They eventually had to pass the project on to another builder and then yet another took over.  

In 1264, the tower construction had finally moved along far enough that the main architect at the time, hired 23 workers to go into the mountains close to Pisa and cut marble. After the marble was cut out of the mountain, they used it on the tower. In order to compensate, or counter-balance, for the tilt, the designers build the upper floors of the tower with one side taller than the other.  For this reason, the tower is actually curved today.  

The seventh floor was finished in 1319 and then the bell-chamber was finally added in the year 1372.  The bell-chamber, or room holding the bell, was built by a man named Tommaso di Andrea Pisano. He used Gothic elements and a Romanesque style of the tower. These are different historic styles of buildings that were popular at different times in Europe’s history. There are seven bells in the bell-chamber, one for each note of the musical major scale.  

After the tower of Pisa was finished, the tower was admired by many people and has had some famous visitors.  A famous astronomer _______ dropped cannonballs off of the tower to show the law of free fall, a famous law in physics.  Physics is the study of matter and motion, or things and movement. 

During World War 2, the Allies, Americans and English, thought that the Germans were using the tower of Pisa as a watch post. A U.S. Army sergeant was sent to find out if German troops were in the tower.  He was so impressed by the beauty of the tower, that even though he found that there were Germans in there he held back on ordering an air attack to save the tower from being destroyed.

There have been many attempts to restore the tower to a straight, standing, position or at least keep it from falling over. Unfortunately, most of these efforts failed.  And some of these attempts even made the tower worse.  

In 1964, the Italian government raised money to restore the tower again and stop it from falling over.  The government wanted it to become more stable, but it still wanted the tower to have a tilt. They realized that the tilt was what made it famous! It helped attract tourists, or visitors from other places, to visit Pisa, so why fix it?

The Tower was closed to visitors in January 1990 due to the collapse of another tower nearby.  The collapse scared the Italian government that the same things might happen to the tower of Pisa.  They removed the bells to take some of the weight out of the towers.  They also cinched cables around the third level of the tower and anchored the cables hundreds of metres away. People who lived in home nearby were told to leave to make sure they wouldn’t be hurt if the tower fell over. 

In 1993, the Italian government added almost 900 tonnes of lead counterweights, or weights on the other side of the tower to counter-balance the weight of the leaning side.  This helped straighten the tower a bit. They also removed soil underneath the raised side of the tower to help prevent the collapse of the tower. This helped to make the tilt of the tower a safer angle. This method worked!   The tower’s tilt was reduced by almost 18 inches, returning to its 1838 position. 

Finally, after 10 years of work to rebuild the tower and make it more stable, the tower was re-opened to the public in December 2001.  The government declared that it was now stable for at least another 200 years.  

Would you like to visit the leaning tower of Pisa one day?  If you do visit, would you brave enough to go inside?

The post History of the Leaning Tower of Pisa for Kids appeared first on Bedtime History: Podcast and Videos For Kids.

Egypt was home to one of the most powerful civilizations of all time. They built the gigantic pyramids that are still standing today. They were led by a king, who they called a pharoah. They believed he was a god and worshipped him. They used advanced math, astronomy, created a system of writing, their own paper and were able to farm the land and build on a massive scale. Their armies were powerful and dangerous and controlled all the land in Northeast Africa for thousands of years! It can be hard to imagine just how long Egypt was in power compared to countries today, but it was much, much longer than British Empire was in power or the United States has been a global power, for example. 

But over time other civilizations became powerful. Eventually, it was the Greeks under Alexander the Great. Alexander the Great was a skilled military hero, who conquered lands all across the Medeterranean and eventually took Egypt. From this time forward Egypt was controlled by the Greeks. When Alexander the Great died, one of his captains named Ptolemy became the new King of Egypt or Pharoah. Ptolemy and his children ruled Egypt from the city of Alexandria for many, many years. And this is where our story about Cleopatra begins. 

Cleopatra was born 69 BCE in the city of Alexandra, Egypt as a princess to the current pharoah, Ptolemy the 7th. Like Alexander the Great, who had conquered Egypt, Cleopatra and her family were Greek, even though they ruled the Egyptian people. She had an older sister named Berenice, a younger sister named Arsinoe and two younger brothers who also had their father’s name of Ptolemy. 

