Well, here I was thinking I had gotten scoped by the New York Times: my discovery (care of wikipedia) that Al Franken was an Odd Fellow was now in the (putative) paper of record before i could dissemnate it on my little blog.But though the article had the irresistible title, "Al Franken and the Odd Politics of Minnesota," there was no mention of the fact that he was (at least according to my source) literally an Odd Fellow.
Hence, this blog entry.
And while we're at it, maybe we could share something concerning our recollections of Odd Fellows. All I remember is that sometime back in prehistory, the Odd Fellows had a hall near my town's post office, and I remember thinking that it was an odd name for an Order.
Does anyone know more about this group, and its history? Notably, Schuyler Colfax, who considered he 14th Amendment the "gem of the Constitution," was a member. (And he was right about the Amendment.) My own, uniformed speculation: This group, like the Freemasons and other orders that formed in the so-called "Enlightenment," were a counterweight to the religious fanaticism that otherwise characterized American communal life, and consequently, became the target of innumerable conspiracy theories. I am surprised this group still exists.