Greetings gentle readers, and my apologies for taking so long to update you on the non-stop laugh riot that is My Life. My only excuses are a.) I had to wind down my second semester in grad school, 2.) the end of the semester is a busy time at work, as well, and also.) I'm a good-for-nothing scamp.

I figured if I were going to break blog silence, I'd better have a good reason, and I think this one's a doozy: it involves a museum, a Texas Centennial Celebration newsreel, and a clueless parent. Doesn't that sound awesome? No? Well, too bad!

Recently, I took my parents to the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum, and a good time was in the process of being had by all ... until, that is, we stopped to view the newsreel from the 1936 Texas Centennial Exhibition in Dallas. Now, don't get me wrong: the newsreel was awesome, full of Rangerettes guiding visitors, a horseback square dancing display, and plenty of campy voice-over narration (sample: "Why, look over here! It's Hollywood star Gene Autry!)

Before I get any further into this, perhaps I should explain that the Bob Bullock Museum is pretty awesome, and as such, it draws a good deal of schoolchild traffic over the course of the year. And by "a good deal" I mean every child under 13 in a tri-state area, especially on the weekend we were there. There were enough sticky-fingered crumb-munchers wandering around that joint in neon-colored matching t-shirts to fill FOUR museums, so reading any exhibit labels or viewing anything for longer than .54 seconds without a kid in the area was darn near impossible.

Which brings us back to the newsreel. There we were, enjoying this nostalgic look at the glorious celebration of my native soil's 100th birthday, when in walk four kids in bright blue t-shirts, accompanied by a woman in her mid-to-late 50s (a parent volunteer, I presume).

They all sat down, and as they were in the middle of the newsreel, I expected them to be a little behind as to what was being described. As the clip ended, the narrator invited us to hear a little bit about the fair from "a noted visitor." Onto the screen comes a shot of Franklin Delano Roosevelt speaking at a podium about the great state of Texas.

And then this happened:

Woman: "Do you boys know who that is?" (Pause.) "That's LBJ." (Another pause.) "Lyndon B. Johnson. He was president when I was a little girl." (Audible thuds of the Curmudgeon's and his parents' jaws hitting the floor.)

At this point, let's review some facts, shall we?

1. LBJ was born in 1908. In 1936 (the time of the Centennial), he was 28 years old, heading up the Texas National Youth Administration.
2. FDR was three years into his first term as PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES in 1936.
3. Both FDR and LBJ are often referred to by their initials, but they look absolutely nothing alike.
4. In order for FDR to have been president while this lady was a "little girl," she'd have to be in her 70s by now, which she clearly was not.
5. This woman is an idiot. And in charge of educating children. Sigh.

My parents and I were visibly stunned at this woman's lack of knowledge of the Dear Leaders of our past. In fact, I think we all thought she was either testing them or outright joking until I saw the look of wistful remembrance and utter seriousness on her befuddled visage. She actually thought that FDR was LBJ! Mother of pearl!

I must say I was proud of my parents (especially Dad) for not verbally lacerating the poor woman right there in front of her young wards. (The Curmudgeon's family has a notoriously low tolerance for fools, a category into which this woman very snugly fit.) But in the end, I was more sad than angry, because ultimately, it's these kids that have been failed. This woman had obviously made it a good 5 decades despite being saddled with stupidity; these poor kids, whose public education is probably already abysmal enough as it is, have now been incorrectly "educated" about one of the most important political figures of the 20th century, and it happened in a museum, for God's sake.

Weep for the future.

Until next time, this is the Curmudgeon saying hopefully this summer will see an increase in postings, and there's a big trip with the Long Suffering Wife to New Orleans coming up next week, so look out for a posting on that. Cause if the Big Easy can't provide me with some blog fodder, friends, nothing can.