<![CDATA[LYNNE SCHALL - Lynne Schall\'s Blog]]>

<![CDATA[LYNNE SCHALL - Lynne Schall\'s Blog]]>Sat, 10 Jan 2026 09:00:26 -0600Weebly<![CDATA[Women's History Month - March 2025 - Modern Trailblazers of the U.S. Armed Forces]]>Wed, 12 Mar 2025 05:00:00 GMThttps://www.lynneschall.com/lynne-blogs/womens-history-month-march-2025-modern-trailblazers-of-the-us-armed-forcesWomen's History Month in the United States occurs in March of each year to:

celebrate the achievements women have made throughout American history and
recognize all that remains to be done.
(If you like, you can read about the history of Women's History Month in my blog post dated March 2, 2023.)

This year, I'm focusing on three remarkable women fired by President Trump in his recent purge of women and men from top leadership in the U.S. Armed Forces.

I. Who are the three women?

All trailblazers. All military. All highly educated with multiple academic degrees. All experienced in a wide variety of progressively responsible assignments carried out with distinction in military careers spanning decades and continents. All honored with awards, decorations, and command.

The women are:

Lieutenant General Telita Crosland, Director, U.S. Defense Health Agency, and the first African-American woman to hold the Director's position.
Admiral Linda L. Fagan, Commandant, U.S. Coast Guard and first female commandant of a branch of the U.S. armed services.
Admiral Lisa Franchetti, Chief of Naval Operations, U.S. Navy, and first woman to become a member of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff.

You can see photos of the women near the end of this blog post. The awards and decorations pinned to their dress uniforms speak volumes.

II. What Happened?

President Donald J. Trump was inaugurated on January 20, 2025.

Between January 20 and March 1, 2025, all three exemplary women were fired or forced to retire for reasons unrelated to performance.

III. Why did he do that?

Whoever serves in the command positions held by the three women, serves at the pleasure of the President of the United States. Therefore, firing for no reason is legal.

However, the custom in a democracy's apolitical armed forces is for the individual to complete a tour of duty in the assignment, rather than being dumped without cause.

The sudden, unusual, and historic sacking of top military leadership by President Trump and his administration compromised both him and the U.S. armed forces.

On February 21, 2025, U.S. Senator Jack Reed spoke for many Americans when he reminded President Trump of a core American standard.

A professional, apolitical military that is subordinate to the civilian government and supportive of the Constitution rather than a political party is essential to the survival of our democracy."

--U.S. Senator Jack Reed, State of Rhode Island,
and Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee.
February 21, 2025

In January 2025, Retired Admiral Thad Allen, Commandant (2006-2010), U.S. Coast Guard publicly stated support of Admiral Linda L. Fagan.

He wrote, "Her dismissal is not a matter of her performance. It is political performance. One that should cause great concern for current and future military leaders."

I believe Admiral Allen's words also explain the abrupt dismissal of Admiral Lisa Franchetti and Lieutenant General Telita Crosland. Indeed, his succinct statement applies to all of the top leaders decimated by President Trump and his administration in January and February 2025.

IV. Photos of Lt. Gen. Crosland, Adm. Fagan, and Adm. Franchetti.

A. Lieutenant General Telita Crosland, Retired, U.S. Army.

Color photo of Lt. General Telita Crossland, Director, U.S. Defense Health Agency, in U.S. Army uniform

Lieutenant General Telita Crosland, Director, U.S. Defense Health Agency, (DOD photo circa 2024)

Color photo. Lt. Gen. Telita Crosland's family, including her son and her father, participated in her promotion ceremony Jan. 20, when they helped pin on her third star. (Office of Army Surgeon General), January 20, 2023.

Lt. Gen. Telita Crosland's family, including her son and her father, participated in her promotion ceremony January 20, 2023, when they helped pin on her third star. (Office of Army Surgeon General)

B. Admiral Linda L. Fagan, U.S. Coast Guard.

Admiral Linda L. Fagan, Commandant, U.S. Coast Guard, (DOD Photo, circa 2024)

Color Photo. Admiral Linda L. Fagan, Commandant of the Coast Guard, speaks to guests during the 2024 State of the Coast Guard Address in Washington, D.C., March 20, 2024. (U. S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Brandon Giles)

Admiral Linda L. Fagan, Commandant of the Coast Guard, speaks to guests during the 2024 State of the Coast Guard Address in Washington, D.C., March 20, 2024. (U. S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Brandon Giles)

C. Admiral Lisa Franchetti, U.S. Navy.

Color Photo. Admiral Lisa Franchetti, Chief of Naval Operations, U.S. Navy. (DOD Photo circa 2023)

Admiral Lisa Franchetti, Chief of Naval Operations, U.S. Navy, (DOD Photo, circa 2024)

Color Photo of General C.Q. Brown, Jr., Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, greets Admiral Lisa Franchetti, Chief of Naval Operations, Dec. 2024.

General C.Q. Brown, Jr., Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, greets Admiral Lisa Franchetti, Chief of Naval Operations, prior to the start of the 2024 Army-Navy Game at Northwest Stadium in Landover, MD. Dec. 14, 2024. (DOD Photo by Benjamin Applebaum)

V. Closing Thoughts.

Generations of American women and Americans of color have struggled to get a seat at the decision-making table of the U.S. armed forces. Formal education, experience, and merit never guaranteed a chair, but did bring the possibility closer.

In recent decades, the exemplary military careers of some American women and Americans of color have led to a place at that table. And in those roles, they have served with distinction for the good of the United States.

The fallacious thinking of a few white men that women and people of color are not "the right fit" for carrying out the mission of the armed forces will not persist.

Why? Because most Americans--especially those in the armed forces--recognize a corrupt grasp for power. They also know how to deal with misogynists and racists.

__________
Sources:
1. U.S. Department of Defense, Biographies, "Retired Lt. General Telita Crossland,"
https://www.defense.gov/About/Biographies/Biography/Article/1962263/retired-lieutenant-general-telita-crosland/ (accessed March 8, 2025)

2. Notable People, Commandants, "Admiral Linda L. Fagan, U.S. Coast Guard,"
https://www.history.uscg.mil/Browse-by-Topic/Notable-,People/All/Article/3054958/admiral-linda-l-fagan/ (accessed March 10, 2025)

3. Megan Norris, "Retired U.S. Coast Guard Leadership Speak Out on Firing of Admiral Fagan," Maritime Security US Coast Guard USAG, January 24, 2025. (accessed March 12, 2025)

4. America's Navy, Leadership, Flag Officer Biographies, "Admiral Lisa Franchetti,
Former Chief of Naval Operations," https://www.navy.mil/Leadership/Flag-Officer-Biographies/BioDisplay/Article/3148210/admiral-lisa-franchetti/ (accessed March 12, 2025)

]]><![CDATA[Frontier Women of Oklahoma in the 19th & Early 20th Century: What Were They Up Against?]]>Mon, 14 Oct 2024 05:00:00 GMThttps://www.lynneschall.com/lynne-blogs/frontier-women-of-oklahoma-in-the-19th-early-20th-century-what-were-they-up-against

Women Who Pioneered Oklahoma: Stories from the WPA Narratives, edited by Terri M. Baker and Connie Oliver Henshaw, 2007.

I. Women Who Pioneered Oklahoma: Stories from the WPA Narratives.

Where did you learn about women on Oklahoma's frontier: television, movies, novels? Have you noticed gaps in the popular record?

You can fill in many of those gaps with a nonfiction book edited by Terri M. Baker and Connie Oliver Henshaw,

Women Who Pioneered Oklahoma: Stories from the WPA Narratives,
University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, 2007.

Baker and Henshaw's work drew from the Oklahoma Indian Pioneer Papers, a written record of 11,000 interviews conducted throughout the state of Oklahoma in 1936-1937 with people the "fieldworkers believed knew about pioneer life and had experiences that should be recorded."

The typed pages of the 11,000 interviews were bound into 112 volumes. That extensive record would not have been possible without a grant from the Works Progress Administration (WPA) secured by the University of Oklahoma in conjunction with the Oklahoma Historical Society.

One of the many things that I enjoyed about the book is that it includes interviews with African-American, Anglo, and Native American women who lived the harsh life of the 19th- and early 20th-century frontier. Baker and Henshaw grouped selected portions of interviews to depict aspects of the women's lives, for example, making a home, facing adversity, and living with lawlessness.

The voices of the frontier women are eloquent.

A handy "Timeline of Oklahoma History," created by the Oklahoma Historical Center marks 1828 as the beginning of the forced removal of Native Americans to the wilderness of what is now Oklahoma. Women did live in the area generations before 1828. Indeed, archeological surveys document the presence of human habitation as long as 30,000 years ago.

Betrayals of Native Americans by the federal government of the United States, plus individual--and often illegal--Anglo (white) encroachment, led to the federal government severing land from Indian "Territory" in order to create Oklahoma Territory in May 1890.
- As Diana Everett explains in her article, "Indian Territory," The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture,
  - Indian Territory is a common term often used to refer to a region in what is now Oklahoma. However, it was never a Territory as defined by U.S. law. Why? Because the U.S. Congress never passed an organic act for Indian "Territory."

Even after Oklahoma Territory was created in 1890, Native Americans suffered more betrayals by the U.S. government and individual white settlers.
- Treaty violations continued and, in spite of vigorous protests from the Five Nations. the two territories were joined in order to create the State of Oklahoma on November 16, 1907.
- White settlers celebrated while the citizens of the Choctaws, Chickasaws, Cherokees, Creeks, and Seminoles mourned the loss of their independent republics.

What is clear from the Oklahoma Indian Pioneer Papers is that whether the 19th- and early-20th century women arrived in

the forced removal of the Choctaw, Chickasaw, Cherokee, Creek, and Seminole (collectively referred to as the Five Civilized Tribes, the Five Tribes, or the Five Nations) and their African-American slaves from the tribes' southeastern homelands to Indian Territory, or

the forced removal of Plains tribes from their homelands to what is now western Oklahoma, or

the voluntary migration of white settlers,

they would need--and the harsh frontier demanded--a strong will to survive.

Baker and Henshaw noticed that the women pioneers didn't speak of courage. Actions that you or I would call quick-thinking and brave are situations the pioneer women seemed to see as normal pioneer life.

As one woman reflected, "I suppose our lives were similar in all respects to those of other pioneers....days were frought [sic] with danger and hardships, but we won out and got our start in life."

As another woman recounted, "….Pioneering is not so bad if one is young and healthy.”

II. What Were They Up Against?

The Land.

Today, the Oklahoma Tourism & Recreation Department identifies twelve ecoregions in the state of Oklahoma. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency counts eleven. Some sources like to add an unofficial ecoregion of "urban turf" comprised of Oklahoma City and Tulsa.

Frontier women in the eastern third of today's state were more likely to find forests, water, and soil suitable for the crops they knew how to farm.

Frontier women on the Plains, however, soon learned, as John Opie explained in his 1993 book, Ogallalla: Water for a Dry Land, that they and their fellow pioneers were
- undercapitalized,
- undertooled, and
- underinformed about their new environment.

Color map of the State of Oklahoma's Ecoregions. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Map of Oklahoma's Ecoregions.

The Climate.

Oklahoma's climate ranges from humid subtropical in the east to semi-arid in the west.
West of the invisible north-south line of the 98th meridian, annual rainfall declines from a less-than-acceptable 20 inches to a desert-like 12 inches.
Drought is a recurring situation in the Plains regions of Oklahoma.
- Frontier pioneers learned that the scarcity of water makes the Plains a permanent frontier. Even dryland agriculture couldn't solve water problems.

The Wildlife.

Whether a pioneer woman settled in Indian Territory or in Oklahoma Territory, she would have to learn to deal with the local wildlife. As Baker and Henshaw pointed out, "Throughout Oklahoma, mountain lions, wildcats, coyotes, wolves, and eagles preyed on both animals and people."

Tarantulas, centipedes, and spiders had to be shaken out of bed real often....They would come out of the ceiling of the dugout and drop on the table where we were eating or on our shoulders or laps--it was surely a scary time for us mothers and many people died from the bites and stings."
--Women Who Pioneered Oklahoma, p.78

When the Five Nations were removed forcefully to Indian Territory, some of the people were able to bring their cattle, hogs, and horses. Hogs that wandered away in the Territory lived wild, omnivorous lives in the woods. Apparently, "cattle never slept in the timber."

We could hear the wild hogs with their teeth popping, and they roared like mad hogs. They made a horrible racket like stampeding cattle."
--Women Who Pioneered Oklahoma, p.84

And there were snakes.

There were not many animals near us. Wolves, possums, coons and squirrels....There were lots of snakes and I always killed every one I saw, but I do not think there were many poisonous snakes."
--Women Who Pioneered Oklahoma, p.76

Today, the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation (ODWC) reports that forty-six species of snakes are native to Oklahoma. Of those, seven species are venomous.

The rattlesnakes were to be dreaded for they were very poisonous and there were a great many of them."
--Women Who Pioneered Oklahoma, p.76

The Lack of Infrastructure in a Wilderness.

Baker and Henshaw gave us a clear picture of a frontier woman's first house and how she struggled to "make-do" in a time of scarcity.

Start with a tent, a "dugout," a sod house, a hybrid shack or, in forested areas, a log house.
- Tents were often a first abode because outbuildings such as smokehouses and barns took priority.
- First houses of the Five Nations were log homes chinked with clay.
- First dwellings were often 10 x 12 feet or 15 x 18 feet, that is, one or two rooms.
  - Share your dwelling with several family members.

Mother never got reconciled to her [pole] house and only lived two years. There was an abundance of good, pure water but that would not take the place of a house."
--Women Who Pioneered Oklahoma, p.47

Basic kitchen equipment: a coffee pot, a Dutch oven, and a skillet.
Basic food: corn bread, black coffee, beef and wild game such as turkey and deer.
Light: early fires were made using flint and tinder. Candles and kerosene lamps were necessities.
- By 1907, electricity was an option for people with money and access.

