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DEAR HACKER

5/17/2019

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I’VE BEEN HACKED
Several years ago, I received, out of the blue, a dozen e-mails from friends asking if I was really in Turkey. They and others had received an e-mail, supposedly from yours truly, with pleas for money because my family and I were stranded in that country.
​A few years before I had traveled in Turkey and found it to be a beautiful and fascinating country, but I wasn't there without money to spend on Turkish Delight and other intriguing things. To clarify, this happened before the politics became so troubled, and I didn’t worry about traveling there.
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Of course, my friends immediately recognized the scam. So did I, and I was pissed. I sat down and wrote an angry letter to the hacker with the reasons why his/her letter was such a failure. I didn't have a clue who the hacker was or how to reach that person, but decided to post it on my blog just for the heck of it.

​Cartoon By Ron Leishman
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"Dear Hacker,
I hope you enjoyed your trip to Turkey -- it's really a beautiful country – and made it home without further incident. I imagine by now you realize the significant mistakes you made hacking into an author's address book.

First, writers generally have other writers' e-mail addresses, and writers are not necessarily the best paid people on the Internet. The most you could expect to get from a writer is about five bucks, if that. [Plus, a writer's reaction might be to welcome the reduced competition and opportunity to leave another writer-friend stranded in a foreign country. You never know.] Unfortunately, you failed to indicate where to send the money and how to get in touch with you, which is sure to get you nothing.

Second, you need better language skills if you're going to convince writers that one of their own is in need. Most of my writer friends knew at once the verbatim e-mail, reprinted word for word and punctuation mistake for mistake, below, was a fraud.

         “I am so sorry to bring this to your notice, I and my family came down to Turkey on a short vacation, On getting
​          there we were seriously mugged at a gun point with bruises all over our heads. All cash and credit card and cell
          phones were stolen away away from us. Right now we have no means of getting back home. Our return flight
          leaves soon, we're having financial problems sorting our hotel bills and the hotel manager won't let us leave
         until we sort the bills. We need your help with some money i will surely refund it back to you.”
 
Third, your letter isn’t written in critical panic mode. If I were stranded somewhere without money, and had the opportunity to e-mail someone for help, I wouldn’t waste my time on this kind of a communication. Plus, I’ve traveled enough to know you should never keep all your money and credit cards in one place and to always carry copies of your important documents.

WHY YOUR LETTER MISSED THE MARK
You, my dear hacker, really need to improve your writing and punctuation skills in English. If you intend to continue your career as an extortionist, I suggest you invest in a good grammar/spell check program and some English classes.
Further, it's unlikely I would bring something "to your notice". To your "attention" perhaps, but even that sounds rather affected in terms of colloquial English.
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"I and my family"?
I don't think so. I would say "My family and I" and, also, I wouldn’t "come down to Turkey" since I would be traveling from California. In case you can’t read a map, Turkey is to the east of California – although I concede one can get from California to Turkey by going west also. Americans have a tendency to describe the direction of a geographic location based on where they live or start a trip.
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​"On getting there"?
Okay for prose, not for letters to friends or dialogue. Even the turns of phrase "Upon arriving" or "Upon our arrival" are somewhat formal. I'd use "When we got there …” Also note that if you are writing the message in Turkey, and you are stranded, you would be talking about "here", not "there"?

"Seriously mugged"?
I imagine all muggings are serious, particularly to the mugee. Please describe to me what an un-serious mugging would be like.

"With bruises all over our heads."?
This description evokes a lot of questions. Did you have bruises all over your heads to start with? Bruises on heads might be hard to see unless the hair is cut very short. If the mugger held you and your family at gun point, did he bash everyone on their heads with something else or with the gun? If he bashed one of you with the gun, then the rest of the victims couldn’t have been at gun point at the same time. Did this mugger act alone?

"Stolen away away"?
The phrase “stolen away” is not common usage in my part of the US. "Stolen away away from us", even less common unless the speaker is stuttering. Can one stutter in writing?

You should leave spaces (at least one) between sentences and end them with proper punctuation. Commas in the right places are nice too. And don’t forget to capitalize “I”. This was an e-mail, not a text message.
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“Right now we have no means of getting back home.”
Here your English is fine, but your logic is lacking. If your flight was leaving soon, then you most likely had tickets. Ergo, you had a means of getting home. Based on the rest of your letter, what you lacked was the means to pay the hotel bill.

I'm sure the hotel manager would not allow patrons leave until they "paid" the bills. It's not much of a problem to sort them, but the hotel wants the money.

Finally, I might "repay" the loan, but I wouldn't even think of saying I'd "refund" it (although, technically, that may not be incorrect). I mean, everyone is a little sloppy in e-mails, and we all make mistakes, but come on!

I was gratified when my friends all greeted me with, "I'm glad to see you're back from Turkey. LOL!" I'm not sure what other people in my address book thought, since many of them are professional contacts and don't know me from Adam. It's a cinch they wouldn't send money to bail out a complete stranger.
I hope you had a nice vacation, and better luck next time.  
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Sincerely, R.A.S.

Alas, my sarcasm was wasted, since I had no place to send the e-mail, but I felt better. I'm climbing off my soap box now and won't bother my readers with this again. I promise!
□
​
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PARAPROSDOKIANS: "I didn't say It Was Your Fault; I said I'm blaming you."

5/10/2019

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YES, VIRGINIA, THERE REALLY IS A PARADROSDOKIAN!
You may not find any paraprosdokian at the La Brea Tar Pits, but they exist. Really, they do! You can find them in Merriam Webster and most other dictionaries, snoozing between the pages.

However, you probably are familiar with this species which is commonly known as the ever- popular comedic One- Liner. Merriam-Webster defines paraprosdokian as “A figure of speech in which the latter part of a sentence or phrase is surprising or unexpected in a way that causes the reader or listener to re-frame or re-interpret the first part.”
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In fact, some paraprosdokians can change the meaning of the initial phrase and play on the double meaning of the words, creating a syllepsis.
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​No! That’s not a baby paraprosdokian or a sexually transmitted disease. Syllepsis is another figure of speech in which a word is applied to two others in different senses. (e.g., caught the train and a bad cold.)
 
WRITERS AND READERS, REJOICE!
The paraprosdokian figure of speech is one everyone is familiar with, but writers should understand its use as another writing tool.

If you're like I was, at this point you are saying—or perhaps yelling—"What the heck are you talking about?" Even stronger language may be appropriate.

It is much easier to give examples of Famous Pararosdokians:
● "He was at his best when the going was good."--Alistair Cooke on the Duke of Windsor
● "There but for the grace of God—goes God."--Winston Churchill
● "If I could just say a few words… I'd be a better public speaker."--Homer Simpson
● "If I am reading this graph correctly—I'd be very surprised."--Stephen Colbert
● "On his feet he wore…blisters."--Aristotle
● "I've had a perfectly wonderful evening, but this wasn't it."--Groucho Marx
● "A modest man, who has much to be modest about."—supposedly Winston Churchill, about Clement Attlee
● "I haven't slept for ten days, because that would be too long."--Mitch Hedberg
● “Going to church doesn’t make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.”
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NOW I GET IT!
We're all acquainted with these one-liners because they're frequently used in comedy. They're fun. They're also useful in writing for several reasons.

● First, because writers are constantly advised to avoid clichés and to come up with new and fresh ways of expressing the same old ideas. A writer can use this technique to invent new and interesting metaphors.

● Second, the use of this figure of speech can create humor or dramatic effect, or even for producing an anticlimax.
This device is used not only in comedy but in literature and frequently in films. Here are some examples of the use of the device in literature:

● Example #1 – My speech to the Graduates by Woody Allen
"Contemporary man, of course, has no such peace of mind. He finds himself in the midst of a crisis of faith. He is what we fashionably call ‘alienated.’ He has seen the ravages of war, he has known natural catastrophes, he has been to singles bars."
       The sentences goes along dealing with the meaning of life. The juxtaposition of final phrase contrasts so much
       with the serious topic, that it’s unexpected and, therefore, humorous.

● Example #2 - The Restaurant at the End of the Universe by Douglas Adams
“Trin Tragula–for that was his name–was a dreamer, a thinker, a speculative philosopher or, as his wife would have it, an idiot…”
       Trin Tragula is portrayed as "a dreamer, a thinker, a speculative philosopher”, all characteristics the reader would
       think of as good traits. Adams, however, ends his litany by mentioning how Trin Tragula’s wife perceives him (“as
        his wife would have it, an idiot”). This ending is a surprise to the readers and creates comic effect.

● Example #3 - The Cottage Maid by Patrick Branwell Bronte
“Religion makes beauty enchanting,
And even where beauty is wanting,
The temper and mind,
Religion refined,
Will shine through the veil with sweet luster...."
       While this one is truly incomprehensible to me, it is explained this way. "In this excerpt, the author is talking about
       religion through the first four lines. However, in the last line, there is a sudden shift of sense" which renders a 
       different meaning from the rest of the text. thttps://literarydevices.net/paraprosdokian/

JUST FOR FUN: HERE IS A SHORT LIST
There are many lists of well-known and not-so-well-known paraprosdokians. Here are a few:

● "I like going to the park and watching the children run around screaming, because they don't know I'm using blanks." --Emo Philips
● "I haven't slept for ten days, because that would be too long." --Mitch Hedberg
● "I sleep eight hours a day and at least ten at night." --Bill Hicks
● "I don't belong to an organized political party. I'm a Democrat." --Will Rogers
● "On the other hand, you have different fingers." --Steven Wright
● “I asked God for a bike, but I know God doesn’t work that way. So I stole a bike and asked for forgiveness.”
● “Do not argue with an idiot. He will drag you down to his level and beat you with experience.”
● “I want to die peacefully in my sleep, like my grandfather. Not screaming and yelling like the passengers in his car.
● “Going to church doesn’t make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.”
● “The last thing I want to do is hurt you. But it’s still on the list.”
● “Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.”

HAVE FUN WITH IT!

Sources:
http://www.yourdictionary.com/paraprosdokian
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paraprosdokian
https://literarydevices.net/paraprosdokian/
http://www.economicnoise.com/2011/09/05/182-paraprosdokians/
http://www.clker.com/clipart-797642.html
Title contributed by Ali from Pakistan on 06-24-2017
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RESEARCHING YOUR NOVEL

5/3/2019

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​ONE SIZE DOES NOT FIT ALL
One of the most delightful and fun, but frustrating, activities related to writing is researching. While there are general guidelines, everything depends on the topic, the accessibility of material, how accurate the author believes is necessary, and what the author already knows about the setting and the topic. It’s up to the author, so each project will be different.
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WHERE TO BEGIN
Assess your story
In writing this, I’m assuming the author already has an idea what the novel is about and the genre, time, location, and a sense of how much research may be necessary. If you are writing about a topic and location you already know well, your research may be minimal. You might begin your manuscript in whatever way suits you as a writer, and only research for details as you need them. If the novel is your first historical set in a location you’ve never been visited or studied, you are going to need more. Take some time to think about it.

Organize a System for your Research Materials
Most authors addressing this topic suggest the writer set up the system for organizing and storing the research materials before starting to collect data. Some writers resist doing anything in advance, but organizing beforehand pays off. You want to be able to find easily the information and references you’ve collected. Different authors have their own preferences – some manual and hardcopy, some digital, some both -- and there are a number of excellent computer programs available for the purpose listed at the end.

Author Joanna Penn says, “I used to take all my notes in Scrivener because it’s then within easy reach when I write, but I have also started to supplement this with Evernote as it makes things easier to organize for the longer term, whereas Scrivener is for each specific project.”

