Savvy Cafe Answers » People

Who is Clement Hurd?

Jennifer — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 21:25:22 +0000

Clement G. Hurd was an American illustrator of children’s books. He was born on January 12, 1908 and became best known for his collaborations with author Margaret Wise Brown, including Goodnight Moon in 1947, which has since sold more than two million copies. He also illustrated The Runaway Bunny (1942) and a number of books written by his wife Edith (a friend of Brown’s) as well as a children’s book written by Gertrude Stein, The World Is Round (1938).

The son of a New York mortgage banker, Hurd was educated at St. Paul’s School in Concord, New Hampshire. He then studied architecture at Yale University as well as painting with Fernand Léger in Paris. On seeing two of his paintings, Margaret Wise Brown asked him if he would consider illustrating children’s books.

His son Thacher Hurd is also a children’s book author and illustrator, and referred in an interview to the “wonderful aura of creativity” surrounding his father and the Vermont farm that was their home.

A doctored/altered photo of Hurd was included in the 60th anniversary republication of Goodnight Moon with a cigarette removed from his hand, causing controversy over publication standards. A New York Times article wrote “In the great green room, there is a telephone, and a red balloon, but no ashtray. “Goodnight Moon,” the children’s classic by Margaret Wise Brown, has gone smoke free.”

Hurd died February 5, 1988.

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What did A.E Housman write?

Sirena Van Schaik — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 01:56:13 +0000

A.E. Housman was born in Fockbury, which is a hamlet in Worcestershire, England. His full name was Alfred Edward Housman and he lived from March 26, 1859 to April 30, 1936. He was a well-known poet and his poems were more lyrical than anything else.

He was also a private scholar and is believed to be one of the “greatest scholars of the time.”

His most famous work is the A Shropshire Lad, which is a cycle of his poems printed in 1896. He is also went on to publish Last Poems in 1922. He has several lectures including “Swinburne” (1910), “The Application of Thought to Textual Criticism” (1921), “The Name and Nature of Poetry” (1933) and several others.

For more information on A.E. Housman, I would recommend visiting this site.

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What were Paul Bunyan’s dogs named?

Sirena Van Schaik — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 13:49:03 +0000

Before I get into who the dogs are, I think I should just touch on who Paul Bunyan was. If you don’t already know this, Paul Bunyan was not a real person. He is actually an American myth or folklore. Paul Bunyan was a lumberjack that was a brave and strong man.

Now whether or not the original Paul Bunyan had a dog is up for debate since there have been some changes to the actual myth. Originally, Paul Bunyan had an blue ox named “Babe,” which was supposed to be the only thing he feared. Warner Brothers adapted the story of Paul Bunyan for their Bugs Bunny show in 1954. In the cartoon, Paul Bunyan had a carrot patch that was guarded by his dog, who was named Smidgen.

The only other reference to a dog and Paul Bunyan can be traced to Sport, the reversible dog, which wasn’t Paul Bunyan’s dog but was a camp dog.

For more information on Paul Bunyan, I would strongly recommend this site.

Who is Clement Hurd? Clement G. Hurd was an American illustrator of children’s books....

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What was a person’s soul called in Egypt?

Sirena Van Schaik — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 06:35:30 +0000

When I was first out of high school, I became enthralled with the world of Ancient Egypt, or rather, I became enthralled with their language. This urged me to purchase and read the entire Book of the Dead and somewhere along the way, I quickly lost my interest in it. This isn’t to say that I didn’t find it interesting but I probably shouldn’t have read that specific book at so early a stage.

Fast forward several years and I have the delight of having a son that aspires to be an archaeologist and specifically wants to work in either an Ancient Mayan or Ancient Egyptian site. This led to the renewal of my interest in Ancient Egypt so I was very happy to have the opportunity to answer this question for you.

To get down to business, Ancient Egyptians did not have a universal word for soul as a whole. In their culture, they believed that the soul consisted of several different parts, or more specifically of 5 parts.

All of these represented some part of the person or the person’s soul. These parts are:

The “Ka”: Most people are aware of this word but for those who aren’t, the “Ka” is basically the life force of the person. It was believed that the “Ka” was formed at birth but continued to live on after death. It was the force that could restore life to the dead body and was the ultimate reason for food offerings being left in the tombs.
The “Ba”: This may be what we equate as the soul since it was the part of the soul that made the journey back to its body on a nightly basis. If the “Ba” did not reunite with the “Ka”, then the body could not survive.
The “Akh”: The “Akh” was considered to be the spirit of the person. It was believed that this part of the soul could influence the world in both good and bad ways.
The “Ren”: This is the person’s name, which was believed to be a living part of a person.
The “Shewt”: Like a person’s name, a person’s shadow was also believed to be a living part of a person. Both the “Ren” and “Shewt” were believed to live on after the person had died.

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What did the Haida make their paints out of?

Sirena Van Schaik — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 01:35:03 +0000

Growing up in British Columbia, I always had an interest in Haida art and that spark was nurtured during a school visit to the UBC Museum where I saw many different examples of Haida art that was absolutely breathtaking. For me, that art represented what it meant to be from the Northwest coast and there was so much beauty in each carving and work of art that I looked at.

But that isn’t what the question is about so I should get down to the answer. Haida used many different materials to create their paint and all of them were from nature. Generally, the Haida mixed a naturally occurring pigment with a binder. This was a substance, like chewed salmon eggs, that gave the pigment a paint like quality. Here are a few naturally occurring pigments that gave the chewed salmon eggs its color.

Black: Bone that has been burned to charcoal or magnetite, which is an iron ore.
Blue/Green: Celadonate or Glauconite. This was also known as “green earth,” which is very rare.
Red: comes from an iron ore called hematite.

For more information on Haida Art, visit The Respect to Bill Reid Pole Project

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What was Lady Bird Johnson’s maiden name?

Sirena Van Schaik — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 02:39:19 +0000

Before I answer the question, I would first like to point out who Lady Bird Johnson was. Although I could write a full report on Lady Bird Johnson, the short version is that she was the First Lady of the United States from 1963 to 1969. Her husband was President Lyndon Johnson.

Despite her claim as the First Lady, Lady Bird Johnson accomplished many other things in her life. Her views on the beautification of national cities and on the conservation of the natural resources found in the United States made her a lifelong advocate. As the First Lady, she created the modern structure for the office of First Lady and later in life she founded the National Wildflower Research Center.

She was born in Karnack, Texas on December 22, 1912 and died July 11, 2007 at the age of 94.

Her maiden name was Taylor and her full name was Claudia Alta “Lady Bird” Taylor Johnson.

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