...truly a goodly land. Everything would grow....but Mother could not get over the awful house we lived in."
--Women Who Pioneered Oklahoma, p.57

Family and neighbors were critical for survival in a region empty of the infrastructure the women were accustomed to in their previous homes.

One woman related, "we pioneer women never thought of anything else but working and doing our share."
Apparently, children had to work from the time they could remember.
- A woman reminisced, "I had learned to ride when I was almost a baby...and began to help herd cattle at the age of ten."

The first few years were very hard indeed, principally because we had no start….If some of our neighbors had not helped us, I don’t know what we would have done...."
--Women Who Pioneered Oklahoma, p.200

As I look back over the years, I yearn for those days as they were years ago with their simple modes and the more intimate acquaintance of neighbors than we enjoy today.”
--Women Who Pioneered Oklahoma, p.197

Necessity often expanded a pioneer woman's responsibilities.

Some frontier women served as practical nurses, others as midwives.
If widowed, she might try to keep the family homestead, and perhaps also pick cotton in other farmers' fields to make ends meet.
If living in town, she might try to keep the small store she and her husband owned, or become a laundress, or operate a small hotel.

We never had a doctor for confinement cases; the women of the neighborhood took care of each other."
--Women Who Pioneered Oklahoma, p.198

Pet dogs played an important role.

Family dogs with names like Shep, Bull, Rover, Tige, or Fan were trained
- to herd stray cattle during trail drives and
- to chase farm stock out of crop fields back into their respective pens.
One frontier woman said that her family "didn't have many chickens or eggs until the boys got a pack of hounds and killed the coyotes out."

Lawlessness.

From the time of forced removal, through the American Civil War, into the forced allotment of Indian lands, and the "legal" opening of "excess" Indian lands to white settlement, violence was a common threat to the innocent and the guilty.

The population was small, the land area was large, and peacekeeping forces were insufficient.

The Native Americans never had enough resources and legal clout to prevent all lawlessness.

The U.S. government provided some protection via the establishment in 1824 of Fort Gibson. At the time, it was the western-most military fort east of the Mississippi River.

The fort's strategic location at the convergence of three rivers--Arkansas, Verdigris, and Grand--in northeastern Indian Territory, positioned it to control river navigation, and to serve a key role in the Removal years.
- Fort Gibson (1824-1890) was abandoned in 1857, reactivated during the Civil War, and played a role during Reconstruction and the Indian Wars to combat outlaws and squatters.

Not surprisingly, pioneer lives were equally difficult for Army wives on the frontier. Informative displays at the historical reconstruction of Fort Gibson's original log stockade remind us that military rank had privileges.

A lower rank meant a harder life for a soldier and, if married, for his wife--if he could bring her to his duty station.
- The Army didn't always officially sanction Army wives on the Western frontier due to "inconvenience and cost."
- Enlisted wives were usually employed as laundresses, hospital matrons, or as commissioned officer's servants.

The photo below shows a recreation of one-room quarters for married enlisted soldiers in the historical reconstruction of Fort Gibson's original log stockade.

Color photo by Lynne Schall of the recreation of married enlisted quarters at Fort Gibson.

Recreation of Married Enlisted Quarters, circa 1830, at Fort Gibson, Indian Territory (Oklahoma). September 2019.

The historic greed of white settlers to grab more land from Native Americans continued unabated in what became Oklahoma--and often was supported by the U.S. government.

As the meticulous research of historian Angie Debo demonstrates, the independent republics of the Choctaws, Chickasaws, Cherokees, Creeks, and Seminoles were overcome by sheer numbers and crime. (See And Still the Waters Run: The Betrayal of the Five Civilized Tribes (Princeton University Press, 1940, 1972).

Some immigrants in Indian Territory were legal residents who conformed to tribal law and performed labor desired by the Native Americans.
The pre-Civil War trickle of non-Indian immigrants grew to a flood not long after the Civil War. The region became a haven for legal and illegal migrants from "the States," as well as criminals passing through in flight from the law.

....part of Atoka County [in southeastern Oklahoma] is rough and rocky and mountainous with mountain streams, high bluffs and caves covered with pine and oak timber....it gave outlaws and robbers good places to hide and rest without being molested."
--Women Who Pioneered Oklahoma, p.147

Horse thieves, who were very numerous, were hated above all."
--Women Who Pioneered Oklahoma, p.174.

III. My Compliments.

I admire the grit of frontier women who accepted the risk of pioneer life in what became the state of Oklahoma. Whether Native American, African-American, or Anglo, whether they were forced to come west or volunteered, they built a life in harsh and often chaotic times. They're worthy of monuments commemorating their contributions to society.

Color photo by Lynne Schall of the Pioneer Woman Statue located at the Pioneer Woman Museum, Ponca City, Oklahoma.

Pioneer Woman Statue, Pioneer Woman Museum, Ponca City, Oklahoma. September 2024.

IV. Pioneer Woman Statue.

Ponca City, Oklahoma. On April 22, 1930--the 41st anniversary of the first land run in Oklahoma--more than 40,000 spectators swarmed the city of approximately 16,000 people. Most likely, some of the spectators had run in one of the Oklahoma land runs.

What better date to dedicate a monument honoring pioneer women who helped settle the land?

The millionaire oilman, philanthropist, and future Oklahoma governor, Ernest W. Marland, conceived, directed, and financed the project to honor his own pioneer mother and grandmother, as well as their sister pioneers.

Marland wanted the best.

He invited twelve sculptors to propose designs, and then arranged for small models of selected entries to tour Ponca City plus thirteen major American cities in order for viewers to indicate their favorite.

Approximately 750,000 people voted. The sculptor Bryant Baker (American, British-born, 1881-1970) won hands down.

In appreciation of the heroic character of the women who braved the dangers and endured the hardships incident to daily life of the pioneer and homesteader in this country."

--Inscription on the base of the Pioneer Woman Statue,
Ponca City, Oklahoma

The Pioneer Woman statue stands 17 feet tall and weighs 12,000 pounds. Sculpted in bronze, she balances atop a quarry-stone pyramid base. Her given name is "Confident" but she became well-known as the Pioneer Woman.

I've enjoyed visiting the sculpture over the years. I admire the dignity, confidence, and sense of purpose apparent in the portrayal of a young mother ready to take on the frontier. It's my favorite of the pioneer mother monuments.

Ernest Marland was thinking of his mom and grandmother when he began his Pioneer Woman project. The sculptor Bryant Baker's creation of an idealized version of a pioneer woman as a mother is common in pioneer women statues, especially in the earliest monuments.

Dr. Linda Williams Reese (1946-2024) discussed the Pioneer Woman Statue in her research, Women of Oklahoma, 1890-1920 (University of Oklahoma Press, 1997). She noted that none of the design models sent on public tour in Ernest Marland's project to build a Pioneer Woman statue were African-American or Native American.

Dr. Cynthia Prescott, a professor of history at the University of North Dakota, shared her research, Pioneer Mother Monuments: Constructing Cultural Memory (University of Oklahoma Press, 2019). Many pioneer mother monuments feature certain tropes.

She is a young, stalwart, white mother with her child either walking beside her or in her arms.
She wears a simple, long-sleeved, ankle-length dress, study shoes, and a sunbonnet.
She might be carrying a Bible or a rifle.
Her gaze is fixed on the western horizon.

About the same time that Ernest W. Marland dedicated his Pioneer Woman statue, the National Society of Daughters of the American Revolution (NSDAR) dedicated their Madonna of the Trail series.

Look at the following snapshot. How many tropes of pioneer mother monuments can you find? Hint: she's holding the barrel of a musket in her right hand.

Madonna of the Trail, one of 12 identical monuments erected along the National Old Trails Road (Route 40) and dedicated circa 1928-1929. Council Grove, Kansas, March 2025.

As Prescott explains, many early monuments, whether about mothers or the broader pioneer experience,

feature white settlers dominating indigenous people,
omit the cost to Native Americans, and
exclude Native American, African-American, and Hispanic-American contributions to the frontier experience.

Although sculptures that include the history of all Americans have started to appear in the 21st-century, I suspect that many mainstream Americans still hold a misconstrued mental picture of all frontier pioneers as white.

Moreover, many of those same Americans might be unaware of the prevalence and achievements of modern-day Native Americans in the USA.

Thirty-nine American Indian tribes are headquartered in Oklahoma."
--Oklahoma Indian Country Guide: One State, Many Nations

Fortunately, visitors to my favorite Pioneer Woman statue can also enjoy, on the same historical site, the exhibits and activities of the Pioneer Woman Museum, 701 Monument Road, Ponca City. Since the museum's establishment in 1957, its donors, staff, and volunteers continue to do their part in addressing the gap.

__________
Notes:
1. Photo by Lynne Schall of the cover of the nonfiction book, Women Who Pioneered Oklahoma. Stories from the WPA Narrative, edited by Terri M Baker and Connie Oliver Henshaw, forward by M. Susan Savage, University of Oklahoma Press: Norman, 2007.

2. Oklahoma History Center, "Timeline of Oklahoma History, https://www.okhistory.org/historycenter/forms/timeline.pdf

3. Dianna Everett, "Indian Territory," The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture, Oklahoma Historical Society, https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry?entry=IN018 (accessed September 27, 2024).

4. John Opie, Ogallala: Water for a Dry Land. A Historical Study in the Possibilities for American Sustainable Agriculture, University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln and London, 1993.

5. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, "Map of the 11 Ecoregions of Oklahoma," available on the website of The Kerr Center for Sustainable Agriculture, Ranch Ecology & Sustainable Management, https://kerrcenter.com/conservation/ranch-ecology-management-philosophy/ (accessed September 28, 2024)

6. The History of Fort Gibson, https://www.okhistory.org/sites/fortgibson.php (accessed 9-28-2024).

7. Photo by Lynne Schall, "Recreation of Married Enlisted Quarters, circa 1830, Fort Gibson, Indian Territory, (Oklahoma)." September 21, 2019.

8. Photo by Lynne Schall of the Pioneer Woman Statue located at the Pioneer Woman Museum, Ponca City, Oklahoma. September 2024.

9. "Pioneer Woman Museum and Statue," Oklahoma Historical Society, https://www.okhistory.org/sites/pioneerwoman (accessed September 18, 2014)

10. "The Pioneer Woman Statue," Learn More, Pioneer Woman, The Pioneer Woman Museum, https://www.pioneerwomanmuseum.com/ (accessed September 18, 2024)

11. Cynthia Culver Prescott, Ph.D., Professor, University of North Dakota, Pioneer Mother Monuments: Constructing Cultural Memory, University of Oklahoma Press, 2019. Her book won the 2020 Gita Chaudhuri Prize, and the 2020 Fred B. Kniffen Book Award.

12. Photo by Lynne Schall of the Madonna of the Plains statue located in Council Grove, Kansas. March 20, 2025.

13. Madonna of the Trail Statue, Daughters of the American Revolution.
https://www.dar.org › national-society › historic-sites-and-properties › madonna-trail (accessed April 20, 2025)

14 Oklahoma Indian Country Guide: One State, Many Nations

https://www.travelok.com/brochures (accessed September 18, 2024)

15. Since 1957, the Pioneer Woman Museum has showcased Oklahoma women who were pioneers in various fields. You can visit both the Pioneer Woman Statue and the museum at the same location: 701 Monument Road, Ponca City, Oklahoma.

16. Lynne Schall updated this blog post on April 20, 2025.

]]><![CDATA[Twisters: A New Movie For You!]]>Sat, 20 Jul 2024 05:00:00 GMThttps://www.lynneschall.com/lynne-blogs/twisters-a-new-movie-for-you

"Twisters" the 2024 film starring Daisy Edgar-Jones, Glen Powell, and Anthony Ramos.

Take it from three generations of flat-landers who saw the new "Twisters" movie on opening day in Wichita, Kansas. It's a great disaster film with plenty of action and a bit of romance. We think you'll like it.

As an Oklahoman, I thoroughly enjoyed the on-location scenes created under the watchful eye of director Lee Isaac Chung. Whether in Oklahoma City, Okarche, Midwest City, Cashion, Chickasha, Yukon, or the surrounding countryside, the landscape suited the time and place of the story: contemporary Oklahoma in a wild spring season of exceptionally strong tornados.

Daisy Edgar-Jones stars as the leading lady, Kate Cooper. This young and idealistic savant storm-watcher and chaser wants to change the world by discovering a way to stop a tornado in its tracks.

Can anyone do that?

Is it possible to tame a tornado? Short answer: No. A NOAA scientist explains why."

--National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
U.S. Department of Commerce

When calamity hits Kate Cooper, she retreats to a desk job in meteorology far from Tornado Alley. (Clever movie makers turned a section of Oklahoma City into the Big Apple for those scenes.)

In time, Kate's good friend Javi (played by Anthony Ramos) invites her back to Oklahoma to work with him and his team for a week (just a week, he promises) to fine-tune a new technology they are developing to save lives by snuffing tornadoes before they inflict destruction and death.

Javi is surprised when Kate shows up in Oklahoma. Not all of his team are pleased to see her.

Enter Tyler Owens, (played by Glenn Powell), a hot-shot storm chaser and "YouTuber" who leads his team of unconventional storm-chasers.

And the race is on.

As a viewer, it won't take long for you to realize "Twisters" is not a remake or a reboot of the blockbuster 1996 film, "Twister."

"Twisters" is not "the next chapter" of the 1996 "Twister." It's a stand-alone brand new story with new characters and nearly thirty years of technological advancement in tracking severe weather.

Where did the movie makers learn about tornados?

