I'll be back...

Thanks to Mike Kienzler, who writes The Abraham Lincoln Observer blog for The State Journal-Register. You'll find The ALO at http://blogs.sj-r.com/alo.

I appreciate your words of congratulations, Mike, and your challenge to get back into the blogosphere. Although my time is somewhat limited of late, I think readers will find much of interest in my earlier posts.

So, come back again folks. My next post, to be published later this week, will lead you to my reviews about a handful of the scores of books written about Lincoln in recent years. I can bet with great certainty no matter what your interest, you'll find a Lincoln book you'll enjoy among those I'll share.

Keep your eyes open - and come back to see what I've found to share with you.

In the meantime, keep on reading something every day - even if it's Twitter or an online news source. Now, like never before, people across the world are sharing a wealth of information. Make sure you take the time to take advantage of the opportunities in your path.

Observant observer ALO one-ups me - maybe

In case you haven't discovered them, I'm joined in cyberspace by several other Lincoln buffs who blog. We all have a unique perspective on Lincoln and have covered a variety of different Lincoln-related topics during this bicentennial year. Each of us stays on the lookout for things we think the rest of you will enjoy and, interestingly enough, we don't often duplicate each other's efforts.

Sometimes, we pick on or tease one another - in private or online. We're pretty darned supportive of each other and aren't particularly competitive. Today, however, my buddy at The State Journal-Register, Mike Kienzler, who blogs as The Abraham Lincoln Observer (ALO), poked a little fun my way. He found a really bizarre story about an athlete who, believe it or not, had Abraham Lincoln tattooed on his neck. ALO shared it in his blog - with the challenge, "Ann Tracy Mueller, top this.

I didn't know we were having a competition. You be the judges. Here are the cards in our latest hand.

• Lincoln Buff 2 (aka Ann Tracy Mueller): Knox College Lincoln Studies Center gets a National Endowment for the Humanities grant of darned near a million bucks, which will aid Lincoln studies and promote the Lincoln legacy for years to come
• ALO (aka Mike Kienzler): Some overpaid jock spends his money inking his body up. It just so happens the image he chooses is Lincoln. This dude will be washed up in a few years and his body art long forgotten, but Lincoln scholars not yet born will use the Papers of Abraham Lincoln, Herndon's Lincoln and other Lincoln Studies research.

I don't know, Mike. The tat is cool, but I think my hand trumps yours. Nice try.

Congratulations, ALO

As I was ready to shut down my computer for the night, I did the same thing I often do at the end of the evening. I went to the website of newspaper that was Abraham Lincoln's friend, The State Journal-Register. I usually check to see if my fellow blogger, Mike Kienzler, The Abraham Lincoln Observer (ALO), has posted a new article.

Tonight, I found not a new blog post, but breaking news on the home page, reading, "SJ-R metro editor wins senior spelling bee at fair." Now, considering that Kienzler isn't much older than I am, I was hoping it wasn't him. I'm not ready to be called "senior" any more than I have to. I knew, though, that it was surely my ALO buddy. He's the most eagle-eyed editor I've ever known. In fact, he's so good, he can almost find a typo before a reporter's fingers hit the wrong key.

And, he'd recently advanced through his local and regional contests to reach the state contest. So, it came as no suprise that this wordsmith and editor extraordinaire is a champion tonight. Read the breaking news about his championship and the article on the paper's special state fair blog.

You know what, though? Mike Kienzler is champion every day. We can count on him to keep the legacy of Lincoln alive. That makes him a winner in my book, no matter how well he can spell.

If you follow the ALO blog, too, be sure to drop in and leave a comment to congratulate him. I'm going to leave mine right now.

© Copyright 2009 Ann Tracy Mueller. All rights reserved.

Appeal of A. Lincoln - and kindness of strangers - are universal

Sometimes, when you set out on a journey to explore your own interests and to satisfy your own hunger for knowledge, you find some pleasant surprises along the way. Some of the greatest unplanned gifts along my Lincoln trail have been the many fine people I've met in person or in cyberspace who share an interest in or passion for Abraham Lincoln.

Recently, a reader left a comment on my blog. He told me he, too, had been interested in Lincoln as a small child. He directed me to his own Lincoln blog. With a few clicks of the mouse, I was transported to another place and time. The blogger, Sebastio Albano, wrote of a small Brazilian boy who ventured into a dark, out-of-the-way room in the basement of a church several decades ago. There he discovered a face in a book which seemed to pull him in. You guessed it. The image was Abraham Lincoln - and the small boy is now the man, Albano.

