Haunted Gettysburg

Haunted Gettysburg — Eyewitness Accounts of the Supernatural was written by Jack Bochar & Bob Wasel and published in 1996 by the authors.

The book is comprised of 26 stories of paranormal events experienced by everyday people. A predominant number of the people were dressed as Civil War reenactors.

One of my favorite chapters titled ‘Music In A Boy’s Eye’ tells the story of a young boy and his obsession with the 8th Illinois Calvary and a particular trooper who was also a bugler. The boy felt inextricably connected to the trooper and the places the 8th fought in at Gettysburg.

The last story is particularly interesting and unusual and recounts the experiences of a Native American woman with her ancient peoples in what is now known as the Triangular Field.

It is interesting to ponder as to why there is so much paranormal activity in Gettysburg. Ponder not in the sense of why that place, but how the energy is being transferred, are the soldiers trapped in a Groundhog sort of day re-living the battle for all eternity, or is what happens sort of an image imprint, like the afterimage from a firework. The emotional intensity searing the imprint for all time in that place.

We are travelling to Gettysburg in the fall and then to Williamsburg. We have a couple of ghost tours planned. Maybe we will see some ghosts on the Civil War battlefields we are going to visit.

Have you ever seen a ghost?

Garden Update July 14th

Strawberries all done for summer. Worried that it is true that our blueberries will not produce much of a crop due to the late frost we had.

First crop of carrots came in.

Seeing zucchini on the vines and thinking we’ll have some next week. Putting down lots of diatamaceous earth to keep those pesty slugs and snails from decimating the tender beans.

Still picking snow peas and garden peas and eating them fresh for dinner!

The garden has quieted down. Much like a child who reaches those middle years, after the burst of being a young child and before the excitement of being a young adult. Growing and changing and taking it all in.

Wild Nights! by Joyce Carol Oates

Wild Nights! Stories About the Last Days of Poe, Dickinson, Twain, James and Hemingway was written by Joyce Carol Oates and published in 2008 by HarperCollins.

It is not what I thought it would be. I was expecting fictionalized accounts of the actual events of these famous authors last days — historical fiction. I have read biographies or the autobiographies of all the writers in Oates’s book except for James.

Instead, Oates has written disturbing and profoundly upsetting short stories using the names of the writers and some tidbits of their lives. What may have happened to Poe if he’d lived and went to be a Light House Keeper; what it would be like to have an animatronic version of Dickinson in your house, her soul intact within the created being; what Twain might have been really up to with his young female Angelfish club; what was really going on in James’s mind when he volunteered at a hospital with young WWI soldiers; and Hemingway in his last tormented days in Ketchum, Idaho as he is wishing to commit suicide.

The stories repulsed me in many ways. Primarily because the characters in them have little or no redeeming qualities. They are demented, unintelligent, twisted, cold, uncaring, selfish, and in the case of Dickinson, truly like a robot — her character is not rounded out at all. Rather, the story is really about the owners of the EDickinsonRepliluxe and the horrors they perpetuate upon poor Emily.

There were no shades of gray. Hemingway in his story is a mean, heartless, misogynist that I almost wished would kill himself. Poe is very nearly a complete idiot. And so forth.

I don’t think the stories are fair to the authors they portray, despite the admonition that the stories are fictional. Has everyone read biographies of these authors? I now have a very twisted image of Henry James, but I temper this knowing Oates could not be possibly completely accurate about him. She didn’t seem accurate about the other writers I have read about.

It is almost as if Oates is punishing her characters for being mentally ill, suicidal, famous, reclusive, homosexual. She does not seem to see the inner torment and sadness they dealt with. Yes, she acknowledges it but has no empathy for them. The authors come across as unrelatable and dreadful rather than as the flesh and blood humans they were. 

And the stories became predictable. In a pattern of making the great writer as distasteful as he could possibly be so the reader doesn’t like him by the end of the story. They were hard for me to read. I like to think that a person who can write a great piece of literature must be intricately layered and multi-dimensional and must have some redeeming aspects to their personality, despite whatever flaws seem to overwhelm him.

The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau

The City of Ember was written by Jeanne DuPrau and published in 2003 by Random House. Although it is located in the teen section of my local library, I would classify it as an MG science fiction novel. My guess (based on the twelve-year-old trapped inside me) is the book would appeal the most to those readers aged ten to twelve.

The City of Ember is about two twelve-year-olds, Lina Mayfleet and Doon Harrow, and their quest to escape from Ember, the city they are confined to. Past the city is the Unknown Regions, no one has ever gone there and returned.

Ember is lighted only through artificial means and between 9pm and 6am the lights are turned off and the inhabitants endure “utter darkness”. There are no movable lights, only fixed ones; hence, the impossibility of journeying into the Unknown Regions to find a way to another place or city.