The cast and crew attended a "tornado boot camp" at the National Weather Service in Norman, Oklahoma, to learn technical terms, tornado culture, storm spotting, and safety.

Meteorological consultants played a key role in contributing to the accuracy and authenticity of the film.

Final script.

The final script, of course, was up to the movie makers, not the consultants. Consequently, the exaggeration of the lack of preparation for storm weather among the fictional townspeople of the movie requires moviegoers to engage in a robust "suspension of disbelief." Oklahomans--and everyone else accustomed to the Great Plains--keep an eye on the sky, especially in tornado season.
- People pay attention to weather alerts via computer, television, radio, personal telephone calls, sirens, and/or standing in the front yard assessing wind, wall clouds, green-colored skies...
- Family members keep in touch, and everyone knows where they should go when the sirens ring.

Tornado Alley and me.

I grew up in Oklahoma's Tornado Alley and never saw a tornado. I returned to finish undergraduate school and never saw a tornado. I lived in Lawton, Oklahoma, while my husband was stationed at Fort Sill--and never saw a tornado.
- I've heard lots of tornado sirens in Oklahoma and Kansas, but I never saw a twister until I moved to Kansas.

Would you like to learn more about tornados?
Visit the website of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), U.S. Department of Commerce at www.noaa.gov for articles and videos.

Or maybe for fun, do as the youngest generation did: watch "Twisters" a second time on the big screen!

"Twister" the 1996 film starring Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton.

Notes:
1. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce. www.noaa.gov/twisters-noaa-tornado-science-behind-the-scenes (accessed July 20, 2024)

2. Brandy McDonnell, "First Trailer for 'Twisters' Debuts During the Super Bowl: Watch," The Oklahoman, February 24, 2024.
https://www.oklahoman.com/story/entertainment/2024/02/12/twisters-trailer-drops- (accessed July 20, 2024)

3. "The Science Behind 'Twisters,'" Oklahoma City News - 4, KFOR - Oklahoma City, July 19, 2024. https://kfor.com/video/the-science-behind-twisters/9882604/ (accessed July 20, 2024)

]]><![CDATA[Fort Des Moines, Iowa: 1st Training Center for the WAAC]]>Mon, 09 Oct 2023 05:00:00 GMThttps://www.lynneschall.com/lynne-blogs/fort-des-moines-iowa-1st-training-center-for-the-waac

Color photo of educational display about women in the U.S. Army.

One of many informative displays at the Fort Des Moines Museum and Education Center, Fort Des Moines, Iowa.

It was 1942, and the world was at war.

The December 1941 entry of the United States into what later became known as World War II made everything in America more intense if not always faster.

The frantic need for success in a nation unprepared for war often goaded the U.S. Congress to do what it previously would not.

On May 14, 1942, Congress approved the establishment of the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corp (WAAC).  The following day, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the bill into law.  On May 16, Oveta Culp Hobby was sworn in as the first director of the WAAC.

Little did the people of Iowa know that Fort Des Moines, located on the south side of their capital city, would become the site of the first training center for the newfangled WAAC.

The whole nation was watching.

The Need for More “Manpower”

Recruiting and training women became an immediate and continuous goal of the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC). That goal continued when the WAAC converted to the Women’s Army Corps on July 1, 1943.

In those early months of recruiting, some 30,000 women filed applications to compete for less than 1,000 positions.  The WAAC picked the best and made plans to expand as necessary.  By the end of World War II, over 150,000 women had served in the WAAC/WAC.

Hold Your Horses

No training could begin without a training center.  For a few crazy weeks, the search proved fruitless.  Brother and sister arms already had dibs on potential space at large colleges, universities, private and public schools, resort hotels, state fairgrounds—anywhere that might be adapted to the WAAC’s use.  Moreover, the WAAC could neither sign a legal contract for space nor begin conversions to that space until after Congress’s bill became law.

Fortune smiled on the WAAC in late April 1942 when the mechanization of the U.S. Calvary made available an old, mounted Calvary post:  Fort Des Moines, Iowa.

Fort Des Moines sat halfway across the nation from WAAC headquarters.  Cold, snowy Iowa winters would challenge an overstretched Army clothing supply chain. Brick stables for horses would have to be converted to barracks for women. Additional construction would be necessary.

However, solid red brick barracks surrounded a huge, green parade ground.  The fort's utilities could be expanded to accommodate 5,000 people.  The area didn’t have large defense projects or race and color difficulties.

“We’ll take it!” the WAAC planners agreed.

Static display of WWII WAC vintage uniform and miscellaneous artifacts.

Display of WWII WAC Vintage Uniforms and Miscellaneous Artifacts. Fort Des Moines Museum and Education Center.

Fierce resistance to women in the Army—even as auxiliaries who were only with the Army, not in it—plagued the WAAC and later the WAC. And to the detriment of everyone, intractable racial discrimination wounded the United States.

Yet, Des Moines possessed a strong African-American community.

In 1917, Fort Des Moines, established in 1901, received the unique distinction of hosting the first African-American men who were permitted to train and serve as Army officers. These officers were among the best and brightest of their generation and served with distinction in Europe during the “war to end all wars.”

In 1942, Fort Des Moines received another extraordinary distinction: hosting the First WAAC Training Center.

In 1974, Fort Des Moines was declared a National Historic Landmark.

Educational display about WWII WAACs & WACs at the Fort Des Moines Museum and Educational Center, Fort Des Moines, Iowa

Fierce Resistance to Women: Slander Campaign Against WWII WAACs & WACs.

Black & white photos of two WWII WAACs standing in front of brick barracks. New construction in

Additional construction: "Boomtown," First WAAC Training Center, Fort Des Moines, Iowa. Circa 1942.

First WAAC Officer Candidate Class

The historic first WAAC officer candidate course trained 440 WAACs and took place from July 20 to August 29, 1942. The women’s course was shorter in duration than the men’s because the ineligibility of women for combat eliminated the need for combat subjects.

The forty black women who entered the first WAAC officer candidate class were placed in a separate platoon. Although they attended classes and mess with the other officer candidates, post facilities such as service clubs, theaters, and beauty shops were segregated. Black officer candidates had backgrounds similar to those of white officer candidates. Almost 80 percent had attended college, and the majority had work experience as teachers and office workers.”

--Judith A. Bellafaire,
The Women's Army Corps: A Commemoration of World War II Service,
CMH Publication: 72-15.

The strained supply chain of wartime could not provide everything the candidates needed, but morale and public interest ran high. Reporters, photographers, and dignitaries popped up, whether or not they were invited. They couldn’t always get into Fort Des Moines, but anyone could watch new recruits getting off the trains in Des Moines, and later, WAACs walking about downtown during their limited free time.

Did the WAACs establish additional training centers?

The U.S. Congress authorized a maximum strength of 150,000 for the WAAC. When job classification experts pointed out that a modern army offers far more jobs suitable for women, Army estimates for women volunteers jumped to 1.5 million.

Army planners floated the idea among themselves of seeking Congressional legislation to draft women. The likely public and Congressional opposition to such a radical notion nixed that idea.

Whether the Army needed a 150,000 or a million WAACs, Fort Des Moines couldn't train them all.

Ultimately, and sometimes briefly, the Army conducted five WAAC training centers. All but Fort Des Moines were located east of the Mississippi River. All five training centers were created before the WAAC was disestablished on September 30, 1943.

The centers bore practical names in numerical order: the First WAAC Training Center, the Second WAAC Training Center, etc. In addition to the training centers, separate specialist schools were created. On September 1, 1943, the Army redesignated all WAAC units as WAC.

1942-1945. First WAAC Training Center, Fort Des Moines, Iowa
1942-1944. Second WAAC Training Center, Daytona Beach, Florida
1943-1945. Third WAAC Training Center, Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia
1943-1943. Fourth WAAC Training Center, Fort Devens, Massachusetts
1943-1943. Fifth WAAC Training Center, spread through three prisoner-of-war camps:
- Camp Monticello, Drew County, Arkansas
- Camp Polk, Louisiana
- Camp Ruston, Louisiana

At first we were frantic because we didn't have enough cadre to take care of the trainees, and now we didn't know what to do with the cadre.
--Staff member, WAAC

By March of 1944 only the First and Third Training Centers continued in operation.

The Second WAAC Training Center ran from October 1942 to not later than early 1944. Surprisingly, the unlikely location of Daytona Beach, Florida (yes, that Daytona Beach) was selected. No Army post existed there, so the women lived and trained in a hodgepodge of civilian buildings leased throughout the resort town. A tent camp expanded the women's barracks.

The Fourth WAAC Training Center operated for six months (March 1943 – August 1943) until discussion of a possible draft for women was scrapped.

The Fifth WAAC Training Center lasted only three months (April 1943 - June 1943) due to the need for housing Italian prisoners-of-war captured in North Africa.

No matter where WAACs, and later WACs trained, it wasn't long before they were on the job--but not always in their respective areas of civilian expertise or Army specialist training. Most women were stationed in the United States, others were deployed around the world.

Color photo of world map showing deployment of WACs overseas: 1943-1946.

WACs Oversees: 1943-1946.

What is Fort Des Moines like today?

As the needs of the Army changed in the second half of the twentieth century, the military eventually turned over Fort Des Moines acreage to the City of Des Moines for development by public and private entities. Many of the fort’s buildings were demolished.

The oldest surviving structures of Fort Des Moines Number 3 are Clayton Hall and the Chapel. (Two previous Army posts named Des Moines were established and abandoned in the nineteenth century.)

Clayton Hall and the Chapel have played many roles since their respective creations in 1903 and 1910. The two “grande dames” remain on their original site. Today, they compose the Fort Des Moines Museum and Education Center.

MISSION of the Fort Des Moines Museum and Education Center: preserve, promote and perpetuate the sacrifice, service, and leadership of the Black Officers of World War I, the Women’s Army Corp (WAC) of World War II, and all others whose lives have been connected to Fort Des Moines.

The museum packs a great deal of history into its informative and easy-to-understand static displays.  I thoroughly enjoyed my visit to Fort Des Moines in September 2023.

Currently, the museum is open only on Saturdays and by appointment.  The building’s exterior requires some repair, as does the monument and empty reflecting pool facing Clayton Hall.

Visit the museum’s website https://www.fortdesmoinesmuseum.com to learn more about its partners, volunteers, and events.  Better yet, see the “grande dames” in person and learn how you can support their work!

Color snapshot of the facade of the Fort Des Moines Museum and Education Center, Des Moines, Iowa. September 2023

Fort Des Moines Museum and Education Center, 75 East Army Post Road, Des Moines, Iowa 50315. September 16, 2023.

__________
Notes:
1. Lynne Schall's color snapshots of displays at the Fort Des Moines Museum and Education Center, September 2023.
2. "Boomtown," black and white snapshot, Betty H. Carter Women Veterans Historical Project, University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
3. Mattie E. Treadwell, Lieutenant Colonel, U.S. Army, The Women's Army Corps, Special Studies, The U.S. Army in World War II, Office of the Chief of Military History, Department of the Army, Washington, D.C., 1954, 1995.
4. Judith A. Bellafaire, The Women's Army Corps: A Commemoration of World War II Service, CMH Publication: 72-15.

]]><![CDATA[Women's History Month - March 2023 - & Notable Women of Oklahoma]]>Thu, 02 Mar 2023 06:00:00 GMThttps://www.lynneschall.com/lynne-blogs/womens-history-month-march-2023-notable-women-of-oklahomaUpdated: 3/11/2023

I. What is it?

Women’s History Month in the United States occurs in March of each year to:
- celebrate the achievements women have made throughout American history
- recognize all that remains to be done.

When did it start?

1987. The U.S. Congress designated March as “Women’s History Month.” Between 1988 and 1994, Congress passed successive resolutions requesting and authorizing the U.S. President to proclaim Women’s History Month. Since 1995, presidents have issued annual proclamations of Women’s History Month.

Antecedents. The origin story of Women’s History Month, however, began far earlier in the labor protests carried out by women in the nation’s paid workforce.

1857. Most notably, a one-day strike and march by hundreds of women from the textile and needles factories in New York City on March 8, 1857, made history.
- Fed up with life-threatening workplace conditions, low pay, and excruciating hours, the women took to the streets.
- Their day of action initiated a labor movement that, due to the obstruction by powerful business interests prioritizing profit over fairness, required decades of hard effort to create positive change.

1909. In the USA, the first Woman’s Day celebration took place in New York City.
1980’s. By the early 1980s, cities and states across the country were holding Women’s Day celebrations.
1980. President Jimmy Carter proclaimed the week of March 8 as “Women’s History Week.”
1981. The U.S. Congress established the second week of March as “National Women’s History Week.”
1987. The U.S. Congress designated March as “Women’s History Month.”

The most common way people give up their power is thinking they don’t have any.”
--Alice Walker (1944- ) American writer, poet, and activist.

II. Meanwhile…

1910. The International Conference of Working Women in Copenhagen, Denmark, approved a proposal to create a Women’s Day that would be international in character.
1911. A handful of western European nations are the first to act on the Conference’s proposal. Over the years, the practice spreads around the globe.
1977. The United Nations officially recognizes International Women’s Day.
Today. March 8—the date of the 1857 labor protest in New York City—is observed in many countries around the world as International Women’s Day.

Purple has become the symbolic color of International Women’s Day, along with green and white.

Call to Action. Whether you celebrate Women’s History Month and/or International Women’s Day, remember that the story began and continues in action to improve the lives of women.

III. Women of Oklahoma.

Since two of my novels, Cloud County Persuasion and Cloud County Harvest, are set in Oklahoma, I’d like to mention a few notable Oklahoma women from a long list of high achievers.

You'll find them in education, business, politics, arts and sciences…Many have become nationally and internationally famous. You’re probably familiar with many of them.

Do you recognize these names?

