Household Names

​Déjà vu repeats itself all over again:
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I was waiting for my order in a local coffee shop yesterday – a large cold brew, black, and a chocolate brownie* – and to my right, a man waiting for his order.  He spied my Emily Dickinson Museum hat and said something to me.  I wasn’t sure exactly what he said, so I asked to clarify, “Where is it located?”

“Yes,” he said, “where is that museum?”

In the beat of a heart, I was transported back to AvonteART Gallery where, this past August, a man observed my hat and asked, “What kind of a museum is that?”  He had never heard of Emily Dickinson – and I stood dazed in a state of funk. Never heard of Emily Dickinson?  How was that even possible? 

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Now, in my local coffee shop, was that curious interaction at AvonteART somehow repeating itself all over again? 

I took a stabilizing breath and responded, “Amherst, Massachusetts.”

“Oh,” he laughed, “I didn’t think it was around here.”

I smiled and laughed a bit too – but I admit, I had to follow up with a question, one that I did not want to sound condescending – but I had to know.
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“Do you…,” I paused, “know…of Emily Dickinson?” 

“The writer, right?” he said.

“Yes,” I said, and I exhaled.  I explained that someone had recently asked about my hat but had never heard of Emily Dickinson.

“WOW,” he said in disbelief, and followed with something like, “He must not have been listening in literature class.”
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Just then my cold brew and brownie appeared, and all was right with the world.
I’ve referenced that hat-related anecdote in a handful of posts, and I think the latest mention (aside from this post) was from one in a series of posts about a visit to a bookstore on a recent “glorious, curious, so strange, very odd day,” HERE.  
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A portion of that post reads as follows:

“Finally, when I purchased the book, I was somewhat surprised by the spiritless and near-inanimate service.  To add a bit of levity to the moment, I thought I'd tell the story of my recent ‘surreal’ encounter when I was wearing my Emily Dickinson Museum hat, and a gentlemen came up to me and asked, ‘Who's that?’  He had never heard of Emily Dickinson…​Before I got to the ‘surreal’ and ironic conclusion to the story, the clerk snapped at me, ‘I’m sure not everyone has heard of Emily Dickinson.’” ** 
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“I’m sure not everyone has heard of Emily Dickinson.” 

It is that thinner than thinnest mind-boggling excuse to defend the undefendable that brings me to the core of my message today:  EVERYONE of a certain age (beyond high school) should have heard of Emily Dickinson.  No ifs, ands or buts.  Amirite?

I began to ponder the names of well-known figures that every adult in our society should recognize. I mean, if I told someone I loved a piece by Florence Price or a painting by Gustave Caillebotte, and the party to whom I was speaking responded “Who?” I wouldn’t think twice about it.  I could understand someone not picking up on those names.  But Emily Dickinson?
Imma expect people to know.  

I understand that a list of names that ALL people should know would be a short one – and I can certainly understand why someone might not be familiar with those names that don’t make the “ALL-List” (i.e. the ALL-people-should-know-the-names-on-this-list) – like those I mentioned above, Florence Price and Gustave Caillebotte.  Or John Foster Dulles. Or Martha Graham.  Or Sally Ride.  Or Samuel Coleridge Taylor (or Samuel Taylor Coleridge for that matter).

But names that EVERYONE should recognize (in addition to Emily Dickinson) on the ALL-List?  Who should be on that list?  

I’ve come up with a few names:

George Washington. 
Martin Luther King.
Bart Simpson
Mozart (OR perhaps Beethoven?)
Shakespeare.
Bugs Bunny.   
Dorothea Dix***

I’m sure there are more.  Who else should be on the “ALL-List”?  What names am I missing?

The poem "Nobody by Somebody" was published anonymously in the Hampshire and Franklin Express on April 4, 1956.  It included the line, “Sign yourself 'Nobody,' quick as you can.” Scholars note that the Dickinson family regularly read this local Amherst newspaper, and suggest that the earlier poem's focus on anonymity could have inspired Dickinson's playful poem on identity and public fame.  I tried to find the full text of the poem and/or an archive of the paper online, but so far -- no luck! I've contacted the Amherst Historical Society for help!  I'll provide an update if I hear from them. 

​* I have to admit, my order of a cold brew, black, and a chocolate brownie was déjà vu repeating itself all over again too!
 
** The “rest of the story”: I ignored her crankiness and finished the story with a smile. I told her that a second man in a "POETRY” t-shirt passed just after the "Who's that?" moment, pointed at my Emily Dickinson Museum hat, and said, “nice hat.”   “Now how surreal is that?”  I laughed – and the clerk FINALLY smiled.  I think I even detected a slight laugh.

*** The Core Knowledge Foundation includes Dorothea Dix in their inventory of "Cultural Literacy:  What Every American Needs to Know."  She appears in their 4TH GRADE curriculum, which "focuses on many efforts to improve American society from the early 1800s to the 1850s, including the temperance movement to decrease the consumption of alcohol" and "Dorothea Dix’s efforts to obtain better treatment for people with mental illnesses."  So yeah, all Americans from the 4th grade and beyond should know the name Dorothea Dix. Amirite?  ;-)