The Michael Burlingame gift

I asked for Michael Burlingame's two-volume biography of Abraham Lincoln as a Father's Day gift, and I got it. I am so thrilled. It is called Abraham Lincoln: A Life. This new academic look at Lincoln is said to supplant the volumes written by Carl Sandburg in the early and middle parts of the 20th century. I am especially interested in reading about Lincoln's years in Springfield, Ill., which is where I live. Burlingame has just become the the Chancellor Naomi B. Lynn Distinguished Chair in Lincoln Studies at the University of Illinois at Springfield, where I work. I love to tell our students what it is to study in the city where Lincoln walked. I live less than two miles from Lincoln's home and the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum. I love to walk in those areas, which always remind me of Lincoln's humanity as well as his greatness.

Lincoln isn't a cliche

Tomorrow is Lincoln's 200th birthday. What strikes me this morning is that it's almost impossible to talk about Lincoln without reverting to cliches. Which is why I like to walk past his house, less than two miles from mine, and look at the simple two-story building and imagine him walking down that street. Anybody can walk there. It's federal property. But no gates, no big fences to keep you out. Just walk down 8th Street and there is the house. I love local writer Vachel Lindsay's poem, "Abraham Lincoln Walks at Midnight." I like to tell our students they have a unique opportunity during their years here to absorb some of what Lincoln learned by living on the flat prairie. You are walking where Lincoln walked. You can experience that lasting principles matter. You can experience that doing the right thing will get you as much criticism as praise.