Authors Rilla Askew, Billie Letts (1938-2014), and S.E. Hinton.
Poet laureate and musician Joy Harjo, Muscogee (Creek).

Country Singers Reba McEntire and Carrie Underwood.
Civil rights activist, attorney, and academic Ada Lois Sipuel Fisher (1924-1995).
Ballerinas Maria Tallchief, (1925-2013), Osage, and her sister Marjorie Tallchief, (1927-2021), Osage.
Historian Angie Debo (1890-1988).

Three of the women mentioned above are pictured in the following three photos. Can you match the photos with the correct name?

Angie Debo looking at maps, black & white photo

Photo #1

Ada Sipuel Fisher signing the register of attorneys, 1952, black & white photo

Photo #2

Maria Tallchief, wearing ballerina costume, black & white photo

Photo #3

Answers: Photo #1 is Angie Debo. Photo #2 is Ada Lois Sipuel Fisher. Photo #3 is Maria Tallchief. Can you think of any other notable Oklahoma women off the top of your head?

IV. Augusta Metcalfe (November 10, 1881- May 9, 1971).

I’ll highlight an Oklahoman you might not know: Augusta Isabella Corson Metcalfe, the “Sagebrush Artist."

Augusta Metcalfe in her studio, 1950

In 1886, Augusta’s parents, Edward G. and Mary Davidson Corson, moved the family from Kansas to No Man’s Land in what is today the Panhandle of the state of Oklahoma.

In 1893, they moved the family again to claim a 160-acre homestead along the Washita River in the newly-opened Cheyenne and Arapaho land in western Oklahoma.  Augusta lived and worked on the family farm, which grew to 640 acres, for the rest of her life. After her mother's death, Augusta changed the name of the family home from Corson/Metcalfe to Break O'Day Farm.

Home-schooled by her mother, a former teacher, Augusta enjoyed the outdoor life of the farm as well as drawing.  Her parents were impressed with her talent and her maternal uncle—a professor in San Francisco, California—encouraged her interest by sending her supplies and critiquing her work.  She never received formal art lessons.

Oils and watercolors were Augusta’s preferred media.  She loved the land and depicted her first-hand experience of ranch life in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.

The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture records many of her honors and major exhibits.

First Place Awards.

Oklahoma’s first state fair occurred in 1908 (the year following statehood in 1907), and Augusta won two first prizes for her paintings.
She took first-place again in the Oklahoma State Fairs of 1909 and 1910, and the Amarillo Tri-State Fairs of 1948, 1951, and 1952.
Other first-place winnings occurred in shows in Abilene, Texas (1928), and in the town of Canadian in Hemphill County, Texas (1927).

Exhibits.
Her paintings sold well. In time, her art could be viewed in exhibits across the country.

Grand Central Station Art Galleries in New York.
Nelson-Atkins Museum in Kansas City, Missouri.
Philbrook Museum of Art in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

In 1949, the Oklahoma Art Center in Oklahoma City showcased her work with a one-artist exhibit. The following year, Life magazine--the nationally distributed and wildly popular weekly magazine--featured color reproductions from her collection in its July 17 issue.

Some critics saw too much detail in her paintings, but Augusta Metcalfe insisted on creating realistic images of the life she knew so well. Admirers appreciated her steadfastness.

In 1968, she was inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame, and in 1983, the National Cowgirl Hall of Fame.

"Moving to Hamburg," painting by Augusta Metcalfe. Image shared with permission of Break O'Day Farm & Metcalfe Museum.

The legacy of Augusta Corson Metcalfe's art speaks for itself. Equally impressive is her determination to create art in difficult circumstances.

She was twenty-four years old when she married James Metcalf in December 1905. In 1908, James left her, abandoning their infant son, Howard, and Augusta's widowed and invalid mother.

Undeterred, Augusta carried on in a world with scant appreciation for divorced women. She added an "e" to her surname "Metcalf" to separate herself even further from her former husband, and never married again. Her physical strength and, perhaps most of all, sheer grit enabled her to keep her ranch and family together.

Woman rancher on horseback. Black & white photo

Visit the Metcalfe museum online at www.metcalfemuseum.org and on their Facebook page www.facebook.com/MetcalfeGalleryandMuseum.

I haven't travelled yet to the Metcalfe Museum in Durham, Oklahoma, but it's on my list!

__________
Notes:

1. "Women's History Month, March 2023," February 14, 2023, https://www.census.gov/newsroom/facts-for-features/2023/womens-history-month.html (accessed March 1, 2023)

2. "About International Women's Day," https://www.internationalwomensday.com/About (accessed March 1, 2023)

3. "Women in Oklahoma History," Oklahoma History Center, https://www.okhistory.org/learn/womenshistory (accessed March 1, 2023)

4. Photo #1. Angie Debo. (2012.201.B0156.0263, Oklahoma Publishing Company Photography Collection, OHS) Oklahoma Historical Society (accessed March 1, 2023)

5. Photo #2. Ada Sipuel Fisher signing the register of attorneys, 1952 (21412.M657.12, Z. P. Meyers/Barney Hillerman Photographic Collection, Oklahoma Historical Society (accessed March 1, 2023)

6. Photo #3. "Maria Tallchief. American Dancer," Encyclopedia Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Maria-Tallchief (accessed March 2, 2023)

7. Metcalf Museum Incorporated, http://www.metcalfemuseum.org/home.html (accessed March 1, 2023)

8. "Metcalf, Augusta Isabella Corson (1881-1971)," Suzzanne Kelley, The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture, Oklahoma Historical Society, https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entry=ME019 (accessed March 1, 2023).

9. Photo of Augusta Metcalfe in her studio, 1950.

10. "Cowhand and the Lady," Life magazine, v.29, July 17, 1950, pp.70-72.

11. "Moving to Hamburg," painting by Augusta Metcalfe. Image shared with permission of Break O'Day Farm & Metcalfe Museum, 8647 N, 1795 RD, Durham, Oklahoma, 73642.

12. Photo of woman farmer/rancher on horseback.

]]><![CDATA[Writers & Editors & Designers, oh my!]]>Sat, 10 Dec 2022 06:00:00 GMThttps://www.lynneschall.com/lynne-blogs/writers-editors-designers-oh-my

Color photo of a rustic signpost. Photo by Lynne Schall, author, September 2022.

Indie publishing won me over with the publication of my first novel, Women’s Company – The Minerva Girls. The model holds fast for me, and last month I published my third novel, Cloud County Harvest, the sequel to Cloud County Persuasion.

Indie publishing is often referred to as self-publishing because the author is in control of the publishing processes: editorial, design, production, distribution, marketing, promotion, and rights licensing. That means the indie author must build a network of individuals who work to professional standards.

But where do indie authors find these good people?

I. Editor:  Robyn Conley.

For me, the search for an editor ended when I met Robyn Conley at an annual conference of the Oklahoma Writers’ Federation, Inc.  Her credits include not only hundreds of edited manuscripts for satisfied clients, but also a list of her published nonfiction.

Robyn has edited all three of my novels.  I salute her with a big “Thank you!”

When she is not tackling a manuscript at her headquarters in Texas, Robyn shares her expertise as a guest speaker at writers’ conferences and workshops in Arizona, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas—and wherever else the work takes her.

You can learn more about Robyn by visiting her online home robynconley.com.  If you like, she’ll give you a free ten-page critique of your manuscript.  See her website for details.

“I’ve seen the difference Robyn can make. Her knowledge and insights are amazing.”

--Thomas B. Sawyer, head screenwriter for Murder She Wrote and other television programs; author of The Sixteenth Man.

Head shot of Ms. Robyn Conley, book editor

Robyn Conley, Editor

II. Graphic Designer: Anastasia Sobol.

I was at a loss in my search for a book cover designer until a fellow writer recommended 99designs, an online platform. What began as a small startup in Melbourne, Australia, in 2008, has grown into a go-to source for thousands of entrepreneurs and small businesses.

99designs by Vista is a "global creative platform that makes it easy for clients and freelance designers to work together online."

--99designs.com

The young Ukrainian designer Anastasia Sobol came to my attention through a contest I ran at 99designs.  I posted the type of book cover I wanted.   Interested designers drafted ideas for my review.  Anastasia won hands down.

Do you know the time difference between Kyiv and Kansas?  It’s about eight hours.

Yet working with Anastasia was easy given her creativity and work ethic.  She designed each of the book covers for my three novels.  While creating the third cover this year, the invasion of Russia into Ukraine expanded and escalated.

I later learned that Anastasia joined 99designs when she was seventeen.   She is now twenty-two and reports that she continues with the platform because “it offers a space where designers of any level can get better at their craft by getting real work—even a 17-year-old who is just starting out."

Anastasia S....became an established and successful designer on the 99designs platform at a young age."

--"Designer Anastasia S. on how to find your creative voice,"
99designs Team, interview with Anastasia S., February 2022.
99designs.com/blog/designers/designer-anastasia-s-interview/

Three Book Covers by Anastasia Sobol

III. Appreciation.

Editors and designers are critical to a final project. Then there's production, distribution, marketing, promotion, and rights licensing in need of their fair share of attention. And it's all done for people like you: readers on the hunt for a good book. Thank you to everyone who helps make it happen.

Notes:
1. Photo of a rustic signpost. Lynne Schall, September 2022.
2. Photo of Robyn Conley. Publicity photo, robynconley.com
3. 99designs.com/blog/designers/designer-anastasia-s-interview/, February 2022.

]]><![CDATA[Veterans Day 2022 -- Reading about Armed Services Editions]]>Fri, 04 Nov 2022 05:00:00 GMThttps://www.lynneschall.com/lynne-blogs/veterans-day-2022-reading-about-armed-services-editionsVeterans Day in the United States honors everyone who served in the U.S. military. Since Veterans Day is coming up on November 11, I'm reading Molly Guptill Manning’s nonfiction book, When Books Went to War: The Stories that Helped Us Win World War II.

Book cover of When Books Went to War, by Molly Guptill Manning

Americans were hesitant—and sometimes outright opposed—to enter the war in Europe.  After all, a mere eighteen years had passed from the armistice of the Great War in 1918 to the invasion of Poland in 1939.

Hitler’s military rampage across eastern and western Europe eliminated any doubts that Americans might have had regarding Nazi goals to obliterate not only armed forces, but also free thought, democracies, and the cultures in which they thrived.  After France fell in June 1940, the U.S. Congress passed, in September 1940, the Selective Training and Service Act: the first peacetime draft in U.S. history.   President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed the Act into law on September 16. Barely fifteen months later, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.

In 1939, the U.S. armed forces consisted of outdated equipment, scant supplies, and approximately 334,000 volunteers.  From 1941 to 1945, the armed forces grew rapidly from approximately 1.8 million to over 12 million men and women in uniform. Throughout the war, books played a critical role in building morale and winning the battle for ideas.

Current-day readers like you and me can enjoy the engrossing story of that role in Manning's 2014 book, When Books Went to War.   You'll learn why and how Americans made fiction and nonfiction books accessible to the men and women of the U.S. armed forces.

Victory Book Campaign. It started with book drives spearheaded by librarians across America. The first Victory Book Campaign (VBC) took place in 1942 and met its goal of ten million books. In all, American forces received 18 million donated books through the VBC.

The Victory Book Campaign experienced a few burps. For example, the sorting centers had to reject 1.5 million of the four million books collected by early March 1942. Titles such as How to Knit, An Undertaker’s Review, and Theology in 1870 lacked the best “fit” for military training centers. The sorted books that made it to training centers were given a warm welcome, and avid requests were made for more.

To the chagrin of librarians, the Victory Book Campaign ended in October 1943. Why? Three factors came into play:

the inability of donations to keep up with the rapid increase in military personnel,
the incompatibility of the weight of a traditional hardback book in a soldier’s rucksack, and
the improvement of the Army and Navy’s systems for delivering popular magazines to the troops and seamen.

Periodicals. Frontline troops craved written material that they could carry easily. The delivery of popular magazines to the front began in a haphazard fashion that often resulted in late and tattered issues—and sometimes none at all. The resolution of the distribution malaise in spring 1943 is credited as one of the biggest improvements in recreation for frontline troops.

Production costs and paper rationing inspired some magazine publishers to experiment with miniature editions for the armed forces. The miniatures contained no advertisements, saved paper and, due to the roughly six-inch by four-inch size, used a small font hard on the eyes.

Manning also reports that in 1945, "a special WAC Magazine Kit was developed, which was distributed to hospitals and Women's Army Corps units overseas..." The kit included ten titles ranging from Glamour to Good Housekeeping.

Armed Services Editions. The Victory Book Campaign proved the morale-raising value of providing books to the soldiers, seamen, and airmen. The Campaign also showed the infeasibility of hardcover books in the frontlines.

The troops needed fiction and nonfiction books that were lightweight and small enough to fit in the hip pocket or chest pocket of military fatigues. No glue in the book binding would be helpful, too, because in tropical climates, insects ate the glue and humidity rotted it. In tropical and temperate climates, the glued bindings fell apart more rapidly because books were shared until they were too tattered and smudged to read.

The solution came through the efforts of the Council on Wartime Books together with the cooperation of the Navy and War Departments plus every major U.S. publishing company. The Armed Services Edition (ASE) was born.

Armed Services Editions (ASE): 1943 - 1947. 1,324 book titles printed. Nearly 123,000,000 inexpensive, pocket-size books delivered to the U. S. Government for distribution to members of the American armed forces.

--"Council on Books in Wartime," Social Networks and Archival Context

Frontline forces treasured the pint-size paperbacks. Authors considered it an honor for their books to be published as Armed Services Editions. Publishing companies and bookstores stopped snubbing paperbacks because the low-cost books expanded an author's audience.

Example of the layout of an Armed Services Edition.

Front cover of an Armed Services Edition of Betty Smith's novel, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

Betty Smith's novel was one of the most popular books.

