Hey, what the plus the pencils, homeroom, special Memorial Day edition podcast drop at
your listening via download in the podcast. Maybe you've got that on the civic media website. This
is Johnny. This is busted pencils fully let it education talk educated educators talking education
Memorial Day. Check out how you doing, man. I'm feeling positively patriotic after that introduction,
Johnny, not just the great music, but but the spirit and the passion with which you delivered
the busted pencils opening. I can't help but love America right now. Hey, man, and that is
actually kind of what we're going to talk about today's special edition of home room is democratic
values, man. Being a member of a democracy in the spirit of democracy, right? We the people
are the government and and and we'll talk a little bit about Memorial Day's connection to that.
But to core democratic values, Jacob being a patriot means practicing and valuing all the core
democratic values. So, I mean, you know, as much as we are critics of some of the decisions,
especially related to funding public education or supporting public education, a strong democracy,
right, requires patriotism. It doesn't advocate for blind patriotism or pick a couple of
core democratic values and champion those. It's practicing all of them and holding them at equal
value, right? And so one of those is being a patriot holding at value all those core democratic values.
So that means Jacob, they don't belong to Republicans only. They don't belong to Democrats.
They belong to all of us. We the people. In fact, one of those core democratic values is popular
sovereignty. So it is a day of celebration, today, Memorial Day, right, of the potential and the
responsibility and the joy of being patriotic to a democracy, which sometimes means, you know,
being a critic of some of the decisions are government, which ought to be practicing democracy,
right, is making. So, you know, we'll continue that spirit a bit, but man, I thought, you know,
like we're a, we're an education show. And we have fun little nuggets of facts and, and history
in our show and, you know, being a social studies teacher and, you know, Tim resonates with this.
He's also a social studies educator. You know, what is Memorial Day? Let me get into that a little
bit in today's home room. Start the week off with most people in schools, celebrating a national
holiday. So it means schools out for most, most people on this, on this Monday, but the learning
never stops, right? That's the difference between education and schooling. We're always learning.
And as I mentioned last week, we're learners, leading learners. That's what it means to be an educated
educator, talking education. But as a learner, leading learners, today, Jacob, I thought we dive into
the world is Memorial Day besides Monday off from school. Do you happen to know, Jacob,
where Memorial Day is? That's a great question, Johnny. I remember when I was a kid, I would get
Veterans Day and Memorial Day confused a lot when I was a kid. I came to the understanding that
Veterans Day is for our living veterans. And Memorial Day is for remembering the, the people
who would have been Veterans, those who served and passed away in combat, serving our country overseas
or, or, you know, in the Civil War, wherever it is, we remember Memorial Day. And I think, Johnny,
maybe you know more about the history than I do Memorial Day. I think a lot of it is wrapped up
in maybe World War One, post-World War One, some of those ceremonies, I think maybe Memorial Day
or Veterans Day somewhere in there. Can you educate me a bit more, Johnny, because I'm a little
iffy on the facts. Man, you are pretty dead on. And in fact, actually, we'll back up a little ways
to the origins of Memorial Day, which used to be known as decoration day. But Jacob, I love
you're on the ground definition of distinguishing between two of our Mondays off throughout the year.
You know, Veterans Day Memorial Day two, actually this upcoming year, Veterans Day is going to
be on Tuesday this November. Yeah, Tuesday. Yeah, I know, November 11. But the idea being the
difference between Memorial Day and Veterans Day, I like your litmus test for that. Memorial
Day is remembering those lives that were lost serving, you know, our democracy, right? Those
people who are in those armed services and particularly who are engaged in violent conflict.
And your and Veterans is not it's not excluding that Veterans Day, but primarily focused that
that that doesn't necessarily celebrate or honor those who have served in general and are like you
said, so alive. So it is about memorializing those who have lost their life, whether we were
supporters of that violent conflict or critics of that violent conflict. It doesn't take away the
fact that lives are put on the line to ensure democracy. And Memorial Day is a day of recognizing that
Jacob that started in the 1860s. Whoa, really? Yeah, but I wonder what happened around that time
that could have influenced that. Well, you know what, the Civil War. So back in the 1860s,
it started as decoration day. Communities began decorating the graves of Civil War soldiers with flowers.
Right? So the holiday originally honored those who died in the Civil War, but later as you noted,
we have common memories and also a lot of media representation and our learning about Memorial Day
from, you know, the big wars. The World War One, World War Two, conflict in Korea, conflict in
Vietnam and such as it's grown since then. I think Jacob, you know, aside from most recent years,
most of your life, the United States has been actively engaged in violent conflict somewhere.
True. Which means there's a lot of lives to memorialize. I say that with like a little bit of a
weight on my voice, because life lost is life lost, right? And some Memorial Day reminds us of not
only that service, but that sacrifice that so many people made for our democracy, right? And it
started as decoration day back in the 1860s, right? And some fun facts about Memorial Day, right?
