Monday, February 15, 2010

our presidents


my favorite brothers


In honor of President's Day, I am sharing a method we can use to attempt to remember all of our fearless leaders in days past.  Dr. Subak provided this to my eldest son years ago as he went through vision therapy and I thought it was an excellent way to help remember something as important as our country's leaders without getting overwhelmed.  Try it, it's fun.
As you can see a woman is WASHING-a-TON of clothes that were brought to her by another lady with a large ADAM'S apple.  WASHING-a-TON will remind you of WASHINGTON (WASHING-a-TON = WASHINGTON) and the woman with the large ADAM'S apple will remind you of ADAMS. (ADAM'S apple = ADAMS) The woman who brought the clothes is looking over her shoulder at a CHEF who is HER-SON.  He even has the words HER-SON on his Apron to help you further.  (CHEF-HER-SON = JEFFERSON)  The chef is MAD-AT the SUN because he is cooking outdoors and the sun is causing him to perspire heavily.  As you can see, he is shaking his fist at the sun. (MAD-AT-SUN = MADISON)  While this is going on, a MAN is ROW-ing a boat in a nearby pond.  (MAN-ROW = MONROE)

As you can see, the man rowing the boat also has a large ADAM'S apple which will tell you that the president who succeeded Monroe was also named ADAMS. (This is the second president by that name.  (ADAM'S apple - ADAMS)  The man is about to row his boat into a toy JACK that is sitting on a small SUN on the edge of the pond.  (JACK-SUN = JACKSON)  The jack and the sun have fallen out of a moving VAN with a dresser BUREAU-IN the back of it. (VAN-BUREAU-IN = VAN BUREN)  The sign on the side of the moving van is A HAIRY-SUN which will remind you that HARRISON was the then next president.  (HAIRY-SUN = HARRISON) On the corner of the street to the right of the moving van with the hairy sun on it, a man is carrying a stack of floor tiles.  He is a TILER (a man who lays tiles on floors).  (TILER = TYLER)

In this picture, to the right of the man holding the floor tiles, is a man dressed in a POLKa-dotted POKE. ("Poke" is a slang for a grocery sack.)  This will remind you that the president who followed Tyler was POLK.  (POKE, POLKA = POKE)  The man is being measured by a TAILOR.  He is going to make a new suit.  This will tell you that TAYLOR was the next president.  (TAILOR=TAYLOR)  The tailor's helper is standing behind him and his pockets are FILLed with much MORE equipment that they can possibly use.  As you can see, it is falling all over the ground.  (FILL-MORE = FILLMORE)  The tailor's helper has just tossed a large needle over his shoulder.  The needle has PIERCEd a BLUE-CANNON.  This will tell you that PIERCE and BUCHANAN were the next two presidents.  (PIERCE = PIERCE); (BLUE-CANNON = BUCHANAN)

As you look back at the picture, you will notice that BLUE-CANNON is LINKed-ON to a LINCOLN automobile by a chain.  LINK-ON and the LINCOLN automobile will remind you that President LINCOLN came after Buchanon.  (LINK-ON = LINCOLN)  The driver of the Lincoln automobile is a YAWNing SUN and YAWN-SUN will remind you that JOHNSON followed Lincoln.  (YAWN-SUN = JOHNSON) As you can see, the yawning sun has a large piece of GRANITE rock in the trunk of the car.  GRANITE will remind you that GRANT followed JOHNSON. (GRANITE = GRANT)  Just behind the car are some stacks of Hay.  The stacks of HAY will remind you that the next president is HAYES. (HAY = HAYES)  There is another CAR in the middle of the hay FIELD.  CAR-FIELD will remind you that GARFIELD succeeded HAYES. (CAR-FIELD = GARFIELD)

