Daniel Ellsburg, the whistleblower behind the Pentagon Papers, recently remarked:

I'm sure there are many people in the Pentagon and CIA and the White House who are in my shoes right now. My advice to them is, don't do what I did. Don't reveal it six years from now. Don't wait ‘til the escalation has occurred.
Instead, they should do what I wish I had done in 1965, and that is tell the public what I believed right then, that my president was making a terrible mistake and that Congress should hold hearings, Congress should demand the truth and Congress should set him straight — WNYC's On the Media interview, 9/18/2009

This past week, after watching some exceptional presentations on the history of civil liberties during wartime, I listened to KCRW's political talk show, "Left, Right and Center", and the connections to our coursework were stunning, including the assassination of Diem, the Pentagon Papers, the Espionage Act of 1917, and more. Please listen to this short excerpt as you respond to the question below:

DEBATE: Robert Scheer, Tony Blankley, Matt Miller, Arianna Huffington

During these perilous times, when Washington Times writer Jeffrey Kuhner recently argued that Wikileaks founder "poses a clear and present danger to American national security", what, if anything, should be done about Julian Assange, and/or his powerful, yet constantly moving website?

Kuhner's answer, quite simply, is, "Kill him". Your own answer might help you frame your Perilous Times essay, as you decide on the extent of our rights during wartime.

The basis of our governments being the opinion of the people, the very first object should be to keep that right; and were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter. — Thomas Jefferson to Edward Carrington, 1787.

It's great to have you all back for our 3rd session, "Knowing Self As Teacher". Please use the following links to participate:

• Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) Assessment
• Cognitive Style Inventory: use this afterwards to confirm the results of the MBTI (scroll down after visiting)
• The 16 Types: click on the 4-letter abbreviations for detailed descriptions of each personality type. Or read this "type table" (scroll down).
• Are you an introvert? If so, find some relief here ("Caring for Your Introvert"), here ("Why Introverts Can Make The Best Leaders") and here ("Revenge of the Introvert")

Here are the links for our collaborative online discussion and creation:

• "What Makes a Great Teacher?" (original article from The Atlantic Monthly)
• VoiceThread: "The Four Faces of Good Teaching". You will need to register to join if you have never used this website before (just use your NTHS email as a login, and your normal password as your password)

Next Time: "Our Students"

We will have a panel discussion of New Trier students. Consider the "7 Tacit Lessons" of the traditional classroom and how our students may or may not internalize these in the 21st Century.

As we prepare to take a well-deserved break from school so that we may spend time with family and stuff ourselves with copious amounts of turkey, cranberries, and mashed potatoes, it may be instructive to consider what we really know about the origins of our Thanksgiving holiday celebration.

According to James Loewen's Lies My Teacher Told Me, the Pilgrims did not start the Thanksgiving tradition; instead, east coast Indians had celebrated autumnal harvests for hundreds of years. In fact, our modern celebration only dates back to President Lincoln's 1863 proclamation of a national Thanksgiving holiday (during the perilous times of the Civil War), when the Union badly needed a boost of patriotism. The Pilgrims of New England were not even incorporated into the tradition for another 30 years.

There are literally only two brief primary sources that deal with what happened in the Fall of 1621 in Plymouth, Massachusetts. The most familiar might be Edward Winslow's Mourt's Relation (modernized spelling below) in which he stated:

our harvest being gotten in, our governor sent four men on fowling, that so we might after a special manner rejoice together, after we had gathered the fruits of our labors; they four in one day killed as much fowl, as with a little help beside, served the Company almost a week, at which time amongst other Recreations, we exercised our Arms, many of the Indians coming amongst us, and amongst the rest their greatest king Massasoit, with some ninety men, whom for three days we entertained and feasted, and they went out and killed five Deer, which they brought to the Plantation and bestowed on our Governor, and upon the Captain and others. And although it be not always so plentiful, as it was at this time with us, yet by the goodness of God, we are so far from want, that we often wish you partakers of our plenty.

What from the traditional holiday celebration is mentioned and what is left out? Furthermore. the above-mentioned event lacks historical context. For example, why exactly were the Indians so willing to sit down with these "invaders"? Toward answering that question, some historians have argued that our yearly celebrations whitewash the permanent colonization of America that might have been impossible without the devastating (but unintentional) plagues that preceded the Pilgrim arrival. This (understated) onslaught of disease might have been the most important single occurrence in the history of America.