What is Happiness?

Wonderful Docent at O'Keeffe Museum

"There isn't such a thing as being happy.  You can be happy for a moment.  Happiness is something that goes like the wind.  Being interested can last longer."  Georgia O'Keeffe

During a recent trip to Santa Fe, New Mexico we visited the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum.  I was very surprised to realize that the lives of O'Keeffe and Isaac Werner overlapped by eight years.  Although she began painting at a very young age, Isaac would not have seen her work, for she was still a child when he died; yet, it is always interesting to me to place Isaac in the historic period of his lifetime, and I would not have thought that this artist, whose way of seeing and painting in such a modern way, would have been born while Isaac Werner was living.  

Very early O'Keeffe watercolor

When interviewed about her popularity, O'Keeffe said she believed her work was "in touch with my times so people have liked it."  What she considered "my times" was a considerable number of years, since she was born in 1887 and died in 1986, a lifetime spanning nearly a century.  When O'Keeffe was born, Isaac had finally acquired a horse,  able to plow his Kansas claims one row at a time and ride to town rather than having to walk there.  Both were born in rural environments, his in Kansas, and O'keeffe's in Wisconsin.    

O'Keeffe Clam Shell painting

For his times, Isaac had an extended education, still in school at age 17.  When he left home it was to travel westward to the frontier.  O'Keeffe, on the other hand, at about the same age, left home to study at the Art Institute of Chicago for a year, then the Art Students League in New York, and later a very influential summer course at the University of Virginia.  Both adventuresome, their destinies pulled them in opposite directions.  Isaac's adult life was lived in the West, first Illinois and finally Kansas; O'Keeffe studied and taught in the East and the South, but she too was eventually pulled westward to teach in Texas.  By 1915 she had realized that her artistic vision was different, "...shapes and ideas so familiar to me that it hadn't occurred to me to put them down."  Still in her early twenties, she began experimenting with highly abstract drawings. 

Her work was brought to the attention of Stieglitz, a photographer and gallery owner in NYC, who exhibited her work.  Their professional relationship deepened, and they married in 1924.  During this time her abstract skyscraper paintings became popular.  Her first visit to Northern New Mexico was in 1929, and that began her annual painting pilgrimages to New Mexico while continuing to live in NYC with her husband.  Three years after his death, she made New Mexico her permanent home in 1949.  Ultimately, she had been pulled even further to the West than Isaac.  She once said, "It takes courage to be a painter.  I always felt like I was walking on the edge of a knife."  One example of her interest in atypical subjects was her fascination with bones, which she both collected and painted. 

Her life evidences that courage, not only in committing to the abstract form and unique subjects for which she is known, but also in her life with Stieglitz and her nomadic living arrangements.  As another proof of her determination and courage, O'Keeffe suffered from Macular Degeneration and gradually lost her sight.  Yet, she continued to paint, by describing in detail to her assistant Juan Hamilton the dimensions of the painting and the colors from specific color formulas she had documented before her blindness. Her will to create from what she saw in her mind even after complete blindness continued until two years before her death, and she also produced objects in clay.  The beauty in things most of us ignore were preserved in her mind, even after her sight was taken from her.

Isaac Werner was not an artist, but he also envisioned a different life and had the courage to travel West to find it.  He did not paint canvases, but his creative mind could not endure a badly designed object without setting out to improve it or design something to replace it.  Both O'Keeffe and Isaac could see things and imagine them in a different way--O'Keeffe's art and lifestyle and Isaac's inventions and populist/progressive ideas. 

You may click on the images to enlarge.  Permission for photographs at the museum was allowed unless labeled otherwise; however, these images were taken only for use in this blog.  Please do not copy or reproduce.

Instead, plan a visit to Santa Fe to enjoy the pleasure of viewing O'Keeffe's original paintings for yourself.  You will love seeing them!

   

Diagram that Sentence!

Recently I noticed an article by Lorraine Berry titled "The Lost Art of Sentence Diagramming."  According to the article, in most current school curriculums, diagraming sentences has been declared to have "no educational value."  Once, its use was explained in this way: "Sentence diagramming is a means by which a sentence is parsed and represented by a structure of lines that establish the relationship among the words in the sentence."  Stated more simply, the diagram created a map of the sentence.

Some of you may remember the process.  First, you started with a straight line.  You identified the subject and the predicate and wrote them on that line with a vertical line separating the two words.  If there were an adjective modifying the subject of your sentence, you drew a diagonal line under the subject and wrote the adjective.  If there were an adverb modifying the predicate, you placed it on a diagonal line under the verb.  The diagraming continued as the relationship of each word to the others was connected, teaching students how words in a sentence relate to each other.  Diagraming sentences went beyond memorizing rules to understanding how words work together.

As a teacher, an attorney, and an author, putting words together so that my meaning is clear and the content is interesting is important.  However, do I evaluate that importance differently from other people?

Isaac's Journal

The journal of Isaac Beckley Werner has occupied my time for nearly a decade.  He was an educated man who attended school longer than most people of that time, and throughout his life he cherished books and learning.  Yet, the daily entries in his journal did not conform with formal rules of composition.  As an example, on February 2, 1886, his entry was the following:

Feb 2d @ 5 degrees above zero Snowing somewhat Blizzard like still continuing, drifting good deal during A.M. & last night, letting up during day, continual cloudy and varying 5 to 3 degrees above zero during day, keeping quite cold disagreeable outdoors, bad weather on stock and to tend to them, I busy indoors all day at S.W. cupboard hanging doors etc. by sun set @ zero, darker cloudy in E. & like clearing off W.

