Getting to Know Willa

Photo Credit:  Larry Fenwick

Last Monday evening was an Art Walk in Pratt, Kansas, and although it is primarily for artists, photographers, and crafts persons with things to sell, I was invited to share some of my work.  While I paint and draw for my personal enjoyment, and occasionally to do portraits for friends, I had a good reason to attend.

The centennial celebration of Willa Cather's My Antonia was last year, and for a special edition of the Willa Cather Review, Vol. 61, No.2 I did a series of six portraits of the main characters.  The original pastel portraits and a copy of the Journal are on the table in the photograph.

I am a stickler for illustrations that respect the text of the author.  If L. Frank Baum says that Dorothy wore a blue and white checked dress, that is what I expect the illustrators of the Wizard of Oz series of books to depict. 

So, naturally, before selecting which characters from My Antonia I wanted to portray, I read passages written by Willa Cather to learn how she had described them.  The portraits displayed on the table included cards with descriptive passages taken from Cather's novel that I used in deciding how to portray each of the six characters.

Photo Credit:  Larry Fenwick

I didn't have any art to sell, but instead, I sold Willa!  I shared how she was the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize, how she grew up just a few miles from the Kansas border, what a wonderful place to visit Red Cloud, NE is with so many recognizable sites from Cather's novels and short stories, and how much in common her stories have with Kansas during that era.  

I recommended my favorites, in addition to My Antonia--O Pioneers! and One of Ours, as well as a favorite short story set in Kansas, The Sculptor's Funeral.  I had checked the Pratt Library shelves with the librarian, and I told visitors that there are several of Cather's books available at the library.  One young couple that stopped by were intrigued by what I shared, and he took a photo on his phone to help him remember Cather's name, while his wife pondered which of Cather's books to recommend for her book club.

Photo Credit:  Larry Fenwick

We are very fortunate in our region to have several local libraries that are wonderful, in addition to the recently remodeled Pratt Library.  Among those I visit are the libraries in Macksville, St. John, Stafford, Kinsley, and others a bit further from our home.

When I participate in the Art Walk and Plein Aire at the state fair, I always enjoy the children.  Because the Art Walk was in the evening, only a few children visited, but they were curious about the portraits.  One little boy was particularly proud of himself when he recognized that I was the woman in the drawing on the stand.

Thank you to the Library and other sites for hosting us, to those who organized the evening, and to those who came out on a calm but chilly winter's evening to support the Arts.  Remember, you can click on the images to enlarge them,

Thanksgiving & Family

Happy Thanksgiving

     Happy Thanksgiving from our home!

The family farm to which my husband and I have retired has hosted many Thanksgiving Dinners!  We are the fourth generation to call this farm home, and as a child I sat in the dining room pictured at right many times with my parents and brother Clark and a crowd of aunts, uncles, and cousins, grandparents and friends.  This week's post honors all of them and the gatherings of family and friends of all of you who follow this blog.

Among my childhood memories are the days when the Saturday Evening Post came in the mail.  My family would await its arrival so that we could discuss Norman Rockwell's cover illustration--and like many families, we discussed every detail.  With hindsight, I believe my parents often used his paintings to teach my brother and me important life lessons.  Because so much of Thanksgiving is about family, I thought Rockwell's A Family Tree was the perfect cover to share.  

Among Rockwell's fans are astronaut Buzz Aldrin, who wrote "His insightful work--often filled with optimism and humor--accurately and affectionally shows America and Americans at their best."  Or, Arnold Palmer, "To so many of us, the paintings of Norman Rockwell told the story of everyday America as nobody else ever has."  And, Dick Clark: "...he immortalized the simple things in life that mean so much to all of us, as well as some of the major changes that are about to happen in our world."  Norman Rockwell said of himself, "I am a story teller."

The image below is part of one of Rockwell's "Four Freedoms."  I recently finished reading David McCullough's The American Spirit, Who We Are & What We Stand For.  It is a thin book of 15 addresses given by McCullough at graduations and other occasions.  On November 22, 2013, he spoke in Dallas, Texas at a ceremony honoring John F. Kennedy, in which he recited several passages from Kennedy's Inaugural Address.  One section he quoted seemed to go particularly well with the Rockwell painting, "A Family Tree," and the spirit of Thanksgiving illustrated as one of America's  "Four Freedoms".

Kennedy said:  "This nation was founded by men of many nations and backgrounds.  It was founded on the principle that all men are created equal, and that the rights of every man are diminished when the rights of one man are threatened...The heart of the question is...whether we are going to treat our fellow Americans as we want to be treated."

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you!  My thanks to the many of you, those I know and those I have never met, who have followed my blog for so very many postings.  I am thankful for your support and the encouragement your comments have given me.

A part of one of Rockwell's 4 Freedoms

Battling Abuses in the 1800s, The Closing of the Series

From The Pratt Tribune

The same week I began this series about the role of muckrakers and the important role they have played in print news, our local newspaper announced that it was going to a single paper each week.  I identified with J.S. who wrote:  "Wow, quite a change...when I worked there... we printed Monday-Saturday…"  

I grew up with our family getting The Pratt Tribune, (and some of you may recall my blog about finding an old copy of that newspaper inside the wall when we did our recent remodeling at the farm).  Back then, when we walked out to the mailbox, the news was only a day old.

The same week that my Battling Abuses series began, the CBS Sunday Morning show broadcast a special interview of Pete Hamill that included respect for his fellow reporter, Jimmy Breslin.  Breslin died in 2017, and Hamill has slowed down considerably from the days when the two of them were, as filmmaker Spike Lee described:  "Back in the day, I mean, you would buy the paper to see what Jimmy Breslin's saying.  You know, what Pete Hamill [says]…[T]hose guys were like superstars."

I have written in past blogs about the essential role of journalists for our democracy, and we cannot forget their importance.  Our Founding Fathers recognized the importance of a Free Press, but too many of us fail to respect the absolute necessity of the role played by the press.

