Memorial Day Readings on Military Men

CAROLYN’S COMPOSITIONS

 

MEMORIAL DAY

Charles F. Walker: Lamoine, ME

      Today is Memorial Day, a day when a flag is placed on the gravesite of an “unidentified Civil War Veteran” in the East Lamoine Cemetery in East Lamoine, Maine.

     Simultaneously, this very small community has a Civil War Veteran whose gravesite cannot be located.

     Could the two be a match? The story of Charles F. Walker can be read at:

RIGHTING A CIVIL WAR WRONG: A Gravestone for a Civil War Veteran

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     Navy Chief Photographer Robert Cornell, for whom the military was

Save Those Hair Clippings!

SAVE THOSE HAIR CLIPPINGS!

DON’T THROW THEM IN THE GARBAGE

Calling all salons, groomers, wool & alpaca fleece farmers, hairy individuals, & pet owners to sign up to donate hair, fur, fleece, feathers… A huge International Natural Fiber Recycling mobilization is currently taking place…**

     I read a blurb in a local paper that reported hair was being collected to help clean up the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.*It led me to the Matter of Trust website, ** where, sure enough, hair, human and animal, is being used to make

Memories in a Bank and Three Chairs

CAROLYN’S COMPOSITIONS

MEMORIES IN A BANK AND THREE CHAIRS

      Sitting on my living room shelves is a three-column brass bank, waiting for quarters, nickels and dimes to be deposited.

     The bank has a story. I acquired it at in Connellsville, on a nice fall afternoon when my neighbor, Pet Saylor, and I were out “yard saleing.”  The bank, priced at one dollar, caught my eye. When I picked it up, and I turned it over in my hand, I discovered it

Beyond Prejudice

CAROLYN’S COMPOSITIONS

BEYOND PREJUDICE

     The clerk approaching me took a second look, ogled me for a moment, turned on her heal, and scurried in the opposite direction as quickly as possible.

     Fair enough, I thought, viewing myself in a nearby mirror. The image was of a woman wearing a faded, wrinkled skirt; a  stained blouse, and  saggy, runny hosiery, all topped by unkempt hair—an intentional style meant to discourage sociability, even from store clerks. What business could this “bag lady” have in this department store? Must be she needed to get warm or to use the rest room!

     Her prejudgment was expected. My life was too full of people, many with deep-rooted problems that created extreme tension. I needed relief from the stress. Roving around the mall was relaxing only without clerks constantly asking me if I needed help. My attempt at manipulating others to leave me alone was

SYNOPSIS PREPARATION

CAROLYN’S COMPOSITIONS

SYNOPSIS PREPARATION

     Three questions remained on the Children’s Trust Fund grant application I was preparing. First, summarize the grant in one page. Second, summarize the grant in one paragraph. Third, summarize the grant in one sentence. After much work, and a lot of thinking, I answered the questions and truly understood what the grant was about.

     That was in 1991. It’s now 2010. I’m writing in a different genre: a historical romance novel, for which I must write a synopsis. My questions are:

• What is a synopsis
• Why is it important
• How much of the work should I reveal
• When should I write it
• How should I write it.

     I approached the second question first. A synopsis is important for the same reason I discovered the final three questions on the grant application were important: to

Writing Quality Blogs

CAROLYN’S COMPOSITIONS

WRITING QUALITY BLOGS

     

INTERTWINED LOVE Blog Page

Very glad to see a blog with complete thoughts and real grammar.

     Bruce’s comments on my newest wordpress blog, www.intertwinedlove.wordpress.com*, came in E-mail communication begun after he commented on a post.

     I appreciate this comment. It tells me that my posts, in general, have thoughts that are both well thought out and well written. I tell others that blogs doing these two things will have holding power in the writing world, including the blog world.

     Bruce continued, referring to instructions he was given while setting up his blog*:

     The guy who helped me get set up was really twisting my arm to “dumb it down” and

Immigration is Positive for the USA

CAROLYN’S COMPOSITIONS

IMMIGRATION IS POSITIVE FOR THE USA

I observe with regret that the law for the admission of foreigners was not passed during this session, as it is an important moment to press the sale and settlement of our lands. From a letter written by William Bingham to Gen Henry Jackson, April 9, 1793*

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     From the birth of the United States into the present time, immigration has had advocates. In the 1790s, immigration was supported by land speculators, who hoped to make it rich by settling their lands with immigrants.

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     My interest in immigration issues was piqued during my research for a historic journal paper and a historic romance novel, both set in the 1790s. Many of the characters in my novel—including Gen. Henry Knox, Col. William Duer, Gen. Henry Jackson, Madame Rosalie de Leval, even Pres. George Washington—were land speculators. Except for Washington, they favored immigration to supply the settlers to fulfill their land purchase contracts.

     In Roy L. Garis’s book on immigration** I discovered the “great immigration” controversy that existed in the decades immediately following the American Revolution.

     My intention is not to indicate any personal preference or bias in the immigration issue. It is to present both sides of the issue as found in early United States documents. This post offers immigration pros. To read the negative views of immigration click on Immigration is Negative for the USA.

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In William Penn’s time (starting 1682), all immigrants, regardless of their religious or ethnic background were welcomed. (In Philadelphia) Quaker immigrants arriving in need of financial assistance were given or lent money interest free, but the others (who were not Quakers) became the responsibility of the city. The Friends established the first alms house in the city in 1713…Poor of all faiths lived there in cottages and were encouraged to work. In 1717 the Assembly ordered that a “workhouse” for the colony be built in Philadelphia within three years. With the Friends’ alms house meeting much of the need, public officials continuously delayed construction. The first public alms house finally opened in 1732…it had separate facilities for the indigent and the insane, and also an infirmary…#

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     As early the 1730s, Samuel Waldo encouraged immigration: (due to) certain difficulties having arisen in regard to the Muscongus Patent (Maine)…thirty miles square—about a million acres…between the Penobscot and Muscongus Rivers…one-half the patent…set off in 1762…was bestowed on (Samuel Waldo)…he subsequently became proprietor of five-sixths of the entire patent…thereafter known as the Waldo Patent…he planned and executed measures for peopling (this land)…(he) invited immigration

(to continue reading, click on http://intertwinedlove.wordpress.com/2010/05/11/immigration-is-positive-for-the-usa/ )

ADDITIONAL READING:

Intertwined Love: Novel Synopsis— http://intertwinedlove.wordpress.com/intertwined-love-the-novel/

Immigration is Negative for the USA

Doing Historical Research in Philadelphia

Eyes in shades of purple

Dog Fighting & Cock Fighting: Cultural Phenomenon?

From the Bastille to Cinderella