Isaac was often asked by neighbors to write contracts and other agreements for them, and he was elected to serve as the secretary for nearly every organization of which he was a member.  His farming and progressive articles were published in newspapers and journals.  However, he was keeping his journal for himself, and he took no particular pains with punctuation and complete sentences.

It is nothing new for us to write notes to ourselves in haphazard ways, so long as we know what we meant.  What is new and evolving is how we communicate with others.

In an article by Larry Alton titled "Phone Calls, Texts or Email?  Here's How Millennials Prefer To Communicate," he pointed out that the way millennials prefer predicts the manner of "the future of workplace communication overall--and whether you like it or not, you'll need to prepare for those changes."  According to him, millennials don't like phone calls, particularly because they "require a kind of interruption to someone's day, while text messages and emails can be opened and read at the recipient's leisure," and I would add, they spare the caller's having to become involved in a lengthy phone conversation with the person they called.  Haven't most of us been entangled in a phone call with someone who simply wouldn't let us get off the phone?

According to Alton, millennials like texting because it can be done anyplace and anytime, and it avoids their having to make immediate responses as they would be required to do in a phone call or personal conversation.  If longer messages or more organized presentation of the messaging is needed, emails are preferred.

Alton suggests that the changes in communication relate to many other changes making the workplace less formal, such as flexible hours, relaxed dress codes, and more casual environments.  Those of us who learned to diagram sentences probably expected an 8 to 5 job (assuming we actually ended our day at 5 p.m.), we probably would never have considered wearing jeans to an office job or  a classroom, and our workplace was very unlikely to have yoga classes and gyms.

Since May of 2017, when Alton wrote his article, the popularity of Twitter has grown. According to an article by Paul Gil, "it provides a stream of quick updates from friends, family, scholars, news journalists, and experts."  People are using Twitter as a marketing tool, and President Trump sends multiple tweets most days, preferring that method of communication to the formal addresses to the nation and the opportunities to answer questions from the press in the manner of past presidents.

How we communicate is changing, and it is unlikely that the more formal means of communication that offered time for reflection and editing our thoughts before they were sent may be disappearing, or at least, may be reserved for particular communications.  Yet, should we pause to consider whether we are losing something important in the neglect of how we use words?  Are we becoming more careless and less reflective as we send our words out into the world, are our ideas less considered, do we weigh our words less before we express our thoughts, and have we determined whether our best ideas are necessarily the first things that pop into our heads?  Even our electronic devices sometimes ask us whether we are really ready to hit send.

Maybe diagraming sentences is old-fashioned, but when we become sloppy about how we express ourselves, we may be misunderstood.  Or worse, we may be understood for having said something we wish we had considered a bit longer before we hit "Send."

Who Told You That?

Edward R. Morrow, W.W. II Correspondent

Am I the only one who remembers coming home from school with some bit of information I had learned from a classmate, and when I repeated what I had been told, my parent would say, "Who told you that?!"  It was good training...especially for a future lawyer and author.  An appropriate balance of skepticism is good for all of us.

It is what our founding fathers understood when they recognized the need for a free press in order for a democracy to survive.  But let me return to my childhood memories.  Sometimes the source of my information wasn't very accurate.  Sometimes it was a bit of misinformation given intentionally to fool me.  Sometimes it was honestly given by someone mistaken.  Sometimes it came from a trust-worthy source.  I find that life is still like that.  As the old saying goes, "Consider the Source."

Nellie Bly

When I am standing in the grocery store line and I see a tabloid with a story about some movie star and his alleged romances, do I assume the headlines are true?  No!  Might they be?  Maybe.  If we know that certain tabloids exaggerate and distort the truth, why are they allowed to continue publishing lies and misrepresentations?  Because we have decided censorship is a more dangerous risk to society than the likelihood that educated, intelligent people will believe utter nonsense.  The legal remedy is for the person who is slandered to take action against the newspaper, but a more obvious remedy is the public's responsibility to stop buying tabloids that they know are publishing nonsense.  Reputable newspapers employing professional reporters and writers to bring Americans the news are facing declining subscriptions, while tabloids who titillate rather than investigate seem to be surviving.  Shouldn't we remember what our parents taught us and ask, "Who told you that?" and  "Consider the source!"

Professional news reporters work hard to check their sources, seek corroboration of multiple sources, and, as the Code of Ethics of the American Society of Newspaper Editors says:  "Thus journalism demands of its practitioners not only industry and knowledge but also the pursuit of a standard of integrity proportionate to the journalist's singular obligation.  (See prior 2 weeks' blogs below, if you missed them.)

Freedom of the press is not just important to democracy, it is democracy.  Walter Cronkite

Detroit Free Press Front Page

Last week I mentioned that even in Isaac Werner's time, the lengths to which news gathers would go to document a story was often impressive.  Nellie Bly (1864-1922) was the pen name of an American journalist named Elizabeth Jane Cochran.  In 1887, in order to investigate reports of brutality and neglect of women confined to a Lunatic Asylum, she faked her own insanity to gain admission.  Once inside, she was given spoiled food and filthy water, was tied with rope to other patients, was exposed to frigid bathwater, rats and abusive nurses along with the other women.  She even discovered women who were locked in the asylum despite being as sane as she was.  Her report, not only published in the newspaper but later as the book Ten Days in a Mad House, exposed those abuses, and that brave investigative reporter and her newspaper brought about changes.  

Whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subduing the freeness of speech.  Benjamin Franklin

William G. Giggart (1947-2001) was the son of an American officer stationed in Germany at the time of his birth.  He began his own career as a commercial photographer, but his interest in news led him to photojournalism in 1985, and he covered international events in such places as Israel, Northern Ireland, and the Fall of the Berlin Wall.  Therefore, it is not surprising that he was taking street-view photographs at the World Trade Center's North Tower when it collapsed.  When his remains were discovered in the debris, a bag containing his cameras and a flash card with his last photographs were beside him.  His photographs document the final moments of that event.  Pictures by Giggart and other photographers who took the images on many front pages and television broadcasts allowed all Americans to see what devastation had been done in New York City that day.

Our liberty depends on freedom of the press.  Thomas Jefferson

James Foley, Photo: Nicole Tung

James Foley (1973-2014) was the oldest of five children, born in New Hampshire.  He graduated from Marquette University, from the MFA Program for Poets & Writers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism.  He began his career as a teacher but changed to pursue journalism, and that decision took him to Afghanistan and Libya, where he witnessed the killing of fellow photojournalist Anton Hammerl.  He was himself held prisoner with three others for 44 days.  Although he returned home, his belief that "front line journalism is important [without which] we can't tell the world how bad it might be," led him to return to cover the Syrian Civil War.  He was captured and beheaded by ISIL.  His mother posted the following:  "We have never been prouder of our son Jim. He gave his life trying to expose the world to the suffering of the Syrian people."

Wherever despotism abounds, the sources of public information are the first to be brought under its control.  Where ever the cause of liberty is making its way, one of its highest accomplishments is the guarantee of the freedom of the press.  Calvin Coolidge

Watching news reporters jostle and shout questions at politicians and others often seems like an undignified and offensive exercise of freedom, but as Justice Hugo Black said, "The Government's power to censor the press was abolished so that the press would remain forever free to censure the Government.  The press was protected so that it could bare the secrets of government and inform the people.  Only a free and unrestrained press can effectively expose deception in government."

Civilian Casualties from W.W. I

The Statistics Portal represents itself as assembling statistics and studies from more than 22,500 sources, and their site includes a chart showing the number of journalists killed worldwide from 1995-2017.  It should be understood that the chart does not indicate the cause of death, and many journalists are serving in very dangerous parts of the world.  However, it is worth recognizing that however they died, they were there doing the job of collecting news.  A sampling at five year intervals shows 64 deaths in 1995, 32 in 2000, 64 in 2005, 58 in 2010, 81 in 2015, and 50 in the final year of the chart.  The lowest figure was 23 in 1998, and the highest figures were 85 in 2006, 88 in 2007, and 87 in 2012.  Like James Foley, these news gathers put their lives in harms way so that we could know what was going on in the world.  These statistics do not tell us their names, their ages, nor their gender, and even if we cannot know why they chose to do what they did, we can respect them for being our eyes to world events.  

Freedom of conscience, of education, of speech, of assembly are among the very fundamentals of democracy and all of them would be nullified should freedom of the press ever be successfully challenged.  Franklin D. Roosevelt

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

Early History of Access to News

Boston, Thursday Sept. 25th, 1690, Printer, Benjamin Harris

When the Founding Fathers spoke of the importance of protecting the Peoples' access to news, they were probably thinking in terms of broadsheets and newspapers.  The early newspapers in the Colonies were quite simple, perhaps only broadsheets, published as a sideline by printers.  Broadsheets are defined as "A large piece of paper printed with information on one side only," the sort of thing we might call a poster. a handbill, or a placard.  The term continues in the present day to refer to a newspaper with a large format, also used to describe a tabloid or a news-sheet.

Publick Occurrences is considered one of the earliest, if not the earliest, newspaper published in the British North American Colonies, for it was four pages long and promised monthly publication.  Boston residents loved it, but the British authorities did not.  British law provided that "no person keep any printing-press for printing, nor any book, pamphlet or other matter whatsoever [without] especial leave and license first obtained."  Harris had not obtained that permission, and British authorities banned further publication and seized and destroyed every copy they could find.  The one copy that is known to have survived is preserved in the British Library.

The meaning of Hamilton's argument in last week's blog, saying there was no need to expressly protect something that could already freely be done, is better understood in the context of what happened to Benjamin Harris' newspaper.  Since Harris did not get permission to publish, his newspapers were destroyed.  Hamilton was saying that since no permission was required in the new nation being formed, there was no need to protect the free publication of newspapers.  Of course, our founding fathers decided differently, and the 1st Amendment does protect a free press.

The Publishing of broadsheets and newspapers did continue under British rule of the colonies, particularly by merchants.  What was called a "partisan press" also developed, in which biased support for political parties or platforms were published. In 1734 when the satirical attacks by a man named Zenger so angered the British governor that he sued Zenger for criminal libel, the jury acquitted Zenger.  By the close of the colonial period there were 24 weekly newspapers in the 13 colonies, and satirical attacks on the government were common practice.