Ad from a local business in Isaac's time

On the CBS Sunday Morning show October 6, 2019, Hamill explained:  "The papers gave a sense of meaning.  It was a binding element.  You could see it on the subway.  You [reporters] were trying to help the new arrivals to understand the city, and the older people to understand the new arrivals."    Small town newspapers play that role as well, but not if most of the contents are canned stories written by strangers.

After my father died and my mother moved into town, she became a reporter.  She loved it.  Being a reporter gave her an excuse to attend community events and to get on the phone and call people for news about visitors or trips or achievements.  It may have been small town news, but it was consistent with the role Hamill played in a big city--binding the people who lived there to one another.

Times change.  The number of shops that lined Main Street in small towns and cities are no longer there, so far fewer local ads that supported local papers now exist.  Today people are warned to protect personal information, making them less willing to supply the stories that would once have appeared in the newspaper.  The internet has replaced chatty phone calls and handwritten letters, and now it is replacing small town newspapers.  Even large city newspapers are struggling.

Once there were both morning and evening editions for newspapers, but today we want our news as quickly as it happens.  "Hot off the press!" isn't fast enough, nor is Uncle Walter* on the evening news.  Now we have televisions and the internet with constant news reports, crawls across the bottom of the screen, and news fed to our phones.

Political Cartoon about a biased press

In earlier blogs I have emphasized the importance of professional standards for the news reporters we read and to whom we listen and watch.  For me, biased news is like reading fiction, or, at its worst, propaganda.  If we are to keep news reporters accurate, we need to take the time to find the original source at least occasionally to check it for ourselves.

We also need to stop watching/reading only those with whom we agree, especially if we catch them twisting the truth.  Like the old saying when computers were new, junk in--junk out.  I realize that it is easier for some of us to fact check than for those employed 8+ hours a day, those busy raising children and caring for elderly parents, or those otherwise involved in commitments that fill their days, but it is important that all of us to try to be accurately informed.  We need to be clear about the difference between those delivering Opinion Editorials, those intentionally slanting  or distorting information, and those abiding by professional standards for the delivery of news.

I will close with what I found most interesting in the interview of Pete Hamill.  He was asked, "Would you say you grew up poor?"

"Oh, we grew up poor, but not impoverished," Hamill said.

What's the difference, the interviewer asked.

"The library." 

Hamill continued, "I wouldn't be alive today if it wasn't for the lessons I learned in this place.  [the public library]"  Later, Hamill added an enlightening story about fellow reporter Jimmy Breslin.  "One day he needed to find something in his desk.  And he asked me to go to his desk, 'open the drawer and it'll be on the right-hand side.'  Lying in front of me is The Collected Poetry of W.H. Auden."  Being literate was part of being an educated person in those times, even if you were a hard-nosed reporter like Breslin.

Recognize propaganda (from my old text book)

With our present day 'need for speed,' and consumer ratings, not only are newspapers dying, so is the habit of reading.  Authors and poets have time...time to reflect, to compose, to edit, to lay their work aside and look at it with fresh more critical eyes later, to seek the opinions of respected friends and others knowledgeable about the subject...time to perfect what they publish.  Even as newspaper reporters facing quick deadlines, Breslin and Hamill knew that it was important to make time for books and poetry.  It remains true today that to be informed and literate, our reading needs to be supplemented by more than the "breaking news" that scrolls across the bottom of our screen.  Magazines are struggling to find readers, and it is important to have access to their more reflective news that gets at least a few days or weeks of research and investigation before it is published.  Before print magazines go the way of newspapers, we need to subscribe to the ones we respect for more in depth news reporting.  

Recognize propaganda (from my old textbook)

The responsibility to be reflective rests with all of us-- to read history, to check the constitution, to read biographies and non-fiction related to the subject, to see what another channel on tv or commentator on the internet or newspaper reporter with more time to check facts has to say.  To be fooled requires two people--the one who seeks to fool and the one who falls for it!

The 'Abuses in the 1800s' that Isaac and his contemporaries faced were not entirely unlike our own examples.  Today's abuses may come at us faster and from more directions, but we also have more access to ways to check what is accurate.  We need muckrakers today as much or more than ever.



*For younger readers of the blog, Walter Cronkite delivered the evening news for CBS, and had a reputation for accurate reporting.

Remember, you can click on images to enlarge.     

Battling Abuses in the 1800s, A Series, #7

There is an old saying:  "There are lies, and then there are damn lies."  Last week's post quoted Machiavelli, writing, "occasionally words must serve to veil the facts."  If presented with artful deception, charts and graphs can also veil the facts.  Recently I found an interesting paper on the ways statistics and other information can be presented in such a way as to mislead, while remaining arguably accurate.  "Five Ways Writers Use Misleading Graphs to Manipulate You," Ryan McCready, September 11, 2018.  .

The graphs I am using in this blog come from Mr. McCready's paper, and I strongly recommend that you go to his site to explore his full paper.  So much information is presented to us in charts and graphs, and we need to be able to recognize when it has been presented in a intentional way to mislead.

The two bar graphs above present the same statistics, but can you see what has been done to manipulate your reaction to the numbers?  Which one gives you the more accurate impression of the information?  Notice where the bottom of the graph begins.  The one on the left begins at 50, and using that manipulation of the numbers, it appears to exaggerate the differences between Group A and the other two groups.  As Machiavelli would have said, 'the facts have been veiled.'

Again, the same statistics are presented in these two graphs, but notice the numbers on the left side on the charts.  The chart on the left goes from 0 to 40, producing a flatter climb, while the chart on the right goes from 0 to 15, creating an abrupt climb between 2019 to 2020.

This time the trickery appears at the bottom of the charts shown above.  The chart on the left shows monthly changes, while the chart on the right shows yearly changes.  If the text or title make clear what the chart represents, there might be no trickery, but if the user has cherry picked data only from the period that reinforces his argument, the data can mislead.

