MENSA

So my son was just accepted into MENSA. Membership of Mensa is open to people who have attained a score within the upper two percent of the general population on an approved intelligence test that has been properly administered and supervised. Cool. 


Another cool thing I just saw on PBS. There is a new musical about Andrew Jackson. Now that might seem like a weird subject especially since it stars a bunch of young people. Jackson was the first populous president and the gist of the musical is that while Jackson wanted to lead the people and take care of serious issues he was forced to deal with (the so-called Indian problem for instance) it was the people who pushed and followed him at the same time when, for the first time in their lives or family histories, they were actually in control of the government of a large nation. Before Jackson all U.S. Presidents had come from the elite and all ignored many serious issues like the almost daily massacres of both whites and Indians on the frontier.


Jackson is my favorite president. Part of that is due to the fact that he is said to have McQuiston blood in him through his great grandmother. Part of that is because I own virtually every biography on him, even some very old versions from the 1800s, and he was a man PERIOD. He stood for no BS, he took on anyone and everyone at the same time, did what he felt was right when no one else would act, and did his best through a vast amount of written documents, which go mostly unnoticed, to explain the reasons behind his choices. He was a Scot, through and through and I wish there was an Andrew Jackson today to lead this country out of its mess.