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YOUR NAME SMELLS LIKE oRANGE

3/31/2017

So there I was, minding my own business and watching Jeopardy on TV. Alex Trebek was talking to a perfectly normal looking young contestant, when the woman says … she's a Synesthete.

O.M.G! No, wait! I mentally ask, as does most of the audience, "What's a Synesthete?" While the woman explains that she hears colors … wham! A story idea is born.

Writers are always on the alert for different situations, and this one has plenty of potential as an intriguing setup for a novel. Author Judy Reeves says that the job of the writer is to observe the details of everyday life and record them for the world. A big part of that is paying attention to how these details are perceived. But what if…?

SO, WHAT IS SYNESTHESIA?
Synesthesia or synaesthesia, which comes from ancient Greek words meaning "together" and "sensation", is a neurological condition in which stimulation of one sensory pathway leads to automatic, involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway. It occurs because of increased communication between sensory regions of the brain and is involuntary, automatic, and stable over time.

In other words, synesthetes are people who's brains link two or more of the five senses i.e. see a sound or smell, hear or taste a color, and so on. It is a consistent perception of reality to that person.

While it may be called a neurological condition, the term "neurological" only refers to the brain as the basis of the perceptual difference. It's not a medical condition and rarely interferes with normal daily functioning. It is what it is -- like being color blind. That's just the way those individuals perceive things, and it takes synesthetes a while to learn that not everyone perceives the world in the same manner.

While most synesthetes discover as children that they perceive things differently, it is generally reported to be a neutral or pleasant experience. Most don't consider it a handicap, but a gift or "sixth sense." However, some fear ridicule for their unusual perception, and may end up living in isolation and alone in their experiences. I see the potential for considerable miscommunication in school, too. Two or more of any of the five senses can be linked, but several types are more common.

Grapheme →Color Synesthesia
In this most common form of synesthesia, individual letters, numbers, or days of the week are perceived as having colors. While not all individuals see the same color for the same letter or number, there are some commonalities. Several sources indicated that the letter A is mostly likely to been seen as red; the letter O,
white or black; S is usually yellow.

Spatial Sequence Synesthesia
People with this form of synesthesia see numerical sequences as points in space. For example, the number 1 may appear as further away and the number 2 closer. Synesthetes with SSS tend to have extraordinary memories and are able to recall past events and memories in greater detail and more accurately.

Sound→Color Synesthesia
Sometimes called chromesthesia, this is the form where voices, background sounds, music and other auditory stimulus triggers a phenomenon described as fireworks of color which fade when the sound ends. It can be a single sound like a single musical note or a wide variety of sounds that trigger the experience.

The sound can alter the perceived brightness, intensity, directional movement and other aspects of the color display, which is described as seeing it on a screen in front of one's face rather than in the mind's eye.

While the same sound doesn't produce the same results with all synesthetes, loud tones are generally brighter, softer tones paler, and lower tones darker than high ones. This seems really weird to me, but what do I know?

Number Form Synesthesia
Whenever a synesthete with NFS thinks of numbers, a mental map of numbers appears automatically and involuntarily. Cross activation between regions of the parietal lobe that control numerical recognition and spatial cognition may be the cause. This one was hard for me to understand.

The Galton Number Form - Wikipedia

Eric Johnson, software developer, writes on his blog that he see numbers differently.
"I see them on a path—one that is and always has been the same. What shocked me about the image above is that it's nearly identical to how I see numbers, although mine tends to take a slight horseshoe shape. The only real difference is that my path keep rising up to the left (the 200s are higher than the 300s). If I'm counting, I sort of zoom-in on the particular number I'm on (each number on the path is written in a space like a board game), with my point of view, or camera angle, changes based on where I'm at on the number path."

I've always wondered if programmers see numbers differently. I guess some of them do.

Ordinal Linguistic Personification
OLP is where ordered sequences such as days, month, letters, or numbers are associated with personality types, such as the Wikipedia example where one individual said, "T's are generally crabbed, ungenerous creatures. U is a soulless sort of thing. 4 is honest, but… 3 I cannot trust." Yikes!

Lexical→Gustatory Synesthesia
This is rare. Here, individual words and the phonemes of spoken language create a taste sensation in the mouth. To some, three senses are combines, and the tastes have colors.

Well, maybe this one isn't as rare as the researchers think. Doesn't the word chocolate cause the writer's mouth to water with that delicious, comforting taste? I certainly don't get the same reaction with the technical name theobroma cacao.