 Author Ryan McCready has included this chart to show that to convey accurate or easily read information, one type of chart may be better than another.  He suggests that bar graphs are better for showing differences between groups.  In the graph on the right, Team B stands out, while Team C lags behind both other teams.  Yet, if you look at the round graph on the left, the differences are less apparent.

McCready also points out that sometimes using different colors can confuse, especially if one color is commonly used to represent particular information.  Thanks to Ryan McCready's paper, examples of how abuses through the presentation of information may be as deceptive as words can be, in other words, examples of ways to 'lie without lying'.  (See 11- 6 -2019 blog below.)

Battling Abuses by the manner in which graphs present information may be more difficult for muckrakers to expose, but I hope this week's blog has made you more wary about accepting information contained in charts and graphs.  Next week the Series concludes, and if you have not been reading the full series, you may wish to scroll through earlier posts.    

Remember, you can click on the charts to enlarge them.

Battling Abuses in the 1800s, A Series, #6

Muckraking is generally applied to searching out the truth about individuals and events, but can the importance of muckraking be applied to exposing the misuse of words?  In Isaac Werner's time people were hungry for education.  Farmers and businessmen spent evenings together reading Shakespeare.  Populist gatherings included study, and as scarce as cash was, they pooled resources to buy books.  Populists experimented with phonetic spelling to assist those who were illiterate or who did not speak English in being able to read.  School terms were short for farm children, but building a school in every community was a top priority, and the difficulty of student tests from the period show that despite the shortened school terms, children were expected to be scholars.  Knowledge and words mattered.

From my high school English text book

As a former high school English teacher and a writer, I have great interest in and respect for words.  I am not referring to grammar, although I also consider that very important.  Rather, I want to confine this post to the abuse of words, intentionally or negligently misused.

In my classroom I focused on words in several ways--developing vocabulary to enhance the ability to choose the right word to express a thought, choosing the right word grammatically, and understanding informal and formal word choices among others.  However, I also taught students how to recognize words being used to mislead.  In that sense, perhaps I was doing a bit of muckraking.

With my students, I often used television ads to illustrate how words can be manipulated to mislead, since my students were familiar with the ads they saw on tv.  A student once asked me whether I watched the programs or flipped channels to watch only ads, perplexed by my familiarity with so many  advertisements.  Even today I am guilty of correcting grammar, word choice, and pronunciation of people on the television, as if the speaker could hear me, when only my poor, suffering husband can.

Portrait of Niccoli Machiavelli

Sadly, perhaps no profession practices the art of using words to mislead and deflect more often than politicians.  An adviser to a former British Prime Minister claimed to have mastered the art of "lying without lying," confessing that he had a "talent for avoiding the truth without lying."  (BBC article by David Edmunds, 12-1-2015)  The article pointed out that politicians that want to get elected and re-elected are more likely to succeed by telling voters what they want to hear than by "confronting them with miserable realities."

Researcher Dan Ariely told CBS newsman Brian Montopoli that his research found that "Americans have a high tolerance for dishonesty when it comes from their own candidate."  In the August 3, 2012 interview, Ariely said, "Many voters have become so cynical that they really don't expect candidates to speak the verifiable truth, and they accept these exaggerations, these mild falsifications, as just part of the game."

You may have noticed that the articles I am citing are not current.  I do not intend this blog to be a comment on specific current politicians but rather an exploration of how words can be abused in marketing and politics to mislead us.  The practice isn't new.  Niccolo Machiavelli wrote in The Prince, "occasionally words must serve to veil the facts."  Distant past, recent past, or current comments, misleading and outright lying exist.  The BBC article from 2015 concluded, "modern politicians mislead every day of their lives [which] is directly 'connected to the fact that trust in politicians has been corroded over the last 40 years.'"  I fear that corrosion has not improved since then.

Portrait of Edmund Burke

News men and women may attempt to draw attention to falsehoods, but too often readers, listeners, and viewers simply go in search of a source more sympathetic to their point of view, rather than appreciating having been alerted to the falsehoods of someone they like.

Probably the closest thing we have to word muckrakers are our modern day fact checkers.  One has even taken that name for their site:  Factcheck.org .  They are a nonprofit website that describes themselves as a "consumer advocate for voters that aims to reduce the level of deception in American politics."  Two other sources that might be considered muckrakers for words are Politifact and Snopes.com.  Snopes does not confine themselves to political fact checking but checks all sorts of rumors and myths.

Unfortunately, with the internet assisting, lies and half- truths can outrun fact checkers before the absolute truth that Teddy Roosevelt demanded can be determined.  As a consequence, the words of Edmund Burke from 1796 that "Falsehood and delusion are allowed in no case whatsoever..." may no longer be a social norm.  However, what is certainly true is Burke's conclusion:  "But, as in the exercise of all the virtues, there is an economy of truth."

The muckraking series continues next week.

   

 

Battling Abuses in the 1800s, a Series #5

This post will share what brought me to the idea of exploring the history of muckraking and its current status.  You will probably be surprised to learn that it was a picture of a mural by British artist Jules Muck.

She describes herself as a Mural and Graffiti Painter, whose current work was inspired by meeting a mural artist whom Muck refers to as the "legendary" Lady Pink.  Their meeting resulted in an apprenticeship with Pink in New York, and Muck was inspired to paint on street walls.

Jule Muck's Larry Bird mural after tattoos removed

I learned about Jule Muck when I happened to see a mural she painted of former NBA player Larry Bird.  She had worked from a photograph taken when Bird was a young college player for Indiana, using it to paint an accurate portrait--EXCEPT, she had covered his exposed skin with tattoos.  Bird had no tattoos when he played college ball nor has he had any tattoos since.  When he saw her depiction of him, he asked her to remove the tattoos.