There's a particular symbol associated with Memorial Day that I don't see as often as I remember
as a kid. Maybe that's because we have not as many living veterans who experienced those big
conflicts. I think the survivors of World War Two conflict, this was pretty big in that community
and my upbringing, but Jacob, the red poppy, yeah, you can see the red poppy is a symbol, which is linked
to the little English language art social studies crossover to the poem in Flanders Fields.
Yes. At some point in your education, listener out there, if you hadn't had been introduced
to that poem, it's sort of a stalwart in our English language arts and social studies,
curriculum, and schools around the country, but in Flanders Fields by Lieutenant Colonel John
McCray, right? But that sort of has been, you know, connected to the American Legion adopting the
poppy as their official memorial flower back in 1920, right? And you'll often see poppies being so
those artificial poppies, we used to pen them on our blazers or have them as a symbol of
recognizing memorial day or memorializing those lives lost in conflict. So the poppy also being
associated with Memorial Day. Johnny, for me, I know about the poppy because I went to the national
World War One museum in Kansas City, Missouri, which is a great museum for people who have a chance
to go there. And as soon as you go in on the entrance to the museum, you walk over glass and
underneath you, they have the field of poppies from, they're not real from World War One, but,
you know, the famous poppies. And it is quite a striking sight. And I know, Johnny, that for
what we do for Veterans Day is also armistice day, remembering the end of World War One around the
world. And I know that the poppy is a bigger deal in the United Kingdom, France, some of the other
countries from who had troops in World War One. So I wonder why we don't do it as much here anymore.
Jacob, I don't know, that's a good question. And so I put it out there like how often do we
associate the red poppy also with Memorial Day? But, you know, it's a, it's a national holiday
of remembrance. Our national day of remembrance. And in fact, Jacob, in 2000, Congress passed that
3 p.m. local time. So at 3 p.m., right, Americans, so part of our patriotic duty and even though,
that includes critics of violent conflict. So, you know, as someone who identifies as anti-war, Jacob,
you know, I still participate in Memorial Day because it doesn't negate the fact that people
lost their lives. They sacrifice, the ultimate sacrifice for democracy. That's not the only way,
right, to show your care for democracy. But it's one of the ways so many people have given that
sacrifice. But Americans, this went through Congress in 2000 and was passed the 3 p.m. local time
on Memorial Day. Americans are encouraged to pause for a minute, a minute to remember those who
died serving the country. So again, another little fun fact associated again, I don't want to say
but a nugget of knowledge, right, because it's a somber moment, right, that, you know, for a minute
to pause and remember those who died serving in country. Maybe it's an uncle, maybe it's an aunt,
maybe it's a great, grandparent, you know, maybe somebody in our community who's served,
whose life was lost, right, serving our country. And so on 3 p.m., time, local Memorial Day,
you know, we take a moment of our remembrance. It's officially passed through Congress
in the year 2000. You know, well, as soon as you said that, Johnny, it kind of, it was interesting to
me that you said it was passed in 2000, because as someone born in 1999, I was two years old when 9-11
happened. And I remember in my childhood, with 9-11 and with the Iraq war, Afghanistan, it seemed like
a lot of these more, you know, these big patriotic gestures were happening in our country. People
were waving the flag more. Of course, they're also anti-war protests, big ones at the time.
But it seemed like there was that patriotic feeling in the air and it seemed like what you're saying,
you know, passing a law all of a sudden, I'm surprised it happened in 2000 instead of, you know,
a post 9-11 thing where things like that were really common. I guess it just goes to show that
appreciated appreciation for veterans and for those who gave their lives as sort of an evergreen
topic in the United States, even at times where you don't think about us as a particularly martial
country as, you know, 2000, we weren't at war. And this might be a bit controversial, Jacob,
but I would even group, you know, referencing that moment, 9-11, I would also group like our
firefighters and first responders and peace people and, you know, EMT, all the people who
lives were lost in that, in that event, in that tragic moment, all right, you know, serving
democracy because democracy is an action. It isn't exactly the same thing as being, you know,
in the Navy or in the Army or, you know, in a branch of, you know, our broader understanding of
category or broader categories for military, but it is, you know, I would say it's serving democracy.
And so, you know, I would, I might be controversial, maybe listener, you want to shoot us a message
or share where you stand on that, but I kind of grouped that in there with it. Like, let's
remember the people whose lives were lost, serving democracy, serving our country. And I certainly,
in my own practice, would include in there those first responders to an event like 9-11.
Yeah, I agree. I would agree, Johnny, because if you think about 9-11 as an event where we were
attacked, we couldn't respond immediately, militarily, the response was by our firefighters
and by our police officers, our EMTs, people who went in there. And that was America's response
at the time. A lot of people lost their lives, a lot of people lost their lives in the years after
from the difficult, horrible effects of being in that situation at ground zero. So, yeah, I think
that's totally appropriate to think about those people on Memorial Day. Yeah, absolutely, absolutely.