Why must they escape Ember? As in Mortal Engines, all material goods are heavily recycled and reused and they are running out of usable goods, most importantly light bulbs. They are running out of stored goods, including food, and their greenhouse has begun failing in its production of fresh food. But most importantly, the generator that supplies the electricity from the power of a running river to light Ember is wearing out from 241 years of use.

The box with a timed lock and The Builders instructions to get out of Ember was misplaced by the seventh mayor. But Lina’s grandmother has started, in her dementia, to look for a box. Her grandfather was a mayor.

Children in Ember go to school until age twelve and then are given a job on Assignment Day, much like in The Giver. Doon wants to save Ember and so he switches his messenger job with Lina, who was assigned to the electricity. Doon is a serious, studious, intelligent boy; he keeps a detailed book of bug drawings and has mechanical aptitude. Lina is a caring, nurturing (she cares for both her baby sister and her grandmother), intelligent girl who is a fast runner and a visionary artist. She has been drawing pictures of a lighted city for a long time now.

DuPrau’s descriptions of characters are so good these alone make the book worth reading. “Late in the afternoon, a young man came up to her, walking with a sort of sideways lurch. He was an odd-looking person - he had a very long neck with a bump in the middle and teeth so big they looked as if they were trying to escape from his mouth.” This unforgettable description comes into important play much later in the novel, but the reader has held onto DuPrau’s vivid imagery and the character is instantly recognizable to the reader, even though not to Lina right away.

The pacing and plot are well done and the reader is compelled to continue turning pages to see if Lina and Doon do make it out of Ember. And the reader desperately hopes that they do, especially as the bad guys come out in the end. There is a marked lack of violence without a lack of excitement and adventure and so I can finally recommend a science fiction novel to my daughter.

There were some elements that bothered me. Lina’s grandmother passes on and Lina grieves for just one day. No real further mention of the loss is made and I know that Lina is caught up in the escape, but Grandmother raised Lina and the loss would be ever present. More depth here would’ve made the loss significant; otherwise, DuPrau easily could’ve chosen to allow Grandmother to live.

It is explained in the story that The Builders chose 100 people to live in Ember - 50 older adults and 50 babies but the adults are forbidden to tell about the place they come from. This follows along the idea in The Giver that memories are painful and to be repressed. This didn’t make sense to me, given that The Builders always intended for the Emberites to make their way out eventually.

The Unknown Regions are never explained and when you read the story and find out where Ember is, this will make even less sense if you try to picture what the Unknown Regions could be.

I loved the ending (as serendipitous as something possibly could be) when Mrs. Murdo (Lina’s new caregiver) finds the last message from Lina and Doon - the most important message. And I thought there are good parallels in the story to what children are grappling with in our society today. Namely, that there seems to be a (unnamed in the novel) danger to us all (this is why The Builders build Ember) and we hope some of us will survive (Global Warming, North Korea, Iran, economic crisis, etc) and that there are supposedly finite resources that are not truly finite to the powerful. The Mayor of Ember has access to a hidden store of goods, to keep him fat and happy.

I am looking forward to seeing the movie version of The City of Ember and I am strongly hoping they keep DuPrau’s upbeat message and sense of hope, along with her excellent storyline and characters.

An Inspirational Quote from John Keats for writers

“I should write from the mere yearning and fondness I have for the Beautiful even if my night’s labours should be burnt every morning and no eye ever shine upon them.”  John Keats

I lifted this quote from an article titled Cloudy Trophies by Adam Kirsch published in this week’s New Yorker magazine.

In the article, Kirsch reviews a new study of Keats’s life and work by Stanley Plumly - Posthumous Keats.  What I love about The New Yorker reviews is how much information the writers pack in. Keats died thinking his poetry had failed. The critics were harsh and Keats said, “I have no immortal work behind me…”

This reminded me of the sad story that F Scott Fitzgerald died believing The Great Gatsby was a failure.

Keats is right about why we should write. It is also true that it does cause a writer personal pain to have their work rejected, whether it is never published or after it is. The adage not to take rejections personal is a difficult one to follow. It is after all, the very essence of our innermost, and most often hidden, being that we are revealing through our work. And while we are not the work, the work is part of us. That work could not have come from any other human being — it is an expression of our history, temperament, beliefs and spirituality.

Poe took rejections personally but he could also be a harsh critic.

So why did Keats publish a book of poetry after his first two were viewed so negatively?

He knew they were wrong. We writers know in our hearts when the critics are right on and when they are simply wrong. We might not admit it to anyone else, but we know. It doesn’t remove the sting, but it keeps us going, attempting to fulfill that yearning and longing we have to produce something beautiful with words.

Bullying in Michigan

Michigan Board of Education adopted in 2006 a very good anti-bullying policy that public schools must abide by. Go here to read it and print it for your school: http://www.bullypolice.org/mi_law.html

But, remember– private schools don’t have to follow this policy.