In some people, words evoke taste of food no longer made or on the market.

Mirror Touch Synesthesia
This form is also rare, but when the individual with MTS sees another person being touched, the synesthete feels the touch as well. They can also feel the pain of another when that person is hurt. Perhaps there are real empaths.

JUST A FEW WORDS OF HISTORY
The ancient Greeks philosophers seemed to be aware of the condition when they asked "Is the color (what we now call timbre) of music quantifiable?" Both Isaac Newton and Goethe suggested that musical tones and colors shared frequencies (which, actually, is incorrect).

The first medical description of colored hearing was written in 1812 by German Gustav Fechner. His thesis stirred up interest, but testing proved difficult, so it "faded into science oblivion." Medical interest waned until the cognitive revolution in the 1980s.

In the early studies, the estimated frequency varied widely, as high as 1 in 20 to 1 in 20,000. Since then, with more studies, it is estimated that 1 in 23 individuals has some kind of synesthesia, and 1 in 90 have colored graphemes.

Recent studies show that the condition runs in families, which suggests a genetic origin. There is an almost equal sex ratio, 1.1:1. It's a complicated subject with links to other areas of study. If you're interest, I've listed several references to start with.

HEAR YE, ALL AUTHORS AND READERS
What kind of stories does this condition bring to your mind? Leave a comment and tell me your ideas.
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Resources
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synesthesia
http://www.livescience.com/169-rare-real-people-feel-taste-hear-color.html
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/92698.php
http://www.plosbiology.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pbio.1001205
http://voices.yahoo.com/synaesthesia-rare-condition-causes-people-to-7439522.html?cat=5
http://www.nytimes.com/1999/02/23/science/when-people-see-a-sound-and-hear-a-color.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm
http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/syne.html
http://web.mit.edu/synesthesia/www/
http://synesthete.org/
http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2011/04/22/how-synesthesia-works/
http://www.thejohnsonblog.com/2011/10/28/number-form-synesthesia/http://www.thejohnsonblog.com/2011/10/28/number-form-synesthesia/
http://personalitycafe.com/general-psychology/1606-synesthesia.html

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LOGLINES AND TAGLINES ARE DIFFERENT -- And You Need Both For Your Novel

3/24/2017

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Note: This is a rewrite from five years ago when this was published on the RB4U blogsite. Nevertheless, I resurrected it because the problem hasn't gone away. I beg your forgiveness.
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"Cannot. Stress. This. Enough. Every week I see scores of pitches – sent to my inbox, my ears or via script listing sites – and every week I see Loglines and Taglines being mixed up. Please Stop!" __Lucy V. Hay (script editor and novelist) May 11, 2010

IMAGINE MY SURPRISE!
So here I was, cruising along, a relative newbie as a published author, following the lead of others who were more seasoned in the business than I will ever be. And since many of these authors seemed to use the terms logline and tagline interchangeably, I labored under the delusion that these were just different terms for essentially the same thing.

Wrong! Since a lot of attention focuses on these two similar but different tools of the trade, research was in order. I found plenty of blogs and articles that confuse the two, or describe the difference but use examples for one term that are clearly samples of the other term. A few pointed out the difference.

Both terms have their roots in the film and TV industries, but the concepts transfer equally well to novels. And since authors should have both for their books, they should know the difference.

THE TAGLINE
First, taglines, tag lines, or tags are American terms, so if you are in the UK, you know them as end lines or straplines. In Italy, they are called pay offs; in Belgium, baselines; in France, signatures.

In the film industry, a tagline is a piece of marketing copy designed to go on posters to sell the film, or in a writer's case, to sell the book.

Author Stacey Nash describes a tagline for books as "a one-sentence summary of your story. Its goal is to intrigue and make the person that you are delivering it to want to read the story. The most important thing about the tagline is that it needs to be high concept. It should sum up the entire plot in one quick compelling sentence."

The samples of taglines (all for movies) used by Lucy V. Hay, which she found in a Google search, are:
● "He lived the American Dream…With a vengeance." (Scarface)
● "An epic of miniature proportions" (A Bug's Life)
● "The Toys are back in town." (Toy Story 2)
● "Whoever wins…We lose." (Alien Vs Predator)
● "EARTH—take a good look. Today could be your last." (Independence Day)

The longest is ten words. We're talking short and high concept.