Armed Services Edition of the book cover of Call of the Wild

Note that the book is bound on the short side rather than the long side.

Today you can buy vintage copies of Armed Services Editions from retailers selling on internet platforms such as Ebay and Etsy. They've gone up quite a bit in price since their original cost of approximately seven cents per copy.

Until next time, Good Reading!

Notes:

Sometimes Veterans Day is confused with Memorial Day, the commemoration celebrated in late May to honor service members who gave their lives serving in the nation’s wars or who died as a result of their combat injuries.
Molly Guptill Manning, When Books Went to War: The Stories the Helped Us Win World War II, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, New York, New York, 2014. Also see www.mollymanning.com (accessed November 3, 2022)
Armed Services Editions (ASE), a subsidiary of the Council on Books in Wartime https://snaccooperative.org/view/68193342 (accessed October 24, 2022). From the guide to the Council on Books in Wartime Records, 1942-1947, (Princeton University. Library. Dept. of Rare Books and Special Collection.)
Rich Rennicks, "Collecting Armed Services Editions," The New Antiquarian, The Blog of the Antiquarian Booksellers' Association of America, November 11, 2021. www.abaa.org/blog/post/armed-services-editions (accessed November 3, 2022)

]]><![CDATA[Is There a Drought Where You Live, Too?]]>Tue, 25 Oct 2022 05:00:00 GMThttps://www.lynneschall.com/lynne-blogs/stubborn-drought-lingersIt rained yesterday morning—a gentle shower that disappeared into the oh-so-dry earth where I live. Everyone is grateful.

Map of Kansas, USA, with color-coded drought conditions, October 1, 2022

Current U.S. Drought Monitor Conditions for Kansas, October 18, 2022

In early October, Governor Laura Kelly approved updated drought declarations for Kansas counties—all 105 of them. Take your pick. Watch, warning, or emergency drought status, Kansas has it.

Whew.

The National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS) also keeps an eye on drought. Perhaps you've seen some of their color-coded maps similar to the one pictured above for Kansas.

The NIDIS emphasizes that several drought indicators, for example,

precipitation
temperature
streamflow
groundwater and reservoir levels
soil moisture, and snowpack

should be examined in order to paint a complete picture.

Armed with facts, the NIDIS doesn’t mince words. Droughts fall into one of its four categories.

Moderate drought (tan on the map)
Severe drought (orange)
Extreme drought (bright red)
Exceptional drought (reddish-brown)

Current US Drought Monitor Conditions for Kansas, USA, October 18, 2018

Description of Current U.S. Drought Monitor Conditions for Kansas, October 18, 2022

October usually brings rain to Kansas, but a quick peek at the October 20th report of the NIDIS tells me that my county is now in “exceptional drought.” Moreover, the outlook for the next three months is...drought.

Oklahoma, the main setting for two of my novels, Cloud County Persuasion and Cloud County Harvest, isn’t doing much better. Approximately 82% of the state is in extreme drought and 29% in exceptional drought.

Drought is part of life on the Great Plains. Some of the characters in my fictional Cloud County are old enough to have experienced five droughts.

Mid-1890s
1901-1904
1910-1914
1916-1918
1931-1940

Many of them will be present for the drought of the 1950s, a defining factor for both rural and urban characters in Cloud County Harvest.

For a present-day suburbanite like me, the short-term effects are veiled with widespread air-conditioning, city water not-yet-rationed, big blue skies and clear sunshine. I shift my outdoor gardening, long walks, and bicycle rides to the cooler early morning hours of the day.

Nonetheless, dried-out lawns, dried-up crops and creeks, low levels in ponds and lakes, burn bans, and record-breaking temperatures shout, "Pay attention." Many people reply, "Drought is part of life here. Nature will take care of it."

Mm-hmm.

The total population of the USA has doubled to more than 331,000,000 since the 1950s of Cloud County Harvest. It looks like Mother Nature needs a little more help from us.

__________
Notes:

National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS) https://www.drought.gov/documents/what-nidis-national-integrated-drought-information-system is a multi-agency partnership that coordinates drought monitoring, forecasting, planning, and information at national, state, and local levels across the country.
Cloud County Harvest will be released in mid-November 2022.

]]><![CDATA[World Teachers' Day: October 5, 2022. Who's Your Favorite Teacher?]]>Mon, 03 Oct 2022 05:00:00 GMThttps://www.lynneschall.com/lynne-blogs/world-teachers-day-october-5-2022-whos-your-favorite-teacherA good teacher is like a candle: it consumes itself to light the way for others."

--Mustafa Kemal Ataturk (1881-1938)
President of Turkey, 1923 -1937

Color image of a bright red apple with one green leaf.

Perhaps you, like me, have more than one favorite schoolteacher.

1. Mrs. Gossett.  My first-grade teacher is a favorite because she taught me how to do one of my favorite activities:  read.

She was a young and attractive lady with a flair for fashion that even the local newspaper wanted to showcase.

It happened on the day that Mrs. Gossett wore a trendy “balloon” outfit.

The long-sleeved dress had no fitted waist and “ballooned” loosely to the street-length hem where the fullness of the garment was gathered to a circumference barely wide enough for her to walk.  That spring-green dress complemented her well-coifed hair, high heels, and bright lipstick.

All of us kids were impressed.

At the time, we didn't know about World Teachers' Day because it didn't exist. We'd have to wait until 1994 for a global celebration of teachers' contributions and the support they need to deploy their talents and help build the future.

Color image of bright red apple with one green leaf

World Teachers' Day (world-wide) = October 5
National Teacher Day (USA) = first Tuesday in May

Education is simply the soul of a society as it passes from one generation to another."

--G. K. Chesterton (1874 - 1936)
British critic and author of verse, essays, novels, and short stories.

2. Mrs. MacIntyre (spelling?).  My eighth-grade American History teacher is another favorite because she taught one of my favorite subjects:  history. She is also notable because when I was in the early years of elementary school, she taught “Summer Craft” at my school.

As I recall, our public school district ran Summer Craft for approximately six weeks, five days per week, during the school break. Our day began around nine in the morning and continued until perhaps four in the afternoon.

Mrs. MacIntyre--a robust widow with one, maybe two, daughters in college--headed the daily activities of crafts, games, story time, and contests.  Since the kids lived within walking distance of their respective homes, we went home for lunch.

On Wednesday mornings, a local theater offered free child-appropriate films.  Mothers were recruited to carpool us to and from the theater and stay (as chaperones) to enjoy the movie.  Summer Craft kids from around town packed the theater.

Looking back, the most remarkable thing about Summer Craft was that it was free to the participants.  At that point in history, the majority of voters in our college town agreed that public school tax dollars were well-spent on non-mandatory summertime education for young children.

3. Mr. Smith. Mr. Smith is a favorite because he taught two of my favorite subjects. I had the good fortune to take American History from him during my junior year in high school and, in my senior year, Geography. Mr. Smith not only liked American History, but also understood, as did Mrs. MacIntyre, that history is about stories. And he thoroughly enjoyed telling the story.

Alas, non-competitive teacher salaries in Oklahoma led him to a more lucrative career to provide for his family. At the conclusion of my senior year, he became a golf pro.

Most of us end up with no more than five or six people who remember us. Teachers have thousands of people who remember them for the rest of their lives.”

--Andy Rooney (1919 - 2011)
American journalist and essayist

Until next time, Good Reading!

__________
Notes:
1. UNESCO = United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization.
2. ILO = International Labour Organization.
3. World Teachers' Day.

World Teachers' Day - UNESCO https://www.unesco.org/en/days/teachers
October 5 is the date for World Teachers' Day because October 5 commemorates the anniversary of the adoption of the "1966 ILO/UNESCO Recommendation Concerning the Status of Teachers." http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=13084&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html

]]><![CDATA[Do You Know Oklahoma?]]>Wed, 07 Sep 2022 05:00:00 GMThttps://www.lynneschall.com/lynne-blogs/do-you-know-oklahomaFor in Oklahoma, all the experiences that went into the making of the nation have been speeded up. Here all the American traits have been intensified.

The one who can interpret Oklahoma can grasp the meaning of America in the modern world."

--Angie Debo, Ph.D., Oklahoma Foot-loose and Fancy-free,
University of Oklahoma Press, 1949, 1987.

Color image of the portrait of Angie Debo that is hanging in the rotunda of the Oklahoma State Capitol

Dr. Angie Debo, Author and Historian, portrait by Charles Banks Wilson.

The author Michael Wallis described Angie Debo (1890-1988) as “the distinguished historian, teacher, author and editor, an inspiration to so many others, and an Oklahoma pioneer who deserves nothing less than sainthood.”

In 1940, And Still the Waters Run--probably the most important of Dr. Debo's many award-winning books--was published by Princeton University Press.

At the time, the University of Oklahoma Press had declined to publish her meticulously researched nonfiction due to the threat of libel suits from prominent Oklahoma politicians and business people.

Dr. Debo's documentation of the betrayal and liquidation of the five independent Native American republics of the Choctaws, Chickasaws, Cherokees, Creeks, and Seminoles proved to be too ugly a story for many of the land-hungry white men who had perpetrated an orgy of criminal exploitation against the rightful owners.

Color image of the front cover of Angie Debo's book titled, And Still the Waters Run.

1973 book cover

In 1950, Dr. Debo was inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame.

In 1985, Oklahoma honored her work by installing her bigger-than-life-size portrait in the Rotunda of the Oklahoma State Capitol in Oklahoma City. As you can see in the portrait by Charles Banks Wilson, Dr. Debo is seated in her favorite chair with a backdrop of the important books she authored.

"[My goal is] to discover truth and publish it."
--Angie Debo, Ph.D.

Dr. Debo wrote or co-authored approximately thirteen books and hundreds of articles during her long life. She remains an inspiration to truth-seekers. If you haven't already, you'll want to read And Still the Waters Run.

If you're looking for an indispensable reference about Oklahoma, you'll want a copy of Charles Robert Goins and Danney Goble's Historical Atlas of Oklahoma, fourth edition, University of Oklahoma Press, 2006. This edition builds on previous editions to share 119 topics with you via the work of Goins, Gobles, and seventeen contributing scholars and other professionals.

Like its predecessors, the fourth edition regales readers with an expanded tale of Oklahoma geography and history. Explanatory legends, tables, and graphs plus interpretive essays and maps galore will help you make sense of Oklahoma. Photos and brief biographies of key Oklahomans in literature, visual arts, music, and sports will share with you the joi de vivre of the Sooner state.

Read the Historical Atlas of Oklahoma, fourth edition, from front to back or jump in wherever your fancy takes you.

Color image of the front book cover of Historical Atlas of Oklahoma, fourth edition, 2007.

Until next time, Good Reading!

]]><![CDATA[Libraries: Yours and Mine]]>Thu, 01 Sep 2022 05:00:00 GMThttps://www.lynneschall.com/lynne-blogs/libraries-yours-and-mine

Main reading room, State Library of Iowa -- Law Library, Des Moines, Iowa, 2022

The State Library of Iowa -- Law Library, Des Moines, Iowa, June 2022

Was the library from your childhood as elaborate as the delightfully ornate Law Library in the Iowa State Capitol building? Did your library sport a playful gateway like the Children's Section of the Andover Public Library? Mine neither.

But these libraries, like my town's public library, possessed books that led to adventures far more fantastical than any in my neighborhood. And the pleasant librarians encouraged me to borrow as many books as I wanted--at the rate of four books per check-out, of course.

Gateway to Children's Section, Andover Public Library, Andover, Kansas, August 2022

I couldn't have carried more than that on my bicycle anyway. The two-mile bike ride (no hand brakes, no gear shifts) from my home to the library on a hot summer day was well worth the sweat.

I later learned that the architectural style of the blond brick building constructed in 1929 is Italian Renaissance Revival. In December 2000, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places nr2_shpo.okstate.edu/QueryResult.aspx?id=1581

After a summertime bike ride, I was most interested in making a beeline through the side door and down the stairs into the wonderful coolness of the air-conditioned children's section in the raised basement.

The only thing that you have to know is the location of the library."
--Albert Einstein

The library is one of the first things I've found wherever I have lived. Big or small, sponsored by a municipality, an Army post, or a university, they've all shared their wealth with me.

Not surprisingly, I'm one of many aficionados who agree libraries merit recognition--and public tax dollars. In the United States, many Americans celebrate:

National Library Week - April 23 through 29, 2023 nationaltoday.com/national-library-week/
National Book Lovers Day - August 9 each year nationaltoday.com/national-book-lovers-day/

Libraries today are far more than repositories of books.

The author Susan Orlean wrote The Library Book (2019, Simon & Schuster) to showcase the crucial role libraries play in our lives.

In the process, Ms. Orlean investigated the unsolved mystery of the 1986 catastrophe suffered by the Los Angeles Public Library--the worst library fire in American history. Her nonfiction research is packed with history, mystery, and a bit of memoir.

Book cover (red with gold letters) of The Library Book by Susan Orlean

Have you visited your public library lately? If not, take a peek. You might be surprised to see how much it has in store for you.

Until next time, Good Reading!
______
Notes:
1. Photos by Lynne Schall:

The State Library of Iowa -- Law Library, Des Moines, Iowa, June 2022.
Gateway to Children's Section, Andover Public Library, Andover, Kansas, August 2022.

]]><![CDATA[what is world letter writing day?]]>Tue, 23 Aug 2022 16:40:28 GMThttps://www.lynneschall.com/lynne-blogs/what-is-world-letter-writing-day

Image of Richard Simpkin & son with interviewers at Studio Ten, Australia, in April 2022

Richard Simpkin, founder of World Letter Writing Day

On a road trip to the Rocky Mountains last summer, my husband and I visited the historic site of Boggsville, located near the confluence of the Arkansas and Purgatoire Rivers in what would become southeastern Colorado. There’s not much there now, but at the time of its founding in 1866, the hard-working people of Boggsville pioneered irrigation, large-scale farming and ranching in the Arkansas Valley.

