Today in History, from the Library of Congress American Memory, we celebrate the Fourth of July. PBS.org offers a comprehensive history of Independence Day at A Capitol Fourth, America’s Independence Day Celebration including the history and music of the celebration, the history of Old Glory and the National Mall, and lots of links to significant people, places, monuments, and museums of our shared American history. Check it out. Here is a link to local San Francisco Bay Area Fourth of July Events.
Speaking of local, did you know the annual Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival held in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park in August brings more than $67 million to the local economy, including over 750 jobs. See San Francisco State University Professor Patrick Tierney’s study. Tierney is chair of the Department of Recreation, Parks and Tourism at SFSU.
And. . . a music-based curriculum, Academic Music, designed by SFSU researchers Susan Courey and Endre Balogh, is helping children understand fractions. See the findings of the six-week trial run at Palo Alto’s Hoover Elementary School in the journal Educational Studies in Mathematics. Look out Kahn Academy! Both of these SFSU studies were highlighted in the SF State Magazine Spring/Summer 2012 edition.
Finally, artist and SFSU Alum Steven J. Backman used 30,000 toothpicks in his 13-foot long replica of the Golden Gate Bridge. Now on display at the Ripley’s Believe It or Not! Museum at Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco.
Graphic courtesy Flickr Creative Commons License by Citoyendu Monde Inc.
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