Monday, February 28, 2011

Through the eyes of a child

As part of his class' observation of President's Day, my 11-year-old nephew had to give an oral report on a President. He chose Bill Clinton. I was fascinated to hear about #42 through his eyes.

• He was born Bill Blythe

• His father died in a car accident before Bill was born

• He and his mother lived with his grandparents in Hope, AR

• They moved to Hot Springs when she got a better job in a bigger hospital

• His mother married a man named Roger Clinton who adopted Bill

• He played saxophone in the high school band

• He admired President Kennedy and memorized Dr. Martin Luther King's "I Had a Dream" speech

• He went to Yale and Oxford, and these are very good colleges

• He met his wife Hillary at college

• He was Attorney General and Governor in AR

• When he was President, there was a low crime rate and peace between England and Ireland

• His daughter Chelsea brought a cat, Socks, to the White House

• She found Socks when he was a kitten, living under a bush near her piano teacher's house

• Socks wrote books and is the first cat to have his own video game

• At first Socks didn't like Buddy, the President's dog

• He was impeached and acquitted

• He is one of the most popular former Presidents

• He had heart trouble and is now a vegan

• Socks died of cancer recently

My nephew got an A-. He lost points not for content but because he didn't look at the audience as he spoke about Bill Clinton.