As an adult, Albano made a pilgrimage to Springfield to see the Lincoln sites. Thirty years later, he still remembers his visit to Lincoln's Home. Just as strongly, he remembers the kindness of a stranger who sat down beside him and extended a kindness which transcended generations, cultures and continents. This stranger made Albano's trip even more special by going out of his way to take the Brazilian to see yet another Lincoln site, his tomb. In his excitement, Albano didn't get the stranger's name. He regrets that.

When I heard the story, I thought of one of my favorite journalists, The State Journal-Register's Dave Bakke. Bakke and I have been in touch off and on by email for a number of years now. We share a common admiration for a late Illinois investigative journalist, Rick Baker. In fact, both of us keep Baker's books near our work areas as inpiration (and I keep Bakke's there, too.)

Bakke's really, really good at telling stories like this one. He's also really good at using his column to reach out and reconnect people with long lost friends, family, even cherished objects such as lost rings and long-forgotten baby books. His column brings people together and often extends a cord which entertwines with others to create a rope binding the present and the past.

When I shared Albano's story with my fellow Lincoln blogger, State Journal-Register metro editor Mike Kienzler, who blogs as Abraham Lincoln Observer (ALO), he thought Bakke might like the story, too, and pitched it for me. Just maybe, the three of us together can help Albano find his friend and say "Thanks." And, please, no bad jokes about how many journalists it takes to tell a Lincoln story or find a Lincoln friend.

One more little coincidence makes this story even more significant. It appears today in the State Journal-Register, though Bakke first thought he'd run it earlier. This just happens to be the final day of a conference in England. The conference theme - The Global Lincoln.

Sebastio Albano's story shows us Lincoln is indeed global. It also leaves us wondering - would he have freely experienced such a gift of thoughtfulness in the U.S. if Lincoln hadn't lived? You see, the kindness Albano recieved was bestowed by a black man.

Be sure to read:

• Bakke's story
• Albano's blog, which will likely bring tears to your eyes
• About the Global Lincoln conference
• Kienzler's ALO blog

Do you have your own global Lincoln story? If so, let me know. Let's keep sharing our enthusiasm throughout the world - in the bicentennial year and beyond.

© Copyright 2009 Ann Tracy Mueller. All rights reserved.

Lincoln Buff 2 featured by two other bloggers

One of the greatest benefits of sharing the legacy of Lincoln online is the fellow Lincoln buffs and all around really cool people you meet around the world. Two of them actually wrote about my blog this week. I am flattered and thankful.

Recently, I told you about Ed Newman's Ennyman's Territory blog. You'll want to check it out. He's an individual with amazingly brilliant and diverse talent - not only a gifted writer but an accomplished artist, as well.

Mike Kienzler of the Springfield, Ill. newspaper, The State Journal-Register, writes The Abraham Lincoln Observer (ALO) blog. In an article yesterday, he wrote about our mutual Lincoln friend, photographer David Wiegers, and added a few words about my interview with Newman. Coincidentally, about ten years ago, I occasionally wrote freelance book reviews on Illinois-related subjects, including Lincoln, for the SJ-R. My books page editor, the late Doug Pokorski, reported to Kienzler. Though we've never met, and I hadn't even exchanged emails with him until Doug passed away suddenly a few years ago, I'm grateful for the opportunity Mike gave me to get my words in print. Thanks, ALO.

Of course, I love it when people read my blog. That's why I write it. But, please, check out Ed's and Mike's, too. You'll be glad you did.

© Copyright 2009 Ann Tracy Mueller. All rights reserved.

Long days and short nights pay dividends

There are some days when you go, "Wow! Maybe what I'm doing is worth it." This was one of them.

The Journal is my friend
When I read my favorite newspaper, The State Journal-Register, this morning and visited fellow Lincoln blogger Mike Kienzler's Abraham Lincoln Observer blog on the paper's website, I learned Mike had included mine in a list of blogs and websites in his early morning post today. The day was off to a good start. I was pretty excited to be mentioned in the paper of which Lincoln said in 1864, "The Journal paper was always my friend; and of course its editors the same."

Thanks, Mike. You and the SJ-R are my friends, too. Not as impressive as having Lincoln as a friend, though, huh?

So is 21st Century Abe
Later in the day, I learned Kathy Haas of the Rosenbach Museum and Library in Philadelphia had mentioned my blog in her post on the museum's 21st Century Abe blog. I didn't even know this one existed. Watch the list of blogs I follow (at the bottom of the home page). I'll be adding 21st Century Abe there. Thanks to you, too, Kathy.