In this picture, you can see a man walking away from the car in the field.  He has a pencil behind his ear and is carrying a typewriter and typing paper.  He is an AUTHOR who is preparing to write a book.  Author will tell you that ARTHUR is the president who followed Garfield.  (AUTHOR= ARTHUR)  As you can see, the author is stepping over a meat cleaver stuck in the ground that someone has used to CLEAVE the LAND.  CLEVE-LAND will remind you that CLEVELAND followed Arthur.  (CLEVE-LAND = CLEVELAND)  A HAIRY-SUN is holding the cleaver in its right hand.  HAIRY-SUN will remind you of HARRISON who was the next president.  (HAIRY-SUN = HARRISON)  With its left hand the hairy sun has used another meat cleaver to CLEAVE the LAND again to remind you that President CLEVELAND was elected a second time to succeed President Harrison. (CLEAVE-LAND = CLEVELAND) When the hairy sun cleaved the land with its left hand, it struck the end piece of firewood and caused it to flip up into a MACK truck loaded with KINDLING (kindling is a firewood.)  MACK-KINDLING will remind you that MCKINLEY followed President Cleveland after his second term in office. 

Examine the picture again and you will notice that the truck loaded with the kindling ran into a ROSE made of FELT. ROSE-FELT will remind you that the president who followed McKinley was ROOSEVELT. (ROSE-FELT = ROOSEVELT) The rose cannot get out of the path of the truck because it is stuck in some TAFFY candy.  TAFFY will remind you that TAFT was the next president. (TAFFY = TAFT) A WILL (last will and testament) standing on a small SUN tries to help the rose by pulling the taffy.  WILL-SUN will remind you that WILSON was the next president who followed Taft. (WILL-SUN = WILSON) Writing on the will is a very HARD bottle of INK.  You know that the ink is hard because it is hitting itself with a hammer and it doesn't break! HARD-INK reminds you that HARDING was the next president.  (HARD-INK = HARDING)  You can see that the hard ink is on a COOL-LEDGE.  We know the ledge is very cool because there are icicles hanging down.  COOL-LEDGE will remind you that COOLIDGE was the president who followed Harding (COOL-LEDGE = COOLIDGE)

In this picture you will notice that a HOOVER vacuum cleaner is hanging on the right side of the cool ledge.  The Hoover sweeper will remind you that President HOOVER came after President Coolidge.  (HOOVER = HOOVER) You will also notice that a ROSE made of FELT is about to be sucked into the Hoover sweeper. ROSE-FELT will remind you that the next president was ROOSEVELT. (This is the second president by that name.) (ROSE-FELT = ROOSEVELT.)  A TRUE magazine is being read by a man who is trying to keep the rose from being sucked into the sweeper.  TRUE-MAN will remind you that President TRUMAN followed President Roosevelt. (TRUE-MAN = TRUMAN)  The man reading the True magazine is leaning against some EYES that are drawn ON a tall TOWER. EYES-ON-TOWER will remind you that EISENHOWER followed President Truman. (EYE-ON-TOWER = EISENHOWER)  On top of the tall tower is a CAN-OF 'D's.' CAN-OF-D's' will remind you that President KENNEDY followed President Eisenhower. (CAN-OF-D's' = KENNEDY.)

Examine the picture and you will notice that a YAWNing SUN is in the sky next to the can of letter 'D's. YAWN-SUN will remind you that President JOHNSON followed President Kennedy. (YAWN-SUN = JOHNSON)  Look at the yawning sun and you will see that it has NICKS-ON it.  NICKS-ON will remind you that NIXON was next.  (NICKS-ON = NIXON)  You will notice that a FORD automobile reached up and put the nicks on the sun with a small knife.  A FORD automobile will remind you that Ford followed President Nixon.  (FORD = FORD)  Notice that the Ford automobile has a lady's GARTER around its middle.  GARTER will remind you that CARTER followed Ford.  (GARTER = CARTER.) The garter is being shot by a RAY-GUN, reminding us of President REAGAN. (RAY-GUN = REAGAN.) The ray gun is caught in a BUSH.  This reminds us that our next president was BUSH (BUSH = BUSH).  Repeat for his son BUSH and now our current president is BARACK OBAMA. 

And there you have it!

Hail to the Chief

  xo