Groundhog Day

and African/Black History Month

Today is when we celebrate nature’s meteorologists (does some animated film highlight this fact or are their skills allegedly so limited?). We also celebrate the Bill Murray film, which is not only amusing but philosophically profound (seriously).

I have discussions by groundhog symbolism and books for children about this day.

Woodson selected the second week of February. He was taking advantage of the fact that two celebrated figures in black history were born then. Abraham Lincoln’s birthday was on February 12th. Frederick Douglas (former slave, civil rights leader, ambassador to Haiti) was born on February 14th. What better time to encourage the study of black history?

We also have some history to talk about this month. My discussion (again, all three of the websites cited in these topical discussions are ones I write for but run by someone else who make final editorial decisions) can be found here.

The Trump White House website promoted Black History Month last year. Someone might have flagged this as DEI or woke or critical race theory-y or something, since a search doesn’t bring up a 2026 message. Or (last statement dropped 1/29) they might be behind schedule as we enter a “golden age” (see the 2025 statement).

Anyway, this is a brief entry since the three links has a lot more material.

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I finally got around to watching Ted Lasso, one of those things “every is watching,” after finding the first season DVD at the library. I watched the first five episodes.

I can see the charm, especially since we need hopeful role models who are also good people. The girlfriend (at the beginning) of one of the players is a good touch.