Musings

Game boy Teddy

Teddy_quote_in_AMNH_TR_entry_250.jpg

I have now read a book on TD (aka Teddy, stands for That Device, known in commercial circles as an iPad). And watched a full-length movie. I have to say, it worked well for both. I can see why Kindle fans find the surface glare distracting under some conditions. However, the clarity of the movie, wow!

Speaking of Teddy, can you read the quote? The title is Youth. This is from the Teddy Roosevelt salon, now the east-facing main entry to the American Museum of Natural History in NYC. The façade is under construction, so you enter beneath cleverly disguised scaffolding. Outside is a monumental sculpture of Teddy on a horse, with a compliant Indian standing next to them. The composition is just plain weird if you have twenty-first century values in your brain when you look at it. I realized, however, that if you’re interested in horse tack, the sculpture offers tremendous detail, with rosettes, saddle decorations, and the like. Anyway, the Teddy quote*:

I WANT TO SEE YOU GAME BOYS

I WANT TO SEE YOU BRAVE AND MANLY

AND I ALSO WANT TO SEE YOU GENTLE

AND TENDER

BE PRACTICAL AS WELL AS GENEROUS

IN YOUR IDEALS KEEP YOUR EYES

ON THE STARS AND KEEP YOUR FEET

ON THE GROUND

COURAGE HARD WORK SELF MASTERY

AND INTELLIGENT EFFORT ARE ALL

ESSENTIAL TO A SUCCESSFUL LIFE

CHARACTER IN THE LONG RUN

IS THE DECISIVE FACTOR IN THE LIFE

OF AN INDIVIDUAL AND OF NATIONS

ALIKE

Is this the first example of the phrase “game boy”? Yeah, I know I’m supposed to have a loftier take-away, but my feet were hurting when I read this the first time….

* Apparently punctuation was beyond precious. Or anti-style. Sorry, I couldn’t get the technology to display the proper indents—which are inconsistent anyway.