Benjamin Franklin's older brother, James was the first to publish a newspaper superior in quality to the unprofessional news sheets that preceeded James Franklin's New-England Courant.  The style and format drew heavily on The Spectator, a British publication.

The new nation brought with it creation of  newspapers clearly aligned with particular political parties.  The parties threw vulgar insults back and forth.  For example, when Federalist Alexander Hamilton convinced Noah Webster to edit a Federalist newspaper, the Jeffersonian Republicans called Webster "a pusillanimous, half-begotten, self-dubbed patriot", and "incurable lunatic", and "a deceitful newsmonger...Pedagogue and Quack", "a traitor to the cause of Federalism", and "a great fool, and a barefaced liar."

The reality that the animosity in print got so far out of bounds seemed to show  almost everyone changes were needed.  The newspapers of the Revolution became a unifying force, stressing the common purpose to come together and see the war with  Britain to a successful outcome.  Unfortunately, old political differences were behind the passage of the 1798 Alien Sedition laws by Federalists for the purpose of stifling what they regarded as libels by editors with whom they disagreed.  The tactic backfired, and public opinion shifted away from the Federalists and toward the Jeffersonian Republicans.

Newspaper growth in the young nation

This blog is not intended to be a complete study of the evolution of a free press in America, but rather it is intended to show that the process was not always tidy.  Gradually, the editorials shifted from the use of pseudonyms and unsigned editorials and articles, toward a willingness to stand behind what they wrote.  The "Penny Press" made newspapers more affordable, and the number of newspapers grew.  Specialized journalism expanded, with foreign language newspapers for new immigrants, and other targeted groups including religious, educational, agricultural and commercial newspapers.

As settlers headed West, small town newspapers flourished, often politically aligned with a particular party.  Isaac B. Werner was part of this movement, and his county seat of St. John, had two popular weekly  newspapers-the Populist County Capital  and the Republican St. John News.

An era of Yellow Journalism

The late 1800s were also an era of "Yellow Journalism," during which time news was often sensationalized to increase circulation.  The drawing at left, done by Frederic Remington, was published by William Randolph Hearst's newspaper as part of the effort to stir momentum for war with Spain in Cuba.  Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer were accused of "war mongering" with sensational "Yellow Journalism" in their news and images.  In a time before camera journalists, artists could misrepresent events, and today the ability to manipulate images is even more sophisticated and concerning.

It was also a period in which investigative reporters exposed social injustices.  One particularly noteworthy case was the female reporter, Nellie Bly, who contrived to be admitted into a mental facility in order to describe factually the mistreatment of those admitted, for legitimate mental illness but also falsely admitted by vengeful guardians and relatives or admitted for temporary conditions and refused release after recovery.  Her expose, Ten Days in a Mad-House, exposed the desperate need for reform.  Without a free press, those abuses might have gone unnoticed or intentionally ignored.

By the 1900s newspapers had grown to the extent where they seemed like an invincible force for delivering news.  As described in last week's blog, editors and responsible journalists saw the need for professional standards of integrity, and they formed the American Society of Newspaper Editors.  Nearly every family subscribed to at least one daily newspaper, and legendary family owned newspapers became a sort of American Royalty.  The wealth and power of American newspapers seemed fixed.

In 1970 there were 1,748 daily newspapers in the United States.  By 1980 there had been a slight decrease, but in 1990 the number had dropped to 1,611, dropping to 1,480 by 2000.  The decline slowed, even ticking upward in between 2012 and 2013, but the decline plunged downward until in 2016 there were only 1,286 daily newspapers in the United States.  Although I do not have the numbers, I suspect the number of daily newspapers has continued to decline sharply.

From 256,800 employees in the newspaper industry in the United States in March of 2010, there has been a gradual reduction of employees until March of 2016 there were 183,200.  The unfortunate reality is that even large newspapers have cut the number of reporters actively engaged in searching out the news.  More reliance on use of the Associated Press means less insistent independent digging for the facts.  

The 1st Amendment may protect a free press, but what it takes for newspapers to seek out the truth in an increasingly complex world doesn't come for free.

Remember, you can click on images to enlarge them.

Getting the News Right

Cartoon from the County Capital during the Populist Era

More than a decade ago, when I was doing research for a book, I was speaking to a man whose family was dealing with one of the issues covered in my manuscript.  During the interview I commented something like this: 'With such an important health issue, I just can't understand how so few people are aware of it.'  He replied:  'Every morning it is as if a big truck backed up to your front door and dumped its entire load of important news on your front step.  You just can't be informed about everything.'  I may not remember the words exactly, but the imagery of his answer has stayed with me since then.  That was before so much of our news was spread by the internet and smart phones.  Most of us still subscribed to daily newspapers.  We watched the evening news on one of the main channels, delivered by news anchors we trusted, on programs that lasted 30 minutes.

How different it is today.  Those imaginary trucks are backing up to our door step all day and night, dumping information from sources about which we know very little.  Cookies and algorithms track and modify what we see and hear, and we have no idea about the education, experience, bias, and motives of those who spread information.

I have had friends tell me that all of this bombardment of news is so overwhelming that they have just tuned everything out.  But, how can we be informed if we do not acquire information from somewhere.

On March 23, 2017 I posted a blog titled Freedom of Speech and Accurate News that provided some history about past efforts to insure that Americans received fair and balanced news on radio and television through what was called The Fairness Doctrine.  The Federal Communication Commission (FCC) abolished that doctrine in 1987.  You might want to read that blog post again to refresh your memory concerning that history.

