The Archives: JFK, the Book Thief

One of the benefits of blogging is that you have a ready-made archive to jog your memory. Today's entry simply references two such memories.

• November 22, 2013 marks the 50th anniversary of the assassination of JFK. It's one of those moments people remember where they were, what they were doing, no blog required. I was in sixth grade when the public address speakers in school came on. At first it sounded like someone in the school office had unintentionally flipped a switch, as there was no announcement, only what sounded like a garbled radio broadcast. Students laughed at what we thought was someone's mistake. Gradually, the laughter died away and was replaced by horror and sadness as the news registered. That guilty laughter is what has stuck with me for fifty years.
  
  Anyway, fifty years later, I live in Dallas. Here's what I blogged last year when Dallas began making plans for the anniversary.
  
  
• To continue on a sad theme, The Book Thief is in limited release (Cinemark West in Plano, Thursday, 10:00 pm). The movie is based on the book by the same name, which was the selection for this year's "Richardson Reads One Book" program. It's a view of life in Nazi Germany from a child's eye. I haven't seen the movie, but you can read my review of the book from last spring.