Cleopatra had a good and safe childhood as a princess of Egypt. She probably played dice games popular in Egypt and with carved wooden dolls. Because she might be the pharoah herself someday, she was given a very good education. She had very good teachers and was able to study in the grand library of Alexandria, one of the best libraries in the history of the ancient world. Smart people from all over the world gathered at Alexandria and her library to study and learn from each other. 

At school she memorized long poems and lists of gods, goddesses and heroes. She was taught to speak in front of other people, an important skill as a queen. Cleopatra dressed in beautiful silk robes, wore lots of jewelry and makeup, and made to look like a goddess, since that’s what the people believed she was, as the daughter of a god.  

Unfortunate for Cleopatra, she was born during a time when there were many problems going on in her family and in Egypt. Her father and the pharaohs before him had been poor leaders, so the Egyptian people no longer wanted him as their ruler. When Cleopatra was 11, the people finally made her father, Ptolemy, leave Egypt. 

After Ptolemy left, Cleopatra’s older sister, Berenice became the new pharoah. In order to take power, Berenice had to do some horrible things and Cleopatra watched as all of this happened. The struggles going on her family made her want to stay out of the fighting, but she also watched carefully knowing that someday she may be the one having to take control and rule Egypt. She was very smart and probably already started thinking about what the right moves might be when she was in the same position as her older sister. She also learned that the best rulers were the ones who had the support of their people, unlike her father. She decided the best way to do this was to find ways for the Egyptian people to like her. Cleopatra learned everything she could about the Egyptian people and learned their language. She started dressing like their goddess Isis to gain their support. 

Another great civilization that rose to power after the Greeks was the Roman Empire. They were the most powerful empire during the lifetime of Cleopatra. Cleopatra’s father, Ptolemy, after being run out of Egypt, fled to Rome and convinced the Romans to join him and retake control of Egypt. A battle broke out between the fearsome Roman Army and the Egyptians of Alexandria. The Roman Army won the battle and Ptolemy once again became the pharaoh of Egypt. But even though her father was in control again, Cleopatra knew if she made the right moves, she could become the next ruler once he was gone.

And by 51 BCE, Ptolemy died and Cleopatra became the new queen, the Pharoah of Egypt. She was only 18 at the time, but had been preparing for her entire life for the job. She knew she’d have to be very careful and win over the people if she wanted to stay in power. One of her first moves was to take a trip to the city of Thebes by boat in a grand ceremony and declare herself the goddess Isis. Isis was worshipped by the Egyptian people, so she hoped in turn they would worship and honor her.

Sadly, luck turned against Cleopatra though and the Nile River didn’t flood for the first two years she was pharaoh. The Nile River was how the Egyptian people survived when once a year it flooded and watered their farmlands. The people wondered why if Cleopatra was a goddess she wasn’t able to control the Nile. Soon the people were going hungry, because their crops weren’t growing. Guess who they blamed? Yes, Cleopatra. Seeing that the people were growing angry, she decided to leave before they forced her out. But did Cleopatra give up easily? No. Right away she started plans for how she would return to power. In the desert she used her mastery of language to start making allies, which means friends with those who she could join with, warriors who could help her become pharaoh again.

Around this time a war was going on in Rome between two generals, Pompey and Julius Caesar. Julius Caesar won and after beating Pompey and taking control over the entire Roman Empire as its first emperor, he headed to Egypt to make sure it was also under his control. When he arrived, Cleopatra’s younger brother, Ptolemy, was the pharaoh. Caesar wanted Ptolemy and Cleopatra to work together to figure out who should rule Egypt, but Cleopatra was afraid her brother might try to harm her when she returned from the desert. So she came up with a very cunning plan. Cunning means to be very tricky and smart. With the help of her friend, Apollodorus, Cleopatra put on a disguise and rowed up the Nile River to Alexandria in a small boat. After reaching the palace, she climbed into a big sack and had Apollodorus carry her over his shoulder. No one knew he was carrying Cleopatra as he walked across the grounds of the palace and right into the room where Julius Caesar was waiting. Next, Cleopatra climbed out of the bag to Caesar’s great surprise! 

Cleopatra then used her great skills of talking and persuasion to convince Julius Caesar to let her be the Pharaoh of Egypt in place of her brother. Caesar agreed to let her rule with her brother, who was angry with the decision. Her brother, Ptolemy’s army later attacked too, but Ceasar’s army was more powerful and won The Alexandrian War and Ptolemy did not survive, leaving Cleopatra once again in control of Egypt. After the war Julius Caesar stayed in Egypt and Cleopatra became his wife. They travelled up and down the Nile and had a child together and named him Caesarion, which means “Little Caesar.” Eventually, they returned to Rome together. 