As an attorney, I was interested in the legality of a famous person's right to his own image.  Muck's comments about his request seemed to indicate that she didn't believe he could demand changes to her art, although she did remove all of the tattoos except the "Indiana" on Bird's arm.  Among the other tattoos that were removed were a large black spider's web on Bird's right shoulder and a pair of mating rabbits on his left arm.

Larry Bird was clear to state that he had nothing against tattoos.  Many of his friends have tattoos, as anyone who watches pro-basketball already knows, and that is fine with him.  However, he felt a depiction of him should not make it appear that he has tattoos that he has never had.

Their dispute caused me to wonder about her unusual last name.  Is it her actual surname or is it a name she chose to use as an artist?  Her website doesn't say.  The dictionary defines "muck" as "soft moist farmyard manure; slimy dirt or filth; and defamatory remarks or writings."  Looking at examples of her murals at her website, I noticed that her name is often a prominent part of  her work.

Investigative reporters often disliked being described as muckrakers, and I could not help but wonder whether Jules Muck chose her professional name or simply accepted the surname with which she was born.

But, back to Larry Bird and his request that she remove the offending tattoos...

We are living in a world where the saying, "a picture is worth a thousand words" doesn't always apply.  Recently a video appeared on the internet which had been altered to make it seem that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was slurring her words drunkenly.  In fact, an authentic video had been altered to make a false impression.  In that case, no fancy technology was involved.  The culprit had simply reduced the speed of the video and tweaked the pitch of her voice in the slowed version.  People continued to post and watch it even after it had been debunked.

Perhaps even worse are examples of realistic face-swaps.  The technology works by using a computer program to find common points on two different faces, and if enough common points are used, the face of the victim can be "stitched" over the source to create a faked image capable of fooling viewers.  This has already been done to embarrass celebrities by face-swapping them into pornography.  Imagine the harm that could be done to politicians by their political enemies through face-swapping them to appear to be saying things or being places that were false.

Perhaps you have seen examples of using facial recognition for security purposes, in which a person's face is used to gain entry rather than using a key or a card that might be lost or stolen for someone else to enter secured areas.  This facial recognition works by mapping faces for 'landmark' points, like the corners of eyes and mouth, nostrils, and jaw line contour.

President Theodore Roosevelt

These technologies are rushing forward, spurred by positive uses but surely likely to be abused for reasons less acceptable.  How could most of us even begin to recognize such abuses?  If a mural could make us believe that a basketball player known for his positive character had tattoos of spiders and mating rabbits that he didn't have, what sort of muck is ahead to mislead us?

This technology, it seems to me, calls for a new generation of muckrakers to be our watchdogs against a world increasingly unable to recognize the truth amidst the fakery.  As President Roosevelt said, "There are, in the body politic, economic and social, many and grave evils, and there is urgent necessity for the sternest war upon them.  There should be relentless exposure of and attacks upon every evil man whether politician or business man, every evil practice, whether in politics, in business, or in social life.  I hail as a benefactor every writer or speaker, every man who, on the platform, or in book, magazine or newspaper, with merciless severity makes such attack, provided always that he in his turn remembers that the attack is of use only if it is absolutely truthful."

Battling Abuses in the 1800s, a Series #4

From the late 1800s and the early 1900s, muckraking journalists deserve credit for exposing many social wrongs--political, corporate, coal mining, unsafe working conditions, meat packing cruelties and others.  Some muckrakers embraced the name, but many found it demeaning.  The fact that the name was affixed to them by President Roosevelt was particularly disturbing to them, as they felt they had treated him fairly in the press.  In fact, however, Roosevelt did support the need for "relentless exposure of and attack upon every evil man whether politician or business man, every evil practice, whether in politics, in business, or social life."  He encouraged writers, speakers, and publications that called the guilty out, but included this admonishment:  "...provided always that he in his turn remembers that the attack is of use only if it is absolutely truthful."

Edward R. Murrow

The tradition of investigative journalism continues today, although the term "muckrakers" has largely disappeared.  Who might be considered muckrakers among commentators and journalists during the last one hundred years?

Edward R. Murrow, 1908-1965, would probably be on most lists, and his March 9, 1954 See It Now special titled "A Report on Senator Joseph McCarthy," if nothing else, earned him a place in broadcasting history.  Ironically, the Senator himself knew that Murrow was one of the best, for in his statement attacking the criticism, he acknowledged Murrow's reputation in his own condemnation of the program, saying:  "...Murrow is a symbol, a leader, and the cleverest of the jackal pack which is always found at the throat of anyone who dares to expose individual Communists and traitors."  The show exposed McCarthy for what he was and marked the end of McCarthy's popularity.  Murrow's last major show on CBS Reports, "Harvest of Shame," was broadcast in November of 1960 and was in keeping with his reputation to expose controversial issues, focusing on the plight of migrant farm workers.

Rachel Carson, 1907-1964, did her muckraking in books like the sea trilogy:  The Sea Around Us,  The Edge of the Sea, and Under the Sea Wind.  But, her book that brought the greatest changes in Americans' thinking was Silent Spring.  It changed the way we regard pesticides, inspired the environmental movement, and lead to the creation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.  What might she be writing if she were still living today?

Rachel Carson

The reporting by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein for The Washington Post in connection with the Watergate break-in in 1972 certainly placed them in the ranks of political muckrakers.  Because many of their sources were anonymous, including William Mark Felt, Sr., their key source who was  identified only 33 years later as being "Deep Throat," The Washington Post put great trust in the young reporters.  Initially, they, and the New York Times, were nearly alone in recognizing the importance of  the events that eventually brought down a president.

The New York Times broke another story more recently that has had significant social ramifications beyond the original events they reported.  On October 5, 2017, reporters Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey appeared under the headline, "Harvey Weinstein Paid Off Sexual Harassment Accusers for Decades."  That accusation not only brought forth more women willing to accuse Weinstein but also fueled the #MeToo movement, with accusations against other men.  A report by the Women's Media Center in 2018 pointed to the increase in articles on sexual assault since the Weinstein article was published.  Weinstein continues to deny the allegations.

