LYNNE SCHALL
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An Occasional Blog

Where is oklahoma?

5/16/2020

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Map of the State of Oklahoma, USA, showing boundaries, the location of major cities and populated places, rivers and lakes, interstate highways, principal highways, and railroads.Map of the State of Oklahoma, USA. Nations Online Project.

Is Oklahoma your home state, too?

I grew up in Oklahoma.  For me, it’s my home even when I’m not able to live there and always wins first place on my map. 
 
Perhaps you rank your home state as Number 1 on your map.  Where do you rank Oklahoma, and why?
 
Out in the wide-open spaces?

​After I left Oklahoma to join the Army and see the world, I met many people with few, if any, accurate conceptions about my favorite state.  The closest they could get is “it's somewhere out in the wide-open spaces.” 
 
The Dustbowl, tornados, and flat terrain might feature in their mental image along with oil and Indians.  About all they really knew was the wonderful song “Oklahoma!” from the Rogers and Hammerstein musical of the same name.  
 
I like Oklahoma’s wide-open spaces so much that I set my novel, Cloud County Persuasion, in that great state.  My research on the 1940s and 50s reminded me of a few of the reasons why the location and geography of the “Sooner” state is sometimes misconstrued or just dead wrong.

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National Handwriting Day.  Just Pretty Writing?

1/22/2020

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What is National Handwriting Day?  When is it?
 
Handwriting.  Print.  Cursive.  You remember, maybe?  The practice of penmanship that pre-dates keyboarding words into computers. 
 
In the late 1970s, penmanship inspired the creation in the United States of the unofficial holiday known as National Handwriting Day.  The commemoration occurs annually on January 23, the birthday of John Hancock (1737-1793), the first signer of the Declaration of Independence.
Image of the Declaration of Independe
English Round Hand, also known as Copperplate, is the name of the elegant penmanship style of the Declaration of Independence.

​​​Is penmanship old school now?  Even archaic?  Nothing more than a superfluous pastime in a high-tech society?

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Have you thanked the veterans in your life?

11/11/2019

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USA Flags - color photo
Today, November 11, is Veterans Day in the USA, a date set aside each year to honor everyone who served in the United States military.  
​
Memorial programs and parades occur throughout the country in a formal effort to show the nations's daily appreciation and gratitude for the service of the citizens who stepped forward during war and peace.  Individuals who never served in the armed forces greet the veterans they see with a warm "Thank you for your service."  Veterans turn to fellow veterans and say, "Thank you for your service."

Everyday is a good day to express one's appreciation to a veteran, but Veterans Day adds the contagious energy of an entire population celebrating together.

My generation is one where just about every kid's dad and uncles served in World War II or Korea.  I never met any of the women who served in those wars until I enlisted in the Women's Army Corps during the Vietnam War.  

Based on what I've learned since then, I might have met some female veterans during my childhood and adolescence without realizing it because women are often less likely to point out their military service.  

I like to think that is changing.  

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Three Reasons to visit the Philbrook Museum of Art

10/4/2019

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I was twelve years old when I first visited the Philbrook Museum of Art in Tulsa, Oklahoma.  The Italian-Renaissance style mansion (the first mansion I had ever entered) and gardens impressed me then and continue to do so each time I return.  

Oil tycoon Waite Phillips (1883-1964) and his wife Genevieve built Villa Philbrook on 25 acres in 1927.  In 1938 they donated their Tulsa residence to the Tulsa community to:
create a cultural institution for housing, preserving, and displaying therein works of art, literature, relics and curios, including those representative of the native North American Peoples."  --Waite and Genevieve Phillips
The Phillips would be pleased with the hard work that has taken place over generations to establish and enhance that vision. 

​What are three reasons to visit The Philbrook Museum of Art?

​#1.  The Art.
  • American Indian art.  This collection is an acclaimed pillar of the museum.  During the period 1949-1979, the museum held the competitive "Indian Annual." As a result, the general public became more familiar with Native American art, private and public collectors (including The Philbrook) increased their Native American art collections, and The Philbrook gained a national reputation.
  • African, American, Asian, and European art.  Purchases and donations (especially donations) have shared in the expansion of The Philbrook's permanent collection. 
  • National traveling exhibits.  My husband and I visited the museum in September 2019 in order to see Wondrous Worlds:  Art & Islam Through Time and Place. Courtesy of The Newark Museum's extensive collection, objects from the Middle East and India were arrayed along with works from Africa and Southeast Asia in order to showcase the diversity and global impact of Islamic art.  Since I'm a "word person," I especially liked the handwritten Koran illustrated in still-vivid drawings. ​

#2.  The Gardens.
East Formal Garden, The Philbrook Museum of Art, Tulsa, Oklahoma.
East Formal Garden, September 2019.

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Special exhibit at botanica

8/10/2019

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"Sixty-one thousand, three hundred and seventy-two," the pleasant lady with the British accent said.