Whatever art form they're selling (movies, TV shows, music, books), taglines are one sentence (or maybe two) that describes the product. That sentence utilizes puns, clever wording, and images that the average person already knows about, at least superficially, to intrigue the individual into wanting to see the film, hear the music, or read the book.

For me, the key is using imagery most people know and understand to convey an expectation of what the book is about.

Some blogs call a tagline an elevator pitch. I guess that depends on how many floors you're going to travel in the elevator. I'd say it's a one-story elevator pitch. Whatever you call it, it's the Big Hook. The Attention Grabber. And your book, and everyone elses, needs one.

THE LOGLINE

The Origin of the Term
The origin of the logline (or log line) is not the movie industry tie. Actually, according to Stanley D. Williams, it is a nautical term.

Log lines were thin ropes with knots tied in them and wound on a spool. Mariners unreeled these ropes behind them to measure their speed--in knots--by counting how many evenly spaced knots passed through their hands as the sand in the hour-glass drained from the top to the bottom. The log line was a necessity which helped them navigate the journey and not get lost, since it would show how far the ship had gone in a certain direction and when to turn to find their destination. It was a navigation tool.

I'm not sure how the use of the nautical term got transferred to the movie industry, but according to Wikipedia, the logline came into use when the old movie studios had script vaults.

In those vaults, the studios stored screenplays, apparently one on top of the other, in stacks. Readers supposedly "wrote a concise one line summary of what the script was about either on the cover of the script, on the spine of the script, or both." This allowed people to read the loglines without actually unstacking the scripts.

I suppose, in a sense, this was also a navigation tool.
What is a Logline?
The logline, while short, is longer than the tagline and presents a basic description of your plot in about twenty-five to thirty words. It should contain all the necessary elements for telling a good story.

That's right. And it's tough to condense 90,000 words into twenty-five. It's a two-story elevator pitch or a thirty-second time bite in real time. And you need one of these for your novel, as well.

Let's go back to the Wikipedia version. So, how did these readers consolidate a script (or a book) into this short description. A number of different authors and screenwriters have identified what needs to be in a logline.

●Stanley D. Williams (story consultant, screenwriter and director) believes a good logline is a single sentence which includes five elements.

The subject of the sentence will describe (1) an imperfect but passionate and active "protagonist." The verb will depict (2) the "battle." The direct object will describe (3) an "insurmountable antagonist" who tries to stop the protagonist from reaching (4) a physical "goal" on account of (5) the "stakes", if the goal is not reached.

● Christopher Lockhart (screenplay writer and film producer) writes "A logline conveys the dramatic story of a screenplay in the most abbreviated manner possible…A logline must present:
   ● Who the story is about (protagonist)
   ● What he/she strives for (goal)
   ● What stands in his way (antagonistic force)."

● Author Stacey Nash sees the logline as three sentences in which you sum up the plot of your story answering these basic questions:
   ● Who is your main character?
   ● What does he/she want? What is his/her goal?
   ● Why does he/she want this (motivation)?
   ● What are the obstacles in his/her way?
   ● What makes the story unique?

● Screenwriter Erik Bork defines the requirements as:
   ● A very quick sense of who the main character is
   ● The catalyst that sets the story in motion (the big Uh-Oh)
   ● The nature of the challenge the characters now face, and it must be a huge difficulty.

● Cindy Carroll (screenwriter and author) recommends using one of these structures to answer the address the elements of the logline.
   ● To stop A, character B must do C, but D happens.
   ● When A happens, character B must take some action (C), but D happens.
   ● Character B does something, then when A happens they must do C, but D happens.

She gives the example of one of her own loglines, which is twenty-three words.
"When an informant turns up dead, a by-the-book undercover cop models men's underwear to uncover the killer and stop a DVD pirating ring."

● Author Kimberly Killion's pitch format also works as a way to structure a logline by filling in capitalized words. "TITLE is a GENRE about ADJECTIVE/DESCRIPTION OF MAIN CHARACTER, who wants to DEFAULT ACTION. But when CALL TO ACTION, he must STORY GOAL, which seems impossible because CENTRAL CONFLICT."

Of course, we can see the common thread. They're not easy to write because every word has to count and give pertinent information to the reader or listener.

RULES OF THUMB
● Be succinct without being sparse. The trick is to create a logline that is pithy but has substance. It must be clear that the antagonistic force is an obstacle to the major goal. It must imply that something is at stake; it must suggest that something can be lost.

● Don't use the main character's name.

● Use a descriptive adjective to give the main character depth in a word or two. Instead of describing the main character as "a detective" use "a cynical fifty-year-old detective" or "a young, enthusiastic detective." Using "an ex-superhero" tells a lot more than "a superhero." "An alcoholic ex-superhero" conveys even more to the reader (or listener).

● Make the genre clear in the text. If your novel is a romance, you need a hero and heroine in the logline. Whether science fiction, comedy, or mystery, the logline should tell the reader what the genre is.

● Present a succinct description of the protagonist's main goal and place it as close to the beginning as possible.

● Make your protagonist pro-active. Show the action of the story. Even if the protagonist is reactive, that's not the same as passive.

● Include the stakes or a ticking time-bomb. Urgency. Show that something can be lost. I like the example used by Erik Bork in his article.
     • To save his reputation, a secretly gay fraternity boy must sleep with fifteen women
       by the end-of-semester party.

● Include the set up, particularly science fiction or paranormal where the rules are different. More Erik Bork examples:
     • In a world where all children are grown in vats…
     • Driven to a mental breakdown by an accident at work, an aquarium manager…

● Don’t reveal the twist or surprise at the end. The logline (and the book) should work by itself without the "bonus" surprise at the end.

● Make every word count.

● Sell it, don't tell it.

One final suggestion from a number of screenwriters and authors: Write your Log Line before you write your novel, or at least at the beginning. James Burbridge writes that the bad news is that if you can't make the logline work, it's probably because the story doesn't work.

OKAY, NOW I GET IT!
When things were getting pretty fuzzy and definitions overlapping and contradictory, this example brought clarity to me. The following is from the Press Kit for Close Quarters.

● Tagline
A film about sex, betrayal, friendship, jealousy, love, hate, death, and coffee.
● Logline
Forced to work an extra shift, two young baristas must come to terms with their own relationship while being bombarded by the very different issues of their diverse customers. (29 words)

● Short Synopsis
BARRY and ABBY are two baristas in a Chicago coffeehouse. Barry is passionately and blindly in love with Abby. She knows this all too well, but is hardly ready to move into any kind of formal relationship with him. This does not stop Barry, though, who has decided that the best way to win her over is to propose to her in front of the largest group possible. This evening will be his opportunity. It is Abby’s birthday and her friends are planning a surprise birthday party for her. Barry is planning an even bigger surprise.

How about this one for the movie Jaws?
● Tagline
   Don't go in the water.
● Logline
   A sheriff struggles to protect his beach community after a grisly shark
   attack, but greed rules the Chamber of Commerce. (21 words)

Another good example is the movie Alien. This comes up often as an example.

● Tagline
   In space, no one can hear you scream.
● Logline
   After responding to a distress signal, a space crew is forced to confront a
   deadly alien who stows aboard their ship, leaving one member to fend
   for herself. (28 words)

JUST FOR FUN
So, authors, write your taglines and loglines, and if you run out of ideas or just want some fun, go to Brian Stoke's Random Logline Generator. This link is for the Zombie edition of the generator: http://www.lifeformz.com/cgi-bin/idea/idea.fcgi
Another random generator is:
http://www.screenwritersutopia.com/modules.php?name=Logline
Have fun, and please share your logline and tagline in your comments.
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Resources
http://www.dailywritingtips.com/whats-your-novels-log-line/http://www.movieoutline.com/articles/writing-good-log-lines.html
http://www.ehow.com/how_8663965_write-taglines.html
http://www.bang2write.com/2010/05/loglines-are-not-taglines.html
http://www.staceynash.com/2012/08/24/taglines-hooklines-loglines/
http://theloglineblog.blogspot.com/p/how-to-do-log-line.html
http://www.kimberlykillion.com/writers.asp
http://www.closequartersmovie.com/cms/uploads/press-kit.pdf http://www.flyingwrestler.com/2013/02/loglines-dont-tease/http://www.raindance.org/10-tips-for-writing-loglines/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Log_line
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tag_line
http://www.lifeformz.com/logline.html
http://carissa-taylor.blogspot.com/2013/02/pitch-factory-twitter-pitch-logline.html

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ÓCH! SAINT PATRICK WASN'T IRISH!

3/17/2017

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Here I am again, Ann the Holiday Buzz-Kill.

I hope readers don't think of me as out to spoil everyone's holiday celebrations. These blog are, rather, intended to educate, not spoil. Not everything we read or believe or were taught in school is accurate. In this era of readily available information about everything, I often wonder if the human tendency to question is losing its edge.

OMG! SAINT PATRICK WASN'T IRISH
In spite of being the Apostle and Patron Saint of Ireland, Patrick was born in Roman Britain, near Dumbarton, Scotland, in the year 387. His father, Calphurnius was a deacon from a Roman family of high standing, and his mother, Conchessa, was a close relative of St. Martin of Tours. Patrick's grandfather, Pontius, was also a member of the clergy (one source said his grandfather was a priest...hmm). But in his aristocratic youth, Patrick was not an active believer in Christianity.

HOW PATRICK GOT TO IRELAND
Not with a first class ticket on a luxury liner, that's for sure.
At the age of sixteen (perhaps as young as fourteen), Patrick was captured by a band of Irish pirates attacking his father's estate. He was taken to Ireland where he was enslaved for six years near Slemish, County Antrim. (Other scholars claim he was taken to County Mayo near Killala.)

Where ever he was held, he worked as a shepherd. Alone and afraid, he turned to his religion for comfort and direction. It was then he became a deeply devoted Christian.

Apparently he had visions and, in one, he saw the children of pagan Ireland reaching out their hands to him. This led him to the determination that he should free them from Druidism and convert them to Christianity. In around 408, he dreamed a voice told him he would soon go home; then, in a later vision, the voices said his ship was ready.

HOW HE RETURNED TO BRITIAN
Believing the vision, he escaped from his master and traveled to a port 200 miles away. He found a ship and persuaded the captain (or some sailors) to let him board. After sailing for three days, they landed in Britain and abandoned the ship; another source claims they landed in France. No source puts forth an explanation of why everyone left the vessel and went off to wander in the wilderness. It seems odd to me that they all abandoned the ship unless they were all, perhaps, escaped slaves.

The band of men wandered in the wilderness for 28 days, faint with hunger. In their desperation, Patrick tried to convince the men to put their faith in God. They weren't having any of it until they came upon a wild boar. Consequently, Patrick's prestige level went up. Apparently, he had other adventures before he finally got home to his family.

In his early twenties, Patrick began studying for the priesthood in Auxerre, France, and was ordained four years later. Later in life, he was ordained a bishop. He had always held on to the desire to bring Christianity to Ireland. Around 431, Pope St. Celestine I consecrated St. Patrick as Bishop of the Irish, and sent him to Ireland to spread the faith. Some historians believe it was Bishop Palladius who was sent to Ireland by the Pope. At any rate, Patrick got there somehow and takes all the credit.

Saint. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin Saint Patrick's Window Saint Patrick's burial place

He carried out this work in Ireland for thirty years, living in poverty, traveling, and enduring much suffering. He died on March 17, 461 in Saul, Ireland, where he had built the first Christian church. He is said to be buried in Ulster, County Down, Ireland.

THE LEGENDS OF ST. PATRICK
That's history. Let's take a look at the legends, of which there are quite a few.

● St. Patrick drove the snakes out of Ireland.
Another OMG moment. There have never been snakes in Ireland for St. Patrick to banish, according naturalist Nigel Monaghan of the National Museum of Ireland in Dublin (and many other people). The island separated from the continent mainland at the end of the Ice Age, and snakes never managed to make the swim, although parts of Scotland were within about eight miles of Ireland.

Nonetheless, legend has it that St. Patrick banished the snakes into the sea after they attacked him while he undertook a forty-day fast on the top of a hill. In fact, snakes were sacred to Druids, and the story of their banishment attests to Patrick's success at removing the pagan influences from Ireland.

● The Shamrock is the Irish National Flower and only grows in Ireland.
Actually, the shamrock, on any other day than March 17, is clover and grows all over the world. Óch! (Alas!) Ireland doesn't have a national flower. However, the shamrock is the registered trademark of the Republic of Ireland, and also the unofficial flower of both North Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

The shamrock is connected to St. Patrick because, legend tells us, he used the leaf to illustrate the concept of the Holy Trinity; the three separate elements of one entity. In fact, it was the Druids who "started the shamrock on its path to Irish glory" according to the Irish Genealogy-Toolkit. The Druids believed the number three was perfect and had magic powers. Attaching great importance to three, the Druids used three-headed faces and three connected spirals and other three legged symbols.

However, the story of St. Patrick explaining the Trinity in the fifth century doesn't appear in any manuscripts, including his own, until the 18th century.

● St. Patrick's Magic Fire - The Paschal Fire
The Celtic feast of Beltaine (Feast of Fires) was a major festival at the beginning of the summer season. A fire would be lit by Ireland's High King on the Hill of Tara. The King's fire was used to light all the other fires. [Maybe it was something like lighting the Olympic torch, but I'm guessing that was only where the High King lived.]

Apparently, St. Patrick got in trouble with High King Laoghaire (d:462) when he lit the fire before the king. Druid elders were dispatched by the king to find out what they could. They reported Patrick's fire could not be put out and would burn forever if the King didn't extinguish it. Unfortunately, King Laoghaire failed to put out Patrick's fire and had to admit that the priest's magic was stronger than his. While the king didn't convert to Christianity, he endorsed Patrick's mission to bring Christianity to Ireland.

● The Deer's Cry or St. Patrick's Breastplate.
This is a story appears in a poem supposedly written by St. Patrick. In the poem, he used a power called féth fíada to change himself and a companion into wild deer so they could escape an ambush en route to the Hill of Tara in the Boyne Valley, the sacred dwelling place of the Druid gods.

Patrick's Celtic adversaries were waiting for St. Patrick to imprison him, but saw only a deer and a fawn running across the field. That way, St. Patrick reached the hill without being attacked. Why this story is called St. Patrick's Breastplate is a puzzle to me unless it means shield.

ST. PATRICK'S DAY CELEBRATIONS
Regardless of St. Patrick's origins and history, he is beloved by the Irish the world over, and his holiday is celebrated where ever there are Irish to celebrate.

LET'S SAY A TOAST TO ST. PATRICK
I propose a toast to St. Patrick using the words of some favorite old Irish drinking toasts.

• A toast to world domination:
God invented whiskey so the Irish wouldn't rule the world!

• Another Old Irish drinking toast:
When we drink, we get drunk
When we get drunk, we fall asleep
When we fall asleep, we commit no sin.
When we commit no sin, we go to heaven.
So, let's all get drunk, and go to heaven!

• Honoring the things we love:
Here's to the wine we love to drink, and the food we like to eat.
Here's to our wives and sweethearts, let's pray they never meet.
Here's champagne for our real friends, real pain for our sham friends.
And when this life is over, may all of us find peace.

ABÚ (Hurrah for) SAINT PATRICK and HAPPY SAINT PATRICK'S DAY.

Resources
http://www.catholiccompany.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Patrick%27s_Day
http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=89
http://www.history.com/topics/st-patricks-day/who-was-saint-patrick
http://st-patricks-day.com/about_saintpatrick.html
http://www.irish-genealogy-toolkit.com/legend-of-Saint-Patrick.html
http://www.biography.com/people/st-patrick-9434729
http://wilstar.com/holidays/patrick.htm
http://www.irishsayings.org/irish-drinking-toasts

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THE ORIGIN OF THE BAGPIPES

3/10/2017

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WHY WRITE ABOUT BAGPIPES?
First of all, today is International Bagpipe Day. What could be more appropriate?

International Bagpipe Day was initiated by the Bagpipe Society to celebrate bagpipers throughout the world. This is day bagpipe players play individually or in groups everywhere in the world for whomever will listen. Below is a photo of the Bushehri Bagpipers of Iran which was on the facebook page of the Bagpipe Society.

Second, my husband is Italian (from Sicily). We watch Italian television (RAI) daily. At Christmas time, there was an Italian Nativity Pageant on TV and the shepherds in the background were playing bagpipes.

My grandchildren were amazed, and thought the TV program had it all wrong. I thought other people might be surprised also.

When Bagpipes pipe their mournful sounds, most people (Americans, at any rate) associate the instrument with the Highlands of Scotland, but in fact the bagpipes were introduced into Scotland by the Romans.

WHAT ARE BAGPIPES?
Bagpipes are musical instruments classified as aerophones. They are reed instruments that utilize an air reservoir. The reservoir allows an uninterrupted stream of air to be directed through the reeds.

It's generally agreed that the bagpipe arose from the desire to make reed instruments easier to play, especially for lengthy spells. Connect your local reed instrument to a bag, add a blowpipe for putting in air, inflate fully and squeeze.

An early version of the bagpipes was constructed using animal skin. The hollow leg bones of small animals were attached to the instrument with holes drilled into them. These holes gave the player the ability to play various pitches and tones.

ANCIENT ORIGINS
While there several theories about the first bagpipes, many scholars believe they originated somewhere in the in the Middle East before the time of Christ -- Mesopotamia, Sumaria, or perhaps even India or Persia – in the form of a crude instrument comprised of reeds stuck into a goatskin bag.

The most ancient physical proof is an engraved picture in Chaldean sculptures which date back to 4,000 BC. [Celtic-Instruments.com] Archaeologists date an actual instrument found in Panopolis, Egypt to 1,500 BC.], and The Oxford History of Music claims a sculpture of bagpipes was discovered on a Hittite slab at Eyuk in the Middle East, dated to 1000 B.C.

Later in history, various forms of bagpipes appear in the records throughout the western world including a textual reference from 425 BC, in the play The Acharnians by the Greek playwright Aristophanes. Also, one website indicates a style of bagpipe is mentioned in the Old Testament of the Bible.

On Oliver Seeler’s website, Universe of Bagpipes, the photo below of an Assyrian palace wall carving (from Nimrud, circa 800 B.C.) clearly depicts a warrior fording a river with what could be the earliest depiction of an inflated leather bag as an air reservoir. The bag is equipped with a blow-pipe through which the swimmer can replace air that has leaked. Tie a simple reed-pipe into this device and you would have a bagpipe.

While there is strong evidence that the Romans and Greek had early versions of bagpipes, the exact form isn’t well documented. The instruments themselves were made entirely or almost entirely of organic materials (wood and skins) which didn't last long-term. At that time, bagpipes tended to be instruments of the "common" people, and were probably used roughly without concern about longevity. Being an instrument of the common people, bagpipes didn’t get much “Press” since no one wrote about the peasants.

Two exceptions to this are writings from the Dio Chrysostom in the 1st century AD, describing the Roman sovereign as playing the tibia (the pipes) with his mouth as well as with his “armpit.” In the 2nd Century A.D., Suetonius wrote that the Roman Emperor Nero was a talented bagpipe (or Tibia Utricularius) player. Whether or not he was really talented, or only described that way by some scribe who wished to continue to live, is speculation, but it does mean the instrument was somewhat familiar to these writers.

Regardless, the Romans are credited by most for bringing the bagpipes to Scotland and other parts of the world they conquered.

It is speculated that bagpipes were used by shepherds in ancient times. The early Romans used them as outdoor instruments during the building of roads or the gathering of harvests, and the pipers would march through town to announce the beginning of a workday. They also used the bagpipes during religious ceremonies for the sacrifice of the gods or at chariot races and funerals.
Early Roman soldiers and later Scottish soldiers used the bagpipe as an instrument of war. The resonating sound of the pipes could be heard up to 10 miles away. In 1745, when the British defeated the Scottish at the Battle of Culloden, the use of bagpipes was outlawed. The ban was later lifted in the 1800s.

BAGPIPES TODAY
Many immigrants from Europe brought the bagpipe to the Americas. Many Irish joined law enforcement agencies, and brought their cultural customs with them. It wasn't long before bagpipers were part of law enforcement and played at police funerals and other ceremonies.

Today bagpipes are frequently played at weddings, parades, celebrations, and all kinds of funerals. The music enhances the grief of the family of the dead and the other mourners. It also serves to escort the fallen to the final resting place. This scenario has been played out for centuries and the tradition has been carried forth from the ancient battlefields of Ireland and Scotland to the ceremonies honoring slain peace officers and firefighters.

But in Italy, bagpipes are a most common Italian Christmas sound. The zampognari, the shepherds who play the bagpipes, come down from their mountain homes at Christmas time and perform melodies adapted from old folk tunes in the market squares.

In Italy, the tradition of bagpipes goes back to ancient Roman times. Legend says that the shepherds entertained the Virgin Mary in Bethlehem. Today, the zampognari perform their own private pilgrimage, stopping before every shrine to the Madonna and every Nativity scene.

Resources
http://www.mid-east.com/info/bagpipe.html
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090516234156AAvtLkQ
http://www.hotpipes.com/history2.html
http://www.bcfpb.com/id11.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bagpipes
http://www.theaterseatstore.com/history-of-bagpipes-in-theater
http://www.celtic-instruments.com/pipes/great-highland-bagpipes/history.html
http://www.italymagazine.com/news/zampognari-keep-alive-tradition-festive-bagpipe-playing

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WOMEN'S HISTORY MONTH – Never Trust What a Tour Guide Says

3/3/2017

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AMAZING WOMEN YOU MAY NOT KNOW ABOUT
          Listen, my children, and you shall hear
          Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere
          —Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (Paul Revere's Ride)

Years ago I attended a Women's History lecture given by a professor of Women's History from UC Riverside. Among others, she talked about a woman who made a midnight ride similar to Paul Revere's during the Revolutionary War. I didn't write the name down, and for a long time I tried to find out who she was.

Later, on a tour of New England, I visited many historic Revolutionary War sites. I asked every museum docent and every tour guide about this woman, and the answer was always a puzzled look and, "No, there's no such person. No woman did a ride like Paul Revere."

Not true! Who trains these people?

It's sad that before 1970, the serious study of women's history was almost non-existent. I suppose it's no wonder that no one had heard of this woman or the many others who have played significant roles in American and world history. According to American Historian Gerda Lerner, before 1970,"People didn't think that women had a history worth knowing."

MARCH IS WOMEN'S HISTORY MONTH
Today, nearly every university has Women's History courses and most offer a doctoral degree in the subject. "Women's History Week" began in 1978 in Sonoma County, California and it included March 8, International Women's Day. In 1987 Congress declared March as Women's History Month.

SYBIL LUDINGTON
Sybil Ludington (April 5, 1761 – February 26, 1839) was born in Fredericksburg, Kent, New York, the daughter of Colonel Henry Ludington. She was the eldest of twelve children. On April 26, 1777, at the age of sixteen, Sybil rode her horse, Star, 40 miles (twice the distance of either Paul Revere or Jack Jouette) to warn the Patriots the British were coming.

Sybil's father was in charge of the local volunteers. When a soldier arrived at the Ludington household with the news that the British had ransacked the supply center at Danbury, Connecticut, and were heading for Fredericksburg, it was necessary for the Colonel to muster the troops.

Sybil jumped at the chance. She started out at 9 p.m. and ended her ride about dawn the next day. She used a stick to prod her horse, knock on doors, and defend herself against a highwayman. When she returned home, soaked and exhausted, 400 soldiers were ready to march. Thanks to her long ride, the Patriots were able to force the British back to Long Island Sound.

At the time, her ride wasn't talked about, and the event wasn't recorded. Her great grandson was the first to write about it. Today there are quite a few statues and monuments dedicated to Sybil, so I have no idea why the tour guides I talked to in Connecticut (in the early 1990's) had never heard of her. For shame!

PHILLIS WHEATLEY
On my quest to find out more about Sybil Ludington, I ran on to another woman I have to mention.

Phillis Wheatley was America's first black woman to be published. A respected author and poet, she was also a patriot and symbol for abolitionists.

Phillis was born in West Africa (probably present day Gambia or Senegal) and sold into slavery at the age of seven. In America she was purchased by a Boston family named Wheatley. The family's 18-year-old daughter, Mary, and son, Nathaniel, taught her to read and write. By the age of 12 she was reading Greek and Latin; at 14 she wrote her first poem. John Wheatley, a progressive thinker, recognized her unique talent and supported Phyllis's education.

Soon she was being praised for her outstanding poetry. At the time, people questioned that an African slave could write poetry, and she had to defend her authorship of her poems in court in 1772. Still, 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 Hasting, the Countess of Huntingdon, supported Phillis's poetry, and Wheatley's first book of poems was published in London in 1773, dedicated to the Countess

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. Phillis was given her freedom in 1778, when John Wheatley provided for her freedom in his will. Soon after, his daughter Mary died.

Phillis married a free black grocer, but they lived in poor conditions and lost two babies. She died in childbirth with her third child in 1784 at the age of 31. The child outlived his mother only by a few hours.

She is one of three black women honored at the Boston Women's Memorial, and is remembered for many first time accomplishments for a women in her day.

     "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

Resources
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/173903
http://www.womeninbio.org/events/special-events/?gclid=CPy8lfvwpMsCFQYIaQodeVYFhA
http://www.infoplease.com/spot/womensintro1.html
http://score.rims.k12.ca.us/score_lessons/women_american_revolution/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sybil_Ludington
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phillis_Wheatley
http://www.americaslibrary.gov/jb/revolut/jb_revolut_poetslav_1.html
http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Phillis_Wheatley.aspx

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YOUR NAME SMELLS LIKE oRANGE

LOGLINES AND TAGLINES ARE DIFFERENT -- And You Need Both For Your Novel

ÓCH! SAINT PATRICK WASN'T IRISH!

THE ORIGIN OF THE BAGPIPES

WOMEN'S HISTORY MONTH – Never Trust What a Tour Guide Says

Author R. Ann Siracusa

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