Use Research To Inform Your Story
Penn also writes that she often goes “into the research phase with no concrete agenda” and emerges “with a clear idea of how the story will unfold.” With only a general idea to start with, research can suggest plots, actions, and settings for the novel which the author hasn’t thought -- or even knows -- about and helps to create an accurate world for the fiction to take place.

My advice, based on personal experience, is to develop at least a rough outline of the story with tentative plot points, setting, and main characters generally identified before you start. Then, armed with a good dose of flexibility, adjust as new ideas evolve from the research. That allows the author to pin down where to look and for what in greater detail.
That’s for the author to decide. The important thing is not to assume you’ll remember everything or that the information will take care of itself. It doesn’t.
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WHAT TO RESEARCH
The question of what takes us back to genre, topics (both internal, such as dealing with a mental disorder, and external, such as what takes place during an autopsy), when and where the story takes place, and so on.

My advice: Limit your initial efforts to those things which are critical to your storyline. For example, describing the clothing style, unless it affects the storyline, can be left for filling in later. Look at it this way: while it’s difficult to know how much research is necessary to uncover those important things, the reverse is it’s fairly simple to determine what things only enhance the settling and atmosphere of the novel.

Where To Look
● Public Library
● University Library/archives
● Book Stores
● Museums
● Internet
● Movies and documentaries
● Newspaper Archives
● TV series, movies, documentaries, etc.
● Visual images including Pinterest
● Take a class or two
● Talk to people who know about the subject/topic/location.
    ▪       There are wonderful websites and Yahoo groups on the internet which provide access to experts in various fields who will answer writers’ questions.
    ▪       Catia Shattuck, copywriter, suggests just calling people [even at random].
    ▪       Call professional organizations or whatever kind of body represents people in the field you’re interested in, and ask them to recommend or find someone to talk to you.
    ▪       For location information, call the Chamber of Commerce or equivalent, or local realtors.
● Travel
Nothing beats knowing the physical environment of your setting. If at all possible, go there, wander the streets, eat at the restaurants, smell the smells and experience the weather. Most of all, watch the people. Being there gives a different perspective on the “feel” of the location. If you can’t go, that’s when talking to someone and/or travel guides are useful.
● Experiment
Be careful. No one should get hurt during this process. Don’t blow up your garage learning how to make a bomb for your factious terrorist in a spy novel.
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What To Look At
● Books in general and best sellers as related to topic(s) – fiction and non-fiction
● Novels addressing the same topic or take place in the same time period and general location
● Text books and how-to manuals [as appropriate]
● Maps
● Travel Guide Books
● Magazines
● Newspapers
● Primary Materials [Old letters, old photographs, diaries, journals, etc.]
● Visual images including Pinterest
● People Watch – See how people similar to your characters act and react
● Internet Articles

​Regarding this last one, which is an important resource, when there are few references listed and you want more, take some aspect related to your topic or location and go to Google Images. When you find a related photo, click on it for an enlargement. To the right of the enlarged photo will be something about the picture and four small boxes. Click on “visit” and it will take you to original article. I usually find many articles that won't come up in an ordinary Google search.
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HOW TO RESEARCH
Again, how depends on the project, but there are guidelines and suggestions most authors agree on. The unfortunate part is that the decisions of how to apply the rules of thumb still fall to the author. Hey, it’s your project!
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“What you research depends on the kind of book you’re writing and what kinds of topics you need to research.” __ Benjamin Dull, Quora 01-08-2014
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Research can consume a great amount of time and, for an author, it can be fun wandering off into new and interesting topics and places. Start with big-ticket items that might affect your storyline.
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​“If you're doing research, you really do need to be thorough about it, or you'll miss something.”
__ Benjamin Dull, Quora 01-08-2014.0

​My own experience is that you don’t want to miss some fact which makes your storyline, or key factors in the story, either impossible or highly improbable. A chicken-egg situation [Although there is an answer to that age-old question.]
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“Eventually, while researching, you’ll learn something you didn’t want to know. Some fact that ruins a plotline you had in mind.”  He goes on to explain. "For instance: My protagonist is stranded on Mars in a small temporary base and has to figure out how to survive for years. He has a few potatoes from his rations, so he decides to farm them inside the base. I figured he could bring Martian soil inside, then plant potatoes in it. But to do that, he needed water—and after some research, I learned that the soil where he was had almost no water in it. This led to a subplot where he had to manufacture water from materials he had on hand. And that subplot ended up becoming one of the pivotal points of the book.” __ Andy Weir 03-07-2014 https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/tip-sheet/article/61328-how-to-research-like-a-writer.html
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"The first problem you run into is the inherent unreliability of information on the internet. A lot of it is inaccurate, most of it is slanted, and some of it is deliberately misleading.” __ Andy Weir 03-07-2014 https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/tip-sheet/article/61328-how-to-research-like-a-writer.html

The internet is one of the most important tools writers have for researching. The availability of such a tool has had dramatic effect on how to conduct research. Information about almost any topic is available at the strike of a few keys. It creates opportunities for author researching today – e.g. we no longer have to travel to Paris to find the street intersections we need -- but it also has some downside.
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When you research, be selective about your sources. Check them for reliability and find several dependable references that agree before you use some fact in your work. Remember, anyone can say anything on the internet, whether or not it’s true.
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The second problem you run into is either not having many sources above reproach … or having too many “reliable” sources that disagree. There are several obvious reasons for the disparities.
         ▪ Perhaps no one kept the type of records you are interested in [or any records at all];
         ▪ The only “sources” are the writings of one or two individuals;|
       ▪ The accounts of the event were written many years after the fact, or the information has been handed down, generation to generation, by word of mouth until it falls into the category of legend.
        ▪ Even with more advanced recordkeeping, mistakes and omissions may have been made;
        ▪ Natural and/or man-made disasters may have destroyed some of records:
       ▪ Multiple sources have recorded events differently. For example, a family bible may show a certain date for a birth, but the county records show two days later. Did it take that time to get to the courthouse to record the birth?
        ▪ Different accounts record and omit certain facts;
        ▪ The spelling of names get changed, or letters of the alphabet get transposed.

Names of people and places are written in different languages, which also can be mistranslated. How many immigrants to the United States had their surnames changed by the immigration official handling the paperwork?

People make mistakes, no matter what century they live in.

So, after this long-winded explanation, what does a writer do about it. First, does it really matter how accurate the information is? Second, can you use a range of dates rather than a specific date? In non-fiction, it is easy enough to point out there are differences between references. When this happens in researching for fiction, either use different facts; be specific about location when addressing styles, customs, food; find another way to say what you want to say without using those inconsistent facts.

Finally, you can take a W.A.G. and hope no one recognizes it for what it is – a wild-assed guess. After all, can you tell when Michael Crichton, who I believe wrote the best-researched novels of all time, moved from the cutting edge of real science into the realm of fiction?
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“Research can become a form of procrastination and the more you research, the more information you will find to include. Therefore, as soon as you have enough information to write a scene about a place, event or person in your novel, then maybe you should stop and do some writing about it. Keep a balance between consumption and creation, input and output.” __ Joanna Penn, https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2017/01/18/research-a-novel/
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“There’s more to research than just looking up facts. Eventually you have to make subjective calls. The next thing to know is when to say when. If you look up every last detail on your subject, you’ll never finish.” ... “There’s a point at which you have to stop researching and start making things up. You are a writer, after all. Making stuff up is your job.” __ Andy Weir 03-07-2014 https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/tip-sheet/article/61328-how-to-research-like-a-writer.html
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“Not everything needs to end up on the page. A classic error new writers often make (is) 'info-dumping' the product of their extensive research in its entirety, believing it will make for a better story. The truth is that readers don't want to be spoon-fed every single piece of information. They're not reading a research report, after all; they're reading a novel.”  __ https://writersedit.com/fiction-writing/top-7-tips-researching-novel/
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HOW MUCH RESEARCH
This takes us full circle to the author making informed decisions based on what kind of book is being written. No one else can make that determination except, perhaps, an editor who is looking for something else. There are three major “…ilities” to keep in mind: Credibility of the author, Sustainability of reader interest; and Believability of the material.
Credibility of the Author
Modern communication technology has altered the level and kind of information easily accessible to nearly everyone on the planet. Today the reading public has available, and is exposed to, high levels of detail about people, places, technologies, customs … anything you might write about. This ups the ante on accuracy. The reader expects more of the author.

After all, if you can research it, so can your readers, and some of them might even be expects already. The reader has to know through some 6th sense that the author knows what they are talking about to make it worthwhile reading the book. If the reader spots inaccuracies, even minor and irrelevant details, the person may no longer trust the author to be accurate about anything, including the important things.

The best example I’ve encountered occurred at an RWA National Conference. For a workshop with editors, the participants could submit, in advance, the first page of a novel to be critiqued publically during the workshop (no names, of course). At the workshop, one of the editors read the beginning of a novel dealing with a love story set in Colombia and related to drug trafficking and drug cartels. The page had a good hook and I was intrigued, but at the end the editor told us he would throw this manuscript into the wastebasket at the end of the first page … and he asked the audience why. Of course, none of us got it even though we had a hard copy of the page. The editor explained that because the author spelled Colombia twice with a “u” (Columbia) and cartel as cartle, he doubted the writer’s ability to handle a topic like drug trafficking with any accuracy or credibility.

Sustainability of Reader Interest
By this I mean that too much detail and too much information, or not enough, can pull the reader out of the story because either: 1) something doesn’t seem right and causes the reader to think about that; 2) something seems to pop in out of the blue without any preparation or foreshadowing; or 3) the context is boring or bogged down with too much detail or description, and the reader wants to get on to the action or something else – like put down the book and go to bed. You want the reader to keep reading at a steady pace [fast, medium, or slow depending on what is happening in the story].

Credibility of the Material
As sophisticated as our readers have become as a group, no one knows everything. Sometimes particular details, descriptions, dialogue, just don’t sound right and distract the reader -- Did they have clocks in the 1700s? Did people use that turn of phrase in the 1800s? -- anything that draws attention away from the story.

Suspension of disbelief -- such as readers believing Superman can fly, but not that other people in his fictitious world won't recognize him when he’s wearing glasses -- is another whole discussion. We aren’t going there today.

My friend Sharan Newman writes 12th century mysteries, among many other fiction and non-fiction books. She has a doctorate in 12th century history and does much of her research traveling to Europe to read historical diaries from that era in their original languages. When we were in the same critique group, sometimes she would use an expression or some other detail that sounded, to the rest of us, too modern for the 12th century. When we pointed those things out, she would explain why we were wrong, but usually changed the detail to something else.

Why? Because a phrase, description, or detail may be completely accurate, but if it sounds unbelievable [i.e. the reader doesn't accept it as accurate], it will disrupt the smooth flow of the story. That's bad enough, but if the reader loses confidence in the author's credibility, then it's over. Chances are, the reader won't finish the book or buy another book by that author.

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A Most Regrettable Absence Of The Pithy Gene

4/26/2019

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GENETIC DISORDERS AND THE ABSENCE OF THE “PITHY” GENE
According to the National Human Genome Research Institute, any change in whole or part of the DNA sequence away from the norm causes a genetic disorder. Such a disorder can be inherited from a parent or caused by mutation in one or more genes resulting from a number of events such as environmental factors.

In my case, I’m convinced that I have a multifactorial inheritance disorder, from both parents, resulting in my regrettable lack of a “Pithy” gene. In non-medical terms, my body produces too much of a word enzyme which accumulates in my finger tips and saliva glands, making me extremely sensitive to silence. Silence without words can cause extreme pain.
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My only relief comes when the enzyme oozes out of my finger tip when I touch a computer keyboard or out of my saliva glands when I open my mouth to speak. Typewriters used to provide some level of respite, but no one makes those anymore.
​Photo source: https://www.londontypewriters.co.uk/product/1920s-working-smith-corona-4-manual-typewriter-black-new-ribbon-case/
I LOVE LONG WORDS
I love words. Lots of words. Long words. I am vociferous and a sesquipedalian (long winded), and have never written or spoken a short, concise, to-the-point sentence in my life. It’s too painful.