The role of being a muckraker, breaking news of misdeeds by powerful people, can be dangerous, and on October 2, 2018, Jamal Khashoggi entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, never to be seen again.  Khashoggi was a Saudi Arabian dissident, author, columnist for The Washington Post, and editor-in-chief of Al-Arab News Channel.  His newspaper articles critical of the Saudi government earned him powerful enemies.  Postumously,  Time Magazine named him its "Person of the Year" for his journalism, referring to Khashoggi as a "Guardian of the Truth."  Along with their recognition of Khashoggi the magazine recognized other journalists who face political persecution for their work.

As Roosevelt said, the need for men and women willing to expose evil presents an "...urgent necessity for the sternest war upon them."  For our democracy to survive we need these "Guardian[s] of the Truth."  Whether they like the name or not, we need Muckraking journalists and commentators, and newspapers, magazines, and broadcasters courageous enough to bring their reporting to the public.

Battling Abuses in the 1800s, a Series #3

Reform-minded journalist had existed during earlier years of the 1800s, but as the century drew to a close a new crop of journalists known as Muckrakers appeared.  The earlier journalists had been more likely to write their articles for newspapers, but in the late 1800s magazines gained popularity, and longer, well-written stories had a place for publication.  McClure's was one of these magazines, willing to give journalists space to develop thorough examinations of business, political and social abuses in need of reform.  These magazines became known as muckraking magazines, and the journalists, and occasional fiction authors whose stories exposed abuses, were called muckrakers.

The term is attributed to Theodore Roosevelt, who borrowed the term from John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress. In that classic, the Interpreter shows Christiana a man who can "look no way but downwards, with a muck-rake in his hand...[raking] to himself the straws, the small sticks, and dust on the floor."  Christiana understands what she is being shown, for the man is so focused on the muck that he is ignoring the Celestial crown being offered to him.  She says, "I know somewhat the meaning of this, for this is a figure of a man of this world, is it not..."

Although most of us have not read Pilgrim's Progress, it would have been familiar to his listeners in 1906 when President Theodore Roosevelt used a reference to the book to criticize journalists who took their investigative writing too far.  The President said, "the men with the muck rakes are often indispensable to the well being of society; but only if they know when to stop raking the muck."

In oposition to Muckrakers were other Newspapers

The issue with investigative reporting was then, and continues today, to be judged by whether journalists are an essential check on a free society or are a disruptive nuisance.  The founding fathers understood the importance of freedom of the press to enlighten an informed citizenry.  Unfortunately, the professionalism of members of the press has always varied, from those who speak and write with a commitment to accuracy versus those who distort the truth to intentionally mislead readers or to slander public figures for readers' amusement.  

At the same time ethical journalists were producing reform articles, other writers published in so-called yellow journals, hawked stories of scandal, crime, and sensationalism for entertainment and malice rather than purposeful information.  Those publishing motivations continue today.

That is not to say that legitimate journalists should never write stories involving scandal, crime, and sensational facts, whether they were writing in the 1800s and early 1900s or today.  The distinction is that yellow journalism (or what we refer to today as tabloid stories) invent and exaggerate stories with little regard for accuracy, to titillate, shock and amuse readers, in contrast to ethical journalists who seek to report information in an objective, impartial way.  While the facts may still be sensational, reputable journalists rely on accurate sources and avoid exaggeration.  Or, as Roosevelt said, ethical journalists "know when to stop raking the muck."

The subjects reported by professional journalists in the late 1800s and early 1900s have similarities with what journalists cover today, although news today is more likely to be seen on television than in newspapers.  Today's news still includes subjects reported in Isaac Werner's era, such as: Lincoln Steffens "Tweed Days in St. Louis exposing political corruption; Ida Tarbell, exposing ruthless business tactics and influence; and Samuel Hopkins Adams, revealing false claims by pharmaceutical companies.

In Isaac Werner's times, U.S. Senators were not elected by popular vote but rather were chosen by the various elected state senators.  The enactment of the 17th Amendment, which allows the voters in each state to elect their two U.S. senators, had been one of the key demands of the People's Party.  A series of articles written by muckraker David Graham Phillips and published in "Cosmopolitan" magazine in February of 1906 is given significant credit toward the passage of the amendment allowing the people to directly choose their senators rather than having their elected state senators make the choices for them.

The importance that the press has played in digging through the muck of American Society is shown in these few examples, as is the criticism journalists must confront when presidents and other powerful people don't like the muck they uncover.

Next week the series continues.

Battling Abuses in the 1800s, A Series #2

Nelly Bly

Wealth had great power and influence in America in the 1800s, not terribly unlike today.  While farmers struggled to survive, in the cities there was a growing middle class, and they began to focus on issues beyond their personal needs.  Middle class urban women tended to focus on prohibition and suffrage, but other issues caught the attention of the middle class.  With more leisure time for reading, their newspapers and magazines began including articles about things outside the lives of their readers.  There was curiosity about the extravagant lives of the wealthy--their mansions, their social events, their clothing, and their power.  Wherever there is excessive wealth and power, there is likely to be abuse, and reform-minded journalists began to write about those abuses.

Newspapers began to report their scandals, sometimes exposing wrongdoing as much for increasing readership as for seeking a correction of the abuses.  Gradually, however, certain writers began investigating social abuses with the intention of reform. Most of these reporters were male, but the beautiful young Nelly Bly was among them.  Her work was even covered in the St. John County Capital where Isaac would have seen it.  In 1887 she focused on the scandal of placing 'troublesome' women in mental hospitals.

