Banter Bites

Johnny Appleseed – Folk Hero Or Strategic Businessman?

A businessman, a horticulturist, and a missionary. Sounds like the start of a joke, but it's a description of the legend known as Johnny Appleseed.

BANTER BITE BACKSTORY: Red, and her two daughters, learned about Johnny Appleseed (who was born John Chapman) in elementary school – a man wandering the frontier and randomly planting apple trees. Looking back, it sounds more like a Disney story (in 1948, it actually was its own video as part of the Melody Series); but Red like to think she's indebted to him because she loves all varieties of apples, especially the ones that are best in the fall, including her favorite, Honeycrisp.

Although Black vaguely remembers the folk story (she was pragmatic even as a child), she's fascinated by the real-life story of John Chapman … a strategic businessman who traveled west and found unclaimed land, planted apple nurseries (not edible apples, but ones for making apple-based alcohol which was very popular at the time) on them to claim ownership, and then later sold the trees and land. But he was about more than making money, as his values (he was a missionary, advocated for animal rights, and ultimately became a vegetarian) defined him … as a man and a legend.

P.S. – There are two dates for Johnny Appleseed Day, September 26 because it's his birthday, and March 11 because he died in March (but not on the 11th) and it coincides with prime apple planting season.

This is one of Red’s favorite Banter Bites in large part because of Black’s “corny” puns, but also because fresh corn is a summer staple – whether cooked on the grill or in the microwave, whether eaten on its own or as a primary ingredient in refreshing summer salads


This may be one of the corniest things you’ll ever read.

BANTER BITE BACKSTORY: It’s just a vegetable, so how can it possibly elicit such a strong reaction from Red, while, for Black, it’s more a source of amusement and even, it turns out, admiration?

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Think you can avoid artificial intelligence? Think again …

BANTER BITE BACKSTORY: Red already fights technology at every turn, preferring to keep her ostrich head in the sand, plus, she finds Artificial Intelligence (AI) scary; whereas Black knows ignoring reality merely postpones the inevitable, so she’s started playing with AI to understand it better …

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A man better known for his death than his life, although Red, the straight-A student and history lover, immediately thinks of the costly and controversial movie of his life. (Well, technically, it was the life of Cleopatra.) Black, of course, focuses on business – leadership lessons, including the power of words, although she surprises Red with some food trivia. But the fact July’s named after him is the perfect excuse to rerun one of Red’s favorite Banter Bites …

Quick! If someone says "Julius Caesar," what comes to mind?

BANTER BITE BACKSTORY: Almost everyone has heard of Julius Caesar, but how many of us really know much about him, or at least that's what Red starts to wonder when she receives the usual flippant, but still accurate, reply from her sister, after feeling very proud that she knew that July was named after the famous Roman.

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