What we remember on Nov. 22

Does this one sentence, a quote from the nurse at Parkland Hospital, solve the mystery of what happened to Jackie's pink pillbox hat 50 years ago today?

"Some time later, Hinchliffe said, she learned that she had thrown away the pink pillbox hat that Jacqueline Kennedy wore that day. It was with the flowers she removed from the president’s stretcher when he was wheeled into the hospital."

You can read the nurse's story in this piece from the Fort Worth Star Telegram. It's difficult to know what really happened in that chaos.

Though there remain many other mysteries from that awful day, what we do know is that Jackie, like her country, persevered. She raised her children, established a career as a book editor -- not for the money but because she enjoyed the intellectual stimulation -- and became a preservation activist to save important buildings such as Grand Central Terminal. Those more life-affirming aspects are always what I prefer to remember each Nov. 22, especially this one.

Jackie O's Role in Saving Grand Central Terminal

My latest post, on the Atlantic Cities blog, about what celebrities today could learn from Jackie O's fight to save Grand Central Terminal (which turns 100 this month).

Google's new White House tour

When I saw that the White House announced a new Google Street View of the White House interior rooms, with a focus on the artwork, I got a tingle of excitement. This is Michelle Obama's project -- a 21st Century approach to opening the White House to the public, in the tradition of what Jacqueline Kennedy did in 1962 with a televised tour, which won her an Emmy.

I think there is even more than could be done using technology to bring the White House, and its stories, alive.

You can check it out here, along with the First Lady's video overview, above.