The Roman people liked Caesar, but the other leaders did not. They did not like that he had become an emperor and also did not like that he had married a woman who was not Roman. While in Rome, one of Julius Caesar’s friends, Brutus, and the other leaders turned against him and Caesar did not survive their attacks. The reign of Emperor Caesar was over, so Cleopatra left Rome and returned to Egypt.

While Cleopatra was in Egypt, a new war in Rome began over who would lead the empire. The battle was fought between one of Caesar’s generals, Mark Antony and Brutus and Cassius. This was called the Roman Civil War. Mark Antony eventually sailed to Rome to gain Cleopatra’s support. At first she was unsure if she should befriend him, because she wasn’t sure which side would win the war. Eventually, she met him on the Nile in one of her huge, decorated boats. She was dressed as the goddesses Isis, the boat was covered in flowers, small torches, and purple sails making it a beautiful sight to behold. When Mark Antony met Cleopatra he was stunned by her beauty and her power of speech and persuasion. Soon, he and Cleopatra were a couple and spent the next several months sailing together along the Nile and throwing huge parties together at Cleopatra’s palace. They paid for huge feasts and dancers and acrobats. These were some of the biggest parties Egypt had ever seen!

While Mark Antony was away from Rome, Julius Caesar’s nephew, Octavian had risen to power. Mark Antony knew it was time for him to give up the parties and his time with Cleopatra and return to battle to conquer his own lands. He left Egypt and fought far away while Octavian won the Civil War and now wanted to make sure Mark Antony wasn’t a threat. He sailed to Egypt to finish him off. In Egypt, Cleopatra and Mark Antony joined forces to fight Octavian. Their ships and soldiers battled on the ocean, but Octavian’s navy was stronger and he beat Cleopatra and Mark Antony. They retreated to the big city of Alexandria and waited for Octavian to come after them. Cleopatra and Mark Antony loved each other and refused to be separated during their final days. They passed away in Alexandria together, where a funeral was also held in honor of them. The Egyptian people were sad to see their goddess queen, their pharaoh go.

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Who was Siddhartha Gautama?

Imagine you’re a prince or a princess, living in a giant, luxurious palace. There your parents make sure that you have everything you could ever want or need: lots of toys, fine clothes, and the best education. You’re surrounded by beautiful gardens and expensive things. You have servants to clean up after you, bring your food, and help with everything. When you’re not learning from private tutors, you spend your days swimming, practicing archery and swordsmanship, and riding horses. The palace is so massive, it’s your entire world and you never even need to leave. 

Now imagine you decide to give that all up. You’re not happy with that life. You wonder if life has a greater meaning. You wonder if possessions can ever make people truly happy and content. This was the life Siddhartha Gautama found himself in. You might have heard of him: now, we call him Buddha. 

What was the Buddha’s real name?

The story of how Siddhartha became Buddha begins even before his birth. Siddhartha’s father was king of a small kingdom in northern India in the sixth century BCE over 2,500 years ago!  Several years before Siddhartha was born, the king was visited by sages, or wise men, who told him his son would be either a great king or a great holy man. Of course, Siddhartha’s father wanted his son to follow in his footsteps and be a great king.  So when Siddhartha was born in 567 BCE, his father decided to shelter his son from the world, so he wouldn’t know about suffering and death. He thought that if Siddhartha never saw bad things in the world, he wouldn’t want to fix them, and so he wouldn’t want to become a holy man. 

Buddha’s Early Life

So Siddhartha grew up surrounded by all the comforts and privileges money could buy. When he became a young man, he married a woman named Gopa. He seemed to have it all, but the plan Siddhartha’s father made for him to become a great king was about to fall apart. Instead of accepting the life of luxury that he was given, Siddhartha grew restless living in the palace. One day, he asked his father to let him go on a chariot ride to see the city around the palace. His father agreed but told the chariot driver to stay in the richer parts of the city, close to the palace, to avoid letting Siddhartha see people who were poor or suffering. 

Siddhartha set out in the chariot with his driver. Before long, they saw an old man, slowly hobbling along the road, looking as if he might fall over at any moment. Siddhartha had never seen such an old man, and he asked his driver what was wrong with him. 