So, you know, kind of in prep of doing this Memorial Day show, there's some happy things. So
important to remember and, you know, have Memorial for those who have lost their lives serving. We
appreciate all of the service, even if we don't necessarily agree with the politics behind the violent
conflict that they were involved in, or, you know, not by choice in some of those contexts, right?
Yeah. And Johnny, for people who are anti-war, and I think all of us are, I think almost everybody should
be anti-war, at least in the biggest sense, you know, the broadest sense. But if you're truly anti-war,
soldiers on both sides are both victims of war as well. So, you should never really let that
feeling translate to being against the common soldiers who are involved in these things. So,
it's not really their choice. Yeah. And so, let's turn it a little bit towards some of the other
nuggets of information that helped make this a learning home room. Jacob, you know, what it also is,
to become unofficially known as the beginning of summer, even though we know like there's a
solstice and stuff in like summer officially happens on particular date. But, you know, it's kind
of the mark of the calendar of like, hey, guess what? You know, it's a loose rule, but it's about to be
summer. Yeah. You know, in schools, we're like, hey, this is the big, this is the, this is the
Monday off before the big sendoffs. You know, if we're in a traditional school calendar, summer is
just around the corner. And Memorial Day has sort of the unofficial mark of it's pretty much summertime.
It's pretty much summertime. We talk about it as teachers, you know, like post Memorial Day,
whew, you're kind of winding things down. You're landing the plane of the school year. You're
getting ready for summer. So, it is also that for hopefully listeners out there. You had a good
Memorial Day weekend. Yes, you might take a moment to memorialize the heavier aspects of that
time to relax, but also that you begin to mark it as the beginning of summer, which we talked about
here on the show as a time where teachers, you know, they're still summer school and there's still
some schools that work on, you know, a year round calendar. But the work shifts. It's more about the
planning, it's more about the re-energizing, it's more about the retooling. And so this kind of
marks that in our, in our teacher planner books is like, okay, I'm landing the plane,
getting these kids off to a successful summer. And then beginning to chart and engage in my
offseason, what I'm going to do differently. I'm going to retool. What I'm going to learn
as a learner leading learners as I go through summertime, as well as how do I re-energize?
Yeah, because it's, you know, it's a big lift from, let's say, end of August or early September
to now. There's a lot of stuff that happens that zooms by. So kind of an important marker on that.
You know, I can't leave out some sports stuff, too. And this is sports, but Jacob, there's a particular
event that is held on Memorial Day. And, you know, since 1911, the Indianapolis 500.
Whoa. Very exciting. Yeah. So little things to kind of toss in there. Do you have a favorite race car
driver, Johnny? Oh, you know, I don't. I really don't, especially Indy car drivers, but I love the
Indy race. And especially as a kid, because we had an Indy race in Detroit, the Grand Prix.
Oh, okay. And then it was so much fun, because we would all go into like, like, if you could
buildings or viewing points and, you know, the city kind of shut down. And there was Indy race
through the city of Detroit. I'm pretty excited. So the Grand Prix. So Indy car racing and
Indianapolis 500 being one of those big ones. I don't currently have a favorite driver. I'm a
little out of the loop in Indy Formula One stuff and NASCAR, though I will say Jacob, my students,
it seems to be that F one Formula one racing is gaining momentum and popularity again
amongst the youths. Yeah, it is getting big. I, I've never been super big into racing
of any stripe. When it comes to cars, I like to be in the cars. I like to drive them. I do not
like to race. Yeah, my, my enemy in the cars, myself and not crashing. I don't even think about
other drivers. But F one, I hear about it all the time. And especially like you said, from younger
people, the interest is building in F one. And I know it's been huge in Europe forever. But it's
finally getting over to the United States. And that's pretty cool to see a sport growing. We were
just talking about eSports on the on what was that Friday's show. That was, that was cool. And
it's cool to see the, the environment constantly evolving when it comes to sports and entertainment.
Yeah. And just to make a little distinction, right? Like Formula one or F one, that, that's not the
Indy 500, but the Indy 500 is a prestigious race. Yeah, you know, part of the trip crown of motor
sports. It's in there. It's in the realm. Some guests and F one fans are probably also tuning in
Sunday to the Indy 500. I don't know, Jacob, I was trying to remember too. I think I was always,
when I was into it, I was a Penske fan. Because again, loyal to the soil, Roger Penske and the Penske
team were very focused and, and, and located in Metro Detroit area. So was kind of in that vein.
But you know, the Indy 500 coming up this weekend. I know that David Letterman owns a stock car
racing team. So maybe whoever his drivers are, that would be my favorite. Okay. The Indy 500.