Also- please contact your Michigan representative or senator to ask them to pass Anti-Bullying legislation in Michigan. Please remember to ask them to make sure ALL children are covered by the law, including children in private schools.

Yes, my child was a victim of bullying at the tender age of 9. She is still recovering and we removed her from the school in December. If she has to be with a group of children she does not know, the anxiety that one of them will hurt her verbally, emotionally or physically causes her to cry beforehand even if she desperately wants to be in the organized activity, sport, class. I have to stay with her until she can “trust” those other children.

The school would not fully acknowledge the problem– they kept changing their mind, ”yes, there’s a problem” to “no, there’s not” until our daughter was brought to a complete breakdown. The school wanted her to “stand up” to the bully and my tender, sensitive, sweet little girl could not do that on her own. The school never expected that her parents would stick up for her and say enough, is enough. And we were paying for her to go through this.

Bullying does nothing but scar and wound children. I will never accept the mantra that “difficult people make us a better person”.  How many abusive people do you know that you willingly choose to be with everyday? And if you do, why? Don’t you love yourself enough to protect yourself? Why does anyone expect a child to endure abuse?

Warnings about Private Schools in Michigan

To all you parents considering enrolling your child in a private school in Michigan–

Private schools in Michigan do not have to follow policies established by the Michigan State Board of Education. For example, despite there being an Anti-Bullying Policy established by the Michigan State Board of Education, private schools are not legally obligated to adhere to that policy, unlike public schools.

Ask the private school you are considering what policies they abide by.

Also, the enrollment agreement you sign can mean that if you pull your child out of that private school, if even for example they were being bullied there, that school can go after you for the rest of the tuition. You will have to hire an attorney no matter how justified you feel that the school was not meeting its end of the bargain.

Furthermore, no matter the links or information on the private school’s website or literature attesting to accreditation or membership in an organization — call those organizations before you enroll your child and ask them if the school you are considering is truly accredited by or a member of the organization. Make sure there is a “higher power” that private school must answer to, no matter how wonderful and caring on the surface that private school appears to be.

Fair warning from a veteran.

A Terrible Glory ~ Custer and the Little Bighorn by James Donovan

 I thoroughly enjoyed reading James Donovan’s nonfiction novel A Terrible Glory: Custer and the Little Bighorn - the Last Great Battle of the American West, published in 2008 by Little, Brown and Company. A Terrible Glory tells the story of the Battle of the Little Bighorn, fought by the Seventh Calvary of the U.S. government against “more than a thousand Lakota and Cheyenne warriors”.

Donovan’s richly-detailed narrative is fascinating, even to me — a reader who doesn’t usually care to read a military/war nonfiction book. This is because Donovan brings to life the characters and their relationships to each other and others. I left the book having a completely different view of George Armstrong Custer, whom I previously had no respect for. Now, I have some empathy for him, can understand why he ended up in the situation he did. Donovan seemed fair and impartial in his assessment, analysis and interpretation of the historical records and documents.

I had no idea that there were other commanding officers on the battlefield that day and that they made mistakes also. That they did not send help to Custer at the sounds of the fierce fighting. One of them spent the battle in a state of drunkenness. I also had previously pictured, since I have seen the battlefield on our way to Plains, Montana, Custer and his Calvary riding around a rather large area and fighting the Sioux. The true picture is much sadder and far more tragic.

Not that Donovan implies the Sioux shouldn’t have fought like they did. The Indians were persecuted without any hint of doubt and the American government was out to take their lands and destroy their way of life, no matter what. It is fascinating to learn about Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse and the other Indians as they tried in vain to defend their families, their tribes, their culture. Both Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse came to tragic ends. Now, I know more about them as the men they were and as the great leaders they were.

A Terrible Glory is 485 pages with notes, but if you have any interest in the history of the Native American’s plight or in the Wild West, you should not pass this book by. For too long we have held onto the legend of Custer and the Last Stand, rather than to what really happened.

 

 

Simon Rose - Children’s Book Author

Simon Rose, author of fantasy and science fiction novels for children, will be a guest blogger next week at the National Writing for Children Center. He will be blogging each day on “time travel stories and the importance of historical research”.

He is guest blogging here : http://www.writingforchildrencenter.com/

Visit Simon Rose:
http://www.simon-rose.com
http://simon-rose.blogspot.com/
Author of:
The Doomsday Mask 2009
The Heretic’s Tomb 2007
The Emerald Curse 2006
The Clone Conspiracy 2005
The Sorcerer’s Letterbox 2004
The Alchemist’s Portrait 2003

Simon writes fast-paced, exciting stories that I think would especially appeal to boys and reluctant readers. I know my boys would’ve loved them.

Brother Jason’s Awesome Photos!

My brother Jason, a young adult studying Photography in Florida, has just put up a flickr photo site.

Visit : http://flickr.com/photos/jasonrphotography

Our father was an avid photographer and I see Jason has inherited his artistic eye.