A fact about myself: I loved school.
I mean, it was almost an obsession. I especially enjoyed
mathematics and the arts. Those do seem to go hand-in-hand with each other,
don’t they? Science and Language Arts weren’t too far behind, though I will
admit that my high school Anatomy and British Literature classes did give me a
bit of a run for my money. And of course, my Bible classes were always as
informative as they were enjoyable. I also preferred homeschooling, even though
I did spend several years in “regular” schools. I was a straight-A student all
through High School... And then College kicked me around like I was a rag doll.
It was still all too enjoyable for me to fully stress over my grades. (I didn’t
have a low GPA, by the way. Just saying.)
Another fact about myself: I hated history and social studies
classes. Could. Not. STAND them. Not that I hated learning about it. Shoot, I
actually liked learning about the Medieval Feudal System, among other things.
What I didn’t enjoy was the tests. I could barely remember American facts
outside of what SchoolHouse Rock songs I knew by rote. I complained very
frequently to my mother / teacher, who reassured me that it was important to at
least learn about history and to try my best, even when it was tough.
It was years before she finally felt safe to tell me that she
hated history classes, too.
Now, not all history and social studies classes were too
unpalatable. I had SchoolHouse Rock (as afore mentioned), the Carmen Sandiego
CD games series (especially Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego?, which I
maintain is way better than the original TV show), the Eyes on the
Prize VHS series, courtesy of the library, Our Friend Martin, and of
course, Liberty’s Kids.
Still, even
with all those cool things,
not even my
Switched-On Schoolhouse
system made
learning history fun.
This show first memorably came into my life when I was a
young teen. It was during a time when my mother was perming my hair. Some of
you may or may not know, but any perm requires lots of rinsing and a time of
neutralizing, to restore the hair’s pH balance. To relieve neck strain and to
keep me from becoming too uncomfortable, my mother would take kitchen chairs
and line them up next to the tub in such a way that I could lie down on them,
with my head and (at that time, quite long) hair hanging over the side and
above the tub. With the removable showerhead, my mother was an unstoppable
force, a wizard with my often unpredictable mane. And with a TV in the adjacent
kitchen, the process wasn’t too boring.
I guess you could say that my first encounter was more of a
radio experience. I heard the audio, but the way I was positioned, I couldn’t
quite see it. Also, because this was on PBS, the frequent changes to the Liberty
News Network made things a little harder for me to follow. I asked my mother
what was going on, and she didn’t quite know, except that it was a history show
that looked really good. She then told me it was called Liberty’s Kids. Then
I found out from Radio Disney that Aaron Carter was one of the singers for the
theme song. Considering I was one of the many female human beings who had a
crush on him at that time, I was more than elated.
It didn’t take long for me to track the show down, and I
would watch it live and record it to VHS to watch after classes and school,
depending on my schooling status. I thoroughly enjoyed watching it, seeing
Sarah grow and become an American, and of course watching Henri’s antics. I
also enjoyed James’s maturity during the series, and Moses was just plain
awesome! Ben Franklin would have to be my favorite character, though.
Years passed, and naturally I stopped watching it bit by bit.
I found out that it came out years later pretty early in the morning on a
digital channel that played 80s, 90s, and 00s cartoons. I would set up my VHS
player to record it, along with Gomer Pyle, USMC on a different channel.
Yeah, yeah,
I know some of you are scratching
your heads,
but if you think my broad taste in
TV shows is
weird, you should see my music library.
At this point, they had taken out the oh-so-cool mini
segments from between scenes, which left me a touch disappointed, but I was
still grateful to watch an old favorite show again. It did not last long,
however, as they changed the lineup. I figured I’d never see Liberty’s Kids
again.
Thank God I was wrong. I happened to be in a Wal-Mart, and by
chance as I was browsing DVDs, lo and behold the four-disc set was there.
Unfortunately, once again, the extra clips weren’t there, but I wasn’t upset about
it this time. There was too much for me to truly enjoy about this series, as
well as why I enjoyed it. It showed diversity, passion, charm, grit, truth, emotions, and
heart. Sure, we all knew that America would turn out all right at the end. But
did we, at times. And who can actually hum the little bit of music at the end
of every scene?
In short, it got me, if nothing else, excited to learn about
American History. If you haven’t seen it yet, I suggest you do. It’s an eye
opener into America in the 1770s to the 1780s. Plus it’s more than just about
America vs England, and who comes out as the victor. It shows life, which
rarely shows a true winner. And of course, new solutions bring about new
problems, as shown in this show. If you’re hoping that the physical quality of
this show is on par with Disney, I would respectfully ask that you clear your
mind of such criticisms. True, it’s not of the highest quality, but the
intensity of this show outshines it all.
As for the shorts, well, may I recommend the still-functioning
Libertyskids.com, which I’ve just recently found out about?
I’ve just finished watching the DVD set. I kinda lost it
shortly after I bought it. Found it right after I just recently organized my
life (mostly, anyway). It took quite of few nights that would put Netflix
binge-watchers to shame, but it was soooo worth it. 100%, A+, etc., etc., and
the proper emjois to go with it. Just watch it, even if you watch it at least
once.
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