I love it. I love it. I'm also a little bit Jacob some ad etiquette flags different than flag day
memorial days different, but there's some flag etiquette. The flag, and this makes sense, right? The
flag gets flown half staff, right, from dawn until noon on Memorial Day. That does raise and
then interestingly though, Jacob then raised from half mast to full staff from noon to sunset.
That is interesting. Yeah. So a little fun nugget. So why, why dawn till noon, half mast, and then
noon till sunset, full, full staff is, is symbolizes our morning, literally in the morning,
with a U. Yeah, it's what are both the U version, right, and the non-U version. So our morning,
and then followed by the turn of that to our hope for the future, right, our hope for the future,
which I think speaks to that that anti-war sentiment we brought up. Yeah. The goal isn't for more war,
more loss, but the goal being let's be strong together and to navigate, especially political
conflict and nonviolent ways, sort of the ultimate goal of settling our differences, to be able to
do so through dialogue and through generative change rather than violent force. So like that about
it, last little last little fact, Jacob, Waterloo, New York. That's where Abbas from, right?
Must be, right? Isn't that Napoleon's last stand? It was, but I don't think it was the one in New
York. May have been, I believe there's also one I know is because of hockey and is it Iowa? I'll
look this up. I believe you're right. Yeah. Waterloo is a big hockey junior hockey city. So there
are more than one of Waterloo, but Waterloo, New York claim, it's the claim, okay, to the birthplace
of Memorial Day, the official birthplace of Memorial Day. So a little fun fact there for our
listeners out in New York, did they make a case for it? I mean, they make a case for it. They
received federal recognition for it, but that's a good case. Other towns claim to own this distinction
as well. So obviously has escalated to violent conflict. Not yet. The, the bait is out there of who,
what is the actual birthplace of Memorial Day? But on that note, Jacob, you know, it's a special day
it's a somber one. It's a heavy one. It's one where we memorialize those who lost lives in conflict
serving their country. It's also on Monday off, observed Memorial Day, right Monday off. Yep.
And, and begins to open, turn the page and start the chapter of summer. So on that note too,
we're going to be turning the page here at Busted Pencil Sum and doing a little bit of program
shifting around because, you know, we have our segment. This is home. So we're going over the
week. We always have class in session to get you to learn on with us every week at Busted Pencils.
We have our Saturday broadcast. We have our Friday segment where we talk about our essential
curriculars, right? We're about to go into the summer season. And so rather than have our spring
hurdles and home runs, I'm going to premiere it on this special episode. Oh, even Jacob doesn't
know this. I'm catching them off guard. But Tim and I have concocted a special new segment that's
going to start up pretty soon as we land the spring essential curricular content. And we move into
summer. And Jacob, it's going to be around producer's choice. Really? Jacob, you're going to be,
you're going to be driving our Friday drops. And it's going to be a little bit of and kind of
like dealer's choice. Like you go to this, you know, and you dealer's choice. You play the game.
The dealer gets to choose the game. Jacob is going to think about things we've talked about for
the week. It's tough. He'd like to ask the doctors more about on Fridays. Anything goes. It's
going to be producer's choice. And we're going to come up with a fun name for it. I've tossed a
couple out there. Tim's got a few, but it wouldn't be right to name it without the producer chime.
And he's the, he's the bearer to both the tourists. So you heard it here on today's drop,
special memorial day, reveal. But we're going to have a new segment coming up to be named
something around producer's choice, but content-wise. It's got some real fun stuff that Jacob's
tossed at us. And we want to ride that, ride that fun through the hot season summer. And we'll be,
we'll be doing more of that. So listen, or keep tuning in because you're going to get lots of fun
content throughout the week, your home room, your class and session, and your special Friday edition
with Jacob driving the bus here at busted pencils. They'll have the doctors with them, but he's
driving the bus on Fridays. So we look forward to you listening to that. We hope you have a fun,
a safe, and a memorial, a memorial's memorial day. And now it's time for your moment of zen.
Memorial day should be a day for putting flowers on graves and for planting trees. Also,
for destroying the weapons of death that endanger us more than they protect us,
that waste our resources and threaten our children and grandchildren.
Thanks for listening to Busted Pencils' Home Room Memorial Day podcast today. And remember to
grab great other podcasts filled with more Busted Pencils content on Apple Podcasts, Spotify.
And of course, on the Civic Media website, where you can find us at BustedPensils.com.
And don't you dare miss this week's class and session on Wednesday. And that's right,
you'll find us for Fridays, hurdles and home runs. And of course, you can catch Busted Pencils
on Saturdays at 3 p.m. Central time across all the Civic Media Network stations for an hour
broadcast of your favorite, blue-collar scholars,
Tim and Johnny, and keep Busted Pencils.
Thanks for listening to Busted Pencils.