Besides, the English language is rich and filled with vivid, clever, and delightful ways to express one’s thoughts. Writers should learn to take advantage of that. I squirm when I hear authors, editors, and agents say we should write to fourth grade vocabulary.
 
God forbid. Let them all contract pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis.
 
Of course, I come by it honestly. After all, I did inherit the genetic defect. Both my parents had substantial vocabularies and used them in their normal conversation. We used to discuss my father’s law cases and legal and political issues at the dinner table. A little of that rubbed off on me.
 
In particular, my father used to quote poetry … just of the fun of it. Not the high-brow stuff, but more contemporary, and often humorous. I learned the following poem at a young age, only because I heard it often enough. In the eighth grade, at thirteen, I had to recite a poem in class, and the one that follows was my choice.
 
I knew it was written during WWII but my father didn’t know the author, and neither did anyone else at the time. I only learned recently, in a blog post by Ron Clark and Merritt Clark, that it was written by W. Sterling Atwater and first published on April 13, 1943, in The Boston News Bureau, credited to W.S.A.                                W. Sterling Atwater in 1934
                                                                                                                                                                                         Photo source: http://www.echatham.com/quirk/   
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It was widely published (without crediting the author) in newspapers from 1943-45. In 1991, the poem appeared in a book, edited by Carmine A. Prioli, entitled “The Poems of General George S. Patton, Jr.: Lines of Fire”. Eventually, the true authorship was established.

Back to my story. Always a buzz-kill, my father told me I couldn’t recite it in class unless I looked up and knew the meaning of every word. I did that, and I never forgot the poem. I can still recite it by heart after 65 years. Note that after the war, my father wrote the last three verses and tagged them onto the original.
MERTON QUIRK
 
The head of the Division of Provision for Revision
Was a man of prompt decision, Merton Quirk.
PHD in calisthenics,
PDQ in pathogenics,
He had just the proper background for the work.
 
From the pastoral aroma of Aloma, Oklahoma,
With a pittance of salary in hand,
His acceptance had been whetted,
Even aided and abetted,
By emoluments that netted some five grand.
 
So with energy ecstatic this fanatic left his attic
And hastened down to Washington D.C.
Where, with verve and vim and vigor,
He went hunting for the tiger
In the woodpile of the W.P.B.
 
After months of patient process, Merton’s spicular proboscis
Had unearthed a reprehensible hiatus
In the reply of Blair and Blair
To his thirteenth questionnaire
In connection with their inventory status.
 
They had written, “Your directive when effective was defective
In its ultimate objective, and what’s more,
Neolithic hieroglyphic
Is to us much more specific
Than this drivel you keep dumping at our door.”
 
The sacrilege discovered, Merton fainted, but recovered
Sufficiently to write, “We are convinced that
Sabotage is camouflaged
Behind perverted persiflage.
Expect me on the twenty-second inst!”
 
But first he sent a checker,
And then a checker’s checker,
Still nothing was disclosed as being wrong.
So a checker’s checker’s checker
Went to check the checker’s checker
And the process was laborious and long.
 
Then followed a procession of the follow-up profession
Through the files of the firm of Blair and Blair,
And from breakfast time to supper
Some new super-follow-upper
Tore his hair because of Merton’s questionnaire.
 
Now that file is closed, completed, but our hero, undefeated
Carries on in some department as before,
And victory hove in sight,
Not because of, but in spite,
Of Merton’s mighty efforts in the war.
            ``                                              W. Sterling Atwater (1943)
 
Now with the start of reconversion the diversion for dispersion
Made diversion for a man of Merton’s mettle.
And he plunged with wild elation
Into contract termination
With a firm determination not to settle.
 
But sagacious legislation clarified the obfuscation
Of the contract termination situation,
Leaving Merton empty handed,
Slightly desperate, nearly stranded,
Till someone organized United Nations.
 
Now under the compulsion of atomic jet propulsion,
With a modicum of tax exempted wages,
Our Merton, with sagacity
And unexcelled tenacity,
Is settling the problems of the ages.
                                                            William E. Coombs (1950s)

Cartoon by Tom Ruse of the Milwaukee Journal / Photo source: http://www.echatham.com/quirk/​
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P.S. I guess I made up for the lack of the “Pithy” gene by having a good memory. I also memorized, and can still recite, both the Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Kubla Khan, by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and Wynken, Blynken, and Nod by Eugene Field □

​
Note: According to Google, the longest word in any of the major English language dictionaries is a word that refers to a lung disease contracted from the inhalation of very fine silica particles, specifically from a volcano; medically, it is the same as silicosis: pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis, 
 
Now in contention for the title of longest word is aequeosalinocalcalinoceraceoaluminosocupreovitriolic (52 letters), created by Dr. Edward Strother to describe the unique ancient Romans baths located in Bath, England. The word is a mashup of other words that describe the properties found in the Roman Baths, like cooper, salty and rich.

Sources:
http://www.echatham.com/quirk/
 

 
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ODE TO THE JELLY BEAN

4/19/2019

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WILL THE CREATOR OF "NATIONAL JELLY BEAN DAY" PLEASE STAND UP
April 22 is National Jelly Bean Day, a fun celebration created to honor that bean-shaped candy treat with a thick gel interior, whose origins are as illusive and mysterious as the person who created the national day. [I couldn’t find anything about the originator]

​BIRTH OF THE JELLY BEAN
As nearly everyone in America knows, Jelly beans are small candies shaped like beans with a candy shell and a thick gel interior.

Candy experts – yes, candy experts really do exist -- believe the soft center of the jelly bean is the progeny of Turkish Delight or Lokum, a family of candies created in the middle east thousands of years ago. It is concocted of a gel made from starch and sugar and dusted with icing, sugar, copra, or powdered cream of Tartar, to prevent clinging. The Turkish term for the confection, rahat lokum, literally means "throat's ease". Lokum is really yummy and now comes in all sorts of shapes and flavors.

Turkish Delight - Photo Source:                  Photo licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 
 ▼ Wikipedia Public domain                      ▼ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/deed.en
Oh, I’m gaining weight just writing this.

​The Jelly Bean offspring bears little resemblance to its ancestors and is coated with a firm shell through a process called “panning”. French confectioners in the17th century used this process to make Jordan almonds for the Royal court by rocking the almonds in a pan of sugar and syrup until coated.                                             
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Somehow the Lokum and “panning” got together. The earliest documented appearance of a jelly bean in America was an advertisement for William Schrafft of Boston in 1861 promoting sending jelly beans – his product, of course -- to soldiers in the Union Army during the Civil War.
They didn’t show up again in any documentation until 1905 in an advertisement in the Chicago Daily News selling them in volume at nine cents a pound in a small variety of colors. Today, Candy Concepts offers them for $7.00 a pound. [en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jelly_bean citing the book The Century in Food: America's Fads and Favorites]. 

There is nothing complicated about the shape. Candy makers in those day shaped many candies into familiar forms, and this one happened to be shaped like a bean.

THE JELLY BEAN GROWS UP
As the candy grew in popularity, its name became a part of American slang. In the early 1900s, “Jellybean” was the slang word meaning “a young man who dressed stylishly but had little else to recommend.” In other words a fop or dandy. The term appeared in both fiction and music.                                Cover of Sheet Music written by Jimmie Dupre, Sam Rosen,
                                                                                                                                        and Joe Verges (1920) Photo source:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jelly_bean
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They became popular as a penny candy. Around the 1930s someone realized that the jelly bean had an ovate shape resembling an egg and began to promote it an Easter confection. In the 1940s, Phil Harris made the song “Jellybean” a hit and revitalized the slang terminology … and the candy.
​
The jelly beans made by Herman Goelitz Candy Company were popular with President Ronald Reagan. Goeltiz even created a new flavor [blueberry] just for the President, who sent Jelly Bellys into space in the 1983 Challenger Mission as a surprise for the astronauts. As that became known and publicized, sales leaped. Goelitz established a new factory and renamed the company Jelly Belly.
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IT’S ALL ABOUT TASTE

● Ingredients
According to Wikipedia, the jelly beans are made from sugar, tapioca or corn syrup, and pectin [a starch from fruit]. There are small amounts of lecithin, an emulsifying agent, anti-foaming agent, carnauba wax or beeswax, salt, and confectioners glaze [an alcohol-based solution of food-grade shellac derived from sticklac, a resin scraped from tree branches left when the small insect Kerria lacca, creates a hard waterproof cocoon.
​
That last ingredient – characterized by janelangille.com as bug feces -- doesn’t sound too appetizing, but I don’t believe there is any fatality recorded as jelly bean poisoning. Americans have an “attitude” when it comes to eating insects, but many are a good source of protein.
 ▼Photo by iStock/constantgardener                        
Photo source:www.rd.com/food/jelly-beans               ▼Photo source: www.businessinsider.com/jelly-beans
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That last ingredient – characterized by janelangille.com as bug feces -- doesn’t sound too appetizing, but I don’t believe there is any fatality recorded as jelly bean poisoning. Americans have an “attitude” when it comes to eating insects, but many are a good source of protein.
Back to jelly beans. For all practical purposes, jelly beans are almost pure sugar. According to Eloise Kirn, writing for Businessinsider.com, the interior gel is made by heating liquid sugar to 350 degrees, then mixing in starch and glucose. The cornstarch layer is removed from the center gel and sprayed with sugar, then poured and set aside for 24 to 48 hours.

Next the jelly bean centers go into giant rotating machines. Gradually, sugar, color and flavor are added building up the candy shell. After the confectioner’s glaze is added, the beans are polished, a process which can take up to four days. Fortunately, they are not made one at a time. Jelly Belly, one producer, reports selling over 15 billion a year. Lined up they could circle the earth five times.
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​● Flavors
If clothes make the man, then flavors make the Jelly Bean.

In 1965 the Herman Goelitz Candy Company [now Jelly Belly] began reenergizing this traditional candy by adding new flavors. By 1976 Jelly Belly produced two varieties of jelly beans – gourmet and traditional.

The gourmet type is smaller and softer, and the flavor is in the center jell as well as the shell coating. The flavors added in 1976 were Very Cherry, Root Beer, Cream Soda, Tangerine, Green Apple, Lemon, Licorice and Grape. Jelly Belly now produced over a hundred different flavors in twenty groupings, most of which contain few of the original flavors plus some odd, or disgusting, ones. For example, The Harry Potter™Bertie Bott's category has the following flavors.

▪Black pepper             ▪Booger                       ▪Candy Floss               ▪Dirt
▪Earthworm                 ▪Ear Wax                     ▪Grass                         ▪Vomit
▪Soap                          ▪Sausage                     ▪Rotten Eggs  
 
I can’t begin to imagine what the flavors for any of these things could be, except maybe sausage. I’ve never eaten any of the others and don’t intend to.  However, I was relieved to find a chart showing that the flavors with the yucky names are the same as those with more appealing ones. i.e. the flavor “spoiled milk” is actually the coconut flavor, “rotten egg” has the same flavor as buttered popcorn, and so on.
​
The Jelly Belly original flavors category sounds normal and “jelly bean worthy.” However, the staff of PasteMagazine.com  takes nothing for granted and did a taste test of their own in 2017 to rate each flavor. Here are the ratings of the ten worst and the ten best flavors per the test. www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2017/.
 