In No. 84 of the Federalist Papers, Alexander Hamilton, in arguing against a Bill of Rights, asked,  "Why, for instance, should it be said, that the liberty of the press shall not be restrained, when no power is given by which restrictions may be imposed."  Ultimately, the nation chose to have a Bill of Rights, in which freedom of the press is a specific protection.  Yet, scholars still argue exactly what it means.

If you are curious to find the answer in Supreme Court cases, there are two cases you might want to read.  Near v. Minnesota, decided in 1931, held that "A Minnesota law that imposed permanent injunctions against the publication of newspapers with 'malicious, scandalous, and defamatory' content violated the 1st Amendment."  In 1964, New York Times Co. v. Sullivan held that "A newspaper can be held liable for making false defamatory statements about the official conduct of a public official only if the statements were made with knowing or reckless disregard for the truth."  While those cases are important, newspapers are no longer our primary source of news.

Across America major newspapers have ceased operation, turned to  online publication only, reduced publication to three days a week, sold far below past value, or announced approaching closing dates.  Even the storied New York Times and the Washington Post have been forced to make drastic economic choices.

In 1774, the First Continental Congress recognized the importance of a free press as essential to:  "...the  advancement of truth, science, morality and arts in general..."  As for its importance to the manner in which a government conducts itself, they advocated the importance of:  "...its ready communication of thoughts between subjects [citizens], and its consequential promotion of union among them, whereby oppressive officers are shamed or intimidated into more honorable and just modes of conducting affairs."  Yet today the press seems more capable of agitating citizens than assisting in bringing citizens together to promote just and honorable conduct by those elected to do the people's business.

Is that the fault of the press or is it the fault of those consumers of the news they produce?  Are we seeking news sources that inform us or do we prefer that our preexisting opinions be affirmed?  In October of 1922 the American Society of Newspaper Editors was formed to demand of their fellow practitioners "...not only industry and knowledge but also the pursuit of a standard of integrity proportionate to the journalist's singular obligation."  In order to "preserve, protect and strengthen the bond of trust and respect between American journalists and the American people," the ANSE stated six ethical and professional obligations of their profession, quoted in part below.

1.  "...to serve the general welfare by informing the people and enabling them to make judgments on the issues of the time..."

2.  "Freedom of the press belongs to the people.  It must be defended against encroachment or assault from any quarter, public or private."

3.  "Journalists must avoid impropriety and the appearance of impropriety as well as any conflict of interest or the appearance of conflict."

4.  "Every effort must be made to assure that the news content is accurate, free from bias and in context, and that all sides are presented fairly.  Editorials, analytical articles and commentary should be held to the same standards of accuracy..."

5. Sound practice "...demands  clear distinction for the reader between news reports and opinion...clearly identified."

6.  "Journalists should respect the rights of people involved in the news, observe the common standards of decency and stand accountable to the public for the fairness and accuracy of their news reports.  ...Pledges of confidentiality...must be honored at all costs, and therefore should not be given lightly."  The full statement of principles can be found at the ASNE website.

Distrust of the news is nothing new, as the political cartoon from the County Capital published in St. John, Kansas during the populist movement  clearly indicates.  None of us likes to hear news with which we disagree, but we are not well served to ignore the news or to discount everything that fails to align with our opinions.  Applying the ANSE standards to the sources of news we follow is a good test of how well they are serving the public's need to be accurately informed.

    

Fairy Rings

Recently, a friend posted pictures of fairy rings on her face book page.  No, not that kind.  The kind that show up as a ring of toadstools in your lawn when there has been adequate moisture.

Actually, they are a fungal lawn disease, but doesn't it sound nicer to call them fairy rings?  They may appear as a ring of toadstools, but they may also appear as rings of deep green, lush grass with areas of dead or yellowed grass between the rings.  Eventually the dead or yellowed grass will result in circular rings of bare soil.

Marsha's mushrooms

Fairy rings are caused by certain types of fungi which form threads that become so densely packed that the lawn is starved for both water and nutrients.  Because I love fairy tales and the many wonderful illustrations of fairies hiding beneath mushrooms or toadstools, or sitting atop them, I confess that I enjoy seeing the fairy rings--just not in our lawn.

They are actually a serious problem and difficult to eradicate if they get started in a lawn.  It is even recommended to mow any fungal infected area separately from the rest of the lawn and to collect the clippings and burn them, as they may contain fungal spores that can spread to other parts of your yard.

Our fairy ring last summer

 Last summer we discovered a large fairy ring, but there were no mushrooms or toadstools.  It simply looked as if fairies had danced all night, enough to wear away all the grass and leave only their dancing circle.  At any rate, that seems to me a much more pleasant way to observe this unusual phenomenon than recognizing it as a fungus.  Because it was far from the house and not in our lawn, we did not treat the area with a fungicide, and it did return this summer, in a less distinct way.

  As long as the fungus does not spread to our lawn, I actually enjoy seeing it.  I guess some people never grow old enough to stop enjoying a belief in fairies.

Thank you for sharing your photograph, Marsha!

