And the thing about it is that, while much of the information/story line/history in National Treasure 2 – Book of Secrets is either changed around, or just plain made up, to fit the movie better, it does serve to get us thinking. And it sends us to go digging deeper, to find out what actually did happen, and to learn more.

There were two things in the movie that keenly interested me and sent me digging. The first one was the Resolute desks. Is the story of the desks true? Do they really even exist? Are there really two of them? Yes, the Resolute desk is in the Oval Office, and it is quite beautiful and has quite a history. It does not, however, have a twin. It is said that the Queen did have a small writing table made for herself from the HMS Resolute, though. And the HMS Resolute was a British ship that had been abandoned, stuck in ice, and then was returned to the Queen by an American whaler a couple years later.

The other thing that I found so interesting in the movie that I had to looking for more answers about it – was the part about the secret basement and underground tunnels at Mount Vernon. I’ve always loved stuff like this. Trust me, you don’t want to be in an old house with my brother, Mic, and I, because, we WILL be doing some snooping! We went to a bed and breakfast for our other brother’s wedding and did some serious ‘old house investigating’ and found some pretty cool features! When I went looking to verify if the basement even existed, I learned that it did, and that it had never been open to the public. Get this, though – some of the staffers at Mount Vernon, upon seeing the National Treasure movie – decided that they had to open it up for tours. And you know what happened? The amount of visitors went up 300% that first weekend! Wow! It was first opened in January on a trial basis, but, was so popular, that it has been extended! I learned a lot about Mount Vernon last year from my son, who went on a trip to Washington, DC with his class. We talked about Mount Vernon a lot – he really enjoyed his visit there. I can’t believe, though, that he missed the secret basement – by only months! What a major bummer!

So I guess you can tell that I thoroughly enjoyed the movie! Now I just want to watch the first one again! I can’t tonight, because, we have our sons’ Spring Band Concert. Maybe I can watch it Friday night.

When I went to ask my thirteen-year old son his opinions of the DVD’s, his answer really surprised me!

Me: So what did you think of the Indiana Jones DVD’s?

Son: He had too many girlfriends!

That kid is too funny! I guess I know who’s gonna be a one-woman man! His brother, on the other hand, retorts,

“So what! He has a different girlfriend in every one of the actual movies, too!”

So maybe that one is going to be trouble!

My very favorite thing about these shows, like I said, is that we can all learn more about history from them. I love it when learning is fun, when it’s a joy, when it is something we WANT to do! There’s nothing worse than some of the ‘dry’ learning I experienced as a kid growing up. I think Bill Nye is who really opened my eyes up to the concept that learning can be, and is, fun, and that we can make it that way for our kids! And that is what George Lucas hoped these shows would do for kids.

“Hopefully, it’ll be used in schools. It’s a very fun way to introduce young people to historical events in the beginning of the 20th century,” Lucas said.

I know that we will definitely use it here at home, to strengthen what can often be a hard subject for some kids. You get to travel with Indy all the way from his espionage work in Italy all the way back to the states, where he manages a Broadway show – while dating three different women! And then we wind up with Indy working in Hollywood on a major motion picture. It’s just a wonderful series, because, we come up through history with Indy and learn what life is like in each time period, and then at the end of each show, there are the documentaries that tell you the true stories of things that happened at that time. We learn about music, theater, movies, and even criminals of the time – like Al ‘Scarface’ Capone! We also learn about military heroes, prohibition, and remarkable presidents! It’s just a fabulous way to teach the kids about all of this stuff! This is a set of DVD’s that we’ll watch again and again. They might even come in handy if, say, one child is having trouble understanding a unit in their history class. Now won’t that be so cool if I can pull out the right DVD and watch it with said child and suddenly they get it? Oh man, I hope that does happen! And I’ll be sure to write George Lucas if it does and thank him!