●The Worst Ten Flavors (starting with the worst)
▪ Buttered Popcorn - “The absolute worst bean ever inflicted on mankind.”
▪ Carmel Corn
▪ Chocolate Pudding
▪ Tropical Punch
▪ Licorice - “Good, if you like licorice.”
▪ Coconut
▪ Mixed Berry Smoothie - “We found it to be a big disappointment; tastes like grass.”
▪ Juicy Pear
▪ Island Punch
▪ Mango

●The Ten Best Flavors (ending with the highest rated flavor)
▪ Pomegranate 
▪ Crushed Pineapple 
▪ Raspberry 
▪ Top Banana 
▪ Sunkist® Tangerine 
▪ Wild Blackberry 
▪ Sizzling Cinnamon 
▪ Strawberry Daiquiri 
▪. Sunkist® Pink Grapefruit 
▪ Piña Colada
 
Be that as it may, according to the Jelly Belly Company, their most popular flavors are Very Cherry, Buttered Popcorn and Licorice. I usually eat them by the handful, so the less savory flavors are mixed into the overall taste. They’re only 4 calories per bean, after all.
​
JELLY BEAN ART
Jelly beans and an artist name Kirsten Cumings came together in 2009 when she was named the official Jelly Belly artist. She has been painting in jelly beans ever since and loves it. Together they have crafted some of the most fascinating art I’ve seen in a while.

According to Elizabeth Rayne, writing for SyFy.com, Cumings feels that “painting” in jelly beans is remarkably similar to traditional art in terms of elements such as light, shadow and perspective.” In an interview with CBS she said, “I like making things out of weird stuff."
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Rosie the Riveter - In Jelly Beans by Kirsten Cumings
Photo source: https://www.ripleys.com/weird-news/its-national-jelly-bean-day/
Her work is seen often at conventions, particularly SyFy conventions. She glues the beans, one by one, onto to the canvas over a blueprint she previously painted. “Her palette consists of 50 classic flavors and some 40 others that rotate in and out of the flavor lineup depending on popularity. If she needs a shade that doesn’t exist, Cummings will mix several to give the appearance of, say, the murky greens and browns abundant in the more shadowy areas of her Yoda portrait. Because (at least for Jelly Belly) swamp-colored jelly beans really don’t sound too appetizing.”

After reading the names of some of the putoffish flavors, that comment surprised me.                                                                                                                                                                                     Yoda - Photo source:
                                                                                             https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/stuff-we-love-kristen-cummings-literally-makes-sweetest-fandom-art-ever
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While the painting is on a flat surface, Cuming says, "I want it to look three-dimensional as much as possible, so using more than one different kind of blue or different kind of red will allow me to create a sense of depth, of three-dimensionality even though it's a two-dimensional surface "
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The Great Wave                                                                                    President Ronald Reagan                                         Vincent van Gogh - Starry night              Source of Photos: https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/art-made-with-jelly-beans/   

At any rate, whether you eat them or paint with them or do something else, Jelly Beans are an American favorite that’s here to stay.
□
References:
https://news.jellybelly.com/origin-of-the-jelly-bean-or-why-are-they-called-beans/?msclkid=be73e464ae1b188b301eb8f1c3b1a42f&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=ECI%20-%20WP%20-%20DSA%20-%20RLSA&utm_term=jellybelly&utm_content=All%20Web%20Pages
https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/stuff-we-love-kristen-cummings-literally-makes-sweetest-fandom-art-ever
http://www.candyblog.net/blog/item/candy_encyclopedia_the_difference_between_gummi_and_jelly
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jelly_bean
https://www.jellybelly.com/fun-facts
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schrafft%27s
https://www.ripleys.com/weird-news/its-national-jelly-bean-day/
https://www.candyfavorites.com/shop/jelly-bean-history.php
https://americacomesalive.com/2017/11/02/jelly-beans-candy-history/
https://www.businessinsider.com/how-jelly-beans-are-made-2016-4
http://jellybabiescantrunawaywhenyoubiteofftheirlegs.co.uk/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jelly_Babies
https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2017/03/judgment-comes-to-candytown.html
https://www.jellybelly.com/flavor-guides
https://www.sheknows.com/food-and-recipes/articles/1034305/the-most-disgusting-jelly-bean-flavors-ever/
https://nationaldaycalendar.com/days-2/national-jelly-bean-day-april-22/
https://www.awarenessdays.com/awareness-days-calendar/national-jelly-bean-day-2019/
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/10/24/magazine/candy-world-favorite.html
https://janelangille.com/10-freaky-facts-about-food/
https://news.jellybelly.com/bean-counting-fun-facts-and-figures-for-jelly-belly-jelly-beans/
https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/kirsten-cumings





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YOU’RE THE SMARTEST PERSON I KNOW!

4/12/2019

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​​​If someone tells you that, just smile and take it as a compliment. That’s most likely what the speaker intended, even though the meaning of the word “smart” is somewhat vague.
​
Oh? You’re surprised there’s anything to question? Well, think about it. What does “smart” really mean? It is akin to the words writers search their manuscripts for -- so they can be eliminated. Big, small, pretty. Indistinct almost to the point of uselessness.
“Ahh…I’m kinda real smart…I think.”
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But it’s a tag children often hang on other children early in life, and the label may stick mentally for a long time. Kids grow up believing they are smart or stupid – which is cool or not cool depending on when and where they grew up – and that can affect an entire life.

Ask your kids or grandkids how they know someone is smart. You’ll hear things like:
     “School is easy for them.”
     “They finish tests fast.”
     “They never have to study.”
     “They already know everything.”
                                 “They can memorize anything.”
                                 “They read all the time.”
Are those the characteristics you mean when you say someone is “smart”?

SMART
One dictionary defines the word as: “having or showing a quick-witted intelligence.” The Merriam-Webster definition of Smart is, “Having an alert mind.” The synonyms listed are “witty”, “clever”, “bright”, and “appealing to sophisticated taste.” I’m not sure what this last one means.
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Setting aside the definitions of Smart related to making sarcastic or sassy remarks or being well dressed, Smart can be defined as an earned status which infers that effort was put in to learn. Studying and learning makes an individual smarter (more informed and aware) in relation to a specific subject matter, either book smart, like mathematics, or street smart, like how to slit someone’s tires without getting caught.
​Being smart is something you have to work at by studying and learning.
 
SMART VS. INTELLIGENT
Intelligence is a different matter. Our friend Merriam-Webster defines Intelligence as “the ability to learn or understand or to deal with new or trying situations, and is also the skilled use of reason.”
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​Therefore, we can conclude that someone who is Intelligent is capable of learning, has the capacity for understanding, applies reason and logic, deals with new situations around them, is self-awareness, has emotional knowledge, and has the capacity for problem-solving, creativity, and planning.

Intelligence is something you have or don’t have and cannot be taught. It is based on the speed with which your brain makes connections, how easily you understand emotions, and how your memory and memory retrieval system works.
​
In terms of measure on intellect, intelligence is a higher level than smart. While the word also suggests a higher level of education and more exposure to learning, that isn’t necessarily true. People can be highly intelligent without being educated.

However, within today’s education systems, one assumes there is a certain amount of intelligence required to complete courses at an institution of higher learning.
                                                                                                    Source of Chart: http://pediaa.com/difference-between-smart-and-intelligent/
Intelligence is a gift of nature.
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INTELLIGENT VS. KNOWLEDGEABLE
The experts seem to agree that Intelligence refers to one’s potential to acquire and apply knowledge. Knowledge refers to information and facts, as well as skills, that one acquires through either education or experience undertaking a certain task; the understanding related to a specific subject. Knowledge forms its existence around an idea, statement, or event, and is, therefore, contextual. I again called on Merriam-Webster for the definition of Knowledge.
      1.a. The fact/condition of knowing something with familiarity gained through experience or association;
              acquaintance with or understanding of a science, art, or technique.
      1.b. The fact/condition of being aware of something; the range of one's information or understanding.
      1.c. The circumstance/condition of apprehending truth/fact through reasoning.
      1.d. The fact/condition of having information or of being learned.

Because intelligence is linked to one’s capabilities more than to what and how much a person knows, I see a strong relationship between being smart and being knowledgeable. Both require accumulating information and skills through study, learning and, in the case of skills, practice. Neither one is a gift of genetics.
​
It is important to remember that intelligence is not necessarily linked to the morals of an individual. Many criminals are highly intelligent and use their intelligence to break the law. Also, intelligence is not tied to memory. Intelligent people can have poor memories.
Source of Chart: http://www.differencebetween.net/language/difference-between-intelligence-and-knowledge/
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DifferenceBetween.net points out characteristics of knowledge as:
     “Beneficial only if applied.”
     “Its values may change over time.”
     “Developed through a learning process.”
     “Knowledge is dynamic.”
     “Depends on memory, expertise, exposure, past
     experiences, opportunities, and the transfer mechanisms.”

The difference between intelligence and knowledge is that the former, Intelligence, is inborn and unique to each individual. Knowledge is acquired through experience, training, books, practice, materials, and research and is an ongoing process.
​
Knowledge can be the same in different people.
​INTELLIGENT VS. EDUCATED
Merriam-Webster lets me down on this one. Educated is defined as “having an education.” Well, yes. That’s correct, and I can’t argue with it, but I really hate it when a word is used to define itself.
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The dictionary goes on to indicate as secondary definitions, “having an education beyond the average”, “giving evidence of training or practice”, and “based on some knowledge of fact.”
​
I see the condition of being educated similar to acquiring knowledge by studying and learning, so I’m going to use Knowledgeable/Educated even though there may be subtle differences.
INTELLIGENT VS. WISE
Intelligence and wisdom are abstract concepts and difficult to comprehend, and they are both attributes of the mind that inevitably cross paths. Unless you were raised by wolves in the deepest forest, and probably even then, it’s impossible to imagine an intelligent person living an entire lifetime without gaining some wisdom.

​Although the terms are sometime used interchangeably, there are clear observable differences linked to the way the brain operates on a lower and upper level. The lower level of the mind is highly rational and predominantly concerned with our immediate environment. The upper level of the mind, in contrast, engages in higher order thinking by connecting knowledge from mental, emotional, and physical experiences. Lower-level and higher-level thinking are
inked to intelligence and wisdom respectively. Source: http://www.differencebetween.net/language/differences-between-intelligence-and-wisdom/ 
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Don’t get me wrong. Being an intelligent person does not necessarily mean that you are a wise person. Intelligence holds the potential to manifest into wisdom over a long period of time, substantiating why we tend to associate wisdom with the elderly. [I know from my own experience, you can be intelligent and still not be wise.]

Characteristically, wisdom is the ability to determine the truth and validity of accumulated knowledge which usually comes from undergoing negative and positive experiences that develop one’s values and moral compass. Therefore, wisdom is the pairing of one’s accumulated knowledge and the capability to synthesize this knowledge using their moral understanding of the world.

Although wise people often have a personal growth’ mentality, a characteristic of most spiritual and religious practices, neither intelligence nor wisdom is tied to spirituality just as it is independent of moral grounding.

Experts indicate it is impossible to be exclusively wise or exclusively intelligent. Most people will exhibit characteristics of both, often within different areas of interest, and both affect how a person engages with their immediate physical environment. Wise people often relate to the world by understanding the variation of possibilities and opportunities that contribute to obtaining knowledge.