Playing Dress-up

Isaac Werner wrote in his journal about dressing up for a special Farmers' Alliance Meeting, and that made me think of the changes from decade to decade in fashion rules.  As I often do in preparing these blogs, I went to the internet in search of fashion rules for both men and women.  Since this blog was inspired by Isaac's fashion sense, I'll start with my visit to RMRS/Real Men Real Style.  (I've put an asterisk beside Isaac's fashion judgement dressing up for a farmers' meeting.)

1.  Care about your appearance.*  (He occasionally shaved...)

2.  Be aware of the menswear that came before yours.

3.  Know that sometimes you'll be the best-dressed man in the room.*  (He must have known that, since he went to all of the meetings.)

4.  Realize that "rules" are there for a reason, even if they can sometimes be broken.*  

5.  A good fit should always be your first priority when purchasing new clothing.

6.  Avoid temporary trends and fluctuations of fashion.*  (It was the first time he had dressed up since arriving in Kansas ten years earlier!)

7.  Treat your clothing like an investment, and shop slowly but smart.*  (He did buy a rain slicker for making long potato-selling trips, but he didn't mention any other clothing shopping.)

8.  Make excuses to wear the good stuff, instead of letting it get dusty in the closet.*  (Or, in his case, a trunk.)

9.  Dress appropriately, whether that means dressing up or dressing down.  (Well, it was a special meeting, and he was a speaker.)

10. Expand your wardrobe with clothes that work together, not standalone pieces.

The photo at the top of the page was taken about 1950 of three cousins playing dress-up one Sunday after church, wearing their mothers' hats, purses, and shoes.  All three of us felt very grownup, assuming that when we were grown ladies we would also wear dresses, gloves and heels with a hat when we went to church.  Here is the advice I found for ladies at one website regarding current church wear.  "Women are suggested to wear a skirt that is below the knee, cardigans or nice khakis with no shoulder or back visible.  Stay away from low-cut or clingy outfits as they can be offending in such places."  No mention of gloves or hats!

Fancy Nancy series, Glasser ill., O'Connor author

I was inspired to write this blog after reading an essay by Jane O'Connor in the New York Times, announcing her retirement of the Fancy Nancy series.  The character of Nancy loves uncommon words, and she likes to dress everything up, especially with her signature accessory of a boa.  Imagine!--A book series that inspires young girls to write letters to the author like this one:  "I like Fancy Nancy and the fancy words because I'm unconventional too (that's fancy for different)."  Or, this one:  "Some days when I feel gloomy (that's fancy for sad), I read one of your books and automatically it cheers me up."  Obviously, I'm all for books that make girls want to expand their vocabularies and appreciate the significance of what they choose to wear.  Bravo to O'Connor and to illustrator Robin Preiss Glasser who won the 6th annual Children's Choice Book Awards 2013 Illustrator of the Year when more than a million kids voted for her.  Helping children to love reading and to learn to use words appropriately is worth cheering.

Am I the only one who has noticed how often I see little girls dressed adorably and appropriately when their mother has chosen jeans for the occasion?  According to many of the fashion websites I consulted, women can choose jeans for many occasions.  Apparently young daughters see those events as requiring a dress, even when their mothers prefer trendy jeans.

Women do care about fashion, based on the number of websites offering fashion advice for women and the apparent interest in what Meghan Markle is wearing!  One bit of fashion advice for women seems to make good sense to me--"Dress for the occasion"--but I struggle to decipher exactly what fashion experts regard as too elaborate or too casual.  

Worn-out or Fashionable

A couple of years ago, my husband threw a pair of my favorite jeans in with a load of wash he was doing for his jeans, and mine somehow got tangled around the ringer and were torn in several places in the process of freeing them.  Last week I found them folded on the back of a shelf, and when I unfolded them they looked fashion ready!  I had saved them to wear when I was painting and needed something I wouldn't mind ruining if they got paint on them.  Obviously, I'm out of touch with fashion trends.

Does anyone else remember coming home from school and immediately changing into 'play clothes,' which were actually former school clothes that were too faded or worn to continue wearing to school?  Recycling is not a new concept for those of us familiar with hand-me-downs and play clothes.

As a bachelor, Isaac had to mend his own clothing, and he mentioned borrowing a sewing machine from a neighbor.  He didn't indicate what he was planning to sew.  Although he never mentions darning his socks, I suspect that he did quite a bit of mending in those thrifty times.

I'm not sure how the conversation came up during an office visit with our investment advisor, but my husband mentioned that I darn his socks.  The man is considerably younger than we are, and he looked at us with a blank expression.  "Darn?" he said.  "You know, when you get a hole in the toe or heel of your sock and you need to darn it," my husband explained.  The younger man's expression didn't change.  "She mends it," my husband said, adding,  "Sometimes I've done it myself."  "Why don't you just throw those socks away and buy new ones?" he asked.  "Well, I really like those socks," was my husband's reply.

I learned to darn in my 4-H sewing class.  I was taught to use a light bulb to spread the area of the sock and then carefully weave through the worn area of the sock to build up a web of stitches to reinforce the area without making an uncomfortable lump in the sock.  Among my mother-in-law's sewing notions that I inherited was an egg-shaped stone form which I believe is a darning egg.  Notice the indentations at the larger end of the egg, presumably created by needles repeatedly being poked into the egg.  Also in the picture is a burned-out light bulb which I use for darning.  I keep both of them in the labeled tin shown in the photograph.  It's a good thing I saved that light blub, since the newer blubs lack that shape.