Found online
This was plenty of recognition for one day, and more than this blogger felt she deserved. It would have been enough to keep me beaming for weeks, but the day got even better. I went to the McLean County Museum of History to hear Dan Guillory read from his great little book, "Lincoln Poems." I was reminding my friend, Jeff, at the museum to be sure to watch the blog for information about the bicentennial. He asked me to show him the blog on his computer. When I did, he said, "Wait, someone sent us a link to this today. It was Dan."

It was pretty exciting to know that the speaker had found my blog post. That's what it's all about - promoting the legacy of Lincoln, recognizing those who do the same and promoting events and others who share the passion.

Doing what I do - because...
If I've done that, I'm achieving my goal. What does it take to do this blog? It’s late nights, early mornings and Lincoln spinning endlessly through my head. It’s attending lectures, taking classes, reading books and newspapers and online articles. It’s writing research papers in the second half-century of my life. It’s spending the entire week of Lincoln’s birthday in Springfield savoring every event I can attend – and even doing some volunteering. It’s spending nearly all of my vacation time this year attending Lincoln symposiums – and even dragging my husband and best friends along for the ride. It’s driving my family, co-workers and friends nuts as I talk Lincoln incessantly.

And, it’s all worth it. (Except maybe the part about driving all my loved ones nuts . You'll have to ask them about that.) I hope you’re enjoying visiting the blog as much as I’m enjoying writing it. I’m still trying to determine how best to share the excitement of the bicentennial events. I’ve got some ideas, but they’re still percolating. I should have some news for you on that in about a week.

Thanks for reading, and be sure to get to some Lincoln events near you, okay?

Ann

A Lincoln presence in Nixon's haunts

On our recent visit to California, my husband, son-in-law and I visited the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum. Since today would have been Nixon’s 96th birthday, I thought it would be a good time to talk about the Lincoln connections there.

The first Lincoln connection was as soon as I walked past the ticket counter. There I found one of the squashed penny machines about which my fellow blogger, Mike Kienzler of the State Journal-Register often writes. Of course, I had to get my own commemorative squashed penny.

Inaugurating Lincoln
As we prepare for the upcoming inauguration of our 44th president, Barack Obama, the library is hosting a special exhibit, “Called Upon By the Voice of My Country.” The exhibit runs through April 19 and celebrates the history and pageantry of presidential inaugurations.

Among the items featured in the exhibit are a bill of fare from Lincoln’s inaugural dinner, a ticket to the inauguration, a first-hand account of Lincoln’s second inaugural celebration and a Lincoln photo. Several of these items are on loan from the collection of Tom Charles Huston, who served as a White House aide during the Nixon presidency.

Nixon’s fave digs bore Lincoln’s name
Another highlight for me was the recreated Lincoln sitting room. The room, which adjoins the Lincoln bedroom, was Nixon’s favorite room in the White House. He was said to have loved the fireplace so much that he was known to even have a fire built in it in the summer with the air conditioning also running. He apparently did much of his work there, perched in a cozy chair with a matching ottoman. The replicated room even includes recreations of the red chairs Mary Todd Lincoln purchased for the White House.

From the pens of babes
Those of us who write about Lincoln today because of an interest that began in grade school had a kindred spirit in Nixon. The Nixon Library displays a copy of a school report Nixon wrote as a youngster about Lincoln and his sons. It’s accompanied by a typed version for those who may have trouble discerning the grade-schooler’s handwriting.

A day well spent
Before we went, I had wondered what a visit to the Nixon library would be like. Would I like it? How could any presidential library compare to Lincoln’s? I was busy working and raising a little one during Nixon’s administration. I buried my head in the sand when it came to politics so I wouldn’t have to face the things going on outside my little world. Would this museum really mean anything to me?

The answer is yes. I learned about the boy who was born in a farmhouse like my own parents – just in California, rather than Illinois. I learned of the young man who worked with his parents and brothers around the house and in the family store, like my own parents, uncles, cousins and brothers. I saw exhibits which took me back to the days when I was young – the scary feelings about war, the confusing feelings about a government scandal, the relief when prisoners left Vietnam, the fun thanks to memorabilia from the days when I was growing up – a black and white TV, an old wood-paneled station wagon, a Jimi Hendrix album, a daisy-adorned empire waist dress.

And along the way, I learned about our 37th president, the one from Whittier, the California town my three uncles and their families called home. I brought away a greater appreciation for this president and the challenges he faced. I saw a beautiful facility with its stately columns, glistening reflecting pool and tranquil gardens, and I felt there a reverence for this country and those who serve in the highest office – a monumental task in any century.