His driver replied, “He is very old. His body has grown weak with age. You too will grow old someday. All people do.”

Siddhartha was disturbed but asked him to drive on. Later in the ride, they saw a sick man lying by the side of the road. He was groaning and looked very unhappy. Again, Siddhartha asked what was wrong with the man. 

His driver replied, “He is sick with a terrible disease. Everyone gets sick sometimes. Someday, you will get sick.”

Siddhartha felt terrible, seeing this man suffering, but they continued their ride through the city. 

On their way back to the palace, they came across a funeral procession. People were crying and moaning. For a third time, Siddhartha asked his chariot driver what was happening.

Again, his driver replied. “Someone has died, and these people are his friends and family. They are mourning for him.”  

When Siddhartha returned home, he could not stop thinking about the old man, the sick man, and the funeral. He thought about these things happening to his father and mother, to his wife, and to himself. He realized that all the treasure in the palace, all the servants waiting on him, and all the beautiful things surrounding him, could not prevent him or anyone else from the sad things he said. He realized that he wanted to find a way to help people overcome suffering. 

Siddartha’s Personal Journey

Once he realized these things, Siddhartha knew he could no longer live an easy life in the palace. So one day, he said goodbye to his family and set out to find the cause of suffering. He cut his hair and lived as an ascetic – someone who chooses to live in poverty and simplicity. He studied meditation with great holy men and discussed the problem of suffering with them, but after many years of living this way, he still didn’t know why it happened, or how he could prevent it.

Finally, he decided to sit and meditate under a bodhi tree. He vowed not to leave until he had the answer to the problem of human suffering.  Siddhartha sat meditating day and night, still and calm as a statue, for six days. On the sixth day, he opened his eyes and realized he understood the nature of suffering. He became enlightened and from then on was known as Buddha, which means awakened one. 

Buddha’s Four Noble Truths

For the rest of his life, Buddha traveled throughout India, teaching others about what he had discovered. He taught people the four noble truths he had realized about suffering.

The first truth is that everyone suffers and has hard things happen to them. It’s just part of life. 

The second truth is that we suffer because we are always wanting more, and trying to hold onto what we have. This might sound surprising. Didn’t he start his quest because he saw people who were suffering because they were old, sick, and dying? Buddha thought that the real reason we suffer is not that bad things happen to us, but because we allow negative feelings and desires to take over our thinking. If we’re sick, we lie around feeling sorry for ourselves and wishing we were well. But then when we’re healthy, we think of other things we want but don’t have, and we still suffer. 

Think about a time when you really wanted a new toy or game. It probably felt very unfair that you didn’t have it, and then, if you did get it, you might have been happy for a short time, but then you were just back to normal and wanted something new. We become attached to things, or even ideas of things, and those things are not permanent. This keeps us spending all our time wanting things we don’t have, and worrying we’ll lose what we do have. He taught that things like toys and games and other things we might buy don’t really make us happy deep down and any happiness we do feel doesn’t last.

The third truth is that we can overcome suffering. Once we overcome suffering, Buddha thought, we could reach a state of nirvana, or perfect peace and happiness, just as he did when he meditated under the bodhi tree. 

Finally, the fourth truth tells us how to overcome suffering. The way Buddha thought we overcome suffering is by following what he called the “eightfold path.” I won’t go over all eight parts of the path, but basically, to follow the eightfold path, we must always try to improve ourselves: this means being kind and honest; try not to harm anyone or anything; and acting with compassion. We must also learn to pay attention to our own thoughts. As we pay attention to our thoughts we can better understand the thoughts that make us feel sad. This helps us think in a new way. This paying attention to our thoughts is called meditation.

Karma

Buddha taught that following the eight-fold path creates good karma.  Karma is the idea that everything you do has a consequence, whether good or bad. Kind actions tend to have positive consequences, and unkind actions, have negative consequences. This isn’t a consequence like a reward or a punishment – it’s just a thing that happens as a result of an action. He taught that by building up a lot of good karma, you can reach nirvana, a state of true enlightenment. 

Buddha spent the rest of his life traveling around India, teaching what he had discovered to anyone who wanted to learn. He encouraged his followers to try out the practices he taught for themselves, to see how well they worked, and to gather in communities to learn and help each other. The community was important because Buddha knew that to be truly happy, people need to feel compassion and kindness for both themselves and others. This is called metta in Buddhism.