Times change.  Styles change.  What is considered thrifty and what is deemed wasteful change.

Certain standards should never change.  Honesty.  Integrity.  Respect.  And, books that teach children the delight of language.  And just maybe, learning how to darn a sock! 

The Importance of Weather

Every day, Isaac B. Werner recorded the weather in his journal--the temperature, the rainfall, the condition of his crops.  As a farmer, he followed the markets, relying on trips to town or reports from neighbors, having no radio, television, or internet to check for the latest reports.  Neither did he have a local weather man or woman to advise him of projected changes in the weather nor NOAA to warn him of approaching severe weather.

What he did have, however, were folk sayings and a keen sense of observation with which to make his own weather predictions.  "Red sky in the morning, sailors take warning."  He learned the signs of his region and was constantly alert.  After seeing his first tornado, like a sock hanging down from the clouds, he became more watchful of cloud formations like the ones from which the sock-shape had developed, better understanding what had preceded the tornado that touched down and darkened with the dirt it carried upward as he watched. He consulted his journal entries to observe weather patterns from year to year, and bought the pamphlets containing not only weather predictions but also solar and lunar events.  He also corresponded with Professor Shelton at Kansas State College, Director of the first Experimental Station, and he subscribed to farming journals.

Today we have so many sources of information, and most important is the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, founded October 3, 1970 by President Richard Nixon within the Department of Commerce.  In the words of President Nixon, by bringing earlier scientific agencies within the government together, it would provide "better protection of life and property from natural hazards  ...for a better understanding of the total environment...[and] for exploration and development leading to the intelligent use of our marine resources."  The need for such information and intelligent use of resources was recognized early, and agencies to achieve those goals were among some of the oldest in our federal government, for example:  United States Coast and Geodetic Survey, 1807; Weather Bureau of the United States, 1870; Bureau of Commercial Fisheries (research fleet) 1871; Coast and Geodetic Survey Corps, 1917.   

The breadth of essential responsibilities under the umbrella of NOAA is remarkable and, I suspect, largely under appreciated by most of us.  At a cost of about $3 per person, the following services exist:  Weather Service; Ocean Service; Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service; Marine Fisheries Service; Oceanic and Atmospheric Research; Marine and Aviation Operations; Geodetic Survey; Integrated Drought Information System; NOAA Commissioned Corps; and Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Walt Whitman

Walt Whitman (1819-1892), who was living throughout Isaac Werner's entire life, wrote in his book Specimen Days under the heading 'Nature And Democracy--Mortality', "American Democracy, in its myriad personalities, in factories, work-shops, stores, offices--through the dense streets and houses of cities, and all their manifold sophisticated life--must either be fibred, vitalized, by regular contact with out-door light and air and growths, farm-scenes, animals, fields, trees, birds, sun-warmth and free skies, or it will morbidly dwindle and pale.  We cannot have grand races of mechanics, work people, and commonalty, (the only specific purpose of America,) on any less terms."  

During a very dry season, when farmers desperately needed rain, I was in the local Wal-Mart when a woman came running into the store, proclaiming loudly in disgust to everyone close enough to hear, "I just got my hair done and this rain is spoiling it."  The economy of our community is based almost entirely on agriculture and ranching, and whether this woman lived in town or not, her family's livelihood was probably dependent on farms and ranches surrounding the town.  Yet, she seemed unaware of the need for the rain she found so unwanted because it spoiled her freshly styled hair.

Whitman was right.  Isaac Werner and those early settlers knew the importance of those things under the umbrella of NOAA today, but those who have lived their lives in cities may forget how essential all of that is.  Perhaps even some of us who live in the country may fail to reflect on the importance of all the interconnected responsibilities "for a better understanding of the total environment" as described by President Nixon.  The flooding and wildfires may be making more Americans aware of that.

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

History and the Economy

As this blog has always made clear, the things that fascinate me about history are the lessons history has for the present.  I believe that sharing the story of Isaac Werner, his community, and their connection with the Populist Movement of their time has lessons for our own time.  The trick is, of course, understanding how to apply those lessons.

This blog post contains cartoons published in the County Capital in St. John, the newspaper to which Isaac subscribed.  Remember, you can click on the images to enlarge them.  

King Grover with Boodle and Wall Street

Then, as now, sometimes politics causes all of us to avoid conversations with each other, and I hope you don't stop reading because you think I am about to express political opinions.  I'm not.  The three men I quote in this post are not politicians, and what they are urging is the importance of getting politics out of the way to solve issues important to all of us--issues that were important to Isaac's generation and which never seem to go away.

An article published July 18, 2018 in USA Today reported on a meeting at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. at which Former Fed Chairman Ben Bernake and former Treasury Secretaries Henry Paulson and Timothy Geithner spoke to reporters.  They focused on the reforms enacted in the wake of the banking and housing meltdown in 2008, a financial situation inherited by the new, incoming administration, which came dangerously close to collapsing the global economic system and bringing America down with everyone else.

That history is only a decade ago, but as I grow older I realize that what seems recent to me is ancient history to a significant part of the population, and how short some of our memories are!  One of the concerns expressed by these three men was whether today's political climate would allow the bipartisan action that confronted the economic crisis in 2008.

Politics and the economy were a divisive combination in Isaac Werner's time as well, as the political cartoons from the 1890s show.  The issues printed on the steps leading up to the "Throne of Plutocracy" in the cartoon above describe some of the same issues of today.

