By Nocole Daughhetee

Courier Staff

I am a planner and an organizer, and when I found out I was pregnant with my first daughter, my skills went into some sort of hyper-drive. Filled with excitement and anticipation, I wanted to create the perfect environment to welcome her into the world.

Along with the traditional matchy-matchy crib, changing station, armoire, cutesy animal-themed bedding and oodles of pink (a color I never before would have considered for a room in my home), I also joined a book club for her.

Presidents’ Day is an American holiday celebrated on the third Monday in February. Originally established in 1885 in recognition of President George Washington, it is still officially called “Washington’s Birthday” by the federal government.

Traditionally celebrated on February 22 — Washington’s actual day of birth — the holiday became popularly known as Presidents’ Day after it was moved as part of 1971’s Uniform Monday Holiday Act, an attempt to create more three-day weekends for the nation’s workers.

While several states still have individual holidays honoring the birthdays of Washington, Abraham Lincoln and other figures, Presidents’ Day is now popularly viewed as a day to celebrate all U.S. presidents past and present.

The story of Presidents’ Day begins in 1800. Following President George Washington’s death in 1799, his February 22 birthday became a perennial day of remembrance. At the time, Washington was venerated as the most important figure in American history, and events like the 1832 centennial of his birth and the start of construction of the Washington Monument in 1848 were cause for national celebration.

While Washington’s Birthday was an unofficial observance for most of the 1800s, it was not until the late 1870s that it became a federal holiday.

1. Romeo and Juliet
This is probably the most famous pair of lovers of all time. This couple has become a synonym for love itself. Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. Their love story is very tragic: two teenagers from feuding families fall in love at first sight, marry, become true lovers and then risk it all for their love. Their untimely deaths ultimately unite their feuding households.

2. Cleopatra and Mark Antony

The true love story of Antony and Cleopatra is one of the most memorable, intriguing and moving of all times. The story of these two historical characters, later dramatized by William Shakespeare, is still staged all over the world. The relationship between these two powerful people put the country of Egypt in a powerful position. But their love affair outraged the Romans, who were wary of the growing powers of the Egyptians. Despite all the threats, Anthony and Cleopatra got married. It is said that while fighting a battle against Romans, Antony got false news of Cleopatra’s death. Shattered, he fell on his sword. When Cleopatra learned about Antony’s death, she was shocked and took her own life.

Aristophanes’ speech from Plato’s ‘Symposium’

With Valentine’s Day this week, what better time is there to analyze the true definition of love?

This lengthy dialogue is taken as an excerpt from Plato’s “Symposium,” particularly from the speech delivered by Aristophanes, the eminent Greek comic playwright of the time. Although Aristophanes warns that his speech is absurdist, its satirical content still strikes a chord in many respects to modern readers.

Aristophanes professed to open another vein of discourse; he had a mind to praise Love in another way, unlike that of either Pausanias or Eryximachus. Mankind, he said, judging by their neglect of him, have never, as I think, at all understood the power of Love. For if they had understood him they would surely have built noble temples and altars, and offered solemn sacrifices in his honour; but this is not done, and most certainly ought to be done: since of all the gods he is the best friend of men, the helper and the healer of the ills which are the great impediment to the happiness of the race. I will try to describe his power to you, and you shall teach the rest of the world what I am teaching you.
In the first place, let me treat of the nature of man and what has happened to it. The original human nature was not like the present, but different. The sexes were not two as they are now, but originally three in number; there was man, woman, and the union of the two, of which the name survives but nothing else. Once it was a distinct kind, with a bodily shape and a name of its own, constituted by the union of the male and the female: but now only the word ‘androgynous’ is preserved, and that as a term of reproach.

In the second place, the primeval man was round, his back and sides forming a circle; and he had four hands and the same number of feet, one head with two faces, looking opposite ways, set on a round neck and precisely alike; also four ears, two privy members, and the remainder to correspond. He could walk upright as men now do, backwards or forwards as he pleased, and he could also roll over and over at a great pace, turning on his four hands and four feet, eight in all, like tumblers going over and over with their legs in the air; this was when he wanted to run fast.

