One hundred and fifty years ago today, a tall thin man, weak and dizzy from an as yet undiagnosed case of smallpox, rose from a temporary platform to face a crowd of onlookers beneath a cold and drizzly gray sky. He was there to deliver “a few remarks” in dedication of an as yet unfinished cemetery. The previous speaker was Edward Everett renowned orator and the the main featured attraction that bleak morning.

I wasn't always Lincoln.

It is August first, and in some parts of the country, schools are going back into session as early as next week. Can you hear the groans? And the snickers, too, from the kids whose districts have another month before they start up again. But all too soon, schools across the country will once more be in session.