June 20 is the Summer Solstice, the longest day the year, and the official first day of the Summer. The Strawberry Full Moon symbolizing the first fruits of Summer occurs on June 11th. As Mary Holland writes in her essential phenological calendar of New England, Naturally Curious, June is a time of engagement. June is National Pollinators Month and it is filled with the hatches of different insects, the blossoming of flowers, and the most food that has been available since the end of last year’s summer. Animals are giving birth and young creatures are making their first forays into the world. Stripers are making their annual migration from Cheasepeake Bay and the Hudson River, up the Atlantic Coast, to Cape Cod, Maine, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.
As I walk outside with my dog and the sun sets, I see the first fireflies of the year, blinking lights in the glowing darkness. Susan Blow, who opened the first successful kindergarten in the United States, was born in 1843. Maurice Sendak, author of Where the Wild Things Are, was born in 1928. (Some) Americans celebrate Juneteenth which marks the end of institutional slavery and the liberation of Black people. The Indigenous Environmental Network was formed in June, 1990.
It’s a wonderful time to get outside and participate in the natural world. It’s a wonderful time to get out in your community and engage with other human beings. I urge you to, in small and big ways to become part of a greater movement to create the kind of society that is sustainable in relation to the earth, that honors childhood and children, and that allows people to be free to take a different course and actually experiment with the kind of society we want to build and live in! I don’t want to come across as a naive, tree hugging, love is the answer, if we live in the NOW, indefinite “we” shall overcome, head in the sand optimist. Freud’s Civilization and It’s Discontents, Marx’s Capital, anti-colonial and liberation movements here in the United States and around the world map out the pyramid of bones, the traumatized psyches, and the ongoing violence at the heart of American culture. Feminist movement, the Civil Rights movement, the LGBQT movement, the Disability Rights movement, the Mindfulness Emotional Intelligence movement, the Creative Arts movement, the Workers’ movement, and the Environmental movement point us in new directions, and provide new strategies for both collective action and individual growth and learning.
What I am trying to do with this blog is create a new calendar and a new play/work/learn space for understanding nature, culture and childhood. By centering childhood I hope to underline our dependence on one another, and the interdependence at the heart of being born, living and dying on and in this good earth. People who know me as an educator and a human being know that, (building on Huizinga’s Homo Ludens and Gadamer’s Truth and Method) I put tremendous stock in the play impulse in children as the prime motor of human creativity (making them the “father of the man” ), and the possibilities of people living together (culture). But we must also be attentive to the necessary labor involved in taking care of children and in this way we have the opportunity to refresh the essential themes introduced by Winnicot under the banner of his book Play and Reality, and the overlooked book Children and Play in the Holocaust: Games Among the Shadows. So let’s do both, be spiritual warriors of love, and rethink what that stance might entail in terms of hope, attentiveness, care, creativity, play, work, teaching and learning.
Indigenous Environmental Network formed in 1990
June 1st
First public phone booth installed in New Haven CT, 1880
N.A.A.C.P. founded by W.E. B Dubois and others in 1909
Vietnam War Veterans Against the War founded in 1967
Red Fox mothers are weaning their kits
June 2nd
Marquis de Sade, writer, sexual provocateur, source of the word ‘sadism”, b. 1740
Indian Citizen Act granted Native people born in the United States citizenship, (right to vote was governed by state laws and many states barred Native people the right to vote until 1957), in 1924
Helen Oxenbury, author of We’re Going On A Bear Hunt, b. 1938
Harriet Tubman leads an armed raid that frees over 800 people in South Carolina, in 1863
Fishing Spiders catch prey by one of three methods: waiting patiently with legs outstretched, walking on water, or diving up to 7 inches deep into the water
June 3rd
Curtis Mayfield, soul, funk musician, lyricist, b. 1942
Allen Ginsberg, beat poet, activist, b. 1944
National Trails Day a day of service and appreciation of local, state, regional, and federal trails (first Saturday in June)
Josephine Baker, singer, dancer, actress, stripper, spy b. 1906
June 4th
Muhammad, Islamic prophet, mystic visionary, b. 570 ( exact day is unclear)
Congress passes the 19th Amendment and women get the vote in the Unites States in 1919 ( class and race laws continue to obstruct women from voting, 1919
Over 10,000 Haitian farmers protest the Monsanto Corporation donation of 475 tons of genetically modified seeds by burning them in 2010
Barred owls are feeding nestlings
June 5th
James Connolly, Scotch born Irish Revolutionary, Wobbly (Marxist/Socialist), “Governments in capitalist society are but committees of the rich to manage the affairs of the capitalist class,” b. 1868
Saint Boniface killed by druids for chopping down sacred tree, 753
AIDS epidemic recognized by the medical community in 1981
