Yo…
Theodor Seuss Geisel who you know as Dr. Seuss was born in Springfield, Massachusetts on March 2nd, 1904.
As such every March 2nd Dr. Seuss’s birthday is celebrated. Though it is branded as National Read Across America Day, as deemed by the National Education Association to endorse the value and importance of reading.
(March…as in the entire month is National Reading Month. I don’t make up any of these national dates. However I do recognize them and behave accordingly like the way you blow out candles on your birthday cake every single year. Look: Dr. Seuss created the word nerd. The prophecy has been fulfilled!)
Welcome to The Amazing World of Dr. Seuss…Museum. In his birth location of Springfield, Massachusetts you can visit a three floored Seuss Museum.
(I oscillated between disappointment and relief; I was worried you could go there and eat…ah green eggs and ham. Thankfully even capitalism has limits and for now…that means not selling green eggs.)
(The Seuss Museum is not far from the NBA/The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. I know it’s odd…Springfield, Massachusetts was the birthplace of basketball and Dr. Seuss. That’s two mighty and ongoing contributions to our pop culture. Thanks, yo!)
As I found myself in Springfield, Massachusetts this past July (don’t ask…let’s just say dude was right when he said Oh, the Places You’ll Go!…) I happily used that time to visit The Amazing World of Dr. Seuss.
Here are 5 photos I took of The Amazing World…
Oh and the attached My Summer Lair episode. Yes!
From 2019 it is my conversation with Brian Jay Jones one of my favourite biography writers.
His previous bios were George Lucas: A Life (Star Wars and all that) and Jim Henson: The Biography a remarkable book slash memorial that left me verklempt. (I miss Jim Henson so much.)
Those are two of pop culture’s best architects. It’s 2023 and we’re still engaging with their work.
Brian Jay Jones wrote Becoming Dr. Seuss: Theodor Geisel and the Making of an American Imagination.
It’s fascinating because I knew nothing about Dr. Seuss the creative individual; I only knew his exceptional work.
So I was delighted a solid writer wrote a Dr. Seuss bio. I wanted to know a Thing One and Thing Two about the popular children’s writer.
One of the impressive aspects of Dr. Seuss’ work is…he skipped all the moral or character edification typically found in children’s books.
At the time most kids books imparted corny rules like don’t lie, be good…don’t steal. The books Dr. Seuss wrote were just fun. Play. Imagination. You know: what kids do. What makes childhood so enjoyable.
(Really that morality burden never made sense because that’s typical not why people read.
The Simpsons consistently ridicule this notion. Often when they near the end of an episode, they’ll hash out what the moral takeaway of the events from the past half-hour were. Inevitably they’ll conclude there was no takeaway; there’s no grand moral it was just a bunch of (funny) stuff that happened. Like…yeah! Reading is a pleasurable activity; don’t pee in the pool by preaching in books.)
“Children should learn that reading is pleasure, not just something that teachers make you do in school.”
~ Beverly Cleary (another #GOAT children’s writer who is no longer with us…)
So if you have kids snuggle with em today and read em Dr. Seuss. Show em how imagination is a dazzling key that unlocks so much of the joy of this modern life. Empower kids to read widely and write often.
Thank you to all the readers out there; no matter your age.
It doesn’t matter (at all!!) what you’re reading. As long as you’re reading.
Read passionately
Read deeply
Read often...ly?
Read as much as you can; Read as slowly as you want.
Read…for fun.
Oh and Nerd. Here it be: from If I Ran a Zoo by Dr. Seuss. According to the American Heritage Dictionary; thanks to Dr. Seuss Nerd was originally defined as a comically unpleasant creature. lol! Comments are below…
Sam I Am…Oh Come On, You Hadda Know It Was Coming…
Sammy Younan
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Sammy Younan is the affable host of My Summer Lair podcast: think NPR’s Fresh Air meets Kevin Smith: interviews & impressions on Pop Culture.
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