She set out to determine whether women were sometimes admitted to these hospitals because they were unconventional or inconvenient rather than being mentally ill.  Further, even if there was mental illness, Nelly wanted to see how these women were treated.  With the approval of her editor, she faked mental illness and was admitted to Bellevue Mental Hospital, where she personally observed and endured the cruelties suffered by women who had been admitted to get them out of the way.  It was a daring way to investigate actual conditions, but she gained release and published a series of articles in The World newspaper that brought public attention to the abuses.  Later, her information was published as a book, and her reporting made a difference in correcting the mistreatment of women.

Also in Isaac's time, Henry Demarest Lloyd published Wealth Against Commonwealth, an expose revealing the corruption of the Standard Oil Company.  A few years later, but prior to Isaac's death, McClure's Magazine was formed, and in addition to articles about general topics, they became a leading publication for exposing social abuses.  Later, Willa Cather joined McClure's to cover the arts.

The early 1900s were the highpoint of what came to be known as muckraking journalism.  Next week's blog will include some of the familiar names known for their exposure of abuses in American business and society.   

Battling Abuses in the 1800s, A Series, #1

One of Isaac's favorite authors

Among the first things that appealed to me about Isaac was his love for books.  I have written about that in this blog before, but this series goes beyond prior posts.  A good place to start is to understand Isaac's (and the populist movement's) belief that education was essential.  

As a young druggist Isaac had read Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations, but when he read the book as a homesteader trying to make a living breaking sod for farming, he realized that what he had learned from reading Smith as a merchant had been interpreted differently from his reading as a struggling farmer. 

I have discovered from observing quotes posted online that words I interpreted to mean one thing are sometimes construed to mean just the opposite by someone else.  We all respond to information based on our own experience and the bias we have.  As  Carlow Ruiz Zafon wrote in The Shadows of the Wind, "Books are mirrors:  You only see in them what you already have inside you."

Isaac was a serious scholar and own this title

Another book that Isaac read was Edward Bellamy's Looking Backward, the story of a wealthy young man struggling with insomnia, who is hypnotized to help him sleep, but like Rip VanWinkle, the young man awakens years later to a completely different world.  I had read the book years ago because it remains on many reading lists as a classic.  At that time, I read superficially, seeing it simply as an interesting tale about awakening in a changed society.  However, when it was originally published, people struggling to survive economically read it as a sort of guide to what could be a more equitable society if social changes were made.  The book was so popular during Isaac's time that Bellamy Clubs were formed around the world to encourage the sort of changes represented in the novel.

Edward Bellamy, author

Isaac also read Henry George, most famous for writing Progress and Poverty, which advocated Land Rents rather than taxes on land.  It would have eliminated owning land for speculation or investment, prohibiting the wealthy from acquiring and holding land to manipulate prices.  Collecting the land rents would, according to George, have been simpler than collecting taxes on production from the land, and would not have penalize successful farmers.

Farmers believed in the importance of learning, and they pooled their money to buy books.  Isaac gifted many of his books to their common library and built a cupboard at the school house where their books were stored.  I agree with Zafon that we see in books what we have inside us, but I also believe reading lets new light into our minds.  If we only read books and other material that reinforce what we already believe, we shut out the illumination of new perspectives.

Next week's blog will look at other books of that period with a different focus more aligned with urban issues.

State Fair Ahs! and Wows!

Photo Credit:  Cindy Moore

I cannot begin to tell you how many "Ohs!" and "Wows!" I heard over my shoulder at the 2019 Kansas State Fair.  As I drew, people crowded around me.  But, I was not the one who drew the crowds nor were the "Ohs!" and "Wows!" for me.  They were for the oversized pumpkins and watermelons!

Last year for the Plein Aire at the Kansas State Fair, I had chosen what I thought would be a quiet corner near the giant melons where I could be out of the way when the doors opened for people to enter the Pride of Kansas building.  It is a popular building, especially because everyone wants to watch the butter sculpting.  But, I had no idea how popular the giant produce would be.

Photo credit:  Larry Fenwick

Last year taught me better.  People love to see the huge pumpkins and melons, and although I wanted to draw the scarecrows, I knew to expect crowds of people eager to see the pumpkins and melons.  This year's display was especially attractive, with the entries resting on straw rather than the stark concrete and wooden pallets of prior years.  The scare crows in the background completed the setting, although there were only three entries in 2019.

Last year I had done a quick portrait of one of the scarecrows, but I had not chosen that drawing to enter in the competition.  I had enjoyed drawing him and had decided to draw a more complex interpretation of the scarecrows at the 2019 fair.  I was a little disappointed to find only three entries but stuck to my plan.

Drawing from 2018

I chose a corner between the honey display and the melons, and I did not set up my table and easel, instead using only my lap and a drawing board to reduce my presence to as small a space as possible, and it worked fairly well.

I chose to imagine a composition with the scarecrow on the hay bail and the scarecrow behind her as a couple.  One young girl studying my drawing was confused that it didn't look like the actual exhibition.  When I told her that the scarecrows snuggled at night, after all the people were gone and the building was locked, she was only more confused, and I admitted that I was only teasing.  She was not satisfied and told me that nice girls don't tell lies.  Her grandmother leaned over to assure her that I only meant a joke, but the girl was very displeased with me.  Oops!

Scarecrows and Watermelons

The pumpkins and melons weigh hundreds of pounds and definitely fascinate people.  Aside from the "Ahs" and "Wows" the most frequent comments were questions about whether the fruit inside would be good to eat, imagining what a feast they could have, and wondering how they were grown.  One man told his son, "We could just eat the heart of that melon and not have to fool with the seeds!"

I must confess that one lady standing behind me said a soft "Wow."  I ignored her, assuming she was referring to the melons.  Again, I heard "Wow," this time a little louder, and I glanced back at her and was told, "You are doing a wonderful job."  I replied, "Thank you.  I though you meant the melons."  She assured me that she was impressed with my scarecrows.  I decided that single "wow" was quite enough for a days work, competing against the giants around me!