The point the three men sought to make in their press conference was that the current drop in unemployment and other positive economic trends should not create such a sense of economic security that we ignore long term issues. 

"Today, when we are growing, this is the time when we need to deal with some of the persistent structural issues that are going to determine our long-term economic competitiveness," Paulson said.  "We have the fiscal deficit, dealing with immigration, the income disparity and what automation and globalization are doing to wages.  They need to deal with all those."

Reading the USA Today article I could not help but compare the issues portrayed in the old cartoons with the issues concerning Bernanke, Paulson, and Geithner, men who are not politicians and who served under Republicans and Democrats.

In the above cartoon, notice what is in threat of being submerged by the Wave of Prosperity, as Uncle Sam waves a sign reading "Wanted:  Competent sailors to run this craft."  The weight of "Public Debt" overloads the "Ship of State," and foundering in the water are "Labor," "Farms," and "Factories."

As this blog has often said, we can avoid mistakes if we learn from history.  The challenge always remains, however, just how to interpret those lessons.

P.S. Another Stone Bridge

Thank you to Donna Bryan Whitehill, who shared this photograph of her grandfather and two other men atop the Trail Creek Bridge north of Denmark, Kansas not far from the bridge I featured in this week's blog.  She knows he helped build this one and believes he helped build the double arch bridge featured this week.  Not many stone bridges in the sandy loan country where I was raised and Isaac B. Werner staked his claims, but our ancestors used what they had available, and what beautiful bridges those men in north central Kansas built with the available limestone.

Be sure to scroll down to read this week's blog about the South Fork Spillman Creek Double Arch Bridge.

Trail Creek Bridge, north of Denmark, Kansas

Landmark Kansas Bridge

Sign for Spillman Creek Double Arch Bridge

On our return from Red Cloud, Nebraska following the Willa Cather Conference, we decided to travel a new route which took us through rolling pasture land and post rock country, made especially beautiful by the lush green grass of spring.  Not far from Sylvan Grove in Lincoln County on Highway 181, we saw a sign for a historic bridge.  Eager to get home, we almost passed on by, but we are glad we took the time to explore this special place.  

When we pulled off the highway we headed to the gazebo to read some of the information there.  Unfortunately, the tree limbs and undergrowth along the South Fork of Spillman Creek below the gazebo obscure any view of the bridge.  We nearly gave up on seeing the native limestone used by settlers to create the double arch bridge.  However, when we crossed to the other side there was a mowed area that allowed a view of the bridge.

The water level was low, so the base of the two separate arched openings could be seen.  The semicircles that allow the passage of water under the bridge are 20' and 24' in diameter.

My internet research after returning home offers conflicting information about the date of construction.  Online Highways states construction in 1908 under the supervision of John Edward Beverly, using limestone rocks quarried in the hills southwest of the site, which date is consistent with the sign at the site.  One thing that is certain after seeing it is its architectural beauty.

Modifications were made to accommodate wider vehicles, and concrete, later asphalt, surfacing were added, but it was only in 1993 that the sharp curve of the old road resulted in a relocation and a new bridge.

In doing the research for this blog I found a quote from the August 6, 1891 Lincoln Republican (KS) newspaper, describing a creek-side gathering:  "There was a good crowd at the Emancipation Picnic Tuesday but they were there for fun, and did not care for speaking...the dance, swing, ice cream stand, etc. were so attractive that it was impossible to secure the attention of a sufficient number [to] justify the orators..."  I can almost picture a small crowd gathered to enjoy the shade in a spot along the creek much like where I stood to take the photographs for this blog.

 I was intrigued about the picnic and found that about 60 or 70 black settlers formed a community in western Lincoln County, which gradually disappeared as a result of people moving on and those remaining no longer living.  Perhaps the date of the newspaper article I found is an indication of that community at its peak.

As for the reason that brought them together, it dates to the Emancipation Proclamation signed by President Lincoln on January 1, 1863, which is still celebrated in some states, although the dates differ.  Florida celebrates on May 20th, the date of the first reading of the Proclamation in that state.  Mississippi celebrates "Eighth o' May," and Kentucky celebrates August 8th in Paducah and Russellville, because slaves in that region did not learn of the Proclamation until that date in 1865. Texas celebrates "Juneteenth" on June 19th when the news reached Texas.  

The District of Columbia celebrates April 16th, marking Lincoln's signing of the District of Columbia Compensated Emancipation Act on that date in 1862.  In 2005 it was made an official public holiday in the District.

As for Kansas, Atchison once was the center of a celebration on September 22 recognizing the date of Lincoln's Preliminary Proclamation in 1862.  However, the city of Hutchinson documents Black residents as early as 1889 celebrating the occasion on January 1st to honor Lincoln's Proclamation signing in 1863.  More recently, Hutchinson has scheduled the celebration in August, which is consistent with the newspaper date of August 6, 1891 in Lincoln County, KS.  In a few days, the  2018 celebration in Hutchinson will be held August 2-5, with a full schedule of events.  To see the schedule you may visit www.travelks.com/event/hutchinson-emancipation-day-celebration/17163/ .

Was there ever an Emancipation Picnic near the site of the Spillman Creek Double Arch Limestone Bridge?  I don't know, but it was a great place for us to take a break on our drive home from Red Cloud and would have been a perfect spot for a picnic!

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