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NATIONAL KOREAN WAR VETERANS ARMISTICE DAY

National Korean War Veterans Armistice Day commemorates the end of the Korean War on July 27, 1953, and those who served during this often forgotten war.

On June 25, 1950, the first war of the Cold War-era erupted when North Korean forces crossed the border into South Korea. The war would last three years, involving troops from around the globe, and costing millions of lives.

Pre-War History
Unlike World War I, World War II, the Vietnam War, and The War on Terror, the Korean War’s complexity, setting, and timing cause history to gloss over the war. For centuries, Japan and China laid claim on Korea. In more modern history, Japan annexed Korea, and following World War II, the Allied forces liberated Korea, dividing it into separate occupied zones. The dividing line was named the 38th parallel, creating a Communist North Korea and a South Korean republic.

NATIONAL SCOTCH DAY

On July 27, we recognize an aged whisky distilled from malted barley and make a toast on National Scotch Day. Let’s spend some time sharing a drink with family and friends to not only appreciate this malted beverage, but to also appreciate the people we have in our lives.

NATIONAL LOVE IS KIND DAY

Just as Americans celebrate their independence on the July 4, survivors of abuse celebrate their life on July 27 on National Love Is Kind Day. This National Day is a day for all victims of domestic violence/domestic abuse their FREEDOM and INDEPENDENCE from their abuser.

National Love is Kind Day encourages you to become aware of how you are treating people, how people are treating you, and how you can become emboldened, supported, and empowered to lead the joyful and productive life you deserve. With improved and proper support, families can know and experience the freedom and love found in an abuse-free home. Children grow up with positive role models, and both adults and children lead more productive, happy, and mentally healthy lives.

NATIONAL NEW JERSEY DAY

On July 27, National New Jersey Day recognizes the third state to join the Union. Find out what’s unique and captivating about the Garden State!

Brief New Jersey History
The history of New Jersey begins When Giovanni Da Verrazzano first explored the shores of the Atlantic coastal lands that included what we now consider to be New Jersey. Da Verrazzano discovered diverse communities of people who were later called the Delaware Indians.

In 1660, the Dutch founded New Jersey’s first European settlement, but in 1664 the British took control. At this time, the land was divided into half and named New Jersey after the Isle of Jersey in the English Channel. Leading up the American Revolution, the colony as a whole was equally divided in its loyalties to the crown. Colonists who remained undecided were just as likely to support the rebel cause as they were to support the king. The same applied to colonists in New Jersey.

New Jersey was centrally located among the thirteen colonies, prompting more battles than any other state during the Revolutionary War. After the Revolutionary war New Jersey was the third state to enter the union. Interestingly, it was also the first state to sign the Bill of Rights.

NATIONAL CRÈME BRÛLÈE DAY

National Crème Brûlée Day on July 27 presents an opportunity to enjoy a mouth-watering custard for dessert. Since there are several flavors, there is no possible way you should miss out on this food holiday.

Judy Garland was found dead in the bathroom of her rented Cadogan Lane home in London on June 22, 1969. She was 47. The official ending was not a murder mystery, not a hidden Hollywood crime scene, not a shocking last-minute twist. Westminster coroner Gavin Thurston called it accidental, saying, “This is quite clearly an accidental circumstance to a person who was accustomed to taking barbiturates over a very long time.”
But Judy Garland’s real case file does not begin in that London bathroom. It begins decades earlier, when Frances Ethel Gumm, a little girl with a giant voice, entered the machinery of old Hollywood and came out with a new name, a new image, and a new life that no child could fully control.
MGM did not simply discover Judy Garland. It shaped her, polished her, corrected her, measured her, and sold her. When she signed with the studio in 1935, she was still a teenager, but the studio system treated young performers like products that needed constant adjustment. Her voice was gold. Her body was treated like a problem. Her smile was valuable. Her exhaustion was treated like an inconvenience.
That was the dark trade behind Dorothy Gale. “The Wizard of Oz” (1939) made Judy immortal, but immortality arrived while she was still a girl being pushed through adult schedules, adult pressure, and adult expectations. The world saw blue gingham, ruby slippers, and that aching voice singing about somewhere over the rainbow. Behind it was a teenager learning that even hunger could be controlled by the studio.
Garland later remembered the food battle as one of the clearest wounds of her childhood. She said, “From the time I was 13, there was a constant struggle between MGM and me, whether or not to eat, how much to eat.”
That one memory says more than a whole studio memo ever could. For Judy, childhood at MGM was not only about rehearsals, cameras, songs, and costumes. It was about watching every bite. It was about being told that talent was not enough unless the body carrying that talent matched the image the studio wanted to sell. She was not allowed to simply grow up. She had to remain camera-ready.
Louis B. Mayer’s MGM was built on control. The studio controlled contracts, publicity, romances, schedules, diets, and reputations. Stars were made to look effortless, but the effort was brutal. Child performers were praised as miracles in public while being managed like property in private. Judy became one of the brightest faces of that system, and also one of its clearest victims.
The working hours became another part of the file. Garland later described a culture where pills were not presented as danger, but as tools. She said, “They had us working days and nights on end. They’d give us pills to keep us on our feet long after we were exhausted.”
That sentence turns the Hollywood dream into evidence. Pep pills to wake up. Sleeping pills to come down. A studio hospital instead of real rest. A young girl being trained to ignore her body because the set needed her awake, thin, bright, and smiling. The damage did not look like damage at first. It looked like professionalism. It looked like discipline. It looked like show business.
And that is why Judy Garland’s story still feels so disturbing. The tragedy was not only that she died young. The tragedy was that so many warning signs were treated as normal because the machine kept making money. The voice kept selling tickets. The image kept shining. Dorothy kept smiling.
By adulthood, Garland’s relationship with pills, sleep, food, and self-worth had already been shaped by years of pressure. The public saw comebacks, marriages, concerts, collapses, applause, and headlines. But the deeper story stayed the same. A child had been taught that love from Hollywood came with conditions.
So the question was never only how Judy Garland died in 1969. The darker question is when the accident really began. Was it in London, or was it years earlier on a studio lot, when a teenage girl was handed control, correction, pills, hunger, fame, and fear, then told to sing beautifully anyway?
Dorothy found Oz, but Judy never escaped MGM …