1223: I'm Sure He'll Still Have Room for Supper

Lawrence was the capital of Free-State Kansas back in the days of Bleeding Kansas and the Civil War so you wouldn't think there would be any Confederate soldiers buried here but there is. There is only one and you wouldn't know where to look unless you knew he was there.

Private Gray Boulware served in the 9th Virginia Cavalry. The 9th was formed in January 1862. It was commanded by Colonels Richard L.T. Beale, John E. Johnson, William H.F. Lee (a son of General Robert E. Lee) and Thomas Waller. The 9th saw battles at, among others, Second Manassas, Fredericksburg, Gettysburg and Williamsport. Late in the war, they skirmished around Richmond and Petersburg.

The Boulware's were a prominent family in South Carolina and Virginia. I don't know when or why Mr. Boulware came to Kansas but on February 13, 1895, he died in Topeka of "paralysis."

News release of Mr. Boulware's passing from the Lawrence Daily Gazette,
February 14, 1895.

Pvt. Gray Boulware's gravestone in Oak Hill Cemetery.

I've never understood eating popcorn outside of a movie theater. When I think of getting a snack, popcorn never even makes the list and I usually have a pretty long list of snack foods. One of my favorite snack foods was Totino's Cheese Nachos. They were essentially pizza rolls except instead of pizza flavored insides, they were nacho based. My favorite was cheese but the beef were pretty good, too. I guess they don't make them anymore and I can't even find a picture of them online. Those things on Brutus' plate kind of look like them. Maybe Brutus hoarded them. They'd only be about ten or so years old now. They'd still be good.

1179: It's About Time Brutus See His Therapist Again

You may have seen this flag and phrase around usually on big, loud trucks whose exhaust system may not be 100% up to code. I'm torn because I am for honoring your ancestors and, for better or worse, being a part of the Confederacy or serving in the Confederate military is considered part of your heritage but only if one of your ancestors served. Down in the South, this makes sense as there is the chance your distant relative served for the Confederacy. But are you really flying the Confederate flag because you want to honor your great-great-grandfather or because society generally agrees that the flag is racist?

I live in Kansas and I see people flying the Confederate flag. Kansas was never part of the Confederacy nor would the people who fought and died to keep Kansas from allowing slavery be okay with you flying that flag. It also occurs to me that the people who fly this flag would never, ever, ever fly flags of other countries where their ancestors immigrated from. My ancestors came to Connecticut from Britain, migrated to North Carolina and Tennessee before ultimately winding up in the Little Dixie area of Missouri. Due to those last three places, there is a huge possibility that distant relatives of mine fought for the Confederacy and owned slaves so I think I could get away with flying the Confederate flag.

But I won't because why would I fly another country's flag? If you're not willing to fly the British flag which is more than likely where your ancestors came from, then why fly the Confederate flag? Also, if you have to explain why your flag isn't considered hate speech then maybe you need to get a new icon for your heritage.

Currently everybody who knows Brutus hates him so the odds don't seem to be in his favor.