Only Four More Days Until “Dickmas!” How Will You Celebrate Herman Melville’s 190th Birthday?

This is a picture of Herman Melville, not Zach Galifianakis.

This Saturday, August 1st, would’ve been Herman Melville‘s 190th Birthday. Still don’t know quite yet what you’re doing to celebrate? Well, you’re in luck, because Margaret from Power Moby Dick has posted a great “Dickmas” activities list on the Sea Fever Blog.

For example, you could re-create an authentic meal (“‘beef’ of questionable origin and the alcoholic brew called flip, but “indestructible” dumplings and bread containing “fresh fare”—that is to say, bugs”).

Or, you could attend many whaling- or Melville-related activities, including a lecture at the New Bedford Whaling Museum, a Moby-Dick-a-thon at the Mystic Seaport Museum, an ice cream social at the house where Melville wrote Moby Dick, and an outdoor reading of Moby Dick on Staten Island (from a group called OutLOUD).

I know what I’m doing…and let’s just say I won’t be going to Staten Island, because I’ve lived in NYC for like a decade, and I’ve only been to Staten Island to either start the marathon or to eat at the Old Country Buffet.