"Ohhh...!"  The children dressed in play clothes and sunscreen crowded closer.
​
I'd seen the grade school kids earlier in the Butterfly House and the Children's Garden.  From the McConnell T-shirts many of them sported, I guessed they were from McConnell Air Force Base here in Wichita.  

"How many?" a straggler bringing up the rear asked.

"61,372.  It's the biggest Lego sculpture in the exhibit."  For emphasis, the pleasant lady with the British accent held up her mobile phone and took a picture.

The Bison and Calf are impressive, especially if you're a child who plays with Legos or an adult who grew up fascinated by them.  And there are fourteen more Lego sculptures that anyone can enjoy this summer at Botanica Gardens.   Birds, bison, butterflies, flowers, fish and more:  Sean Kenney's often bigger-than-life creations are a colorful, if only temporary, addition to Botanica's approximately 18 acres of lush grounds.

The Legos are fun, but the real treats of the gardens are the flowers, water features, and trees.  

Hard-working Wichitans started planning for Botanica in 1982, opened the property to the public in 1987, and, over time, added new speciality gardens, exhibits, and events.  Today there are more than 30 themed gardens and exhibits, over 4,000 species of plants, and approximately 50 permanent sculptures.

It was a lovely summer morning for a walk in Botanica.  Here are a few of my snapshots that I hope you enjoy seeing.

Shakespeare Garden at Botanica, Wichita, KS July 30, 2019
Shakespeare Garden - July 2019.
A limestone fountain is the centerpiece of the Shakespeare Garden, a blend of formal and cottage gardens of the Elizabethan era.  Some of the perennial herbs and plants are mentioned in Shakespeare's works.

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A Duck on the Lawn

6/25/2019

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"There's a duck in the front yard," my husband said.
We'd had the rainiest May ever recorded in Kansas, but a duck on the lawn?  I went to the window and squinted.  It was too early for eyeglasses.
"Over there, Lynne.  By the tree."
"It's a mallard," I said.  "What's he doing here?"
My husband grinned.  "Looking for girls." 

Whatever the duck's agenda that morning, the spring rains once again helped our ornamental trees explode with color and our Itoh peonies produce the loveliest blossoms yet.  Since we dodged the extreme flooding suffered by parts of Kansas this year, we were especially grateful for the colors in our garden.  We enjoyed them so much that I thought you'd like to see a few snapshots from 2018 and 2019.
Avondale Redbud tree in full bloom
Avondale Redbud Tree in the Front Garden, March 30, 2018

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Memorial Day Salute - 2019

5/24/2019

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USA flags on Memorial Day, 2017.  Photo by Lynne Schall.

​​Memorial Day is Monday, May 27, this year in the United States. The three-day weekend marks the beginning of summer for most Americans (ahead of the June 21 summer solstice), a day off from work and, weather permitting, outdoor activities in glorious sunshine.  
 
But the most important thing Americans do on Memorial Day is honor service members who gave their lives serving in the nation’s wars or who died as a result of their combat injuries.   
 
Somber memorial services at cemeteries across the country are often punctuated by gun salutes and aircraft flyovers.  Local officials give speeches and the media snap images for news outlets.  An active-duty service member might be invited to share accounts of soldiers, sailors, marines, or airmen who gave their lives for their country.   Sitting in the bleachers at one of these memorial tributes is a humbling reminder of the debt we owe to those who have gone before us.
 
Hampton Sides’ nonfiction book, On Desperate Ground:  The Marines at the Reservoir, the Korean War’s Greatest Battle, is another excellent reminder.  His thorough and riveting account of the epic battle high in the mountains in the dead of winter at the Chosin Reservoir reads like a novel—a story you don’t want to put down, a story you wish were fiction rather than harsh truth.

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WHAT CAN WAC ADS TELL YOU ABOUT AMERICAN CULTURE IN WWII?

4/30/2019

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​Advertising is a perennial repository of culture.  
 
Consider the advertisements used by the U.S. Army to recruit women during World War II.  You’ll find a wealth of hints regarding not only the culture of the Army, but also the American public.  As you look at the ads I’ve selected, ask yourself, “Who’s in the ad? Who’s left out? Are they depicted in an accurate or idealized fashion?  Why or why not?” 
WWII - WAAC Recruiting Poster - This is my war, too!
WWII - WAAC Recruiting Poster
​May 14, 1942.  The hard-fought battle to create the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) was over.  President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the legislation the following day, and the race was on.   But how would the pioneers find a way through the maze of a new phenomenon? 
  
Exemplary performance, of course. 
 
And the power of persuasion.   To persuade women to volunteer, to persuade families and friends to accept the wishes of their loved ones, and to persuade the American public to support women in uniform.  

​The WAAC chose patriotism as their major recruiting theme.  

​And that was enough at first. 

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Tulip Time in...Kansas!

