17 Comments - City Zen - Monday, Mar 2, 20 @ 12:48 pm: Great song by Sufjan Stevens, although it teachers you nothing about the man. - Flapdoodle - Monday, Mar 2, 20 @ 1:08 pm: Casimir Pulaski gets the big play, but here’s a shout out for Ed Pulaski a hero during the hellish 1910 fires in northern Idaho. He is credited with inventing the specialized tool used to this day by wildfire fighters. Anyone who’s been on the fire line knows how handy the pulaski is. - Nearly Normal - Monday, Mar 2, 20 @ 1:11 pm: I remember only one school year with the day off. It was optional to take it off but the school year still had to be 181 days. Teachers negotiated to not take it off since our spring break was the last week in March. I think the ruling we got from the state board of ed or somewhere was if you didn’t take the day off your school had to teach about him. I purchased a video about Casimer Pulaski for the school to use from the Polish Museum. It was a VHS videocassette. I think it was checked out maybe two times if that. - Huh? - Monday, Mar 2, 20 @ 1:12 pm: Here is an article about some interesting research about Pulaaki. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/was-revolutionary-war-hero-casimir-pulaski-intersex-180971907/ - City Guy - Monday, Mar 2, 20 @ 1:14 pm: Its worth noting that recent research indicates that Casimir Pulaski was likely Intersex rather than male. - G'Kar - Monday, Mar 2, 20 @ 1:17 pm: A number of years ago my community college asked me to do a presentation on Pulaski for his day. I did a fair amount of research and put together, I thought, a nice 35 minute talk. Nobody showed up. From then on if the college asked me to give a talk I asked for the cash up front. - Huh? - Monday, Mar 2, 20 @ 1:31 pm: Flapdoodle - Ed Pulaski never patented the tool he invented. He wanted it available for anyone to make and use. The abandoned mine to which he led his men to safety is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The historical society in Wallce, ID has his original tool. He was my great uncle. Never met him but heard the family stories. - Huh? - Monday, Mar 2, 20 @ 1:34 pm: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/burn/ This is a PBS show about the 1910 fire in Idaho and Ed Pulaski. - Silent Budgeteer - Monday, Mar 2, 20 @ 2:02 pm: I remember when the Casimir Pulaski Day legislation was first proposed (I was the Elementary Education analyst at the then-Bureau of the Budget, now GOMB). I attended the committee hearing; several students from different districts all over the State were in town and testified before the committee. To a person, they all asked that the bill not pass because “we don’t need more days off from school.” The sponsor told them he understood what they were saying, but “I gotta do what my constituents want, and they want a holiday just like Columbus Day.” Today, I think most school districts treat it as a commemorative holiday, but few still take the day off (even though it is still an official school holiday). Springfield 186 still takes the day off, if you can believe it. - Practical Politics - Monday, Mar 2, 20 @ 2:30 pm: Sadly, none of the bigwigs managed to make it to Abraham Lincoln’s Tomb on February 12th for the American Legion’s Lincoln Pilgrimage. One or two sent surrogates, but the rest were conspicuous by their absence on February 12th. - revvedup - Monday, Mar 2, 20 @ 2:39 pm: I agree with Silver Budgeteer; keep the kids in school and teach them about the honored person’s history and contribution to American society. As for Ed Pulaski, his brains and guts saved many men, and the tool he never patented helped to save lives and property as well. A story on the Pulaski here: https://wildfiretoday.com/2019/08/19/the-true-story-of-the-pulaski-fire-tool/ - Stones - Monday, Mar 2, 20 @ 2:43 pm: If I recall State Senator Leroy Lemke was sponsor of the legislation at the time. I think I recall him destroying his mic (tearing the cord from the outlet) during one of the more “spirited” debates. - City Guy - Monday, Mar 2, 20 @ 2:43 pm: I always viewed the holiday as a reaction to Rev. Martin Luther King’s Birthday becoming a federal holiday in 1986 and Gov. Thompson lining up Polish votes for the 1986 election. - Flapdoodle - Monday, Mar 2, 20 @ 3:00 pm: @ Huh? — Cool about Ed Pulaski being your uncle. Understand he was quite a man’s man, which is saying something for Idaho at that time. Visited Wallace and the mine site when living in Moscow, ID, years ago. Rugged country, makes the story all the more impressive. Thanks for tip on PBS video. - Cheryl44 - Monday, Mar 2, 20 @ 3:11 pm: I’m old, it wasn’t a holiday when I was in school. It was, though, when I got my first right out of college job at the Chicago Board of Education. I spent my first Pulaski Day holiday calling everyone I knew at work and telling them why I had a 3 day weekend. - Annonin' - Monday, Mar 2, 20 @ 3:14 pm: ” It’s not a state day-off holiday, so that’s why I’m working today…” Are you still working the con that this is “work” Surely you don’t believe it - Amalia - Monday, Mar 2, 20 @ 3:39 pm: I have a proposal. That is, Pulaski Day should be paczki day 2. I mean, why not????? holiday = food. Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.