My husband and I arrived at the remote site on a hot, dusty day in June. No one else was about as we drove into the small, graveled parking lot. When we walked up the path toward the two homes that have been restored, we could hear the sound of our footsteps in the peaceful quiet.

A pleasant young woman greeted us at the reception desk. “Would you like a tour guide or a self-guided tour? No one else is here, so I can give you a tour now if you like.”

We happily accepted her guideship.

She was a local girl, a student in her first year of college, I believe, and well-versed in the story of Boggsville. When we entered the dining room of a large house, I noticed a framed document on the wall. I drew closer to read the handwriting—original or copy?—before asking some small question about a certain word, a name perhaps?

“I don’t know,” the guide said, “I can’t read cursive.”

Oh, dear.

“They didn’t teach it at school,” she said. “But now I’m teaching myself.”

While growing up, my tour guide probably would have enjoyed an American version of the Australian Richard Simpkin to visit her classroom to teach letter writing.

The value of letter writing impressed Mr. Simpkin so much in his work as an author and photographer that on September 1, 2014, he launched World Letter Writing Day at Waverly College in Sydney, New South Wales.

His goal was simple: encourage people around the world to pick up a pen or pencil and write a letter—and not just on September 1.

Mr. Simpkin and his colleagues at https://worldletterwritingday.com aren’t against electronic communications. Indeed, they use emails, texts, voice mail, etc. What they don't want us to forget is that the personal touch of a handwritten letter is only one of the many benefits of handwriting. Other rewards are:

appreciation for the art of penmanship,
pride in penmanship, and
enhancement of learning.

No matter what your age, handwriting enhances learning.

·  Hand-eye coordination is a major developmental feature of handwriting.

·  Letter and word recognition, comprehension, abstract thought, and memory are shown to improve with handwriting.

·  Neural development increases and expands in areas of language, memory, word recognition, and emotion with handwriting.

Here in the USA, penmanship inspired the creation of the unofficial holiday known as National Handwriting Day. The commemoration began in the late 1970s and occurs annually on January 23, the birthday of John Hancock (1737-1793), the first signer of the Declaration of Independence.

To learn more about the benefits of pensmanship, visit my January 20, 2020, blog post national-handwriting-day-just-pretty-writing.html.

And on September 1, join Richard Simpkin, me, and other people around the world who, like you, are picking up a pen or pencil to write a letter!

]]><![CDATA[A new novel for you: Cloud County Harvest]]>Tue, 16 Aug 2022 05:00:00 GMThttps://www.lynneschall.com/lynne-blogs/a-new-novel-for-you

Book Cover of Cloud County Harvest, Book 1 in the Cloud County Series

Heads up!

Here's the front cover of my new novel, Cloud County Harvest, the sequel to Cloud County Persuasion.

It will be published in fall 2022, and I hope you'll enjoy reading it.

What is the story about?

Cloud County Harvest.

It's 1951.

As the insidious advance of a mid-century drought sidles across the Southern Plains, the Hill and Quick families of Cloud County buckle down to the work at hand.  Hard times, extreme drought, and pestilence are not new to them or their neighbors.  Tenacity is the key; the question is, how will it change them and the red earth they inherited?

You read Cloud County Persuasion and you want to go back.  Cloud County Harvest is your ticket.

The plains of Oklahoma are waiting for you.

Savor again the evocative sense of place.  Inhabit the social and cultural milieu of rural and small-town life. Catch up on the resilient men and women you came to know in Cloud County Persuasion and expand your circle of the people who enrich their lives.

Book Cover of Cloud County Harvest, Book 2 in the Cloud County Series, large print

Take your pick: e-book, paperback print, or large print paperback. All three formats will be released in fall 2022.

Visit the online retailers Apple, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Kobo for e-books of Cloud County Harvest.

Shop online at Amazon or Barnes & Noble for print and large print paperbacks.

Enjoy your return trip to Cloud County!

]]><![CDATA[6 good reads for your valentine]]>Mon, 07 Feb 2022 06:00:00 GMThttps://www.lynneschall.com/lynne-blogs/6-good-reads-for-your-valentine

Valentine's Day is coming up on Monday, February 14.

Although popular among many people, gifts and cards are not required on Valentine's Day. Perhaps your Valentines, however, enjoy books, and you would like to give each of them a novel.

But which novel?

Here are six "good reads" perfect for your gift-giving list.

MYSTERIES

Book cover of A Beautiful Blue Death, Charles Finch, 2017.

A Beautiful Blue Death.
Book 1 of 14 in the Charles Lenox Mysteries.
Charles Finch, 2017.

England. 1865. Gentleman Charles Lenox, a bachelor with comfortable means, enjoys his comfortable life in his comfortable home in London next door to his widowed friend, Lady Jane Grey.

Nice guy (or rather, gentleman) that he is, Lenox must help when Lady Jane asks him to investigate the unexpected death of her former maid, a likable young woman engaged to be married. Lady Jane thinks the maid might have died by poisoning or suicide.

I haven't had the pleasure of reading A Beautiful Blue Death, but my husband Richard recommends it because he blasted through all fourteen books of the Charles Lenox Mysteries during our on-going pandemic. He shared details with me about each novel, often when I was about to drop off to sleep.

The plot always woke me up.

Book cover of A Death in Vienna, by Frank Tallis, 2015.

A Death in Vienna.
Book 1 of 7: The Liebermann Papers.
Frank Tallis, 2015.

Vienna. Turn of the twentieth century.

Inspector Oskar Rheinhart calls upon young Max Liebermann, a student of Sigmund Freud, to help investigate the murder of a lovely young medium.

Lately, it seems that each time my husband Richard returns from our local bookstore, he has bought another book in The Liebermann Papers. He started with Book 1 of 7: A Death in Vienna, and has already sped through Book 2 and half-way through Book 3.

The mysteries, the historical ambience of Vienna before World War I, and the attention to the psychological characteristics of the murderers captivated him. So did the classical music and Viennese cuisine--especially the desserts.

You can watch an excellent made-for-televison adaptation of the series on PBS. Vienna Blood, Season 2, is now being broadcast in the United States. Check your local Public Broadcasting Station for schedules.

Dr. Frank Tallis, author of The Liebermann Papers, is a writer and a clinical psychologist. He has held lecturing posts at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience and King's College London.
--About Frank Tallis, Amazon

MILITARY SCIENCE FICTION

Book cover of First Strike, by Scott Moon, 2020.

First Strike.
Book 1 of 3: Brothers in Arms.
Scott Moon, 2020.

Science fiction, especially military science fiction, is synonymous with author Scott Moon. Whenever a novel of his becomes available in print format, my husband reads it.

(Richard is old-school about books: he wants to hold a paperback or hard copy, not an electronic device, in his hand when he enters their world.) It made sense to ask Richard for his recommendation of one book by Scott Moon.

You would've thought I asked him to go to Mars.

"Impossible," Richard said. "They're too many good ones."

He spent quite a bit of time pondering in front of our tall bookcase in the living room, and then calling to me upstairs in our loft. At last, he resigned himself to selecting one series: Brothers in Arms. First Strike is Book 1 of 3 .

Knowing Richard, I can see why. The series is filled with the mud, blood, and chaos of galactic combat, action at every turn, political intrigue, and the possibility of the more-or-less good guys of the United Galactic Government losing everything. Most importantly, the hero, Michael Priam, gives up his life of privilege to fight for what is right.

Visit https://scottmoonwriter.com to learn more.

IRISH TALE OF HOPE

Book cover of Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan, 2021.

Small Things Like These.
Claire Keegan. 2021.

Ireland. 1985. The town of New Ross by the River Barrow.

Bill Furlong, a coal merchant with a wife and five growing daughters, is occupied with the everyday duties of life in the weeks before Christmas.

What he learns while making a routine coal delivery to one of his best customers--the Good Shepherd Convent--will reveal what his "ordinary self" would rather not know. His conscious will force a courageous choice regarding the convent's Magdalen laundry. A choice that no one else in New Ross has been willing to make.

I read Claire Keegan's novella, and then I read it again. She has taken the painful history of Ireland's church- and state-run mother and baby homes and distilled it down to the story of one good man who refused to ignore what stared him in the face.

We should all be so brave.

FANTASY/ Ancient historical fiction

Book cover of Circe, by Madeline Miller, 2018.

Circe.
Madeline Miller, 2018.

The 2018 publication of Madeline Miller's retelling of the myth of Circe produced a waterfall of well-deserved accolades. I read this page-turner along with my Book Club as we participated in the 2021 Big Read in Wichita, Kansas. www.arts.gov/initiatives/nea-big-read

Ancient Greek legend casts Circe as a daughter of Helios the sun god and the ocean nymph Perse. Her father casts her out when she defies his orders.

Isolated on a remote island, Circe develops her talent for magical concoctions and incantations. Like so many mythological stories, the Circe myth and its variations attempted to explain things that human beings did not understand.

Homer recorded an unflattering depiction of Circe in the telling of the Odyssey.

It took Madeline Miller to flesh out Circe. Miller doesn't delete Circe's bad habits of turning men into swine or competitors into monsters, but she does give Circe shady reasons for doing so.

Miller depicts Circe as a smart, beautiful, talented, troubled creature. In Miller's hands, Circe endures a long, tumultuous existence to discover what she wants and needs, and why.

The deft retelling of this timeless myth is a pleasure to read.

SMALL TOWN & RURAL LIFE

Book cover of Ruby & Roland, by Faith Sullivan, 2019.

Ruby & Roland.
Faith Sullivan, 2019.

Ruby & Roland is the first novel that I have read by one of Minnesota's favorite daughters, Faith Sullivan, and I will read more.

Sullivan's novels are rooted in the fictional small town of Harvester in her home state of Minnesota.

Characters introduced to a reader in one novel might appear in another Harvester story although the books are not designed as a series and do not need to be read in chronological order.

Ruby & Roland begins with Ruby, an only child in a happy family in Illinois.

At age twelve, that idyll ends when Ruby's parents die in a winter crash. The child's sole living relative, an aging aunt, wants nothing to do with her and sends Ruby to Minnesota as a hired girl.

So begins Ruby's coming of age in other people's homes. Her mind is bright, she works hard, and eventually a childless farmer and his wife hire her. Farm life in early twentieth century Minnesota is not easy, and Ruby's work is appreciated. Life goes well for a few years until Ruby falls in love with Roland, the married man on the farm next door.

The nuanced writing of Faith Sullivan illuminates the types of lives that would be forgotten without the gifts of observant novelists like herself. "Visit" Harvester. I believe you'll like it.

ROMANCE

Book cover of Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen.

Pride and Prejudice.
Jane Austen, 1813.

When it comes to romance novels, Jane Austen nailed it.

Proud Mr. Darcy and prejudiced Miss Elizabeth Bennet. Almost everyone knows their courtship story.

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a good wife." Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen

That's the first line in the novel. You've probably already heard it, and your lady Valentine has probably already read it.

Buy a keepsake copy for her, and she'll read it again.

SO MANY BOOKS...

I hope this short list has given you some gift-giving ideas. Stay safe in the pandemic, and may many good reads be in your future!

__________
Note: Photo "Valentine Candy Hearts" by Lynne Schall, 2021.

]]><![CDATA[10 tips to make a great book club]]>Sun, 28 Nov 2021 06:00:00 GMThttps://www.lynneschall.com/lynne-blogs/10-tips-to-make-a-great-book-club(Updated 2/4/2022, 11/9/2022, 4/4/2024)

Books and books and books -- oh, yes!

You love to read, and you want to discuss books with other people who love to read. You’ve decided to start a book club. What’s the next step?

I started and conducted a book club that continued for over ten years. Currently (2024), I’ve been participating in a book club for over five years.

Try out these ten tips to make your book club great.

1. WHO TO INVITE?

Fellow book lovers!

They’ll need to be readers who have both the time to read and to discuss books.

Are you interested in creating a club that focuses on one genre of fiction (for example, mysteries) or several genres? Do you want to include nonfiction selections? You might find it easier to recruit members if the readers are open to a wider range of books. On the other hand, some readers are keen to focus on their favorite genre.

2. HOW MANY PEOPLE DOES A BOOK CLUB NEED?

It takes only a few people. Four or five regular attendees at each meeting might be just the right number for a discussion in your group. Over time, the club can adjust that number to what works best for them.

Two of the biggest determinants of a club’s size are

available meeting room space and
opportunity for everyone to share their thoughts during discussions.

As the founder, take the role of coordinator to keep the group together.

3. HOW DO PEOPLE BECOME MEMBERS?

Make it easy. Members accept an invitation to be added to the book club’s mailing list, and then keep coming to club meetings.

4. WHERE CAN I FIND PEOPLE FOR MY BOOK CLUB?

You might already know a few book lovers who would enjoy participating. And they might know a few people who know other people who…

One woman started her book club with responses from an announcement in her neighborhood’s on-line newsletter.

Another club began via a church newsletter.

If you are a patron of your local public library, ask the librarian if you can post an announcement on the library’s “hard copy” bulletin board or online website.

Choose a welcoming and comfortable location for the size of your group.

5. WHERE TO MEET?

It might be your living room or kitchen, a book store, a coffee shop, a restaurant, a park or your public library.

Wherever you meet, the location should be a welcoming and comfortable spot for the size of your group.  During the COVID-19 pandemic, some book clubs chose to meet via the online video conferencing platform "Zoom" rather than go into hiatus.

As the coordinator of the club, make sure the members receive date/time/place/book updates.  The courtesy of a reply to the coordinator is always important.

6. WHEN TO MEET?

It depends on what works for the members.