A wise individual is often self-aware and a firm believer in striving for what that individual believes is right.
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BE SMART ABOUT SAYING “SMART”
Ian, at ian@byrdseed.com asks us – begs, maybe – to ditch the word Smart, because it’s too vague, and give compliments to children in particular, and others, based on specifics. He suggests praise like:
     “You made an unexpected connection!”
  •                           “You understood that very quickly.”
  •                           “You used some information that no one else knew!”
  •                           “You noticed something that I didn’t notice.”
  •                           “You explained that idea so clearly, a five year old could understand it.”
Further, he writes that “if it’s easy, don’t call it Smart.”□
 
Sources:
https://www.byrdseed.com/what-is-smart/
https://www.byrdseed.com/the-burden-of-being-called-smart/?icn=srs
https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100101144308AAz1haK
http://www.differencebetween.net/miscellaneous/difference-between-smart-and-intelligent/
http://www.differencebetween.net/language/difference-between-intelligence-and-knowledge/
http://www.differencebetween.net/language/differences-between-intelligence-and-wisdom/
pediaa.com/difference-between-smart-and-clever/
https://www.englishforums.com/English/IntelligentVsSmart/vqhmr/post.htm
https://www.theodysseyonline.com/what-does-being-smart-really-mean
https://cathcart.com/media-press/motivation-articles/7-intelligences-what-does-it-mean-to-be-smart/
http://pediaa.com/difference-between-smart-and-intelligent/


 
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ARE WE ON VENUS YET? Other-worldly Relics of WWII

4/5/2019

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Not long ago, I was involved in a discussion about how much more the British seem to know about American history than Americans know about British history, particularly contemporary events. Whether or not that’s true, it made me think of some surprises I had in England, and what I learned about British history that I never heard in school.

If you follow my blogs, you know I like to write about the unusual; things which don’t seem to be common knowledge among my peers. I’m not super interested in knowing what someone is cooking for dinner or what happened on the way to the kid’s soccer practice, and I'm not going there.

​What I want to know is who built these towers in the ocean and why? And why have they been left to fall into ruin?
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Photo by  Steve Cadman / Flickr (CC) Photo Source:https://explorethearchive.com/maunsell-sea-forts

​THE MAUNSELL SEA FORTS: A SHORT BUT BUSY LIFE
No, this has nothing to do with Venus, although this does appear other-worldly, like something out of Star Wars.

These bizarre-looking structures were erected off shore on the Thames estuary, England, and were named after the civil engineer who designed them, Guy Maunsell. They were born in the early 1940s during WWII as part of the United Kingdom’s defenses. They were operated by the British army and navy and, having served their purpose, were decommissioned in 1958, abandoned in the early 1960's, and left to die a slow, lonesome death surrounded by the North Sea. A few were destroyed in collisions with ships. Of the original seven, only three survive. Although most of the actual forts may be gone but the design of contemporary oil platforms is largely based on Maunsell’s ingenuity.

Two types of fort – army and navy -- were built on the coast and moved, virtually intact, to carefully chosen spots guaranteed to provide maximum protection. Innovative in concept and design, they were also heavily armed.
Shivering Sands Army Fort - Photo source:                      Red Sands Army Fort - Photo source:                          Locations of the seven Maunsell Forts - Photo source
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shivering_Sands_Army_Fort          gizmodo.com/exploring-abandoned-sea-forts               en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maunsell_Forts
                       
NAVAL FORTS
​Four naval-style forts, operated by the Royal Navy -- named Rough Sands, Sunk Head, Tongue Sands, and Knock John – were placed off-shore near the Thames Estuary. The intent was to guard against bombers, report German air raids, and prevent enemy aircraft laying mines in this vital shipping channel.     Picture credit: http://harwich-society.co.uk/old/info_rough_towers.htm
                                                                                                                                        Photo source: web.archive.org/web/20140818011956/harwich-society.co.uk 
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The platform base of a naval station was fixed to the sea bed and consisted of a 168’ by 88’ platform for a superstructure 60 feet tall. The pontoon base supports two giant pillars 24’ high. Each pillar had seven floors for crew housing, dining, operational areas, storage for fresh water, generators, and munitions.

The towers were joined above the waterline by a steel platform which sustained living spaces, officers’ quarters, galley, medical office, and a gun/radar tower. Supplies were lifted from ships onto a steel landing platform by a crane. Knock John Fort was manned by around 100 men and was self sufficient for a month. The platform base of a naval station was fixed to the sea bed and consisted of a 168’ by 88’ platform for a superstructure 60 feet tall. The pontoon base is supports two giant pillars 24’ high.

Each pillar had seven floors for crew housing, dining, operational areas, storage for fresh water, generators, and munitions.The towers were joined above the waterline by a steel platform which sustained living spaces, officers’ quarters, galley, medical office, and a gun/radar tower. Supplies were lifted from ships onto a steel landing platform by a crane. Knock John Fort was manned by around 100 men and was self sufficient for a month.
      Naval style Fort  - Photo source:                                Fort Tongue 1992 – Totally collapsed in 1996 all that remains is a single 18 foot stump
   en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maunsell_Forts                    of the Southern  - Photo source: /www.bobleroi.co.uk/ScrapBook/ 
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​One of the survivors, Fort Roughs [photos right], was taken over in 1967 by Paddy Roy Bates and his family [by ousting a pirate radio station], and self-proclaiming it as an independent nation. 
tos: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principality_of_Sealand                       Ryan Lackey - originally posted to Flickr as sealand-sky  Link to License:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principality_of_Sealand                                               en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principality_of_Sealand

Although Bates tried to have the Principality of Sealand recognized officially and legally, it is not accepted by anybody and legally lies within the territorial waters of the United Kingdom. Bates later moved to Suffolk, and in 2012, before he died at 91, he named his son as regent. The statement about the legal status on the site is as follows.
 
“The forts were abandoned in the early 1950’s and, due to their illegal construction in international waters in a time of world crisis, they should been destroyed to comply with international law. Except for the aforementioned fortress [Fort Roughs], similarly located fortresses were subsequently pulled down. The result of this was the portentous uniqueness of the fortress. Fort Roughs Tower, situated on the high seas, had been deserted and abandoned, res derelicta and terra nullius. From a legal point of view, it therefore constituted extra-national territory.” https://www.sealandgov.org/

The Principality of Sealand has a website, and at the online gift shop you one purchase Sealand stamps, passport, T-shirts … even a knighthood.
ARMY FORTS
The Army forts had a more complicated design, comprising separate platforms linked by catwalks and carrying more guns than their naval counterparts. Each fort consisted of a central control tower linked to six satellites. The thirty fot towers took eight weeks to build but could be put in position in less than eight hours.
Army Style Fort when in use                                             Forts under construction on shore                                    Alignment of Army Fort  
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maunsell_Forts                               Public Domain                                                                   www.bobleroi.co.uk/TongueTower/
The Red Sands army fort is made up of seven forts that were linked by walkways. There is an on-going effort to restore the Red Sands army forts because they are considered to be in the best condition. During its short life, Red Sands shot down 22 Nazi warplanes, more than 30 V1 flying bombs, and sunk one submarine. Later, in the 1960‘s pirate radio stations operated from the Fort, “transmitting pop hits deemed too risqué for Britain's then-monopoly broadcaster the BBC.” Peter Shadbolt, for CNN
 
WHERE HAVE ALL THE TOURISTS GONE?
In the early 2000’s a consortium called Project Redsands was planning to conserve the fort situated at Red Sands. In the summers of 2007 and 2008 Red Sands Radio, a station commemorating the pirate radio stations of the 1960s, operated from the Red Sands fort on 28-day Restricted Service Licenses. The fort was subsequently declared unsafe, and Red Sands Radio has moved its operations ashore.
                                                                                                               Photo source: http://x-pilot.co.uk/supporting-project-redsand/ 
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In 2015 there was a serious proposal to turn the towers into a luxury hotel. The forts themselves have no owners but Crown Estates – which manages all land under the control of the British sovereign – owns the seabed and any construction would require their permission.

Alan Harmer, part of Project Redsands, the registered charity that maintains the site, said interest for charter tours of the forts from German and Japanese tourists was particularly strong. "We've always had ideas to turn it into some type of accommodation and while this latest proposal seems a bit extreme -- I'm not sure it will turn out exactly as proposed -- it's always been something we've had on the cards. It seems the world is interested in these forts." www.cnn.com/travel/article/red-sands-sea-forts
As far as I could find out, four years later, nothing has happened.□

Photo Courtesy Aros Architects, London
Source: www.cnn.com/travel/article/red-sands-sea-forts
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Sources:
http://www.culture24.org.uk/history-and-heritage/military-history/world-war-two/art528082-hotel-plan-could-save-world-war-two-redsand-forts-off-kent-coast
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maunsell_Forts
https://explorethearchive.com/maunsell-sea-forts
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principality_of_Sealand
https://maunsellseaforts.com/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principality_of_Sealand
https://russ.garrett.co.uk/2011/08/21/red-sands-sea-fort/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shivering_Sands_Army_Fort
https://twistedsifter.com/2012/10/maunsell-sea-forts-and-towers-wwii/
http://www.bobleroi.co.uk/ScrapBook/TongueTower/TongueTower.html
http://gizmodo.com/exploring-the-amazing-abandoned-sea-forts-of-world-war-512874771
http://www.gulbekian.plus.com/knockjohnhistory.html
https://www.sealandgov.org/
https://www.discoveringbritain.org/activities/east-of-england/aerial-2/britain-from-the-air-redsands-sea-fort.html
Photos:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maunsell_Forts#/media/File:The_Royal_Navy_during_the_Second_World_War_A26878.jpg
ontheworldmap.com/north-sea/


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maunsell_Forts#/media/File:Fortlocations.gif
Royal Navy official photographer - http://media.iwm.org.uk/iwm/mediaLib//31/media-31026/large.jpg This is photograph A 26878 from the collections of the Imperial War Museums
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIYNJ3Lwftg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principality_of_Sealand#/media/File:Sealand-sky_(cropped).jpg
http://www.bobleroi.co.uk/ScrapBook/TongueTower/TongueTower.html
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Royal_Navy_during_the_Second_World_War_A13259.jpg
http://harwich-society.co.uk/old/info_rough_towers.htm                                                                                                 


Sources:
http://www.culture24.org.uk/history-and-heritage/military-history/world-war-two/art528082-hotel-plan-could-save-world-war-two-redsand-forts-off-kent-coast





https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maunsell_Forts
https://explorethearchive.com/maunsell-sea-forts
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principality_of_Sealand
http://www.bobleroi.co.uk/ScrapBook/TongueTower/TongueTower.html
https://maunsellseaforts.com/
https://russ.garrett.co.uk/2011/08/21/red-sands-sea-fort/
http://gizmodo.com/exploring-the-amazing-abandoned-sea-forts-of-world-war-512874771
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principality_of_Sealand
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shivering_Sands_Army_Fort
https://twistedsifter.com/2012/10/maunsell-sea-forts-and-towers-wwii/
Photos
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maunsell_Forts#/media/File:The_Royal_Navy_during_the_Second_World_War_A26878.jpg
ontheworldmap.com/north-sea/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maunsell_Forts#/media/File:Fortlocations.gif
Royal Navy official photographer - http://media.iwm.org.uk/iwm/mediaLib//31/media-31026/large.jpg This is photograph A 26878 from the collections of the Imperial War Museums
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIYNJ3Lwftg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principality_of_Sealand#/media/File:Sealand-sky_(cropped).jpg
http://www.bobleroi.co.uk/ScrapBook/TongueTower/TongueTower.html
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Royal_Navy_during_the_Second_World_War_A13259.jpg

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BREAKING GLASS CEILINGS LEAVES SCARS: Dorothy Lawrence and Cathay William

3/29/2019

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​Writing these blogs about lesser-known women in history has been an eye opener. Being the first person, man or woman, to do anything is risky and subject to criticism, no matter how far reaching the good.
 
