Idea #1 Knee-jerk response. Take a picture of my iron, the one that has gotten me through grad school (so far).
#2 Second thought. Take a picture of the armpit of my green polo shirt that has the impression of an iron, blackish burn marks on it. Me: "I need to get a new polo! I burnt my green one ironing it somehow." Linc: "Iron? Too much. Wash and wear, really."
#3 So then I thought I thought I'd log onto the blog. Damn. Irons already abound! Need to do something else.
#4 Google Iron. Etymology. Nothing really inspiring. Type all the letters of the alphabet before the word iron in the search bar. AIRON BIRON (a hockey player comes up) CIRON DIRON EIRON FIRON KIRON (Russian tennis player). This is getting me nowhere.
#5 Iron. Ironic? Something with that?
#6 Iron Man? What can I do with that???
#7 Ironside! The cop show from the sixties (or was it seventies?) about a detective played by Raymond Burr who fights crime from his wheelchair. Get it? Wheelchair? Ironsides? Maybe I'll make a meme. So I Google image Ironside, and ...
#8 I end up with lots of pictures of Michael Ironsides, one of the staple bad guys of the 80s and 90s. Really only played a good guy once that I can remember. The teacher turned sergeant in Starship Troopers. Maybe I'll write an ode to Michael Ironsides. Loved him in Total Recall ...
#9 Wait. Ironsides. Plural. Reminds me of Old Ironsides, the name of the 1st Armored Division at Ft. Knox. Let me Google image that. But instead I get ...
#10 Lots of images of this beautiful old ship. The USS Constitution. It was an old naval vessel that they were going to decommission. But then Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. wrote this poem about it, and both Holmes and the ship shot to fame. Save the ship! People rallied, people petitioned. People raised money. And the ship was saved. It is now the oldest remaining American ship that is still afloat. I have included the poem below, with the next idea.
Aye tear her tattered ensign down
long has it waved on high,
And many an eye has danced to see
That banner in the sky;
Beneath it rung the battle shout,
And burst the cannon's roar;--
The meteor of the ocean air
Shall sweep the clouds no more.
Her deck, once red with heroes' blood,
Where knelt the vanquished foe,
When winds were hurrying o'er the flood,
And waves were white below,
No more shall feel the victor's tread,
Or know the conquered knee;--
The harpies of the shore shall pluck
The eagle of the sea!
Oh, better that her shattered hulk
Should sink beneath the wave;
Her thunders shook the mighty deep,
And there should be her grave;
Nail to the mast her holy flag,
Set every threadbare sail,
And give her to the god of storms,
The lightning and the gale!'
- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.
#11 Oliver Wendell Holmes. Why is that name so familiar? Wasn't he a Supreme Court Judge? Google. No, this Oliver Wendell Holmes lived in the 1800s and was a physician, poet, physician, lecturer and author based in Boston, according to Wikipedia. Oh, now I see. I was thinking of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.. Why was I thinking of that Holmes? Right. Because I read about him when I looked up Justice Benjamin Cardozo, the justice who wrote the principal opinion for Schloendorff vs. Society of New York Hospital. "Every human being of adult years and sound mind has a right to determine what shall be done with his own body..." It's all coming together. Coincidental integration.
#12 Back to Old Ironsides. I find the logo. The one that was ubiquitous while I was stationed at Ft. Knox. The one that was the name of one of the roads that ran through post. Visions of tanks and heavy armor and hot humid Kentucky days spent sipping now forgotten brands like Clearly Canadian.
#13 Reading about the history of Old Ironsides, and catching a funny story. The name of the unit comes from Major General Magruder, who was in a pinch. It was 1940 and Patton had just named the 2nd Armored Division "Hell on Wheels." The 1st Armorded Division lacked a name. General Magruder held a contest but none of the entries really grabbed him. Then, a moment of genius. Magruder had just bought a painting of ... you guessed it - Old Ironsides, the USS Constitution, during a fundraiser aimed at maintaining the famous fighting ship, and Magruder decided to name his unit after it. He saw similarities between the "spirit of daring and durability" in the ship as he did in his tanks and the rest is history. You can check out the whole story at the link below.
Idea #14 Call it a night! I'm going to bed!
Source: http://yankeetirade.com/Old_Ironsides.html
seems like everyone is struggling with this one. me too.
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