You can Google 'Giant Pumpkins' and 'Giant Watermelons' to learn more about the size, seeds, and cultivation of these giants.  One of my favorite children's book illustrators, Wendell Minor, has written a children's book titled "How Big Could Your Pumpkin Grow?" for younger children.  Although it was published in 2013, you may still be able to find a copy if your youngster was excited by the giants at the fair.  An adult book you might enjoy is Susan Warren's Backyard Giants, The Passionate, Heartbreaking Quest to Grow the Biggest Pumpkin Ever, published in 2007, in which she writes about a passion she calls "...a charming corner of American life, as quirky and delightful as the big pumpkins themselves."

If you would like to see my drawing of the 2019 Kansas State Fair Scarecrows, you can continue scrolling down to last week's blog.  Remember, you can click on the images to enlarge them.  

Why I Enjoy Plein Aire Painting at the Fair

Photo Credit:  Cindy Moore

Many people at the State Fair are surprised to see an artist painting or drawing, or even this year at the 2019 Kansas State Fair, an artist sculpting in stone.  Among the subjects artists depicted were ducks at the lake, merry-go-round  horses, midway scenes, fountains, all sorts of livestock, crops, and even scarecrows.  The scarecrows were my selection, along with a white rabbit.

Photo Credit:  Larry Fenwick

Neither of my pencil drawings received an award, but the judge, Naomi Ullum, was wonderful, taking the time to comment on every piece entered for judging, and finding positives in her critiques, as well as pointing out specific ways to improve the work.  I believe I benefited from her comments, as I'm sure that others did as well.

Photo Credit:  Larry Fenwick

However, the critiques and contact with other artists, even the possibility of winning a prize, are not the primary reason I enjoy Plein Aire Painting at the Kansas State Fair enough to confront the challenge of limited time, heat, (or last year's rain), transporting my supplies and equipment, listening to the squawking, crowing, and (to be polite) unpleasant odor of some of my models, (such as Miss Lucy the pig that I sketched this year) or other inconveniences of Plein Aire Painting.  Such things are simply the anticipated challenges of the plein aire experience.

I am sharing the photographs in this blog to explain why I look forward to participating.  It's the children who stop to watch and ask questions.

Photo Credit: Larry Fenwick

(c) Lyn Fenwick, work in progress

Once, I was a volunteer at some now forgotten fund raiser where my assignment was a booth with  white plates that could be decorated.  I don't remember if the plates had designs to complete or what materials were used to decorate them, but I have never forgotten one little girl.  She was with her grandmother, and she had walked by my booth more than once, asking her grandmother to buy a ticket for her to decorate a plate.  Finally the grandmother agreed, and the little girl began her decoration with such excitement.  Her grandmother watched the child's eager beginning, but quickly spoke up.  "Now, dear.  You can draw better than that!  Stay within the lines."  The child's happy face crumpled, and slowly, with little interest, she colored in a few areas and announced that she had finished.  Even that did not please her grandmother.  "But you aren't finished," she said.  "You haven't colored in all the spaces."  The little girl said she didn't want to do any more, and they left my booth with a plate that had pleased neither of them.

Photo credit:  Cindy Moore

I hope I never again see a child, eager to draw a picture or paint a plate, being told to stay within the lines.  I participate in Plein Aire at the fair for the children.  To answer their questions.  To praise them when their parents say how they love to draw.  To explain when they ask 'why I did this' or 'how I did that.'  To say 'Of couse you can' when anyone says "I can't draw," whether it is a child or an adult--but especially if it is a child.  So many adults say, "I can't draw a straight line," but aren't straight lines irrelevant in most drawings!

This year at the fair, one little boy had been standing quietly beside me, watching me draw for quite a while, so finally I stopped and turned to him.  He still couldn't find his words, so eventually his mother leaned over and said, "He wants to know if you can tell him how to learn to do that."  He nodded his head.

Photo Credit:  Cindy Moore

Immediately, I replied, "Yes, I can," thinking quickly what to tell him.  I said, "When you get home, take a plain piece of paper and draw something.  Do the very best you can, and when you finish, get another piece of paper and draw something again.  Whenever you can, keep doing that, and each time you will learn something.  You will keep getting better each time, because as you draw you will be learning."  He listened and nodded as I spoke to him.  "Can you do that?" I asked when I had finished my impromptu advice.  He was smiling and nodding with such enthusiasm that I was sure he would sit down with a clean piece of paper soon after he got home.

His mother asked if he would like for her to photograph the scarecrows he had watched me draw, so he could do a drawing of them for himself.  He nodded.  As they were about to leave, I asked, "If I come to the fair next year, will you find me and tell me what you've been drawing?"  He was beaming as he nodded.

Photo credit:  Larry Fenwick

There are more stories I could share, but never will you hear me tell a child to stay within the lines.  That little boy, the children in the photographs in this blog, and the many others who stopped to watch as I worked, are why I go to the fair to participate in the Plein Aire competition.  It's why I hope to go next year and more years after that.  If I can inspire one child to be curious about art or if I can encourage one child to feel good about what they draw, then I will have my blue ribbon from the State Fair.  And next year, I will be watching for that little boy.

Remember, you can enlarge the images by clicking on them.

State Fair Jelly

After three straight years of late frosts spoiling the sand hill plum crop, 2019 had a surprise for me...and for a lot of others!  There had been a late, light frost, and I assumed it would be another year without plums, but I was wrong.  Was I ever!!

Our pasture, which is unplowed prairie, has not been grazed since my father's death, and the sand hill plums have nearly taken it over.  I picked from the road one morning, where bushes have grown through the wire fence, but the next day my husband and I drove into the pasture to an area of abundant bushes with especially large, ripe plums. My husband had been scouting for the best plums, and without needing to push our way into the bushes amidst all the thorns, we were able to pick enough plums before the morning sun became oppressive.  Since protection from the thorns requires long sleeves and jeans, it gets very hot to pick later in the day.

