Norman Lear and Clay Jenkinson

This morning on NPR I heard a segment of "The Long View" which featured Norman Lear. As I lay there listening I was thinking about our friend and Godfather, Mike, who recently attended a birthday dinner party for Norman Lear's daughter. She is married to Mike's doctor, who is also the CBS Evening News Medical Correspondent: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/08/14/utility/main1891188.shtml

As I listened to Norman Lear talk about why the constitution is so important to him I also thought about Clay Jenkinson. A Nationally acclaimed humanities scholar and award winning first person interpreter of Thomas Jefferson, Clay Jenkinson, portrays Jefferson on the program, The Thomas Jefferson Hour, and he answers listener questions while in the persona of Jefferson--his answers are grounded in the writings and actions of the great man.

Doug and I saw this man on a local cable channel portraying Jefferson in Tacoma as a guest of the Tacoma Rotary Club. We were so enthralled watching him that although we had just happened on the channel, we couldn't turn our attention away.

Jenkinson believes Thomas Jefferson wrote the most important 35-word sentence in the English language: "We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

http://www.35words.com/index.htm


Finally, Clay Jenkinson has been instrumental in the revival of the modern-day Chautauqua movement. More on that in the above post.