There is so much history all around those of us who live in Pickens County, truly one of the most beautiful places on earth.

By Dr. Carl Thomas Cloer, Jr.
For The Courier

We have our Jocassee Gorges, the Blue Ridge Escarpment, and historic Clemson University with its magnificent forests and botanical gardens. We need no more than 30 minutes to be atop the escarpment and in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Most of my life has been spent atop the escarpment in the mountains. If one travels west in Pickens County on scenic Highway 11, the Keowee River (now lake) is crossed, and the traveler junctions with routes leading into the Jocassee Gorges. Highway 130, for example, travels north through the Jocassee Gorges and connects with Highway 107 into Jackson County (N.C.) and the historic Cashiers Valley, where the mighty Whitewater River of Jocassee Gorges fame originates. I have fished the mighty Whitewater all the way to Cashiers.

The story unfolding herein has the components of a Shakespearean tragedy, with bloody divisive politics, terrible tragedy, loyalty, and love. My father was a key actor in the tragedy, and related the story to me in vivid detail. I will have an imaginary Paul Harvey, the old iconic newscaster and storyteller, turn and address you, the audience, in the same manner Richard III does in that Shakespearean masterpiece. In Richard III, most all the bloody and violent acts are not viewed directly by the audience. Note that similarity as this story unfolds. I have always believed this story would make a marvelous novel and/or movie.

Martin Luther King, Jr. was born in Atlanta, Georgia in 1929 to teacher Alberta King and Baptist Minister Michael Luther King. He graduated high school in 1944 at age 15 and enrolled at Morehouse College, where he earned a B.A. in Sociology in 1948. Following this, King went on to earn a B.D. from Crozer Theological Seminary in 1951, and a Ph.D. from Boston University in 1955.

In 1953, King married Coretta Scott, a New England Conservatory music student, and they eventually had four children. The son of the pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, King was ordained in 1947, and in 1954, he became the minister of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Ala.

King’s legacy as a Civil Rights advocate began in 1955 when he led a boycott of Montgomery’s segregated city bus lines. The following year earned King a major victory and prestige as a civil rights leader when Montgomery buses began to operate on a desegregated basis. As a result of his outspoken criticism of segregation, King’s home was bombed.

At 6:01 p.m. on April 4, 1968, civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was hit by a sniper’s bullet. King had been standing on the balcony in front of his room at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tenn., when, without warning, he was shot. The .30-caliber rifle bullet entered King’s right cheek, traveled through his neck, and finally stopped at his shoulder blade. King was immediately taken to a nearby hospital but was pronounced dead at 7:05 p.m.
Violence and controversy followed. In outrage of the murder, many blacks took to the streets across the United States in a massive wave of riots. The FBI investigated the crime, but many believed them partially or fully responsible for the assassination. An escaped convict by the name of James Earl Ray was arrested, but many people, including some of Martin Luther King Jr.’s own family, believe he was innocent.

Origins of the Holiday

Hanukkah (sometimes transliterated Chanukkah) began on December 8 and will continue for eight days and nights this week, ending on December 16, 2012.

Hanukkah falls on the 25th day of the Jewish month of Kislev. Since the Jewish calendar is based on lunar cycles, every year the first day of Hanukkah falls on a different day — usually sometime between late November and late December.
According to Jewish law, Hanukkah is one of the less important Jewish holidays — compared to other holidays such as Passover, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, or Purim. Hanukkah has become much more popular in modern practice because of its proximity to Christmas.

Life-changing wreck leads local ‘outlaw
biker’ down new path

By Nicole Daughhetee
Staff Reporter

One of the profound blessings of my job, aside from certain liberties and freedoms afforded me in my writing, is the opportunity I have to develop and investigate feature stories.

My interest in people has been cultivating for as long as I can recall. When I was younger, my mom and I would go to Aventura Mall on Saturdays, and as much as I enjoyed the girlie-girl aspect of shopping, I equally treasured quiet time spent sitting on a bench outside the food court people-watching.
People and their stories fascinate me. They always have, and I suspect they always will.

As many of my regular readers know, my passion for people and writing has transcended the Courier, as I continue to work on a book about the various personal stories and significances of people’s tattoos.