4/14/2019

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Tulips in full bloom in Kansas
Big blue skies, bright sunshine, and high temperatures in the low sixties--perfect for tiptoeing through the tulips.  My husband and I arrived before the crowds and in time for the first outdoor concert.

Over 40,000 tulip bulbs nestle in the gardens.  Today they might all have been in bloom.  Bartlett Arboretum in Belle Plaine, Kansas, never lets us down.

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World War I from Brits Who Lived it

10/17/2018

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Remembrance Day in the United Kingdom and Veterans Day in the USA coincide this year on 11 November.  The eleventh hour of the eleventh month of 2018 will mark the 100th year since the fighting stopped in what came to be known as World War I (August 1914 – November 1918). 

It's a good time to read up on World War I from the British experience. 
 
Two novels and an autobiography that I thoroughly enjoyed are among my top choices.  All three books:
  • were written by British who lived through the war,
  • were well-received by the British public when first published,
  • continue to be read and recognized as clear voices of extraordinary events in British history.
 
In short, the books hit the mark in describing the difficulties of the Great War for the British who suffered through it.  Two are hefty in length:  the autobiography, Testament of Youth, runs about 600 pages; Parade’s End (really four novels) comes in close to 900 pages.  The short novel, The Return of the Soldier, is not quite 100 pages.  
​

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WACs in Hollywood Movies?

5/22/2018

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Nine Movies?  Plus One.  
(updated 5/13/2019)


Memorial Day is in May in the U.S., and that makes this month a good time to catch up on military movies.  Since my novel, Women’s Company – The Minerva Girls, is about three young women in the Women’s Army Corps (WAC) in the late 1960s and early 1970s, I’ll focus on ten movies that feature women in the WAC.  

​Many of the selected films not only cast well-known actors of the period, but also stars such as Tony Curtis, Cary Grant, William Holden, Janet Leigh, Rosalind Russell, Ann Sheridan, Lana Turner, and Richard Widmark. 

Most of the stories share an underlying theme:  how Army service changes a person.

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Women Soldiers in the U.S. Army:  When did it become legal?

4/30/2018

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Not until July 1, 1943, when President Franklin Roosevelt signed a compromise bill passed by the U.S. Congress to establish the Women’s Army Corps (WAC) giving women full military status. 

​1943.  How come it took so long?
 
After all, hadn’t women
  • practiced home defense on the frontier since Colonial days, provided civilian laundry, cooking, sewing, and nursing services to the U.S. Army since the American Revolution, and enlisted legally with full military rank & status in the Navy & the Marines during World War I?
 
Moreover, didn’t Congress establish
  • the Army Nurse Corps in 1901, and the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) in May 1942? 
 
​And what about
  • the “Hello Girls” of World War I -- 223 telephone operators who were bilingual in English and French and who--at the request of General John J. "Black Jack" Pershing--were sent to France;
  • the Women’s Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) -- 1,102 civilian women pilots during World War II who thought they, like the women of the WAAC, would eventually be granted full military status in the Army;
  • and the--
WAC Recruiting Ad - 1944 - I'd rather be with them
WAC Recruiting Ad - Life magazine, September 11, 1944

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so who's minerva?

12/29/2017

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Minerva is the ancient Roman equivalent of the Greek goddess Pallas Athene, the goddess of wisdom, warfare, and handicrafts. 

Unlike the god of warfare, Mars, she had nothing to do with bloodlust and brute animal strength.  When Minerva showed up on the battlefield, victory came through courage, sound strategy, and military skill.  After the fighting was over, she led through victory to peace and prosperity. Not surprisingly, the WAC chose her--in her Greek form as Pallas Athene--to be their insignia, and I chose her to be in the title of my novel Women's Company - The Minerva Girls. 
​
​What's So Important About Insignia?

The armed forces take insignia quite seriously.  The creation of insignia for the WAC initially stumped designers.  Why?  Because insignia usually depict the function of the corps concerned and, when The Women's Army (and at that time Auxiliary) Corps was created in 1942, no one knew exactly what work the women would do.

According to historian Mattie Treadwell, an early draft for the insignia tried to resemble a busy-bee-like insect.  In the eyes of the WAAC director, however, it looked like a bug, and she "had no desire to be called the Queen Bee."  When designers came up with Pallas Athene--a goddess associated with "a variety of womanly virtues and no vices either womanly or godlike"--she won hands down.            
WAC insignia - Pallas Athene
What Does the Insignia Look Like?
A profile of the head of the Greek goddess, Pallas Athene, was selected for the WAC's lapel insignia, together with the traditional U.S. cut out for officers, and on discs for enlisted women.

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    Author

    Lynne Schall is the author of three novels:  Women's Company - The Minerva Girls (2016), Cloud County Persuasion (2018), and Cloud County Harvest (November 2022).  She and her family live in Kansas, USA.

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Copyright 2016 Lynne Schall.  All rights reserved.
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