Morning, afternoon, or evening?  Once a month or less often?  Will you break for summer?  Skip December? Do members need a pleasant hour that starts and ends on time? Or do their schedules permit more time for an in-depth discussion?

Simplify scheduling.  For example, meet on the same day of the week on the second Thursday of the month from six p.m. to eight p.m. in a local restaurant.

7. WHAT TO READ?

Each book club determines what to read.

Fiction or nonfiction?
Mysteries, thrillers, science fiction, romance? Biography, memoirs, history, politics?
Are 400-page novels out of the question or savored? Are 200-page novels about right?

Invite guests to arrive at the first meeting of the book club ready to chat about the titles and authors of three of their favorite books plus one that wasn’t for them. Compare notes to find similar patterns within their reading lives.

Do guests want to stay with their favorite genres, expand into new fields, or combine the two? If guests see enough similar interests, then they’re probably ready to form a book club with you.

Is your book club reading a book by a local author? Invite the author to your meeting to talk about the book.

7. WHAT TO READ, Continued.

After members identify the type of books for the book club, they can begin to select titles.

Titles are often selected based on recommendations from members. The choice might be made on a rotating basis by each member, or through an informal voice vote from the group.

Some groups like to include a selection from the annual Big Read of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) https://www.arts.gov/initiatives/nea-big-read.

Your local public library and book store make recommendations, as well as your favorite book review podcasters.

If your club is reading a book written by a local author, invite the author to talk about the book at your club meeting.

Discussion with an author via an online video platform such as Zoom might be possible when the geographic distance is too far or social distancing is necessary.

Some book clubs prepare an annual reading list. Other clubs decide from meeting to meeting.

Either way, keep an updated master list of the books your club reads and share it with your members.

At a minimum, indicate the book's title, author, and publication date, as well as the date the club discussed it.

The club should select a discussion leader for each meeting. That role is often taken by the member who recommended the book.

Color image of the store sign for Watermark Books & Cafe, Wichita, Kansas

Check your local book store for author events presented in person or via virtual events.

8. WHAT IF TIME CONSTRAINTS THREATEN YOUR CLUB?

Visit my May 10, 2021, blog post titled, “How to Find Time to Read” for suggestions. how-to-find-time-to-read.html

Discover if “I’m too busy” is a polite way of someone saying, “I don’t want to participate anymore.” If it is, ask the member what could make the meetings better. Is it the choice of books? Frequency of meetings? Time of day/evening? Something else?

Meet to read rather than discuss. Mimic the overstretched club that met via a visual online platform to read silently for an hour each month.
- Club members did not have to read the same book.
- Members greeted one another and named the title and author of their current book.
- After introductory greetings, a quiet time of silent reading began and continued until the group coordinator called an end to the meeting.

Image of a Little Free Library in Wichita, Kansas, USA

Little Free Library. Take a book, return a book. Wichita, Kansas, 2021.

9. SHARE THE WEALTH. FIND GOOD HOMES FOR YOUR BOOKS.

Sort through your books. Some books—even well-loved ones—are ready for the recycling bin.

Give book(s) to friend(s) and family interested in the titles.

Donate books to a local public library.
- Contact the library and ask if they are accepting certain types of books for their library collection.
  - Books that don’t meet the needs of the library’s collection, might work for the library’s annual book sale or ongoing “sale shelf.”

Find or create a “Little Free Library” near you.
- The world’s largest book-sharing movement has created a nonprofit organization with more than 100,000 little libraries worldwide.

Listen to how and why one lifelong bibliophile decided to give away almost every book she owned.
- Hear Nicole Fagan's story on "Episode 315: A life-changing bag of books" on the podcast What Should I Read Next? hosted by Anne Bogel on January 18, 2022.

10. HAVE FUN.

A book club composed of congenial members who enjoy animated discussions of book ideas and characters is a gift. Your group might want to...

Dine at a local restaurant that features the cuisine described in the story.
Share a recipe from the era of the narrative.
Spark discussion with questions from a reading guide that some authors add at the end of their book or on their website.

As time goes by, not every selection will be a hit with each member. Not every member will recall all the names of the books and authors they read. Everyone will remember how much they enjoyed conversations with fellow book lovers.

Let the adventure begin!

__________
Notes:
1. Photos by Lynne Schall:

Books and Books and Books -- oh, yes! Wichita, Kansas, 2021.
Watermark Books & Cafe. Wichita, Kansas, 2017.
Little Free Library. Take a book, return a book. Wichita, Kansas, 2021.

]]><![CDATA[July 4th: What Does Freedom Mean to You?]]>Wed, 30 Jun 2021 05:00:00 GMThttps://www.lynneschall.com/lynne-blogs/july-4th-what-does-freedom-mean-to-you

Images of the Declaration of Independence against a red, white, and blue background. Photo by Lynne Schall

Independence Day in the U.S.A. is celebrated on July 4th each year in memory of the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. Sincerity and gratitude distinguish the national holiday.

Traditional festivities are exuberant and, although perhaps reduced in size, will be possible again this summer in many communities due to the prevalence of the vaccine against the virulent COVID-19 virus.

The ravages of the pandemic presented another painful example of how the absence of good health steals freedom from individuals, families, cities, and countries. Surely the pandemic spurred many people around the world to reflect deeply on what freedom means to them.

The men who signed the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, summarized their beliefs in the second paragraph of that revered document.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed...

--Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776

The heady--indeed radical--beliefs that the founding fathers declared on July 4,1776, led to

the ratification of the U.S. Constitution by the Constitutional Convention on September 17, 1787;
the presentation of the Constitution to the U.S. Congress;
the ratification by each State;
the ratification of the Constitution;
the transmittal of 12 proposed amendments to the Constitution on September 25, 1789, by the U.S. Congress to the state legislatures;
the ratification of ten of those proposed amendments which became effective on December 15, 1791, and which we know today as the Bill of Rights;
the ratification of additional amendments, one by one, in 1795, 1804, 1865, 1868, 1870, February 1913, April 1913, 1919 (then repealed in 1933), 1920, January 1933, December 1933, 1951, 1961, 1964, 1967, 1971, and 1992. All told, the U.S. Constitution has 27 ratified amendments.

Given the striking significance of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States of America, the two documents are often printed together in the same pocket-sized book or pamphlet for easy distribution to anyone who wants a copy.

Image of front cover of pocket sized book containing the Constitution of the U.S.A. and the Declaration of Independence against a red, white, and blue background

The founders of the U.S.A. established a democratic republic, a representative democracy. And yet...identifying who would be represented in this experiment of representative democracy became a major struggle in our nation's history.

White male citizens took the lead from the beginning. Expanding the voting franchise to African-Americans, Native Americans, all women, and young adults between the ages of 18 and 21 required time, open minds, explosive controversy, hard work and, regrettably, extraordinary pain and suffering.

Through it all, the words of the Declaration of Independence stood unchanged as a beacon of who Americans are meant to be, no matter how far we stray from our goal.

Now, back to my question. What does freedom mean to you?

Color image of USA flag with three stars in the foreground. One of the three stars is labeled liberty, a second is freedom, and the third is America.

When I ask Americans that question, the answer is often liberty. The two words are often interchangeable.

Freedom implies the absence of hindrance, restraint, confinement, or repression, as in freedom of speech. Liberty, often interchangeable with the word freedom, strictly connotes past or potential restrictions, repression, etc. as in civil liberties."

Webster's New World College Dictionary, fifth edition

Good answers. But let's go a bit deeper.

The period of history in which one is born impacts how much one will be asked to do for one's country. Recognizing where history has planted you and the part you will be asked to play in sustaining a democratic republic, a representative democracy, is imperative.

Each generation faces challenges to keep and improve our representative democracy. A great past does not guarantee a great future.

Freedom of speech--the freedom to speak truth to power--is integral to our daily lives in a democracy. To speak truth requires the willingness to seek the objective truth. And the objective truth requires a high regard for factuality.

Recognition of the need for a fact-seeking electorate is one of the reasons for the U.S.A.'s support of public education via public schools and public libraries.

Healthy children learn far more easily, and healthy adults can contribute more to a workforce that sustains the needs of all Americans.

A child who is hindered by a poor education and restrained from accessing both wellness care and illness care is not free in a modern, complicated nation. Working-age adults who suffer illnesses or injuries that destroy their participation in the paid workforce are not free.

Educated, healthy adults who are paid fair wages and salaries are more likely to

discern the facts of the day,
cast informed votes on policy issues, and
play their role in maintaining a representative democracy that honors the spirit of the Declaration of Independence.

Freedom. What else does it mean to you?

__________
Sources:
1. Declaration of Independence, photo of pamphlets and USA flag by Lynne Schall, June 2021.
2. The Constitution of the United States of America with the Declaration of Independence, photo of book cover and USA flag by Lynne Schall, June 2021.
3. USA flag on sky blue background with three stars in foreground. Photo by RODNAE Productions from Pexels. Free download accessed June 28, 2021. www.pexels.com

]]><![CDATA[What Is Flag Day in the USA?]]>Fri, 11 Jun 2021 05:00:00 GMThttps://www.lynneschall.com/lynne-blogs/what-is-flag-day-in-the-usa

National Flag Day, June 14, commemorates the day in 1777 when the Second Continental Congress adopted the national flag of the United States of America.

How did Flag Day begin?

1885. Perhaps the idea came from several sources. In 1885, a young Wisconsin schoolteacher, Bernard J. Cigard (1866-1932), who later became a practicing dentist and dean of a dental school, conducted a "birthday for the flag" as a teaching tool.
- Cigrand is referred to as the "Father of Flag Day" for two main reasons:
  - his formal observance on June 14, 1885, and
  - his tireless promotion of June 14 as a day devoted to an annual observance of the national flag.
- Dr. Cigrand's vision of an official National Flag Day, established by the U.S. government and celebrated throughout the country each year, was not realized until after his death.
1916. In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed June 14 as the official date.
1949. In 1949, President Harry S. Truman signed a Congressional Act into law which permanently established June 14 as "National Flag Day," but did not make it a federal holiday.

If Americans can fly their flag every day of the year, why is a Flag Day necessary?
Americans can fly the flag every day of the year, but June 14 is a special day of observance.

What are the rules of etiquette for displaying and caring for the U.S. flag?
Public Law 94-344, known as the Federal Flag Code, identifies rules for displaying and caring for the U.S. flag.

Here are a few of the common sense rules to show respect for the flag.

Let the flag fly free.
Don't let the flag touch anything beneath it such as the ground, the floor, water, etc.
Don't drape the flag, and don't draw it back in folds.
Don't display the flag during inclement weather unless it is an all-weather flag.
Don't display the flag at night unless it is illuminated.
Don't use flags for clothing, drapery, or bedding.
When the flag is worn out, retire it with dignity, preferably by burning. Military veterans' organizations often conduct ceremonies to retire U.S. flags on Flag Day.

Visit these two websites for more details.

"The American Flag," https://www.usa.gov/flag
"Guidelines for Display of the Flag," https://www.va.gov/opa/publications/celebrate/flagdisplay.pdf

What do Americans do on Flag Day?
Parades, ceremonies, and festivities in honor of the day are all possible. But most of all, Americans proudly fly the U.S. flag!

The flag's fifty stars--one for each state in the Union--and thirteen stripes--one for each of the original thirteen states--are a living reminder of the sacrifice and hard work required to build and maintain a representative democracy, a democratic republic which

cherishes the search for the objective truth,
builds trust, and
respects the rights of each human being.

That's a big order.

Americans haven't gotten it perfect. But we keep trying.

The flag is a symbol of those who have gone before us, those who will come after us, and, today, for the duty of each of us to make our nation a more perfect Union.

The cannon reported at 1700 sharp.

Drivers, passengers, and pedestrians all over post stopped and turned toward the direction of the American flag as retreat sounded. Cha placed her hand over her heart and stood as tall as she could, listening to the clink of steel hooks against the flagpole as the heavy cotton flag began its sedate descent.

She had served in a color guard twice at Fort McClellan during basic....No cannon boomed then, and the Army-at-large didn’t much care what the women were doing out there in Alabama, but her color guard reflected the dignity of the task, proud to fold the Stars and Stripes into a neat triangle at the end of the day."

Women's Company - The Minerva Girls
Chapter 10, page 72
--Lynne Schall

___________
Sources:

Photo by Joseph Fulgham of Dover, USA. Free download from Pixabay (accessed June 10, 2021)
"Bernard J. Cigrand, DDS: Father of Flag Day and Renaissance Man," https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17616013/ (accessed June 11, 2021)
"The Father of Flag Day: Bernard Cigrand," postalmuseum.si.edu/exhibition/long-may-it-wave-flag-day/the-father-of-flag-day-bernard-cigrand. (accessed new address on November 9, 2022)
"June 14, Flag Day and the Local Connection: Dr. Bernard J. Cigrand," www.aurorahistory.net/june-14-flag-day-and-the-local-connection-dr-bernard-j-cigrand/ (accessed June 12, 2021)
"The American Flag," https://www.usa.gov/flag (accessed June 11, 2021)
"Guidelines for Display of the Flag" https://www.va.gov/opa/publications/celebrate/flagdisplay.pdf (accessed June 11, 2021)
Excerpt from Women's Company - The Minerva Girls, Chapter 10, page 72, by Lynne Schall, 2016.

]]><![CDATA[Memorial Day Salute - 2021]]>Sat, 29 May 2021 16:28:39 GMThttps://www.lynneschall.com/lynne-blogs/memorial-day-salute-2021

Memorial Day falls on Monday, May 31, this year in the United States. The most important thing Americans do on Memorial Day is honor military service members who gave their lives serving in the nation's wars or who died as a result of their combat injuries.

Many novels, memoirs, histories, and films tell the story of the men and women--sometimes known and more often unknown to most people--honored on Memorial Day.