Richard Scarry, writer and illustrator of the much loved Busytown books, b. 1919
World Environment Day
June 6th
Frozen food sold in retail stores for the first time time, in 1930
Half a million people protest the murder of George Floyd in over 550 cities, 2020
First roller coaster opens in Coney Island NY, 1884
Debtors’ Prisons abolished in the US in 1778
Peter Spier, writer and illustrator of unique children’s books People and Noah’s Ark
Cynthia Rylant, prolific writer of children’s books including All In A Day and Life, b. 1954
James Meredith leads the March Against Fear from Memphis Tennessee to Jackson Mississippi to encourage Black people to register to vote, is shot by a sniper, but recovers sufficiently to finish the March before reaching Memphis, 1966
Robert Patch, 6 years old, youngest person to receive a patent, for his toy truck in 1963
June 7th
Prince, revolutionary musician, b. 1958
First color tv broadcast in 1953
Susan Blow, opened the first successful kindergarten in the United States, b. 1843
Young eagles start flapping their wings to prepare to fledge
June 8th
World Oceans Day
American Medical Association recognizes the right to birth control in 1937
Snapping turtles are laying their eggs
June 9th
Fred Ross knocks on the door, pitches political activism to Caesar Chavez and the migrant farm worker movement is born. “He started talking—and changed my life,” Chavez later remarked. “Fred did such a good job of explaining how poor people could build power that I could even taste it,” 1952
June 10th
Maurice Sendak, renowned children’s writer and illustrator, author of Where the Wild Things Are and In the Night Kitchen, b. 1928
25,000-50,000 people march in Washington DC in one of the first significant Animal Rights Movement, in 1990
Red-Winged Blackbird eggs are hatching
June 11th
Full Strawberry Moon
U.S. State Department permits transgender persons to change gender on passport without surgery ( Under the current Trump administration this is being hotly contested with a district judge recently blocking Trump’s Executive order to strike down the State Department’s–under Biden–decision.)
African American residents of Diamond, Louisiana won their fight with Shell Oil to pay for the relocation of residents due to hazardous environmental and health conditions caused by the company’s actions in the area, in 2002
Red-Tailed Hawks add greenery to their nests once the young are hatched
National Children’s Day (celebrated the second Sunday of the month of June)
June 12th
One-flowered Wintergreen Flowering
Anne Frank, juvenile author of her famous diary and victim of the Holocaust, b.1929
June 12 is National Loving Day in honor of the Supreme Court decision that legalized interracial marriage in the case of Mildred and Richard Loving versus Virginia, https://www.exchangepress.com/eed/, in 1967
Good and Plenty candy trademark registered in 1928
June 13th
William Butler Yeats, Irish poet, b. 1865
New York Times publishes the Pentagon Papers, leaked by Daniel Ellsberg, hastening the end of the Vietnam War, 1971
14th Amendment, which granted citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the United States and affirms for any person “equal protection of the laws,” passed and put into law in 1866
Ruby-Throated Hummingbirds drinking nectar from Honeysuckle flowers and other appropriate flowers
June 14th
Harriet Beecher Stowe, abolitionist, writer of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, born in Litchfield CT, 1811
Ernesto “Che” Guevera, Argentinian revolutionary, b. 1928
Bruce Degen, illustrator of The Magic School Bus books, b. 1945
Supreme Court finds compulsory flag salutes unconstitutional in 1943
June 15th
Father’s Day
Brian Jacques, adventure writer, author of the Redwall series, b. 1939
“It is candlelight, the fishes leap. The meadows sparkle with the coppery light of fireflies. The evening stars multiplied by undulating water is like bright sparks of fire continually ascending,” 1852, Thoreau’s Animal Diary
June 16
Henri Lefebvre, French, Marxist, historian, philosopher of everyday life, b. 1901
Geronimo, Apache guerilla warrior and leader, b. 1829
Tupac Shakur, visionary rap artist, b. 1971
Supreme Court declares that living organisms that are “products of human ingenuity” are patentable, in 1980
Pearl Crescent Butterflies mating
June 17th
M.C. Escher, artist who explores patterns, optical illusions and negative space, b. 1889
https://kottke.org/18/05/an-online-collection-of-high-res-scans-of-mc-eschers-prints
Adult stoneflies are emerging from their larval stage, from the bottom of streams
Five-year-old Anthony Quinn, his mother and siblings protested against the election of five Mississippi Congressmen from districts where Black people were not allowed to vote, in 1963
June 18th
White and Black teenagers and protestors attempted to desegregate a “public” swimming pool in Florida, in 1964
Chris Van Allsberg, author The Polar Express and Jumanji, b. 1949
Big Brown Bats are giving birth in maternity colonies “where the mother’s cluster with their young.”
June 19th
Juneteenth celebrates the emancipation of Texas slaves and freedom from slavery for Black people in general
Dalia Messick, who used the pseudonym Dale Messick, writes/draws “Brenda Starr,” the first cartoon strip by a woman that appeared in a major newspaper, in 1940
Chimney swifts are among the most aerial of all land birds but cannot perch like most other birds and have “specialized, long, sharp claws for gripping vertical surfaces,” whereby they roost in chimneys, buildings, and hollow trees.