Buddhism

After its beginnings in India, Buddhism spread throughout South and East Asia and was practiced widely in Tibet, Bhutan, Thailand, China, and Japan, among others. Today, people around the world practice Buddhism in different forms. For some, it’s a religion, but for others, it’s simply a way of looking at life.

Meditation

As Buddha taught, you can take the time to meditate each day. Meditating is a good chance to breathe deeply and slow your thoughts. It can also help you look closely at your thoughts. Your thoughts often lead to how you’re feeling. So if you have lots of negative thoughts those may be causing negative feelings. Breathing deeply and clearing your mind can give you the positive energy you need to help yourself and help others. There are a lot of great ways to start meditating. You can find videos, podcasts, and apps, that can get you started. But the simplest way is to just set a timer and try and sit and relax during that time while breathing deeply. 

What can I learn from Buddha?

Also, like Buddha taught, remember that things that we buy won’t always make us happy. Toys eventually break, or they go out of fashion, and we’ll always want something new. Think about how you might turn your attention to more important things like spending time with your family and friends, learning something new, or doing good for others. These are things that last longer and will give you greater, deeper joy.   

I hope you enjoyed this episode about Buddha. Be sure to check in next Monday for a new episode!

Sources

Fields, Rick. “Who Is the Buddha?” in: Tricycle, Spring 1997. https://tricycle.org/magazine/who-was-buddha-2/

Meyers, Rachel. Curiosity Chronicles: Snapshots of Ancient History. Little Monster Schooling, 2017.

Nagaraja, Dharmachari. Buddha at Bedtime.Watkins, 2016.

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Who wrote the musical Hamilton?

Have you heard about the musical Hamilton? Maybe you’ve seen the movie on Disney Plus, listened to the music, or actually seen a live performance. My kids and I enjoy listening to Hamilton’s music. It’s catchy and fun to sing along to, and what’s also great is that we learn something new while having a good time together! The musical Hamilton has been seen on Disney Plus and Broadway millions of times and has come to be one of the most popular musicals of all time. But how did the musical come to be? Do you know who wrote the story and lyrics and music? If you guessed Lin-Manuel Miranda you were right!

When was Lin-Manuel Miranda Born?

Lin-Manuel Miranda was born on January 16, 1980, in New York, New York. His parents were Puerto Rican. Puerto Rico is an island and U.S. territory in the Caribbean. Lin-Manuel grew up in a Hispanic neighborhood in northern Manhattan with his family. His unique name was inspired by a poem about the Vietnam War. His father worked in politics and helped several of the mayors of New York City, and his mother was a psychologist. They often played salsa and show tunes, which are songs from musicals, at home.

Childhood and Teen Years

During childhood and his teens, Lin-Manuel spent at least one month each year with his grandparents in Vega Alta, Puerto Rico. Lin-Manuel attended Hunter College Elementary School and Hunter College High School. He wrote some of his first musicals while growing up in school. 

Lin-Manuel saw his first Broadway musical, Les Misérables when he was seven, and it made a lifelong impression on him. His tastes also ran to hip-hop and R&B, and he became an excellent rapper. In high school, he won the lead role in the musical The Pirates of Penzance and was very active in the school’s drama program. 

In school, he met Stephen Sondheim, who later became a mentor to him, along with fellow musical-theatre legend John Kander. Lin-Manuel went on to study theatre at Wesleyan University, where he continued to perform in musicals and write his own songs and shows.

Who Wrote the Musical “In The Heights”?

It was there in 1999 that he wrote the first draft of his musical In the Heights, which was set in Washington Heights, a northern Manhattan neighborhood similar to that of his own childhood. At college Lin-Manuel wrote and directed several other musicals and acted in many other productions, ranging from musicals to Shakespeare.

After graduating from college in 2002, Lin-Manuel started an acting career, appearing in films and on television. He also performed with a hip-hop improvisation group, Freestyle Love Supreme around New York City, and at festivals, including the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. 

At this time Lin-Manuel Miranda continued to develop In the Heights with his friend Thomas Kail. The musical blended hip-hop and salsa. Lin-Manuel wrote the music and lyrics for the show. He also co-wrote a book with Quiara Alegría Hudes that is the complete script and all the song lyrics from the show. 

In the Heights opened Off-Broadway in February 2007 and ran until July, with Lin-Manuel in the lead role. It won two Drama Desk Awards. In the Heights had its Broadway debut in March 2008 and won four Tony Awards, including those for best musical and best original score. They also nominated the show for the Pulitzer Prize for drama, and its original-cast recording won the 2008 Grammy Award for best musical show album. 