Being the first woman to do something often results in outrageously unfair reactions or even downright cruel ones. When you read the backgrounds of the two women I’m featuring here, they have no apparent connection. One is British, one American, and they are not contemporaries, yet each woman disguised herself as a man and, for very different reasons, enlisted in the army.
Photo source: chrissyhamlin.blogspot.com/2018/dorothy-lawrence
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DOROTHY LAWRENCE (1896 – 1964)
Dorothy Lawrence was born in Polesworth, Warwickshire, England, the daughter of Thomas Hartshorn Lawrence and Mary Jane Beddall, an unmarried couple. Details about her parents and early life are vague and contradictory, but in 1909 (one source indicates 1901) her mother either died or abandoned her. Her guardian, appointed by the church, was the wealthy and respected Mrs. Josephine Fitzgerald and her husband, staunch supporters of the Church of England in Salisbury.
​
During Dorothy’s early teens, the struggle for women’s rights and the right to vote was heating up in the United Kingdom. The movement challenged age-old perceptions about the role of women, and Dorothy decided on a career as a journalist. She succeeded in having several articles published by the Times and in Nash’s Pall Mall Magazine, but journalism was still a man’s world. Her chances of breaking into the field were slight to non-existent. Women didn’t get by-lines and those who had made it were relegated to light topics and women’s issues such as cooking and fashion. She needed a scoop to get noticed.                                                                     Dorothy Lawrence - Public Domain        
                                                                                                                   Photo source: en.wikipedia.org/Dorothy.Lawrence.woman.jpg
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​WHAT DOES A GIRL HAVE TO DO TO FIND A JOB AROUND HERE?
When the World War I broke out, she tried to get an assignment as a war correspondent. What she got was laughter and criticism. Newspapers and magazines couldn’t even get their male reporters to the front lines.

Dorothy, only 19, used her youthful wiles to convince the editor of the Times to help her get a passport to cross the channel to France. She used the same powers of persuasion to get her bicycle smuggled onto the ferryboat, and when they arrived on French soil she bicycled to Paris to volunteer for the Voluntary Aid Detachment.

When turned down for the VAD, Dorothy left Paris and went to the town of Creil, determined to write an article that would astound the journalism world. There were plenty of soldiers and action behind the lines, while the troops waited to be deployed, but not the kind of action she was looking for. After six weeks of staving off men who misunderstood her interest and brushing up on her French, she returned to Paris. Her plan to achieve her goal of reporting from the heat of the battle was to obtain access through the French quarter posing as a freelance journalist.

Two miles from the fighting, she was stopped by the police and sent back. She spent the night in someone’s haystack and decided the only way to get where she wanted to go was to disguise herself as a soldier.

WHAT AN ENGLISH GIRL, WITHOUT CREDENTIALS OR MONEY, ACCOMPLISHED
In the morning Lawrence peddled back to Paris where she met two British soldiers and convinced them to help her. The soldiers smuggled out a uniform for her, piece by piece, in their laundry. It took a while for her to pull off the ruse.

Ten men were involved in the acquisition of a full uniform. She later refers to them as her Khaki accomplices. Accouterments now in hand, she went about transforming herself into a male soldier. She flattened her chest with a home-made corset, bulked her shoulders with sacking and cotton-wool, and persuaded two Scottish military policemen to cut her long, brown hair in a short military style.

She darkened her complexion with Condy’s Fluid, took a razor to her cheeks to give herself a shaving rash, and then added tan shoe polish to finish the look. Finally she asked her soldier friends to teach her how to walk like a man, to drill and to march.
                                                                            
Dorothy Lawrence as teen - Photo source:                                  Dorothy Lawrence in 1915 - Public Domain      Photo source: www.wiltshireatwar.org.uk/Lawrence
 ​chrissyhamlin.blogspot.com/2018/dorothy-lawrence                   en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorothy_Lawrence
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​Somehow she obtained forged identification in the name of Denis Smith, Leicestershire Regiment, and, dressed as a soldier, headed back to the British sector of the Somme River front lines. She ended up near the town of Albert where she met Tom Dunn, a member of the British Expeditionary Force Sapper, either on the road or in a ditch hiding. [A sapper is a soldier who performs a variety of military engineering duties such as breaching fortifications, demolitions, tunneling, bridge building, etc.]

​Town of Albert, France, on Western Front WWI
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Amazed by Dorothy’s bravery and worried about her safety, Dunn found an abandoned cottage where she could sleep. He smuggled her into a job with the 179 Company of The Royal Engineers, gave her tasks to do, and with his assistance, managed to maintain her subterfuge for nearly two weeks.

During the day she worked in some capacity as a sapper in the trenches 400 yards from the front line, tromping through contaminated water and dodging sniper fire, and at night returned to the cottage and subsisted on food and water Dunn and his comrades provided to her.                                                                    In the Trenches At Somme - Photo Credit: PA
                                                                                                                             Source of Photos: www.dailymail.co.uk/article-2537793/
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After ten days she had become ill and was having cold chills and fainting spells. She needed medical attention which surely would have ended her escapade as a man. Not wanting to jeopardize the men who helped her, Dorothy turned herself in to the nearest commander and was immediately arrested.
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​WHAT’S A NICE GIRL LIKE YOU DOING IN A PLACE LIKE THIS?
First she was interrogated by a colonel who thought her a spy and prisoner of war. Then she was transported to Calais and interrogated again by six generals and twenty other officers. After hours of misunderstanding each other, eventually the military determined she was a camp follower [prostitute] because they couldn’t fathom any other reason for her being there, although she tried to explain.
Photo source: http://www.theheroinecollective.com/dorothy-lawrence/
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Worried that she might leak sensitive information, the British military held her in France for several weeks locked in a convent, and required her to sign an agreement to not divulge her story or be arrested.

The British officials were so worried, Dorothy Lawrence knew if she could publish her story, she would have a hit.

When she got back to London, in poor health with no job and no family to go to, she tried to write an account of her experiences for the Wide World Magazine, only to have the War Office order her to destroy it. By forcing her to sign that affidavit, the government had taken away her ability to earn a living writing articles about her experiences. After the war, in 1919 Lawrence managed to publish her book entitled: Sapper Dorothy Lawrence, The Only English Woman Soldier. It got good reviews, but the conflict was over and people wanted to move on and put the war behind them, leaving her with no standing in the field of journalism and no income.

TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES
Or is it, “The Consequences of Truth”?

By 1925 her mental and physical health had deteriorated. She was taken to the London County Mental Hospital. It was there she revealed to doctors she had been raped as a young girl by her guardian’s husband. The accusation was written off as delusional and never investigated. Lawrence’s biographer Simon Jones says, “…if it was true it might go some way to explaining why she did what she did during the 1st World War. We know today that victims of sexual abuse do not value their own well-being – did Dorothy deliberately put herself in danger by going to France? If she understood the danger she was in, she did not seem to fear it. Albert in the Somme in those days was somewhere even the soldiers tried to avoid – they would even deliberately injure themselves – yet she headed straight for it.” chrissyhamlin.blogspot.com/dorothy-lawrence

Chrissy Hamlin writes, “Jones later found that Lawrence's rape allegations were sufficiently compelling to be included in her medical records, which are held in the London Metropolitan Archives but are not available for general access.”

Dorothy Lawrence was transferred to Colney Hatch Lunatic Asylum where she remained, unvisited by anyone, for 39 years until her death in 1964.  What a terrible waste of a life. □
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CATHAY WILLIAMS (1844 – 1893?)
Cathay Williams was born in Independence, Missouri. Her father was a free man, her mother, a woman in slavery, making Cathay’s legal status also that of a slave.

Williams was also the first African-American woman to enlist and serve in the regular United States Army in the 19th century, the only woman documented to serve in the army posing as a man and prior to the official changes in the rules, and the only known black female Buffalo Soldier.

She grew up working as a house slave on the Johnson plantation outside Jefferson City, Missouri, and was there when the Civil War began in 1861 and Union forces occupied the city. At that time, any slaves captured were considered “contraband” and could be forced to serve the military as paid servants.

Cathay Williams was seventeen when she was pressed into service by the 8th Indiana Volunteer Infantry Regiment, and she traveled with them for several years, giving her a taste of army life. She was working at Jefferson Barracks in Washington D.C., as a cook, under General Philip Sheridan’s command, when the civil war ended in 1865.

There is nothing recorded which explains her reasons for wanting a military career. She most likely had no place else to go, and this was a job open to African-American males that promised consistent employment and somewhat decent wages. She probably was uneducated and had no other job prospects. Unfortunately, women were not allowed to enlist.                               Enlistment Papers - Document from the National Archives, retrieved from buffalosoldier.net 
​                                                                                                                 Photo Source: www.buffalosoldier.net/CathayWilliams 
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SHE DID IT HER WAY
Nonetheless, in November of 1866, disguised as a man, she managed to enlist in the 38th U.S. Infantry, Company A, in St. Louis Missouri, as William Cathay. Some sources cite a cousin and a friend who enlisted first, who not only knew William Cathay was female, but also served in the same regiment. That seemed possible to me, considering the original 8th Regiment probably took other slaves into their employ as well as Cathay. However, there is no further mention of these men.

Her faux surname was written incorrectly by the recruiter as Cathey and all her military records carry that name. She informed the recruiter she was a twenty-two year old cook. On her enlistment papers the recruiter gave her description as 5’9”, with black hair and black complexion.
Painting of Cathay Williams by William Jennings from the U.S. Army Profiles of Bravery
Public Domain - Photo source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathay_Williams
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One has to wonder what type of perfunctory physical exam was the standard of the day or if they gave a medical exam at all, but someone deemed her fit to enlist. Nowhere during her short career did anyone make note of, or question, her gender, at least in writing. That calls for at least one demerit for the army and one for the 19th century medical system.

After several months of training at Jefferson Barracks, Missouri, Company A then marched first to Kansas, then to New Mexico, and back to Fort Cummings, Missouri, where they stayed for eight months.

The hard life and marching took a toll, and Cathay’s health deteriorated. She was hospitalized five times in four different hospitals and missed quite a few days of duty. The final time she was admitted to the hospital was at Fort Bayard, New Mexico, where she was diagnosed with rheumatism and neuralgia. [Neuralgia was a term applied to acute nerve pain, but can be the symptom of several diseases, so the doctors never really understood what was wrong with her.]
Army soldier Cathay Williams by artist Will Davis
Photo source:newsroom.woundedwarriorproject.org/Cathay-Williams
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Various references claim this is when the doctor discovered she was female and outed her to the post commander. Other sources indicate the army didn’t find out. While there is no mention of her female gender anywhere in any military records, the fact that she was immediately discharged suggests the claim is likely to be true. However, her commanding officer, Captain Charles E. Clarke, stated as the reason for her discharge that Cathay was “feeble both physically and mentally, and much of the time unfit for duty. The origin of his infirmities is unknown to me.”
 
IS THERE LIFE AFTER THE MILITARY?
Honorably discharged on October 14, 1868, Cathay returned to life as a female and, using her own name, took a job as cook for Fort Union, New Mexico. Later she moved to Pueblo, Colorado and worked at a laundress. She married briefly, but her husband stole money and a team of horses from her, so she had him arrested and put in jail. From there, she moved to Trinidad, Colorado, where she was known as Kate Williams and earned her living as a seamstress, cook, and doing other odd jobs.
 
A reporter from St. Louis got wind of her story and interviewed her. The article appeared in the St. Louis Daily Times on January 2, 1876. Information from that interview is probably the most accurate information available to describe Cathay’s feelings and motivations, but was after-the-fact by ten years.
 
In 1890, Cathay was hospitalized for a year and a half, which left her destitute. She applied for a pension from the U.S. Army, claiming her disabilities of deafness, rheumatism, and neuralgia resulted from, and were apparent during her time with the Army. During her stay in the hospital in Trinidad, all of her toes had been amputated, and she could only stand using a crutch.
 
The Army denied the claim, stating that she had no disabilities [although there was no question that she did], her conditions were preexisting, and her service in the Army was not legal [but didn’t note why it was illegal].
Statue, Levenworth, Kansas, dedicated in 2016
Photo source: sheroesofhistory.wordpress.com/cathay-williams
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No one knows what happened to Cathay Williams after the denial of her claim for a disability pension. Not the time and place of her death, although researchers speculate that she only lived a year or two after the disposition of her claim, and not the location of her grave.