June 20th
Lloyd Hall, food chemist invented many food preservation methods, b. 1894
Green frogs are calling to find mates and mark territory
Muhammad Ali was convicted for refusing the Vietnam War draft in 1967
Summer Solstice, first day of Summer, longest day ( longest time between sun rising and sun setting) of the year
June 21st
First law, in the United Kingdom, limiting work hours for children to twelve in 1802
James Chaney, Michael Schwerner and Andrew Goodman, three young Civil Rights Workers, tortured and murdered in Mississippi by the KKK, in 1964
Jean Paul-Sartre, French philosopher, playwright, author of Being and Nothingness, existentialist, champion of human freedom and collective action, “in a relationship” with Simone de Beauvoir, b. 1905
My wife Suzanne Ryan’s birthday, thank you for being you, b.1961
June 22nd
Vatican forces Galileo to recant his view that the earth was not the center of the universe
Octavia Butler, African American science fiction writer, author of Kindred and Fledgling, http://libwww.freelibrary.org/blog/?action=post&id=4251 b. 1947
World Rain Forest Day
June 23rd
Alfred Kinsey, pioneering researcher and theorist in human sexuality, b. 1894
James Hansen testifies to Congress about the greenhouse effect and climate change in 1988
Arthur Melin granted a patent for the Hula-Hoop in 1964
European Honey Bees swarming and drones mating with new queen
June 24th
Ambrose Bierce, author of The Devil’s Dictionary, b. 1842
Kathryn Laskey, author of many non-fiction photograph books including Sugaring Time, The Weaver’s Craft, and Think Like an Eagle
Ants disperse end up dispersing seeds because they feed on a fatty appendage to the seed called an “elaiosome,” and drag the whole thing down into their tunnels.
June 25th
Eric Carle, much beloved young children’s author of such classics as A Very Hungry Caterpillar, b. 1929
George Orwell, writer of 1984, and Politics and the English Language, derivation of the adjective “Orwellian,” b. 1903
Cattails flowering
June 25th
Massachusetts second-grade teacher Anne P. Hale Jr. was removed from her position because of her prior membership in the Communist Party and her lack of “perception, understanding, and judgment necessary in one who is to be entrusted with the responsibility for teaching the children of the Town,” in 1954
The Battle of the Greasy Grass, formerly known as the Battle of Little Big Horn, where Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse successfully led Cheyenne and Lakota warriors against George Custer and 225 American cavalry, in 1876
Curiously enough when the male and female of a species’ plumage is similar, they often share more of the child-rearing responsibilities such as bringing food and keeping the nest clean.
June 26th
50,000-100,000 people march in NYC to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Stonewall Rebellion in 1994
Aime Cesaire, Martinique poet, politician, critical theorist, champion of the notion of “Negritude,” as a way of exploring the essence of the African and African diaspora cultural experience, b. in 1913
Charlotte Zolotow, author of many wonderful children’s books that honor the emotional complexity of childhood, including William’s Doll, and a long time editor of Children’s Literature, b. 1916
Nancy Williard, elegant classicist and nature writer for children, including Sister Water, The Salt Marsh, A Visit to William Blake’s Inn, and Pish, Posh Said Hieronymus Bosch, b. 1938
Walter Farley, author of The Black Stallion, b. 1922
Children’s game Candy Land trademark registered in 1951
Sarah Pierce pioneering educator, would open one of the nation’s first schools for young women, advance educational equality, and help educate such future leaders as Harriet Beecher Stowe and her sister Catherine. Pierce founded the school in her home in 1792, and during the Litchfield Female Academy’s 41-year-long history, she educated women from throughout the United States and Canada. Born in Litchfield, CT, 1767
“When a dog runs at you whistle for him,” Thoreau’s Animal Almanac, 1840
June 27th
Helen Keller, socialist, suffragette, anti-war organizer, b. 1880
Emma Goldman, radical anarchist writer and activist, b. 1869
Paul Lawrence Dunbar, Black American poet, b. 1872
American Toadlets emerging from ponds after metamorphosizing from tadpoles, a process that takes about 3 weeks
June 28th
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, French philosopher, writer of On Inequality, The Social Contract and Emile, b. 1712
Raggedy Ann doll invented in 1917
“Water Scorpions” actually related to arachnids, their “tails” being a breathing tube rather than a stinger
June 29th
Antoine de Saint-Exupery, writer of The Little Prince, b. 1900
Moose antlers growing
June 30th
Meteor Watch Day
David Mcphail, children’s illustrator and writer, known for his soft, delicate, precise drawings and funny gorgeous stories such a Mole Music, Edward and the Pirates, Beatrix Potter and Her Paintbox, and Pigs Galore, Pigs Aplenty, http://davidmcphailillustrations.com/ , born in 1940
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