Also, In the Heights will be available to everyone as a movie in theaters and on HBO in June 2021.

Why did Lin-Manuel Miranda write Hamilton?

While Lin-Manuel Miranda was on vacation in 2008, he read a book about the U.S. Founding Father, Alexander Hamilton. The biography was written by Ron Chernow and told Hamilton’s life story. Lin-Manuel was inspired by Hamilton’s life, from his difficult childhood on the Caribbean island to his move to New York and the part he played in the American Revolution,  eventually becoming the U.S. secretary of the treasury. Lin-Manuel saw an important story that needed to be told and the wheels in his head started to turn.

In Alexander Hamilton’s story, Lin-Manuel saw one that was very similar to that of the simple beginnings of many famous rappers. It inspired him to write a rap about Alexander Hamilton. In 2009 he later performed it for the White House Evening of Poetry, Music, and the Spoken Word before President Barack Obama and others.

How did Lin-Manuel Miranda write Hamilton?

Lin-Manuel Miranda later said he spent a year writing the Hamilton song “My Shot”, changing it countless times for every verse to reflect Alexander Hamilton’s smarts. By 2012, Lin-Manuel was performing an extended set of pieces based on the life of Alexander Hamilton, which he then referred to as the Hamilton Mixtape. The New York Times called it “an obvious game-changer”.

The resulting show, which Lin-Manuel called “Hamilton” was smart, energetic, catchy, and immediately popular with audiences, and featured a racially diverse cast, with Lin-Manuel starring in the main role of Alexander Hamilton. In January 2015 the musical opened Off-Broadway at New York City’s Public Theater. It was so successful that it made an early move to Broadway in July.

In 2016 they awarded Hamilton the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, and that year it received an outstanding 16 Tony nominations, which rarely happens. Lin-Manuel Miranda earned several nods, including best actor in a leading role in a musical. The production eventually won 11 Tonys, falling one short of the record. They named Hamilton the best musical, and Lin-Manuel won for best book and best original score. 

On March 15, 2016, Lin-Manuel Miranda and members of the cast of Hamilton performed at the White House and hosted workshops; Lin-Manuel performed freestyle rap from prompts held up by President Obama. Later In 2016, Miranda and Jeremy McCarter published “Hamilton: The Revolution”, a book describing Hamilton’s journey from idea to Broadway success. In July 2016 Lin-Manuel appeared for the last time in the show.

The following year the musical opened in London’s West End, where it was a critical and commercial success. It won seven Olivier Awards, including best new play. In addition, Lin-Manuel garnered an award for outstanding achievement in music. 

In 2017 Hurricane Maria hit the Caribbean Islands. It was the worst recorded hurricane in history in that area of the world. Many lives and property were lost.  To help, Lin-Manuel briefly returned to his role as Alexander Hamilton in Puerto Rico and used the money made from the shows to help the people there. Lin-Manuel had been active in helping the people of Puerto Rico and the arts there over the years.

Disney Musicals

Have you seen the Disney movie Moana? Lin-Manuel wrote the song “How Far I’ll Go” and sings parts of it. In the movie Mary Poppins Returns, he played Mary Poppins’s sidekick and chimney sweep, Bert. He also starred in the HBO TV series His Dark Materials. Today Lin-Manuel continues today to work on many projects with different studios, including Disney.

Lin-Manuel is an outstanding example of someone who found a talent he enjoyed and dedicated his life to improving it. Can you believe he spent a year working on the songs “Alexander Hamilton” and “My Shot”? Great things don’t come easy. Often they start off very imperfect and need to be worked on over and over until they improve with time and focus. He also wasn’t afraid to take risks by being original. Many of his close friends told him his idea for Alexander Hamilton wouldn’t work. A rap musical about a founding father was a very unique and bold idea! But he kept working at it anyway until it was a great success!

Once Lin-Manuel reached fame and stardom, he didn’t only use the money he made for his own benefit. He has found many ways to give back to the communities he grew up in and places like Puerto Rico when it was hit by a devastating hurricane. He has also worked with charities that help children who are in foster care and are being adopted. 

What is something that you love to do? Think of what your next project might be related to your interests and set a goal. Plan out how you might work on that project each day until it becomes something better each time, so then you can share it like Lin-Manuel.

Listen to the audio

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