Recognizing and honoring Cathay Williams for being the only documented black woman who served in the Regular Army infantry during the 19th century is important and fitting. That in itself is remarkable. The fact that she was able to enlist at all and keep others from finding out for two years is even more astounding.
 
The real lesson her life teaches us is that regardless of the circumstances, whatever the odds, she prevailed over everything life sent against her. She prevailed and did so with courage, honor and dignity. For that she will be remembered in history.
 
AFTERWORD
Knowledgeable people who have researched Cathay William’s life and medical records speculate that she had a mild, non-insulin-dependent form of diabetes. Apparently that would account for most of the aliments Williams suffered and, without proper treatment and diet, increased her susceptibility to viruses which, no doubt, abounded under those conditions. It would account for the nerve pain and overall weakness. Today, this condition can easily be controlled with diet and exercise. Even then, had diabetes been diagnosed, she was young enough to be treated.□
 
NOTE: “Buffalo soldiers were African American soldiers who mainly served on the Western frontier following the American Civil War. In 1866, six all-black cavalry and infantry regiments were created after Congress passed the Army Organization Act. Their main tasks were to help control the Native Americans of the Plains, capture cattle rustlers and thieves and protect settlers, stagecoaches, wagon trains and railroad crews along the Western front. No one knows for certain why, but the soldiers of the all-black 9th and 10th Cavalry Regiments were dubbed “buffalo soldiers” by the Native Americans they encountered.” https://www.history.com/topics/westward-expansion/buffalo-soldiers
Apparently they had nothing to do with buffalo.
 
Sources: Dorothy Lawerence
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorothy_Lawrence
https://www.readersdigest.co.uk/inspire/life/7-inspiring-women-who-shaped-britain?qt-latest_popular_featured_tabs=1
https://www.historytoday.com/archive/months-past/dorothy-lawrence
https://womeninthegreatwar.weebly.com/dorothy-lawrence.html
https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&ccid=plAUpqkO&id=F60DFAEFBE28F37815079C78B90C3C7145461257&thid=OIP.plAUpqkOCNp3ml_ahSw4BQHaE7&mediaurl=http%3a%2f%2fwww.wiltshireatwar.org.uk%2fwp-content%2fuploads%2f2015%2f06%2fDorothy-Lawrence1.jpg&exph=4
https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-i/battle-of-the-somme
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2537793/She-fought-Somme-disguised-Tommy-did-Dorothy-die-unloved-unlauded-lunatic-asylum-Incredible-story-British-woman-fight-trenches.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=caAW6e3d7C0
http://primaryfacts.com/5461/dorothy-lawrence-facts-and-information/
https://spartacus-educational.com/FWWlawrenceD.htm
https://chrissyhamlin.blogspot.com/2018/01/dorothy-lawrence-journalist-sapper-at.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wartime_cross-dressers
http://www.wiltshireatwar.org.uk/story/sapper-dorothy-lawrence-a-forgotten-wiltshire-heroine/
https://www.stylist.co.uk/visible-women/dorothy-lawrence-female-war-correspondents-facts-quotes-ww1-sapper-life-forgotten-women-issue-409/198448
https://www.wolseytheatre.co.uk/shows/absent-friends/9-the-disappearance-of-dorothy-lawrence-copyright-museum-of-london-sm/
http://www.theheroinecollective.com/dorothy-lawrence/
 
Sources: Cathy Williams
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathay_Williams
https://newsroom.woundedwarriorproject.org/The-Only-Known-Female-Buffalo-Soldier-Cathay-Williams
https://www.blackpast.org/aaw/vignette_aahw/williams-cathay-1850/
https://www.buffalosoldier.net/CathayWilliamsFemaleBuffaloSoldierWithDocuments.htm
https://mic.com/interactives/black-monuments/cathay-williams
https://www.tolerance.org/classroom-resources/texts/hidden-figures-of-womens-history-cathay-williams
https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/ballad-cathay-williams-william-cathay
https://amazingwomeninhistory.com/cathay-williams/
https://www.legendsofamerica.com/cathay-williams/
https://www.nps.gov/people/cwilliams.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wartime_cross-dressers
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LESSER-KNOWN WOMEN IN HISTORY: Phillis Wheatley 1753-1784

3/22/2019

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Not everyone – man or woman – with noteworthy accomplishments gets credit for those achievements, however remarkable they may be. Therefore, I’ve chosen to blog each week in March about lesser-known women who have made a mark on history.

PHILLIS WHEATLEY (1753-1784)
Phillis Wheatley was America's first black woman to be published, and the second woman to publish poetry. [Anne Bradstreet was the first.]

For most of her life she was a slave but still became a respected author and one of the best known poets in pre-19th century America. Also a loyal patriot, she was living proof for abolitionists that blacks could be both artistic and intellectual. “A person so favored by the Muses,” wrote George Washington to her in a February 28, 1776 letter, “and to whom Nature has been so liberal and beneficent in her dispensations.”

A PERSON FAVORED BY THE MUSES
Phillis was born in West Africa (probably present day Gambia or Senegal) and sold into slavery at the age of about seven. Rather than being sent to either the West Indies or Southern colonies for hard labor in the fields, she ended up with slaves sent to Boston because of age and/or frailty.

She was purchased at the Boston docks by the family of John Wheatley, who was either a prominent merchant or tailor (or both), for a pittance because the captain of the slave ship thought the girl was ill and about to die. The family named her Phillis, after the ship that brought her from Africa.

It didn’t take long for the Wheatley family to discover what a prodigy she was. John Wheatley, a progressive thinker, recognized her unique talent and supported Phyllis's education. She was released from some of her household duties to study with the Wheatley’s 18-year-old daughter Mary and their son, Nathanial. Within a year and a half she was reading the Bible, Greek and Latin classics and British literature. She also received education in other subjects such as geography, mathematics, and astronomy.

By the age of twelve, she was writing poetry about hope, freedom and morality, which her owner John Wheatley showed off to many of his friends in high places. He also allowed her to focus on her education instead of housework.

Phillis sent her first poem to the University of Cambridge-New England, Entitled “On Messers Hussey and Coffin.” In 1767, the poem was published in the Newport Rhode Island newspaper Mercury, stirring up a lot of discussion and establishing her as the first African-American to be published.

Publication of her poem “An Elegiac Poem, on the Death of the Celebrated Divine George Whitefield” in pamphlet form in 1770 by Russell and Boyles, Boston, reached Boston, Newport, and Philadelphia, and appeared alongside the funeral sermon for Whitefield in London. The poem, written in heroic couplets, describes Whitefield as bringing the voice and knowledge of God and Jesus to the Americas. Even at the age of seventeen, the poet’s spiritual language incorporates themes of inclusion and equality.
                                                                                      "We hear no more the music of thy tongue;
                                                                                      Thy wonted auditories cease to throng."
▼ Photo source: www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/phillis-wheatley
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THE AMERICAN POPULACE LETS DOWN THEIR MOST FAMOUS POET
Her reputation not-with-standing, when Wheatley tried to publish her book of poetry, people questioned that an African slave could write poetry, and she had to defend her authorship in court in 1772. She won the case, and John Wheatley convinced some of Boston’s most respected men, including the governor and John Hancock, to review the work and vouch for the poems’ authenticity.

​Even with that, American publishers wouldn't publish her book of poetry. The next year, in 1773 (age 20), she traveled with Nathaniel Wheatley to London where chances of publication were better. She was introduced to high society, and they were quite enthusiastic about her work.
Selina Hastings, Countess of Huntingdon
​▼Photo Source: en.wikiquote.org/Selina_Hastings
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Selina Hasting, the Countess of Huntingdon, who had known George Whitefield, supported Phillis's poetry, and Wheatley's first book of poems was published in London in 1773, dedicated to the Countess and containing the forward signed by 18 distinguished men including, Governor Thomas Hutchison, Lieutenant Governor Andrew Oliver, and future signers of the Declaration of Independence John Hancock and Benjamin Rush. No small potatoes!  In London, her book was reprinted four times in the first year, and was available in the colonies a year later.  Book “Poems on Various Subjects Religious and Moral”
                                                                                                              ​▼ Photo Source: www.osgf.org/blog/poetry-of-phillis-wheatley
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Despite the distinguished endorsements, it wasn’t printed in America until 1786, after the author’s death. It was popular enough that during the remainder of the 1700’s, there were an additional seven editions.

The engraved portrait of Phillis Wheatley, used as the frontispiece to her poems, Reflections on Various Subjects Religious and Moral (London, 1773), is attributed to the poet and visual artist Scipio Moorhead, a slave in Boston, Massachusetts, and a friend of Phillis Wheatley. One element of the identification of the portrait as Wheatley might have been a mention of the subject’s finger held to her cheek. This engraving has been copied many times.
Frontispiece to “Reflections on Various Subjects Religious and Moral”              Portrait of Phillis Wheatley, Wheatley Hall, Univ.of Mass, copy of drawing    Photo source: upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/Wheatley                           believed to be by Scipio Moorhead - Photo source:  ▼
                                            ▼                                                       www.massachusetts.edu/remembering-wheatley-hall-namesake
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 Phillis's poems were about learning and virtue, patriotism, battles, and the greatness of America, but she was reluctant to write about slavery. One poem was about George Washington, then the leader of the Patriot Army, which she read to him in person.
​
Although she had the freedom to write poetry, recited it in many places, and became well known, Wheatley was still a slave. All the money she earned went to the Wheatley estate. When John Wheatley died in 1778, five years before the state of Massachusetts outlawed slavery, his will provided for giving Phillis her freedom.

In 1778, Phillis Wheatley married John Peters, a grocer she had known for five years. Her friends disapproved of him, probably because he was ambitious and purportedly prided himself on his great business acumen. Apparently he was intelligent, personable, wrote and spoke fluently, but also tended to exaggerate his credentials, even calling himself Dr. Peters and saying he was a lawyer.                                                                                                                                                                   John Peters Portrait ▼
                                                                                                                                                        Photo Source: google.com/search?biw=1360&bih/John Peters  
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After they married, Peters and his new wife moved to Wilmington, Massachusetts, but due to the economics after the war, it was difficult for blacks to compete for jobs. Phillis continued writing and still communicated with certain famous people, including George Washington, but circumstances worked against her. They sank into poverty and debt, and lived in poor conditions.
​
Sources vary regarding their offspring. One indicated she lost two children. In 1784, John Peters landed in debtor’s prison and while he was still there, Phillis Wheatley died in childbirth at the age of 31. Her last surviving child died shortly afterward.
​
IN PERSPECTIVE
Even in her day and status, this remarkable woman achieved high and popular acclaim. American author James Weldon Johnson (1871-1938) described Phillis Wheatley as “one of the important characters in the making of American literature, without any allowances for her sex or antecedents.”