Quote Source: ‘Young Indiana Jones’ offers history lessons

I do not remember having learned about Jewish people inhabiting the early-American colonies, but, Sephardic Jews began coming to America in the mid 1600’s. The Jewish people coming over here wanted to assimilate themselves into the culture here, and yet, they also wanted to hang onto and still practice their Jewish faith and way of life. Many of them found this process very difficult – they felt as though they were being pulled in two directions, but, they adapted to their new lives here, even wearing American clothing.

They began to build synagogues, and that I found very cool. (I actually have a synagogue near me that is over 100 years old – it’s very beautiful.) One of the synagogues, though, I think in Rhode Island, was built to match the style of the buildings in the town. And then on the inside, Judaism was ‘loudly’ celebrated in the design and the layout. I was a little saddened by this, as they were working so hard to blend in, they felt they could only be themselves on the inside. I thought that was kind of a bummer.

Another interesting thing that I learned about was the participation by the Jews in every war that America has been through. During the civil war, the men who joined the military in the North, didn’t really know too much about slavery and they didn’t join to fight slavery. As they traveled farther north, during the war, though, they began to experience the horrors of slavery first hand. They realized how awful it was, and wanted desperately to free the slaves. And during the first world war, they didn’t know anything about the concentration camps. Someone told one soldier, along with his fellow soldiers, there is a ‘Jewish camp’ over there, the way they were directly headed. They wondered what the heck that person meant when he said, ‘Jewish camp’. When they came upon the first camp, they were absolutely horrified. I can’t imagine having found out like that. I had never thought about how Allied soldiers first found out about the concentration camps. Of course, finding out in any way had to be just terrible, but, I think being there, out in the field…oh, it’s just awful.

After the war, though, the most WONDERFUL thing happened. It was just four short months after the war, and a lovely young lady from New York, who just happened to be JEWISH – won the title of Miss America. I absolutely had chills watching this part of the films. This was, of course, the first time that a Jewish girl had won. What a wonderful affirmation of American Jews being fully integrated into our society – and welcomed, loved, and supported. Yes, it’s not of earth-shattering importance – the Miss America pageant, but, it was a symbol. And it meant a lot – to a lot of people.

That last paragraph reminded me of another thing I learned, too. A lot of Jews in America prefer to be called American Jews, and not Jewish Americans. One lady explained that, even though she loves the USA, she could picture herself living in England, or in Australia, for instance, but, she could never picture herself not being Jewish. They said – “It’s the noun!”

I really, really loved this documentary and I know that I will watch it again and again and learn something new every time. And I will have my children watch it with me, because, I’m sure that American history taught in schools just does not teach much of the Jewish American experience, if at all. I will let them watch it in separate sittings, though. I am sure they would protest six hours. I just loved it so much, though, that I did not want it to end. I was soaking it up like a sponge! And I could go on and on here and tell you about a hundred and fifty more things that I learned, but, you might get sleepy. So I’ll just let you just go watch it yourself. You will love it – there are many interesting people interviewed, and I think that is part of what kept it so interesting. There are regular people, and Hollywood stars, and all kinds of people. Just go watch it – you will see, you’ll love it!

It started when I remembered that I hadn’t yet read my copy of Here on Earth…

It was really good, and I was disappointed when I finished it – because it was over!

Then I decided that I would watch Practical Magic…

…again! I’ve only watched it like a hundred million times! But I LOVE THIS MOVIE! When it first came out on video, and I rented it, I did the funniest thing! I had never done this before. I immediately rewound it and started it over! I literally sat through two back-to-back showings of it! As a grown-up! (Ok, I use that term loosely.)

However, at the viewing recently, I fell asleep before the ending.

Moving on, though, I recently purchased The Probable Future:

…so I decided to start reading it. I am really enjoying it so far, as well. But I’m not getting very far, because, I keep falling asleep.

I have since watched Practical Magic again two more times, from the beginning – falling asleep before the ending – two more times.

Why do I keep starting it over from the beginning? Well, because, it is just more enjoyable that way! Except for the falling asleep part, that is.

I think I have just been working too hard and going to bed too late, lately. I am enjoying my Alice Hoffman Festival, though. And I guess doing it this way is just making it last longer, so it can’t be all that bad, right?

Have you read Alice Hoffman lately?