Monterey Jazz Festival

This festival is a three-day celebration of jazz held since 1958 outside Monterey, California, at the Monterey Fairgrounds, where seven stages accommodate dozens of acts and 40,000 fans. Jimmy Lyons, a West Coast disc jockey, is credited with starting the first festival, and since then it has attracted top jazz artists. Among the many who have appeared are Dizzy Gillespie, Woody Herman, Thelonius Monk, Gerry Mulligan, and Pee Wee Russell. Booths outside the arena sell food for every taste, from sweet-potato pies to tacos to beef teriyaki. Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Maureen Connolly (1934)

Known as “Little Mo,” Connolly was one of America’s greatest female tennis players. At 14, she became the youngest winner of the National Girl’s Tournament. At 16, she became the youngest player to win the US national singles championship and successfully defended the title in the two years that followed. She also won three straight Wimbledon championships starting in 1952. In 1953, she became the first woman to win all four Grand Slam tournaments in the same year. Why did she retire at age 19? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Wish Trees

Identified by the faithful as possessing special spiritual value, wish trees are individual trees which have been distinguished—often by species, position, or appearance—as the objects of wishes. Visitors commonly offer up coins, liquor, and other gifts in order to gain fulfillment of their desires. Among the most famous wish tree visitors was Queen Victoria, whose 1877 visit to an oak in the Scottish Highlands brought it much fame. How are Christmas trees connected to the concept of wish trees? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Mayflower Sets Sail for New England (1620)

The Mayflower set sail from England to the New World with 102 passengers and about 25 crew members. After a two-month voyage marked by disease, the ship dropped anchor in Cape Cod Bay. After spending the winter selecting a suitable site for their new colony and drawing up an agreement for its temporary government by the will of the majority—the Mayflower Compact—the surviving passengers settled Plymouth. Why did the Speedwell, which set out with the Mayflower, turn back? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer

In 1994, the United Nations established September 16 as International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer. The date honors the September 16, 1987, signing of the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer. Nations may observe the day with activities that support the aims of the Protocol. Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Julia Drusilla (16 CE)

Drusilla was the sister of the Roman Emperor Caligula, a man widely characterized as insane, autocratic, and cruel. Drusilla was reportedly her brother’s favorite sibling. During banquets at his residence, she consistently occupied the seat of honor normally reserved for the host’s wife and, perhaps because of this practice, was rumored to be Caligula’s lover. Upon Drusilla’s death, Caligula had the Roman Senate declare her “Diva Drusilla,” deifying her as a representation of what goddess? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Photographic Mosaics

Simply speaking, a photographic mosaic is a picture made of smaller pictures. Often used to recreate iconic images such as the Mona Lisa, photomosaics are created by replacing rectangular sections of an image with smaller pictures or photographs of an average color. When viewed from afar, a primary image is visible. When examined closely, the hundreds or thousands of smaller images acting as pixels are revealed. In 1994, a photomosaic of John F. Kennedy was created with pictures of whom? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary