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A CONFUSION OF TERMS: Labour Day and Labor Day

8/31/2018

FUN IN THE SUN
"Labor Day is approaching fast and, with it being the last big weekend of the summer, you need to make sure you have a ton of fun with the people you care about and let summer go out with a bang." Danielle Costa on Celebritycafe.com (08/31/2012)

Ocean City, New Jersey Photo from: Labor Day Picnic in the Park Family camping at Yosomite
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013 dailygazette.com/galleries

Is that what Labor Day is all about? Another holiday? A chance to celebrate the last days of summer? A three day weekend? Well, yes, it's all those, but is there more? Is it one of those national holidays which have become just another three day weekend without the understanding of what it means? Let’s see.

HISTORY OF LABOR DAY IN THE U.S.
There is a discrepancy about who actually suggested the Labor Day holiday in the US. Some say the Secretary of the Central Labor Union, Matthew Maguire, came up with the idea in 1882. That's contradicted by others arguing it was Peter J. McGuire of the American Federation of Labor who proposed it after attending Toronto's annual Labour Festival.

Other than historians, who cares?

The bottom line is that it was declared a federal holiday in 1894 and designated for the first Monday of September. Its purpose was to celebrate and value in American society the role of our workers and their work by providing, ironically and fittingly, a day off to rest and enjoy the fruits of one’s labor.

Hey, maybe we got it right, after all.

Supposedly, the form for the celebration of Labor Day was presented in the original proposal for the holiday: A street parade to exhibit to the public "the strength and esprit de corps of the trade and labor organizations", followed by a festival for the workers and their families. This became the pattern for Labor Day celebrations. A day of rest for the workers of America.

I'll drink to that! Let’s go to the beach!

THE STORY BEHIND THE STORY
There is always a “story behind the story.”

The reasons behind declaring Labor Day a holiday stems from more than a desire to recognize the importance of American workers. At least in part, it came about as the result of the Pullman Strike, which occurred in Illinois on May 11, 1884. Without going into the gory details, three thousand railroad workers went on a wildcat strike without the authorization of their union because of the way George Mortimer Pullman, founder and president of the Pullman Palace Car Company, treated his workers.

Am.Railway Union blockade of the Grand Crossing in Chicago Illustration by Frederic Remington
Photos from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pullman_Strike

Ultimately, in trying to subdue the riots, a number of people were killed by the U.S. Military and U.S. Marshalls (some sources say hundreds, other say just a few). President Grover Cleveland made peace with the labor people, but fearing further conflict, Congress voted to approve rush legislation establishing Labor Day a national holiday. It was signed into law only six days after the end of the strike.

A date in September was selected rather than May 1, which is celebrated throughout much of the world as Labour Day, for fear it would be associated with nascent Communist, Syndicalist and Anarchist movements and would appear to celebrate the labor riots of 1884, the Haymarket Affair in 1886, and other May Day riots.

Everything is political, isn't it?

A CONFUSION OF TERMS
A variety of celebrations are called “May Day” and “Labor Day.” Although these different celebratory purposes have evolved from one to another, today they mean different kinds of celebrations.

● Labor Day in the US
However it came about, Labor Day in the USA is a holiday for workers and their families as described above.

● Mayday
Just for the fun of it, the distress call “Mayday” is not related in any way to what we’re talking about. The word derives from the French term m'aidez, which means "help me."

● May Day
This spring festival is celebrated on May 1 and, in its earliest form, was the Festival of Flora, Floralia, the Roman goddess of flowers, celebrating new life, new growth, and fertility. It morphed into Walpurgis Night in the Germanic countries and Gaelic Beltane.

The summer solstice is now on June 21 and is considered the first day of the summer season. It was, and still is, celebrated in many ways, more recently by festivals including dancing around the May Pole.

Barbara Marlow Irwin–Private collection of May Day postcards Maypole dancing at Bishopstone
http://www.lyndonirwin.com/maypole.htm Church Sussex,England, UK
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_Day
● Labour Day and International Worker’s Day
International Worker's Day recognizes the International Labor Movement and is celebrated on May 1 in at least eighty countries in the world, including most of Europe.

Wikipedia says, "International Workers' Day is the commemoration of the 1886 Haymarket Affair in Chicago. The police were trying to disperse a public assembly during a general strike for the eight-hour workday, when an unidentified person threw a bomb at them. The police reacted by firing on the workers, killing dozens of demonstrators and several of their own officers. Reliable witnesses testified that all the pistol flashes came from the center of the street, where the police were standing, and none from the crowd. Moreover, initial newspaper reports made no mention of firing by civilians. A telegraph pole at the scene was filled with bullet holes, all coming from the direction of the police."

The Haymarket riots - Photo from Photo From: https://www.thinglink.com
http://linoit.com/users/CalynKirkpatrick/

The Haymarket riot was one of many protests but brought to a head the growing confron-tation between labor agitators and law enforcement throughout much of Europe and Russia, drew attention to working conditions and ultimately resulted in the eight hour work day.

Thus, the terms “Labour Day” and “International Worker’s Day” are related to worker’s marching and rioting to demand worker’s rights and/or better working conditions. The photos demonstrate the way in which it is still “celebrated.”

Vienna, Austria 2017 Johannesburg, South Africa 2017 Paris, France 2000
Foto by: Johannes Zinner    pintpressnews.com AP_Denis Farrell    Photo: Philippe Lopez/AFP/Getty
Photo from: commons.wikimedia.org/    www.theguardian.com/world/gallery

Ankara, Turkey-march for better pay    Milan, Italy Moscow, Russia-May Day has be-
Photo:www.mintpressnews.com/    Photo: www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ come patriotic holiday Photo:
   www.nytimes.com/2017/05/01/

So for most of the world, May 1 isn't about mystical or medieval pagan fertility festivals or maypoles (I doubt that any of us have ever seen a ribbon-bedecked birch maypole) but about protesting for worker's rights. Oh, we have our share of protests in the U.S. on May Day, but thanks to our elected officials doing it right for a change, we can protest on May 1 and still get a day off on Labor Day.

MY CHOICE
I don’t know about you, but I like our USA approach the best. Most of us don’t have a lot to complain about regarding working conditions -- although we try -- thanks to those who made sacrifices for us and participated in the earlier riots and strikes for workers rights.

The idea of a three-day weekend to have fun with your family and friends sounds pretty nice. Much better than dancing around a maypole or getting your head beat in by the riot squad. Enjoy.

Sources:
https://www.history.com/topics/haymarket-riot
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pullman_Strike
http://linoit.com/users/CalynKirkpatrick/canvases/Haymarket%20riot
https://www.thinglink.com/scene/628937772962414593
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_Day
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labor_Day
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Workers%27_Day
http://www.lyndonirwin.com/maypole.htm
https://www.britannica.com/event/Haymarket-Riot
https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/798800/may-day-protests-carnage-havoc-violent-scenes-across-europe-france-italy-turkey-spain
https://www.cnn.com/2017/04/30/world/may-day-explainer-trnd/index.html
https://www.theguardian.com/world/gallery/2017/may/01/may-day-protests-around-the-world-in-pictures
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/22/ocean-city-memorial-day-weekend_n_3317480.html
http://homicide.northwestern.edu/crimes/haymarket/
https://mholloway63.wordpress.com/2016/05/04/what-happened-on-may-4th-riot-in-haymarket-square/
http://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/The-312/April-2012/The-Week-Chicago-Stopped-Working/
https://www.mercurynews.com/2017/05/01/the-latest-protester-tackled-at-may-day-parade-in-cuba/
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3064272/Riot-police-clash-Day-protesters-world-unions-masked-labour-activists-streets-petrol-bombs-defend-workers-rights.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/01/world/europe/may-day-protests.html

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NIKOLAI REZANOV AND CONCHITA ARGÜELLO: Greatest Love Stories Ever Told Series

8/24/2018

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РОМЕ́О И ДЖУЛЬЕ́ТТА
Even though you may have never heard of the love story between Nikolai Rezanov and Conchita Argüello, it is the real-life, historical, Russian Роме́о и Джулье́тта (Romeo and Juliet). It’s not a long story and, like all of the greatest love stories we’ve looked at, it doesn’t have a “happily ever after” ending.

I’m going to find one of those -- somewhere, someday -- but I’m willing to bet it will be a literary work. Perhaps “happily ever after” endings only occur in fiction where an author has control over the timing of the end of the story and the outcome. Ladies and Gentlemen, that is where we who write romances come in, always with a H.E.A. or the promise of one.

But what events brought these two people together, unlikely as it might seem?

NIKOLAI REZANOV
Rezanov was born in the Russian capital of Saint Petersburg on March 28, 1764. His father was a Russian civil servant who had served for many years in Irkurstk, the capital of eastern Siberia.

Source: www.freeworldmaps.net/russia/political.html

Being somewhat of a child prodigy, by fourteen Nikolai had mastered five languages, had joined the Russian army, and was serving in St. Petersburg. By nineteen, he attained the rank of Captain and resigned from the army to serve as a court officer in Western Russia near the Estonian border.

After eight years, he returned to Saint Petersburg to work for the private secretary to Empress Catherine the Great. He quickly caught the attention of Platon Zubov, one of the lovers of the Empress and her most powerful advisor, who was interested in the Siberian fur trade. Before long, he was working as a go between between Zubov and Grigory Shelikov, an important merchant in Irkustk.
▼ Rezanov's portrait courtesy of
The State Historical Museum of Russia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikolai_Rezanov

In 1794, Zubov sent Rezanov to Irkutsk to oversee his investments. He settled in, and a year later, in January 1795, he married Shelikov’s 15 –year-old daughter Anna, whose dowry consisted of shares in the company. He became a director in Shelikov’s company, but in July of the same year, Grigory Shelikov died and left the company to his wife, Natalia, rather than his son-in-law.

Rezanov felt marginalized and proceeded to request permission of Empress Catherine to start a competing company in the region and to expand that company to Russian Alaska. The empress approved Rezanov’s charter but when she died, Rezanov had to convince her son Tsar Paul I. The Tsar also allowed Shelikov’s company to reorganize as the Russian American Company, but made Rezanov his official royal liaison and gave him a royal charter, which effectively put him in charge. His wife Anna died in childbirth in 1801.

His initial action to establish Russian American Company control of trade was to move trading and military vessels from northwestern Russia to Alaska. Rezanov was one of the leaders on what was called the First Russian Circumnavigation, a three-year ocean voyage from the Baltic Sea around the tip of South America, across the Pacific to Hawaii and then Japan and eventually back to Alaska.

All in all, he was an interesting and brilliant business and statesman and, among other things, was appointed Russian ambassador to Japan. In 1806, at his fur-trading post of New Archangel (Sitka, Alaska), Rezanov and his men barely survived the brutal winter. Out of food and supplies, he set sail on his ship, The Juno, for the New Spain province of Alta California, hoping to secure a trade agreement and establish a barter system with the Spanish in order to secure provisions for Sitka and other Russian colonies in what is now Alaska.

In April of 1806, Rezanov dropped anchor at Yerba Buena (San Francisco). He was received with politeness and reserve and was advised Spanish law strictly prohibited her colonies from trading with foreign powers. The language barrier was broken by Georg Heinrich von Langsdorff, the Juno's doctor, and the Presidio's Franciscan Father Uria, who were able to converse in Latin.

MARIA DE LA CONCEPCION MARCELA ARGÜELLO Y MORAGA
Concepcion (called Conchita by her friends and family) was born on February 19, 1791, at the Spanish Persidio in San Francisco where her father, Don Jose Dario Argüello was the Spanish Governor of Alta California and Comandante of the Persidio.

Concepcion, described as beautiful, intelligent, and fair skinned, was only fifteen when the Russian ship Juno arrived in the San Francisco Bay in April 1806.

Maria De La Concepcion Marcela Arguello
▼Drawing found in various sources
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concepción_Argüello

And it was at an official reception that Rezanov met Doña Maria de Concepcion Marcela Argüello (Conchita). The meeting is humorously described by Jim Lessenger in a 2014 article in the BeneciaHerald Online. “When Nikolai Rezanov met Conchita … he was 42 years old and suffering from the foul breath, loose teeth, poor eyesight and intense rashes of scurvy and mal-nutrition. It took some time for the local wines, brandies and fruits to provide the vitamins that he and his crew needed to recover. But, his uniform, awards and courtly manner impressed his hosts, and he was a good dancer -- then, as now -- an attraction to women.”

Doctor von Langsdorff wrote of Concepcion's beauty in his journal: "She was distinguished for her vivacity and cheerfulness, her love-inspiring and brilliant eyes and exceedingly beautiful teeth, her expressive and pleasing features, shapeliness of figure, and for a thousand other charms besides an artless natural demeanor." Von Langsdorff went on to detail Rezanov's interest in Concepcion: "The bright sparkling eyes of Doña Concepcion had made upon him a deep impression, and pierced his inmost soul."

LOVE OR POLITICS?
Historians credit Rezanov’s initial interest in Concepcion as prompted by more political and economic considerations, primarily because the Spanish Crown didn’t permit the Governor to assist the Russians and he saw his relationship with Conchita having significant political advantages.

Conchita, in an article by Dave Kieffer (Sitka News, August 1, 2016), is portrayed as “a self-aware young woman who most likely saw Rezanov as her ticket out of the provincial, barely settled, backwaters of Alta California.”

Whatever their initial motivations, by the end of Rezanov’s six-week stay at the Persidio, they were truly in love, and she had agreed to marry him. Eventually her parents agreed, but the couple needed the consent from the Tzar of Russia and the King of Spain to marry, and a dispensation from the Pope and the head of the Russian Orthodox Church for a “religiously mixed marriage.” It’s complicated.
Concepcion Arguello and Nikolai Rezanov ▼
. Mural in the Post Interfaith Chapel. San Francisco Persidio. https://www.nps.gov/prsf/learn/historyculture/love-story.htm

In the mean time, Rezanov had to get supplies back to the colonists in Sitka and then travel to St. Petersburg to obtain permission and report back on the informal treaty he had signed with the Spanish. Thus, Conchita didn’t accompany him when he left on May 21, 1806, to begin his long trip.

THE SAD ENDING
Rezanov sailed back to Sitka, dropped off the supplies, then sailed to Siberia, apparently quite serious about his desire to marry to Conchita. He then set off to make the overland journey back to St. Petersburg. On the way he caught pneumonia three times. His urgency was such that each time he failed to heal before resuming the trip. During his third relapse, on March 1, 1807, he fell off his horse and died near Krasnoyarsk, where he was buried. Today there is a monument in Krasnoyarsk commemorating him.

Meanwhile, Conchita waited for him to return. And waited. There are several versions of her story, the “traditional” being that she never found out what had happened to him but rejected all suitors and continued to wait for him to return for her entire life.

Other sources claim she waited for him for thirty-six years before finding out. The most “humane” ending is that she waited for five years until one of his officers came to San Francisco and told her. “He is dead … His last words were of you.” The officer returned the locket she had given to Rezanov before he departed in 1806.

After his death, Conchita devoted her life to charity and the care of others although her family encouraged to accept one of her many suitors. Instead, she dedicated herself to God and later in life became a Dominican nun at Santa Catalina Monastery and Academy. Her religious name was Sister Mary Dominica, O.P. This community later became the Dominican Sisters of San Rafael and moved to Benicia, California, where she remained until her death in 1857.

Grave of Conchita, Mary Dominica
Photo by: findagrave.com Statue of Rezanov in Krasnoyarsk
http://beniciaheraldonline.com ▼ ▼https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikolai_Rezanov

THEY WERE NOT FORGOTTEN
The story of Nikolai and Conchita was the source for heroic poems and other written works in both Russia and Spain. American author Bret Harte wrote “Concepcion De Argüello” in 1870 and the first biography of Rezanov was published in 1906 on the anniversary of Rezanov’s meeting Conchita. The Russian rock opera “Juno and Avos” was written in the 1970s based loosely on the story and is still popular. Theirs is one of the most famous Russian love stories.□

Sources
https://blogs.transparent.com/russian/three-iconic-russian-love-stories/
https://www.nps.gov/prsf/learn/historyculture/love-story.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikolai_Rezanov
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concepci%C3%B3n_Arg%C3%BCello
http://beniciaheraldonline.com/review-conchita-the-count-and-the-love-story-of-the-19th-century%E2%80%88/
http://www.parksconservancy.org/about/newsletters/park-e-ventures/2015/02-lovestory.html
http://www.sitnews.us/Kiffer/Rezanov/080116_Rezanov.html
https://goldfieldsbooks.com/2014/02/21/nikolai-and-conchita/
http://survincity.com/2010/09/rezanov-count-nikolai-petrovich-life-for-the/

Books
Russia’s Hawaiian Adventure by Richard Pierce (1965)
Lost Empire: The Life of Nikolai Rezanov by Hector Chevigny

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THE IRONIES OF LIFE

8/16/2018

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IF YOU’RE OLD ENOUGH TO KNOW YOUR WAY AROUND...
If you’re old enough to know your way around, you're not going anywhere. And if you do, you probably won’t find your way back.

Today is my 78th birthday. I don’t know if I’m proud I made it through 77 years or sad I made it through 77 years and am now I’m old as dirt. When the hell did this happen?

When people say things like, “You’re only as old as you feel”, they never mention what it feels like to have high blood pressure, 3 inch hairs on your chin, arthritis, growths on your skin that are large enough to have birth certificates, artificial knees, a bra size that is now a 42 long, or that you spend fifty percent of your day looking for your glasses, car keys, or something you had in your hand just a second ago.

Maybe they just don’t know yet. So instead if my usual humorous rant about getting old, I've decided to share some wise “truths” for mature adults.

OVER THE YEARS, I'VE LEARNED THAT...
by Andy Rooney
Andy Rooney was a journalist and news announcer (60 Minutes) who mastered the art of being pithy. If you don’t remember him, read it anyway.

▼ Cartoon by Randy Bish*
https://www.cagle.com/randy-bish/2011/11/andy-rooney#.Wz6XQNJKjcc

Over The Years Andy Learned That:
● The best classroom in the world is at the feet of an elderly person.
● Just one person saying to me, 'You've made my day!' makes my day.
● Sometimes all a person needs is a hand to hold and a heart to understand.
● Money doesn't buy class.

● Having a child fall asleep in your arms is one of the most peaceful feelings in the world.
● Being kind is more important than being right
● It's those small daily happenings that make life so spectacular.
● To ignore the facts does not change the facts.
● When your newborn grandchild holds your little finger in his fist, you're hooked for life.

● No matter how serious your life requires you to be, everyone needs a friend to act goofy with.
● Under everyone's hard shell is someone who wants to be appreciated and loved.
● When you plan to get even with someone, you are only letting that person continue to hurt you.

● You should never say “no” to a gift from a child.
● Love, not time, heals all wounds.
● The easiest way for me to grow as a person is to surround myself with people smarter than I am.
● Opportunities are never lost; someone will take the ones you miss.
● When you harbor bitterness, happiness will dock elsewhere.

● Everyone you meet deserves to be greeted with a smile, and it’s an inexpensive way to improve your looks.
● One should keep his words both soft and tender, because tomorrow he may have to eat them.
● Everyone wants to live on top of the mountain, but all the happiness and growth occurs while you're climbing it.
● The less time I have to work with, the more things I get done.

● Life is like a roll of toilet paper; the closer it gets to the end, the faster it goes.
● I can always pray for someone when I don't have the strength to help him in any other way.

TRUTHS FOR MATURE HUMANS IN THE 21ST CENTURY...
By Anonymous
● If you die, your best friend’s job should be responsible for immediately clearing your computer history.
● There is great need for a sarcasm font.
● Map Quest really needs to start their directions on # 5. Even at my age, I'm pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood.

● Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person died.
● You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you know that you just aren't going to do anything productive for the rest of the day.
● Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after Blue Ray? I don't want to have to restart my collection...again.
● I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of “Word” and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten-page technical report that I swear I did not make any changes to.

● I can't remember the last time I wasn't at least kind of tired.
● "Do not machine wash or tumble dry" means I will never wash this … ever.
● I hate when I just miss a call by the last ring (Hello? Hello? Oh man!), but when I immediately call back, it rings nine times and goes to voice mail. What did you do after I didn't answer? Drop the phone and run away?
● I keep some people's phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call.
● The freezer deserves a light as well.
● Sometimes, I'll watch a movie that I watched when I was younger and suddenly realize I had no idea what the heck was going on when I first saw it.

● I would rather try to carry 10 over-loaded plastic bags in each hand than take 2 trips to bring my groceries in from the car.
● I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.
● How many times is it appropriate to say "What?" before you just nod and smile because you still didn't hear or understand a word they said?
● There's no worse feeling than that millisecond you're sure you are going to die after leaning your chair back a little too far.
● Sometimes I'll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still not know what time it is.
● Even under ideal conditions, people have trouble locating their car keys in a pocket, finding their cell phone, and Pinning the Tail on the Donkey - but I'd bet my paycheck everyone can find and push the snooze button from 3 feet away, in about 1.7 seconds, eyes closed, first time, every time!

WHY I CAN'T SHOP AT COSTCO ANY MORE…
By Anonymous
Yesterday I was at my local COSTCO buying a large bag of Purina dog chow for my loyal pet, Biscuit, the Wonder Dog and was in the checkout line when a woman behind me asked if I had a dog. What did she think I had, an elephant?

So since I'm retired and have little to do, on impulse I told her “no”, I didn't have a dog, I was starting the Purina Diet again. I added that I probably shouldn't, because I ended up in the hospital last time, but that I'd lost 50 pounds before I awakened in an intensive care ward with tubes coming out of most of my orifices and IVs in both arms.

I told her that it was essentially a perfect diet and that the way it works is to load your pants pockets with Purina nuggets and simply eat one or two every time you feel hungry. The food is nutritionally complete so it works well and I was going to try it again. (I have to mention here that practically everyone in line was now enthralled with my story.)

Horrified, she asked if I ended up in intensive care because the dog food poisoned me. I told her no, I stepped off a curb to sniff an Irish Setter's ass and a car hit us both. I feared the guy behind her was going to have a heart attack he was laughing so hard.

Costco won't let me shop there anymore. The moral of the story is "Watch out for what you ask retired people. They have all the time in the world to think of crazy things to say."

THE ULTIMATE INSULT...
By Alicea Smith
Have you ever been guilty of looking at others your own age and thinking, surely I can't look that old?

I was sitting in the waiting room for my first appointment with a new dentist. I noticed his DDS diploma, which bore his full name. Suddenly, I remembered a tall, handsome, dark-haired boy with the same name had been in my high school class some 50+ years ago. Could he be the same guy I had a secret crush on, way back then?

Upon seeing him, however, I quickly discarded any such thought. This balding, gray-haired man with the deeply lined face was way too old to have been my classmate. After he examined my teeth, I asked him if he had attended Morgan Park high school.
   "Yes. Yes, I did. I'm a mustang," he gleamed with pride.
   "When did you graduate?" I asked.
He answered, "In 1962. Why do you ask?"
   "You were in my class!" I exclaimed.
He looked at me closely. Then, that ugly, old, bald, wrinkled, fat ass, gray-haired, decrepit son-of-a-bitch asked me, “What did you teach?"
□

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KATE’S QUEST by Shirley Ann Wilder

8/10/2018

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INSPIRATION FOR THE STORY
Shirley Wilder and her family spent quite a few years involved with horses. Raising and riding them brought Shirley into contact with the Wild Horse and Burro Program run by the Bureau of Land Management which eventually made its way into her writing with a heroine who manages a mustang relocation center.
Photo by Lisa Reid
Source: https://www.blm.gov/wild-horse-and-burro

BLM’S WILD HORSE AND BURRO PROGRAM
The Bureau of Land Management manages and protects our nation’s wild horses and burros on 26.9 million acres of public lands across 10 western states.

The goal of the Wild Horse and Burro Program is to ensure healthy wild horses and burros on thriving public rangelands, using all available management tools under the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act which came into being as the result of ranchers complaining the wild horses were destroying the grasslands needed to feed their cattle.

Thus, the program was started to collect the wild horses and burros and place them in relocation centers where citizens could apply for adoption of the animals for a nominal fee. These horses were not trained and every one of them had to be broken to saddle and bridle if the person wanted a horse to ride. In the beginning, some people adopted them as pets.
California Horses, Photo: http://goldrushcam.com/sierrasuntimes

Today the federal government expends nearly $50 million a year to house and feed more than 46,000 wild horses and burros in corrals. Another 73,000 of the animals roam freely across the western states, resulting in 10,000 foals born every year and deterioration of public lands at an alarming rate.

These animals of the American West are caught in a political, emotional, and environmental controversy with two questions at its source: How should our public lands be managed and how is “good” land management defined.

It’s an escalating equine-population problem which has prompted suggestions such as using fertility control, humane euthanasia, unrestricted sale of certain excess animals, and culling herds to sell animals to slaughterhouses in Mexico and Canada. Horse and other animal advocacy groups, which have consistently resisted efforts to impose limits on an icon of the American West that has been federally protected since 1971, are voicing opposition to the proposals. (Sources below)

KATE’S QUEST By SHIRLEY ANN WILDER

Blurb
Kate Gallagher, a single parent of a teenage girl and manager of a mustang relocation center for the federal Bureau of Land Management, has her hands full. She doesn’t have time for romance, but when her daughter is found murdered, she discovers her long-ago-lover and father of her child is crucial in getting justice.

Rodeo champ, Matt Oglesby was not aware he’d fathered Kate’s child. When he learns the truth, he is torn by the recurrence of his love for Kate and the anger that he was cheated out of knowing his daughter and maybe his ability to protect her. Together they are able to solve the mystery and restore the love relationship they had years earlier.

Excerpt
   “Cindy, get up. Get out of there. Put your clothes on and get to the house.”
   She just lay there.
   His heart went into overtime and his pulse pounded at his temples. What the hell? What’s wrong with her? She didn’t fall that far. He jumped in after her.
   Her head rested awkwardly on a scrubby pine stump. He’d pulled on her arm and, when she hadn’t responded, he’d touched her face and then saw the wound near the temple. Blood gushed. Thick stubby splinters of wood were imbedded in the soft flesh of her young face. Along with the temple gash, blood flowed from a deep puncture in her neck. It bled fast and furiously.
   The stump must have punctured the carotid artery.
   He tried to stop the flow with his handkerchief. He sopped it until it stopped. Then he realized the blood had stopped because her heart had ceased to beat. He knew CPR and tried to revive her.
   He’d just wanted her to be quiet. Now she would be.
   Forever.

AUTHOR BIO

Shirley Ann Wilder’s fourth novel, “KATE’S QUEST” is close to her heart because it’s about horses and a woman dedicated to the plight of wild horses and romance.
From the time she could hold a pencil, Shirley Ann Wilder wrote stories, even on paper grocery bags. Being the youngest of six children, she was overlooked many times but found wonder and magic in reading books. As a youngster she was especially fond of horse books and read every one of Walter Farley’s Black Stallion books.

That passion for horses carried over into her adult life, and with her husband and four children,she raised Quarter horses and German Shepherds. Shirley’s other passion was writing, but it was put on hold until her three sons and daughter were in high school.

After developing a severe allergy to the equine species and having to give up the major part of horse involvement, Shirley wrote a weekly column for a community newspaper and a monthly column entitled “On the Wilder Side” for the California Horseman’s News in which she recounted the humorous episodes that happened during the Wilder family’s horse era. Shirley also published in college literary magazines, but her real quest was to write novels.

After amassing several unfinished manuscripts, a writing instructor suggested she join Romance Writers of America. Taking that advice, she became a member of the local San Diego RWA chapter and has since completed more than six novels. She served on the Executive Board as Co-President of RWA- San Diego for 2006 and 2007 and held several other chair positions. She credits her fellow writers for the support and encouragement that has kept her writing during recent difficult times.

Shirley Ann was widowed in January of 2008 when her husband died of stage four colon cancer after battling it bravely for three years and four months. Two of her grown children live near her in suburbs of San Diego. The eldest and youngest sons live out of state. Shirley Ann is blessed with four granddaughters and one grandson.

Since her husband’s death, Shirley has become an advocate for colonoscopies and is working on a non-fiction book about the grieving process and all one encounters when suffering the loss of a mate. “John was my hero and I will miss him forever, but he always encouraged me to keep writing and to stay strong.” She has published three novels prior to Kate’s Quest: Too Many Cooks, Fly Me, and A Son by Any Name.

Sources:
https://www.blm.gov/programs/wild-horse-and-burro/adoption-and-sales/adoption-faq
https://www.blm.gov/programs/wild-horse-and-burro/herd-management/herd-management-areas/utah/sulphur
http://goldrushcam.com/sierrasuntimes/index.php/news/local-news/13125-need-a-horse-or-burro-blm-has-wild-
horses-burros-available-for-adoption-in-king-city
https://www.denverpost.com/2016/05/12/blm-director-wild-horse-program-facing-future-1-billion-budget-shortfall/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/animalia/wp/2017/05/26/wild-horses-could-be-sold-for-slaughter-or-euthanized-under-trump-budget/?utm_term=.1b1d97f900a8

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iT'S DIFFERENT IN SICILY: The Old Mafia

8/3/2018

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In July 2017, Desert Breeze Publishing (may they rest in peace) released the second of the Tour Director Extraordinaire romantic suspense series titled All For A Fist Full of Ashes. This spy intrigue takes place in Italy where the hero, Will Talbot (Europol spy and special undercover operative for the US government) and heroine, Harriet Ruby (tour director extraordinaire) have a brush with a Mafia family in Sicily.

We all know about "The Mafia" as a crime organization, but unless you've studied the origins of the original Sicilian Mafia, you may have a distorted understanding of where and how it came into being.

TWO POINTS OF IMPORTANCE
First, the Mafia in the US and the Mafia in Sicily are related and have common elements, but they are different. That is, in part, because the American Mafia doesn’t have the direct ties to the history that caused the organization to develop in the first place and change over centuries. It came to the US as a crime organization.

Second, the Old Sicilian Mafia was quite a different organization than the one in Italy we hear about today. Until the early 1800s, the old Sicilian Mafia was a cultural attitude and form of power unique to Sicily. It was a reality which summarized Sicilian values outsiders had difficulty understanding, rather than an organization. That Mafia operated based on a code of rules related to honor and respect, with just enough killing to cast fear in the hearts of the people and keep them in line.

HOW IT CAME INTO BEING
The island of Sicily, off the tip of the Italian Peninsula boot, gave birth to what we know as The Mafia or Cosa Nostra (Our thing). Like everything else, no one quite knows for sure when or how it came into being, but theories abound.

Some historians believe it was a secret society created in medieval times to protect the Sicilians from the Catalan marauders of the fifteenth century. Others assert it was formed at the end of Feudalism when the feudal lords left their lands under the charge of local managers or intermediaries (Gabelloti) who mistreated and intimidated the workers on the estates and are likened to the later Mafia bosses.

According to https://wearepalermo.com/the-history-of-sicilian-mafia/, the Gabellotti “used fear tactics and violence to get protection money from farmers working on properties they managed for the nobility of the time. They are deemed the oldest form of a mafia in Sicily.”
Location Map of Italy - Sicily in Red ▼

In my research, the most accepted theory appeared to be that, over the centuries, Sicily was conquered by everyone under the sun (the Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Normans, Spanish Aragon, bandits, etc.). This system came into being as a way of life and a way to protect one's family and loved ones from the injustice of the monarchies, foreign governments, and local land barons who provided little projection or justice to the native Sicilians. Ta-dah! Go back to those day and the local people were amenable to paying for protection which they couldn't provide for themselves … similar to paying taxes to support the city police department.

Not all historians and Mafia experts accept that theory. Contrary to that opinion, Filippo Spadafora, in an article on http://www.bestofsicily.com contends that “The (retrospective) tales of its establishment during the War of the Sicilian Vespers, or as a revolutionary reaction against foreign domination, are fanciful at best, lacking in any historical foundation.”

When I researched my first novel, set in the post WWII Sicily, I had the opportunity to interview a number of people who grew up and lived in the Sicily that existed before WWII ... people who could still remember the old Sicilian Mafia. Their memories coincided with the most accepted theory about the origins and behavior of the old Mafia. Personally, I believe the theories are not mutually exclusive.

There is nothing mysterious about the spirit of the old Sicilian Mafia. “A man who wanted to preserve his self-respect had to personally defend his dignity and honor without turning to the authorities and the law, especially when the affront to be punished is an open challenge or an unacceptable insult to his family.” (Luigi Barzini) To turn to the law -- which was the conquers’ form of justice, and nearly always against the people who had been conquered -- was considered dishonorable. Whether “The Law” was administered by conquers or native land barons, the common people felt they didn’t get fair treatment and justice.

It was even worse to inform the authorities, hence the imperative of omertà (silence) as a sacred duty. This sense of duty was fueled by the knowledge that anyone who tattled would inevitably end up full of bullet holes behind a prickly pear hedge.

It is also generally accepted by historians who specialize in the culture of Sicily, that the Mafia, the crime organization, was the result of the backwardness and isolation of Sicilians and the bad governments which ruled the island for many centuries. Today, it is a symptom of Sicily’s “endemic political corruption and general cynicism” fed by widespread distrust of everything.

I can personally attest to the backwardness. My husband, whom I met and married in Rome, is Sicilian. We’ve visited his family in Sicily many times over the years. When I first went to his home town of Messina (a traditionally non-Mafia area) in 1963, the attitudes and life style were a good fifty years behind life in Rome. Look at the pictures below. After 9 years, the fish market in Torre Faro has the same umbrella and the same woman working there. Not much change, although she did change her dress. Please excuse the poor quality of the photos. They are rather old.

Photo taken by me in 1972 ▼ Photo taken by me in 1981▼

In my opinion, the real progress toward a modern western-world life style wasn’t evident until the mid-eighties. Now, it pretty well caught up in the cities. The countryside may be less so, but there are satellite dishes and cell phone everywhere, even in the remote areas.

WHERE DID THE NAME "MAFIA" COME FROM?
The cultural phenomenon existed on the island long before the word Mafia was attached to it. According to Luigi Barzini, the Mafia is notoriously two things:

● First, common to all Sicily, is the subtle art of promoting one’s interests without killing anybody. That kind should be written with a lower case "m."

● Second, the other -- the Mafia with a capital "M" -- is the fluid organization, the secret, far-reaching elite which governs everything legal and illegal, visible and invisible. This organization is found almost exclusively in the Western and central provinces of the island, not on the eastern side. That has puzzled experts for a long time.

For centuries, the conditions described as the reason the Mafia took root were the same on the western side of the island as the eastern. Yet, the Mafia never took hold eastern coast of Sicily until recent post-WWII history.

The greatest authority on Sicilian folklore, Giuseppe Pitrê believed the word mafioso came from the dialect spoken in the Palermo district of Il Borgo and means beauty or excellence, but also fiery and impatient. It’s a word used to admire the sort of beauty flaunted by a challenge. You could call a high-spirited stallion mafioso.

Others claim the word is of Arabic origin. Both could be true since the Arabs conquered and inhabited Sicily from 826 AD until the Norman Conquest in the 11th century. No doubt Arabic had much influence on the dialects spoken by the Sicilians. Leonardo Sciascia believes the word mafia evolved from the Arab word from Ma afir (place of refuge).

The two mafie are related in an indirect way. Someone can be mafioso, but not Mafioso, meaning the person is not part of the crime organization. However a real Mafioso can’t acquire prestige and rise in the organization without being mafioso.

The word Mafioso, with a capital "M", was first used in relation to crime, in a play entitled The Mafiusi of the Vicaria (which is Palermo’s jail) by Giuseppe Rizzotto circa 1863. While other people may have called men in the organization Mafiosi, it was not generally used by the organization. They called themselves friends or friends of friends. The organization itself is The Honored Society. That terminology persisted in Sicily up to WWII.

THE ORGANIZATION
The organization is familial, consisting of a loose coalition of families called a cosca, which means the heart of an artichoke. The activities of these families must never clash with the interests of other cosche, or armed conflict will take place. A Consorteria is the alliance of various cosche (coalitions of families). Ultimately, Consorteria form a fine network that encompasses every activity is Sicily. It has survived, in part, because each member knows only the authority immediately above and the ten people within their group.

AFTER WWII, WHO PUT THE MAFIA BACK IN POWER?
The Mafia has always aided every successful revolution (including the Bourbons, Garibaldi in 1860, and Mussolini) because the organization can't afford to be on the losing side.

Even though the Mafia helped the Fascists gain power, under Mussolini the organization was repressed and nearly wiped out. The society lost prestige and power, their fundamental assets. But the big bosses didn't panic. They waited as they had waited at other points in history. Their day came again in 1943 when "the newly landed Americans named most of the Mafia leaders mayor of their towns and villages: they were all officially classified as political victims of the Fascist tyranny." (Luigi Barzini)

After that, the old Mafia began to disappear, replaced by urban, well-dressed, well-traveled, educated and slick operators who are ruthless and money hungry…the crime organization Mafia we know today.
□
Sources
From Caesar to the Mafia by Luigi Barzini NY Press, 1971
Il Giorno Della Civetta , A Ciascuno il Suo, by Leonardo Sciascia,
The Mafia and Politics by Michele Pantaleone
Report from Palermo, Outlaws, Waste by Danilo Dolci

http://www.history.com/topics/origins-of-the-mafia
Origins of the Mafia - http://the-mafia.weebly.com/mafia-origins.html
History of Sicily and the Origins of the Mafia-http://www.umich.edu/%7Ethemafia/RevisedHistory.htm
Mafia Word Origins http://www.sicilianculture.com/mafia/mafiawords.htm
Best of Sicily Magazine (2010) - Origins of the Sicilian Mafia by Filippo Spadafora
http://www.bestofsicily.com/mag/art345.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sicilian_Mafia
http://www.bestofsicily.com/mafia.htm
https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/sicilian-mafia-origins-evolution-and-operations.html
https://wearepalermo.com/the-history-of-sicilian-mafia/

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A CONFUSION OF TERMS: Labour Day and Labor Day

NIKOLAI REZANOV AND CONCHITA ARGÜELLO: Greatest Love Stories Ever Told Series

THE IRONIES OF LIFE

KATE’S QUEST by Shirley Ann Wilder

iT'S DIFFERENT IN SICILY: The Old Mafia

Author R. Ann Siracusa

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