Memed

Kitty memes me: What ten events would you care to witness if you could travel in time and observe them? Actually, I've already pontificated on this general subject before, but what the heck. In no particular order:

1. I'd love to go back in time to see what Manhattan Island looked like when the Dutch bought it for $24. And then later when the Dutch really settled in. From there I'd like to go to the New York Melville saw when he was working in the Customs House. Then I'd sprint ahead to the New York of Edith Wharton, Stanford White and Teddy Roosevelt. (I'd love to see White's Madison Square Garden.) Then on to the roaring 20s through the erection of the Chrysler building.

2. I'd also like to have seen Elizabeth I refuse to land at Traitor's Gate when her sister had her shipped off to the Tower of London.

3. I'd like to see Rome in Julius Caesar's time, maybe hear him speak in front of the Senate.

4. Egypt at the time of the great pyramids; but not as one of the slave builders.

5. The library at Alexandria before it was burned to the ground.

6. Greece when the Parthenon was built.

7. The Temple of Solomon. Perhaps I could go to the first bar mitzvah.

8. Any of the following baseball moments: Roger Maris' 61st homerun. Babe Ruth's called shot. Lou Gehrig's farewell speech.

9. I'd like to go back to Minsk (or is it Pinsk?) when my maternal forbears lived there. And I'd like to meet my paternal grandparents.

10. I'd like to see the opening of one of Shakespeare's plays. Macbeth, perhaps. Or maybe Henry V.

Now to pass this baby along: Miriam? Joe? Basil? No pressure or anything.