Among the many are two young Marines--Corporal Jonathan T. Yale and Lance Corporal Jordan C. Haerter--who gave their lives in the line of duty. Their actions on April 22, 2008, saved over 150 U.S. Marines and Iraqi Police. It all happened in Ramadi, Iraq, which at the time was one of the most dangerous towns on Earth.

I learned about their inspirational actions from the following speech and film. You can, too.

I. The Speech.
"Six Seconds to Live"

General John F. Kelly, USMC, Commander, U.S. Southern Command, honored Yale and Haerter's memory in this speech he gave to U.S. Marines in 2010. The speech was originally titled, "Six Seconds to Live."

Corporal Yale (1988-2008) and Lance Corporal Haerter (1987-2008) were awarded posthumously the Navy Cross, the second highest military decoration of the United States. Their bravery continues to inspire U.S. Marines.

Visit www.youtube.com/watch?v=02ALe8Oqj7g to hear General Kelly's vivid description of the valor of Yale and Haerter.

The speech is approximately eleven minutes. It begins at minute 5:14 on the video.

II. The Film.
"The 11th Order"

This fast-paced 25-minute film is based on the true story of Corporal Yale and Lance Corporal Haerter's stand against a suicide truck bomb in Ramadi, Iraq.

Visit www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q23gKyHWjjg to watch the "The 11th Order" produced by The University of Texas at Austin, Radio-Television-Film, Moody College of Communication.

It's an emotional ride filled with action and salty language.

The 11th Marine Corps General Order

To be especially watchful at night,
and during the time for challenging,
to challenge all persons on or near my post
and to allow no one to pass
without proper authority.

_____________
Notes:
1. Sometimes Memorial Day is confused with Veterans Day, which is always observed on November 11 and honors everyone who served in the United States military.
2. USA Flags on Memorial Day, photo by Lynne Schall, May 2017.

]]><![CDATA[How to find time to read?]]>Mon, 10 May 2021 05:00:00 GMThttps://www.lynneschall.com/lynne-blogs/how-to-find-time-to-readI. Have you experimented with any of the following hints?

Read first thing in the morning.
Read before falling asleep at night.
Carry a book with you (paper or e-book) to read while waiting in line or at the dentist’s office, etc.
Listen to audiobooks while commuting to work, exercising, or doing routine household tasks.
Drop a book if it doesn’t interest you. (Finish the book if it’s required reading for your job or your schoolwork.)
Identify a special place to read. It might be your favorite chair at home, a bench at the park, or a table at the public library.
Identify a reading goal. How many pages, chapters, and/or books will you read in a given period of time?
Schedule time to read. Put it on your calendar.

Good suggestions, but if it hasn't come together for you or you'd like to up your game, then check out one or more of the following five books for ideas.

Atlas, Titan of Ancient Greek mythology, holding a clock on his shoulders rather than the heavens. Atlas Life Building, Tulsa, Oklahoma, photo by Lynne Schall

Atlas, the Titan god of Ancient Greek mythology, holding up a clock on his shoulders rather than the heavens.

II. Five books to help you find time to read.

Front Book Cover of Make Time by Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky, 2018.

Make Time: How to Focus on What Matters Every Day.
Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky, 2018.
Audiobook, e-book, hardback, and paperback.

Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky identified, tried, and tested eighty-seven tactics to make time in their daily lives for what is most important.

The best tactics are the ones that fit into your day. They’re not something you force yourself to do; they’re just something you do. And in most cases, they’ll be things you want to do."

-Make Time, Knapp and Zeratsky, p.25

The authors aren’t pushy. They suggest. Their writing style is clear, fun, and interspersed with playful black and white drawings.

Each tactic is placed into one of four categories:

highlight
laser
energize
reflect.

You can hopscotch through this how-to guide or read it from start to finish or back to front.

Many of the tactics are classics: write it down, block your calendar, just say no, exercise, eat well, etc. Their special talent is how to manage the “infinity pools” of the internet age. As self-identified fans of technology—as well as former product designers at organizations like Google and YouTube—they are well-aware of the advantages and disadvantages of the tool.

“Look, we love technology. But….Combine the four-plus hours the average [American] person spends on their smart phone with the four-plus hours the average person spends watching television, and distraction is a full-time job.”

-Make Time, Knapp and Zeratsky, p.87

Their recommendations for creating barriers to distraction are worth your time. Experiment with the tactics and see what works best for you.

If you’re interested in a guide for converting the Make Time tactics into long-term habits, check out The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg.

Front book cover of The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg, 2012.

The Power of Habit
Charles Duhigg, 2012.
Audiobook, e-book, hard cover, and paperback.

Award winning business reporter Charles Duhigg dissects how habits form, persist, and change. His helpful and entertaining discussion begins with scientific discoveries about the bare bones of every habit: cue – routine – reward.

Yes, even negative habits that you know hurt you have a “reward.”

Hence, the first step in changing a habit is identifying it, then discerning what is the cue, what is the routine, and what is the reward.

You’ve probably noticed that cues are made even “stickier” by the craving that follows the cue.

Think of habits in your life that you changed (or haven’t changed yet). What are two essential ingredients to adding or deleting one of your habits?

You’re exactly right if you answered:

deciding to make the change, and
believing you can make the change.

Duhigg’s presentation of the difficulty of changing habits, whether on the individual, family, or organizational level, is inspiring to read for its positive message and practical suggestions for change. In short, yes, you can eliminate negative habits and add positive ones.

Front book cover of The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande, 2009.

The Checklist Manifesto.
Atul Gawande, 2009.
Audiobook, audio cd, e-book, hardcover, microfilm, and paperback.

Do you use checklists?

If not, Atul Gawande’s investigation into and use of checklists might change your mind.
How can something as simple as a checklist make the difference between getting something right or wrong?  Getting something done so that you can make time for the things you want to do?

Dr. Gawande—a distinguished surgeon, writer, and public health leader—takes time to show us.  His examples from professions as varied as aviation, construction, and medicine demonstrate that checklists have made life-saving differences.

Human memory is fallible.  Distractions are rampant.   Deadlines, emergencies, and human fatigue are part of life.

In short, for the first time in human history, ineptitude is a bigger problem than ignorance.

Checklists remind us of the minimum necessary steps and maintain discipline whether you’re working with simple, complex, or complicated situations in your life.

First Things First
Stephen R. Covey, A. Roger Merrill, Rebecca R. Merrill, 1990.
Audiobook, e-book, hardcover, paperback, and MP3 CD.

Putting first things first is the third of seven habits Covey discussed in his 1989 classic on personal improvement, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.

The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.
Stephen Covey, 1989.
Audiobook, e-book, hardcover, and paperback.

Covey noticed that many people wanted a more in-depth guide on the third habit: how to make time for the most important things.

Consequently, he collaborated with A. Roger Merrill and Rebecca R. Merrill to create a separate book published the following year, 1990, to expand on the topic.

The authors challenge you to discern what is most important to you.

That challenge requires you to identify:

your mission,
your roles,
what you want to be, and
what in the world really is first for you.

Indeed, you must know what is first for you before you can put “first things first.”

Honesty like that takes time. But Covey, et al, cheer you on as you work through the material.

Their recommendation to change from doing more things in less time to doing the most important things is, for many people, a paradigm shift.

They encourage you to:

Guide your life with a compass, not a clock.
Understand “true north” principles of life on planet Earth.
Live, love, learn, and leave a legacy.

It’s a heady challenge.

III. Are your duties and distractions preventing you from reading?

“The core challenge of living in the ‘fast new world’ is how to manage excess stimulation.”

-American Mania: When More is Not Enough, Peter C. Whybrow, M.D., 2005.

Keep in mind that you can pick and choose the suggestions that will help you make time for reading. You don’t have to do them all and certainly not all at once.

Start small and see what works for you.

________
Note: Visit the historic Atlas Life Building, 415 South Boston Avenue, Tulsa, Oklahoma, to see the image of Atlas holding a clock on his shoulders. I snapped Atlas's photo during a September 2019 trip to Tulsa.

]]><![CDATA[WAC ads - What's the message?]]>Thu, 30 Jul 2020 07:00:00 GMThttps://www.lynneschall.com/lynne-blogs/wac-ads-whats-the-messageUpdated: 2/17/2023

Are you looking for time capsules back into the 20th century?

Advertising is a perennial repository of culture brimming with hints of "the way it was."

Some of my favorite ads recruit women to the Women's Army Corps (WAC). I started collecting WAC advertisements while writing my novel, Women's Company - The Minerva Girls, about WACs in the 1960s and 1970s.

I invite you to take a look at two ads that I added recently to my collection. Both ads appeared in popular women's magazines.

"Woman of the Army -- USA." September 1944. Harper's Bazaar.
"How to tell your parents you want to join the Army." September 1972. Seventeen.

World War II, WAC Recruiting Ad, September 1944, Harper's Bazaar,

WAC Recruiting Ad, Harper's Bazaar, September 1944

World War II. Persuasion via a Call to Patriotism and Performance.

The minimum age for a woman to enlist in the WAC (1942-1978) varied over time.

During World War II, the minimum age was 21 for the WAAC (Women's Army Auxiliary Corps) and then lowered to age 20 when the WAC was established in 1943.
No matter what the age of the WAC recruit, advertisements appealed to the woman's patriotism and capability.
The "Good Soldiers" ad in a 1944 issue of Harper's Bazaar exemplifies that message.

Patriotism.

The clear-eyed WAC in the ad looks toward the sky. She's young, attractive, and meticulously groomed in her uniform. She has left the comfort of her civilian life to volunteer for something bigger than herself. She's a soldier you can count on to do her bit to help win the war.

Performance.

Good soldiers. The WAC emphasized the phrase "Good soldiers" in many of their World War II ads because, frankly, many Americans weren't ready to think of women as soldiers, much less believe women could be good soldiers.

Alert, important, competent. The WAC had built a successful track record to back their claim long before this ad appeared in Harper's Bazaar in September 1944. But facts didn't matter to many Americans. Naysayers unwilling to change their minds not only stuck by their guns, but also shouted, "Not my sweetheart! Sister, daughter..."

Gallant. As the ad says, she's "Gallant -- a Wac wouldn't say so. But it's Heaven's own truth."

WAC Recruiting Ad - Seventeen - September 1972

Calling new high school graduates...

How to tell your parents?

Telling your parents you want to join the Women's Army Corps could create a dicey situation for a potential recruit just out of high school.

"Not my daughter!" Parental skepticism about the WAC often ran high because, even in the 1970s (and beyond), many Americans held negative stereotypes of women in the military.

So you needed to be able to tell Mom and Dad about all the advantages listed in this 1972 advertisement published in Seventeen magazine.

Paid job training with free medical and dental care, meals, and housing.
Responsible, rewarding work with the same free benefits.
Paid vacation. Paid sick leave.
New friends. Travel.
And, given your interest and course availability, the opportunity to continue your education via college courses in your free time that would be partially paid for by the Army.

Then there was your age.

In 1948, with the enactment of the Women's Armed Services Integration Act on June 12, the minimum age for women enlistees decreased to age 18. But women between the ages of 18 and 21 were required to obtain parent (or guardian) consent to enlist.

In 1974, Congress enacted legislation to permit women to enlist at age 18 without their parents' consent and at age 17 with their parents' consent.
- See The Women's Army Corps by Betty J. Morden, pages 277 and 325.

Did the WAC meet its recruiting goals? Not always.

Not during the U.S. involvement in World War II (1941-1945).
- Recruiting started off with a bang.
- But competition raged between civilian and military organizations for womanpower as the country united to fight a two-front war.
- By early 1944, WAC recruiters had identified the greatest obstacle to recruiting volunteers: the general public’s often low regard of women in the armed forces.

Not during the Korean War (1950-1953)
- Recruiting started off successfully, explained Morden, then declined due to the unpopularity of the war, competition with other women's military services for recruits, and public apathy.

How about the post-Korean War period?
- In 1961, new recruits increased due to several factors:
  - A WAC Center historian attributed the increase to the "tense situation in Berlin [leading to the Berlin Crisis of 1961], a rise in unemployment, socio-economic patterns in the United States and a surge of patriotism following the inauguration of President John F. Kennedy in January 1961." (Morden, p.176)
- Keep in mind that the strength of the WAC did not exceed 12,000 women between June 1947 and June 1969. (Morden, Appendix A, Personnel Statistics, Table 1.)
- It wasn't until 1967 that the U.S. Congress removed the two percent ceiling on the number of Regular Army WACs in the U.S. Army--a ceiling that the WAC never reached.
- So....a small group of dedicated WACs kept the Corps going through the post-war 1950s and 60s, a period when the range of non-combat jobs open to women kept shrinking.

And in the 1970s?
- Yes. Over time, the end of the draft in 1973 spurred changes in law, regulations, and policies that made Army life more attractive to women. For example in the 1970s, as noted by Morden, p.325...
  - All military occupational specialties were opened to women except those involving direct combat.
  - Women entered the Army's ROTC program.
  - WACs were authorized to command men except in combat units.
  - Servicewomen received dependency entitlements.
  - Mandatory discharge on pregnancy and parenthood was eliminated.
  - Army aviation and airborne training were opened to women....

In short, as equality for women within the Army increased, so did enlistments.

Would you like to see more WWII WAC recruiting ads?

Visit my April 30, 2019 blog post, "What Can WAC Ads Tell You about American Culture in WWII?"
Visit my April 18, 2018 blog post, "Women in the U.S. Army: When Did It Become Legal for Women to be Soldiers?"

How about WAC recruiting ads from the period 1965-1973?

Visit my website page titled, "WAC Recruiting Ads."

Until next time, good reading! Most importantly, take care during these troublesome times of COVID-19. Americans have overcome many calamities in the past and can do so again--together.

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