"Do what you can, with what you have, where you are."
...Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919)
Today, Teddy Roosevelt was in town, the late U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt in living history!
I was out photographing historic Fairoaks Square when our 26th president just walked right up on the sidewalk and introduced himself. But, instead of carrying a big stick like his famous quote says, he carried a teddy bear! The popular stuffed animal was created and named for Roosevelt after he refused to shoot a bear in an unsportsmanlike hunt down in Mississippi. Anyhow, Teddy Roosevelt has returned to life in the one-man show of Joe Wiegand. He uses his love of history, politics and government to weave an entertaining presentation about Roosevelt's adventures...from rancher to Rough Rider to U.S. president. He tells about his love of hunting from the U.S. South to Africa to the Amazon and why he established the national parks. To those who ask, he "explains without apology" his legacy of foreign and domestic policies.
Along with his wife Jenny; daughter, Sam; and golden retriever, Faith; Wiegand is making his "T.R. Tour 2008." They stopped in Selma to visit friends they met back in college at The University of the South in Sewanee, Tenn., where Joe says he took advantage of the school's "affirmative action plan for Yankees!"
Later today, Wiegand was headed to Tuskegee to tell about Roosevelt's meeting with Booker T. Washington, a black educator and scientist who advised the president on education in the South.
He began the tour with "The Teddy Roosevelt Show" in Park Ridge, Ill., and he'll return to Roosevelt's birthplace in New York City in October for the president's 150th Birthday Celebration.
