Here's an interesting article that I came upon this morning:

Scholars Argue if Shakespeare Penned Plays

LONDON - Some scholars just won't let Shakespeare be Shakespeare. A small academic industry has developed to prove that William Shakespeare, a provincial lad from Stratford-upon-Avon, could not have written the much-loved plays that bear his name.

The "real" author has been identified by various writers as Christopher Marlowe, Francis Bacon and the Earl of Oxford, Edward de Vere.

Now, a new book claims that the real Bard was Sir Henry Neville, an English courtier and distant relative of the Stratford Shakespeare. Shakespeare himself was simply a front man, claim Brenda James and William Rubinstein in "The Truth Will Out: Unmasking the Real Shakespeare."

James, an English literature lecturer, said Neville "wanted (the plays) to go under another name and wanted a poor relation to have a hand up."

James and Rubinstein, a professor of history at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, argue that Shakespeare of Stratford, who came from a modest background and did not attend university, could not have had enough knowledge of the politics, foreign languages and European cities described in the plays to have written them.

Neville, in contrast, was well-educated, had traveled to all the countries used as settings in the plays and had a life that matched up with what "Shakespeare" was writing about at the time, the book says.

"The more we looked into his life, the more convincing the matchup became," Rubinstein said.

James said that she began exploring the connection between Shakespeare and Neville about six years ago when she deciphered what she believes is a code on the dedication page of Shakespeare's sonnets. The code revealed the name Henry Neville.

"I thought I must be seeing things; nobody's ever heard of Henry Neville. To my great surprise, his birth and death dates were almost the same as Shakespeare's," she said.

Further research turned up more evidence pointing to Neville, who served for a time as ambassador to France.

The authors say Neville's life helps explain a switch in Shakespeare's plays, from histories and comedies to tragedies, at the turn of the 17th century. Neville was imprisoned in the Tower of London from 1601 to 1603 for his role in the Essex rebellion (the attempt by the Earl of Essex and his supporters to overthrow Queen Elizabeth I), which the authors say accounts for the more tragic tone of "Hamlet," written in 1601 and 1602, and the plays that follow.

Many Shakespeare experts dismiss the theory.

Like most previous theories that challenge Shakespeare's authorship of the plays, this claim makes the mistake of assuming his education and general knowledge of the world were very limited," said Roger Pringle, director of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust in Stratford. "There is plenty of evidence to suggest Shakespeare received a thoroughly good classical education at the Stratford grammar school and then, for well over 20 years, was involved in artistic and intellectual circles in London."

Jonathan Bate, a professor of literary studies at Warwick University and author of "The Genius of Shakespeare," said, "There's not a shred of evidence in support of the argument; it's full of errors. There's no reason to doubt that Shakespeare wrote Shakespeare."

Bate said the authorship question emerged more than 100 years ago "out of snobbery."

"People began to say, 'How could a middle-class grammar school boy from the provinces write these plays?'" he said. "It shows how Shakespeare has become such a cult figure. The moment Shakespeare becomes regarded as the greatest of all writers, inevitably heresies start emerging."

But Mark Rylance, artistic director of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre in London, called the book "pioneering."

"As this book rightly suggests, if the plays had not been attributed to Shakespeare in 1623, he would be the last person you would imagine able to write such matter," he wrote in the book's foreword.

Rubinstein said he hoped those who were convinced that Shakespeare wrote his own plays would consider the evidence rationally.

"What they must do is explain all the inconsistencies and inadequacies of Shakespeare's life as it's known to us and use it to explain the plays," he said.

Just thought I would let everyone know that last night Keeta and I lost the baby.  Any prayers or condolences that you have to offer are greatly appreciated.  We will get past this and we're still planning on getting married, so to those who know who you are, make sure you're free October 28, 2006, because there's going to be a beautiful wedding.

-Josh

I just found out yesterday that on April 9th me and Keeta will welcome another baby into our lives!!!  

It's been a while since I last posted so I figured that it was about time to a new one.  It's been a very interesting and fun week this past week.  For starters, my best friend of 11 years finally came back from D.C. last monday.  While we didn't get to hang out too long. we did get to hang out for the first time in over a year and a half.  It was great, but I felt bad for him because he hasn't really been able to experience much of anything outside of four walls in a year.  He's no longer a member of the corps, which sucks monkey testicles because he loved it there, but he's already got a few job offers that will keep him busy.  Right now he's been out of town taking care of some things, but hopefully we'll get to hang out sometime after he gets back.

On another good note, me and Keeta finally got a day off together today! We haven't had a decent day together without work getting in the way of the day in a couple weeks.  While we do get to work at Pro together, that's work and we keep it outside  so people can't complain.  But we went out to Goodwill today in search of some good deals for stuff for our place when we move out in a couple months.  And we came across some kickass things.  I picked up some copies of Memoir's of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Godfather by Mario Puzo, The Illiad by Homer, and The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald.  She picked up a shitload of kids disney and little golden books for like $5.  The other night me and Keeta also went out to Wal*Mart and picked up a copy of Sin City (a must watch people!!!) and I also picked up a copy of Kung Fu Hustle online because it was like $6 cheaper than had I bought it with Sin City.

Well, I've had a hell of a good week and hopefully it gets better this week!  Hope everyone had a good weekend, I'll try and post again soon.

-Josh