The author of https://wheatleysboston.org/ sums it up with the following:
    Phillis Wheatley’s “life as a freed woman became emblematic of the experiences of freed people of color in the early republic. Though she was able to marry a free black grocer, John Peters, she struggled to make a living as a poetess.
   In many ways, Phillis’s story is both unique and ordinary. Not many African slaves left written records of their experiences in the colonies, and even less had the opportunity to become published poets.
    Phillis story, however, reveals the inequality that African slaves faced in colonial America. Slavery was a widespread reality in the British colonies, from Massachusetts down to Georgia. This legal and economic system served to bolster the social and economic power of the colonies’ elites. In the case of Phillis Wheatley, slavery meant having access to a literary world that highlighted her talent but benefited her masters. This inequality became most apparent when she attempted and failed to publish her poetry as a freed woman. She had little recourse but to clean homes in order to survive.”
​
This woman should be an American icon, and I don’t believe she is even mentioned in history courses. Fortunately, she is not forgotten, only lesser-known to the American public than she should be..
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Boston Women’s Memorial
Photo source: https://friendsofthepublicgarden.org/2017/02/16/african-america-history-month-sculpture-in-our-parks/
The statue of Phillis Wheatley is one of three women subjects of the Boston Women’s Memorial on Commonwealth Avenue Mall. As described in the dedication program from 2003, “These three women share a strong sense of Boston identity, a place in national history, a passion for social justice and the ability to inspire and impact people.”   https://friendsofthepublicgarden.org/2017/02/16/african-america-history-month-sculpture-in-our-parks/
 ▲Photo source: friendsofthepublicgarden.org/2017/Phillis Wheatly   ▲                    ▲ Photo source: www.gamecareerguide.com/features/
“Twas mercy brought me from my Pagan land, Taught my benighted soul to understand, That there's a God, that there's a Saviour too: Once I redemption neither sought nor knew. Some view our sable race with scornful eye, "Their color is a diabolic die." Remember, Christians, Negroes, black as Cain, May be refin'd, and join th' angelic train.” __ Phillis Wheatley

"In every human Beast, God has implanted a Principle, which we call Love of Freedom;
It is impatient of Oppression, and pants for Deliverance." __ Phillis Wheatley 
​
​Sources:
http://www.artfixdaily.com/blogs/post/873-phillis-wheatley-or-dido-elizabeth-belle
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Phillis_Wheatley
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/phillis-wheatley#tab-poems
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/phillis-wheatley
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phillis_Wheatley
https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/phillis-wheatley
https://npg.si.edu/blog/phillis-wheatley-her-life-poetry-and-legacy
https://www.biography.com/people/phillis-wheatley-9528784
http://www.pwacleveland.org/bio
https://www.battlefields.org/learn/biographies/phillis-wheatley
https://www.osgf.org/blog/making-a-new-america-the-poetry-of-phillis-wheatley
https://mmofraghana.org/uncategorized/sailing-on-a-name-phillis-wheatley-and-sarah-bonetta/
https://www.grossmont.edu/people/karl-sherlock/english-231/notes-exercises/phillis-wheatley.aspx
https://wheatleysboston.org/
https://blog.oup.com/2017/02/john-peters-phillis-wheatley/
https://edu.glogster.com/glog/phillis/26ipov87mnw?=glogpedia-source
https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/phillis-wheatley-106.php
http://www.phillis-wheatley.org/poetry-and-fame/
https://twitter.com/pardlo/status/900186009366908929
Photos
https://www.google.com/search?biw=1360&bih=657&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=38iTXJ38DY3AsAXK86sw&q=John+Peters%2C+husbANd+of+phillis+Wheatley&oq=John+Peters%2C+husbANd+of+phillis+Wheatley&gs_l=img.12..35i39.6249.22013..24817...0.0..0.199.4250.11j29......1....1..gws-wi
https://www.gamecareerguide.com/features/816/results_from_game_design_.php?print=1
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LESSER-KNOWN WOMEN IN HISTORY: Hedy Lamarr

3/15/2019

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March is Woman’s History Month, a time dedicated to highlighting “the contributions of women to events in history and contemporary society.” Therefore, I’ve chosen to blog each week in March about women who have made a mark on history.

HISTORY IS FICKLE
Since the beginning of history, women have contributed an unbelievable amount of knowledge, discovery, and talent in every field resulting in the changing of technology, law, social development, and attitudes. Unfortunately, history is fickle, often immortalizing inconsequential events and minimizing some major events to the point where they are left out of history books and school curriculum. Let’s shine a light on some of the women whose names you might not know--but who also helped shape the future of our nation.
​
Hedy Lamarr - publicity still for 'Heavenly Body' (1944). MGM
Photo source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedy_Lamarr
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HEDY LAMARR
Most people of a given age recognize the name and photo of Hedy Lamarr, one of the most famous actresses among many other glamour girls who starred in films in the mid-twentieth century. Most people who recognize the name may also wonder why she’s featured as a lesser-known woman in history. She was a popular actress and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, but that’s not exactly a mark on history.

But here she is. Let’s find out why.
​
BACKGROUND
Hedy Lamarr was born Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler in Austria in 1914, daughter of a banker and a pianist. As a child she studied ballet and piano and attended a Swiss boarding school, but was always fascinated by films. In her teens she attended a well-known acting school in Berlin but dropped out to become production assistant for Max Reinhardt, a theater and film producer.

She had bit roles in several films [between two and four] until, at 18, she was cast as the lead in Gustav Machaty’s film Ecstasy which featured a number of nude scenes. She was disillusioned by the experience, but the film became wildly popular as well as controversial, and was banned in the United States. Her career was off and running. Instead, at barely 19, she married Fritz Mandl, an Austrian munitions manufacturer and Nazi supporter fifteen years her senior and, at his insistence, retired from the film business.

Lamarr accompanied Mandl to business meetings, where he conferred with scientists and other professionals involved in military technology and weapons. His company was engaged in researching weapon control systems and during these meeting there were discussions that foreshadowed World War II. These conferences were her introduction to the field of military weaponry and fed her latent talent in mathematics and applied science. Despite the lack of any formal training in math and science, she understood what she heard.

Fritz Mandl was very controlling, and Hedy soon realized her career in film was over if she staying in the marriage. After four years, her situation became intolerable. There are various stories of how she escaped, one being that she dressed as a maid, took all her jewelry, and fled to England. Her notoriety brought her in contact with Louis B. Mayer, who signed her reluctantly because of concerns over moral issues. He changed her name to Hedy Lamarr, and she made her American debut in the film Algiers in 1938.                                     Publicity Photo for Heavenly Body 1944 - Public domain
​                                                                                                                          Photo source: commons.wikimedia.org/Hedy_Lamarr
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A twenty year career was launched during which she made at least twenty films. After World War II her popularity began to decline, and MGM did not renew her contract. Unfortunately for Hedy, she turned down the leads in both Gaslight (1940) and Casablanca (1942), both of which would have assured her continued status with the American public. She writes in her biography that this was one of the biggest mistakes of her life. She was married six times. Her last film was made in 1958.

THE MOTHER OF “SPREAD SPECTRUM” AND ‘FREQUENCY HOPPING”
The glamorous movie star is not the person we’re celebrating. In her downtime, when not acting, Hedy Lamar was an inventor. Her trailer was full scientific equipment, funded by her many friends including J.F. Kennedy and Howard Hughs. Her inventions include an improved traffic stoplight and a tablet that dissolved in water to create a carbonated drink -- unsuccessful because the drink, Lamarr said, tasted like Alka-Seltzer – and a communications system that is still on the cutting edge of modern telecommunications technology.

A communications system that everyone around the world uses every day -- the precursor to cell phones, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth.
Photo source: www.forbes.com/sites/shivaunefield/2018/
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When Hedy left her husband Markl, the technical discussions she witnessed had concluded that radio waves were better than wires for facilitating communications between a commander and a torpedo, but radio waves could be detected and jammed. That left an unsolvable problem for Hitler, for whom her husband was building weapons.

World War II broke out, and Lamarr had her own reasons to oppose it. She was a staunch supporter of the United States and its allies. Exactly when and how Lamarr got the idea for her “Secret Communications System”, is hard to determine, since there are several versions of the story. The important fact is that she realized transmitting radio signals along rapidly changing frequencies would make American radio-guided weapons undetectable. With the sequence of the frequencies known by the sender and receiver ahead of time, messages, if detected by the enemy, would be nonsense to them.

She approached George Anthiel, Hollywood pianist and composer, for help. Even thought asking composer for help sounds strange, in the 1920's Anthiel had been a front runner exploring mechanical music. He had composed the famous "Ballet Macanique" which called for mechanically synchronizing sixteen player pianos, xylophones and percussion. Together they developed a mechanism similar to player piano rolls to synchronize the changes between 88 frequencies. They submitted their patent on June 10, 1941, and it was granted on August 11, 1942.

Instead of marketing the idea, they turned it over to the US military as their contribution to the war effort. It was reviewed superficially by the US military and filed away as impractical. Hedy was told she could do more for the war effort by using her celebrity status to sell war bonds … which she did.​
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Photo source: https://www.multicominc.com/training/technical-resources/hedy-lamarr-inventor-of-wfi/
According to MulticomInc, “Their work paved the way for today’s wireless communications and which, upon its invention in 1941, was deemed so vital to national defense that government officials would not allow publication of its details.” Nonetheless, the MulticomInc article also refers to Lamarr as making a “small contribution to wartime technology.”
​
Physics History indicates frequency hopping was not an entirely new concept. Nikola Tesla alluded to the idea in 1900 and 1903 patents. A similar patent for a “secrecy communications system” was granted in 1920, with additional patents granted in 1939 and 1940 to two German engineers. Evidence came to light in the 1980s that during World War II, the US Army Signal Corps worked on a communication system that used the spread spectrum concept as well.
​
​Photo Source: www.ebay.com/itm/HEDY-LAMARR-US-PATENT
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At the time, Lamarr and Antheil couldn’t convince the US Navy who listened, but deemed the clockwork mechanism was too bulky and unreliable to use with a torpedo.

It wasn’t until 1957 that engineers at Sylvania Electronic Systems Division adopted the concept, using the recently invented transistor for an electronic system. In 1959 it idea was developed for controlling drones that would later be used in Viet Nam. Frequency hopping radio became a Navy standard by 1960.

TOO LITTLE TO LATE
Hedy Lamarr was honored as an actress in 1960 by her star on the Walk of Fame, but it wasn’t until 1998 that her invention was nationally acclaimed. She and George Anthiel were awarded the Electronic Frontier Foundation award, fifty years after they received their patent. [Antheil died in 1959]
​
▼ Hedy Lamarr’s star - Photo source:                           The Electronic Frontier Foundation Award        Gallery of Icons, National Inventors Hall of Frame
projects.latimes.com/hollywood/hedy-lamarr/         http://www.writeopinions.com/eff-pioneer-award      www.glassdoor.co.uk/National-Inventors-Hall-of-Fame
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In 2014 both were inducted, posthumously, into the National Inventors Hall of Fame. They never got to see their names in the Gallery of Icons in the National Inventors Hall of Fame.

Due to the expiration of the patent decades before the modern wireless era and Lamarr’s unawareness of time limits for filing claims, neither she nor Antheil profited a penny from their endeavor although their invention is now worth billions of dollars.
​
Hedy Lamarr died, impoverished, in Florida in 2000. She spent her final years living on SAG and social security checks amounting to $300 per month.□


Sources:
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/hedy-lamarr-not-just-a-pr/
http://listverse.com/2018/09/08/10-incredible-women-forgotten-by-history/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedy_Lamarr
https://people.seas.harvard.edu/~jones/cscie129/nu_lectures/lecture7/hedy/lemarr.htm
https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/cocktail-party-physics/hop-skip-and-a-jump-remembering-hedy-lamar/
https://www.forbes.com/sites/shivaunefield/2018/02/28/hedy-lamarr-the-incredible-mind-behind-secure-wi-fi-gps-bluetooth/#3126349e41b7
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001443/
https://www.forbes.com/sites/shivaunefield/2018/02/28/hedy-lamarr-the-incredible-mind-behind-secure-wi-fi-gps-bluetooth/#4fe473f141b7
https://www.aps.org/publications/apsnews/201106/physicshistory.cfm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgo2yij8YxU
http://www.women-inventors.com/Hedy-Lammar.asp
​https://www.glassdoor.co.uk/Photos/National-Inventors-Hall-of-Fame-Office-Photos-IMG1066629.htm
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    Author R. Ann Siracusa

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