I made six batches in order to have jelly of our own for a few months and jelly to share with friends. I was the Production Chief, but my husband was the Chief of Shipment and Delivery.  We shared not only with local friends but also with out-of-state friends who had never tasted sand hill plum jelly, and  I used every jelly jar I owned.

We let local friends know that our pasture had abundant plums to share, but this season plums could be seen in pastures and along many roadsides, and only one couple took us up on our invitation to pick.  I heard that some of the local grocery stores had run out of pectin because so many customers were making jelly.

State Fair Jelly still on the drawing board  (c) Lyn Fenwick

But, this blog is not really about making jelly to enter in the state fair.  The title of this blog post, "My State Fair Jelly" does not refer to entering a jar of my jelly in the Kansas State Fair.  Rather, my jelly entry was made on paper.  Last year I entered a pastel painting in the Professional Artist competition, and I enjoyed the experience so much I decided to do that again.  When I draw or paint I must have a reference, either an actual model or still life arrangement or various photographs from which to work.  Sometimes a single photograph is sufficient, if I know the subject(s) well enough to capture more than the photograph shows.

I began going through my reference images for ideas, and I came across a photograph I had taken a few years ago of canning supplies ready to make sand hill plum jelly.  I decided to create a still life painting using an arrangement of canning supplies.  Unfortunately, I had already discovered that, after my last canning using my Mother's beautiful 1940s canning equipment, I had put her equipment away somewhere that I can't remember.  My own 2019 jelly was made using modern, less picturesque equipment, so I had to rely on several photographs of Mother's equipment, with variations and additions that included a jar of my own jelly, mugs from my collection, and a 'church ladies' cookbook, altered by my imagination but representative of the type of local cookbooks produced during the past mid-century.

State Fair Jelly framed (c) Lyn Fenwick

I finished with time to get my pastel painting framed, and off to the 2019 Kansas State fair it went, the name for my entry suggested by my husband.

No prize for my work, but I still enjoy the experience of having a goal, showing my work, and participating with other artists.  I confess, it was rather disheartening to hear the judge declare strongly, "I hate still lifes," during the critique of his selections for awards.  One of those winners was a still life, so obviously he was willing to override his "hatred."  There were many wonderful  works by talented artists, and what appeals to all of us is subjective.  I didn't make it back to the Fine Arts exhibit to observe the reactions of visitors, but I'm sure that many of the paintings were appreciated by those who toured the exhibit, and that is, after all, the pleasure we artists enjoy having given others.

Remember, you can click on the images to enlarge.

A New Location for Art at the Kansas State Fair

(c) Lyn Fenwick,  Title:  Fresh Yellow Squash

This week the 2019 Kansas State Fair opens, and once again I have an entry in the Professional Artists display and competition.  Last year was my first year to participate in that category, and the pastel at the top of this page was my entry.  I didn't bring home a prize but I had fun entering.

In the meantime, my six portraits of characters from Willa Cather's My Antonia were selected for publication in the Willa Cather Review, Vol. 61, No. 2, Spring 2019, together with my essay describing how I searched Cather's novel for descriptions of each character to be sure that my imagined portraits were consistent with Cather's descriptions of each of the six characters.  I have a dislike of illustrations done for books that do not honor the descriptions of the author whose book is being illustrated, and I did not want to commit the same disrespect by straying from Cather's descriptions.  I gifted a copy of the Spring Willa Cather Review titled "After Antonia" to the Filley Art Museum in Pratt, Kansas, and I have been delighted when visitors to the museum have told me they enjoyed my portraits and essay.  I am particularly pleased when they tell me it has encouraged them to read My Antonia, either for the first time or to reread it after several years.  I was especially delighted to learn that Mrs. Filley is a long-time Cather fan and had received her copy of the Spring Cather Review with my portraits inside!

Lyn's "models" at the 2017 Plein Aire

The success of my acceptance for publication in the Cather Review encouraged me to enter the Kansas State Fair Professional Artists Show again.  Many of you who follow this blog are also fans and collectors of  a water color artist with ties to Pratt, and Darren Parker has shared with me his intention to enter the State Fair Professional Artists Show with one, or possibly two, of his watercolors.

I am writing this blog before the judging for the particular purpose of letting readers know that the Professional Artists' works have been moved to a different building.  You will not  find the Professional Artists work nor the Plein Aire art displayed in the Oz Building as it has been in the past.  (This change also moves the photography display.)  

Lyn drawing at the 2018 Plein Aire at the Fair

To view the art, go to Lake Talbot East/West located on 23rd Avenue, between Fort Hays Blvd. and Fort Leavenworth Blvd.  For some of you with 4-Hers,  you may identify the two buildings as being across from the 4-H Centennial Hall, the two buildings formerly the Boy and Girl Scout Buildings.  The Professional Art will be in the former Boy Scout building and the Plein Aire (and photography) will be in the former Girl Scout building.  The announcement of prizes for the Plein Aire will be at 6 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 7, and will remain on display through the remainder of the fair.

The Plein Aire competition requires artists to create their work on the fairgrounds, inspired by subjects they can view at the Fair.  They must do the work only at the Fair and within the hours specified--on Friday noon to 7:30 p.m. and on Saturday 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.  Visitors to the Fair are encouraged to watch for artists at work and to pause for a visit if they wish.  Children in particular seem to enjoy watching and asking questions.  Artists work in a variety of media, from acrylics and watercolor to pencils and pastels to paper mosaics or any other creative medium they wish.  No more than two entries can be submitted for judging by any one artist, although an artist my wish to complete additional work from which to select their two entries.  

Maybe I will see some of you at the Fair, and I hope you visit the new location in the former Boys and Girls Scout buildings to view the art on display.

Remember, the images can be enlarged by clicking on them.  Look closely for the cat and mouse in my "Fresh Yellow Squash" pastel painting.