I once fired a secretary because of an apostrophe. Honest. Now in fairness, at the time I was the director of a new science museum. It was important that all written communications come across as professional and meticulously accurate. Sadly, she had mailed form letters out numerous times with typos and mis-spellings, and, understanding herContinue reading “The Letter S that Changed History”
Category Archives: Uncategorized
Semaphore Towers
Ask most people when the era of rapid long-distance communication began, and they’ll tell you with the invention of the electric telegraph. That puts the date at 1844, when Samuel F. B. Morse sent the message “What hath God Wrought” from Washington to Baltimore and back. A mere seven years later, more than 20,000 milesContinue reading “Semaphore Towers”
Things I Do If My Writing Gets Stuck
There’s a wonderful movie called The Wife in which [alleged author] Jonathan Price locks [the real author] Glenn Close in the study until she has written some more pages. That would never work for me. Once I’m stuck, I’m stuck. But I know how to get myself unstuck. The key is to provide a distractionContinue reading “Things I Do If My Writing Gets Stuck”
The U.S.S Pennsylvania
Today is December 7, 2019, 78 years after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. I take this occasion for a bit of nautical history… There have been two battleships named U.S.S. Pennsylvania. The first Pennsylvania was a ship of the line (the term battleship was not yet in use) built in the Philadelphia Navy Yard.Continue reading “The U.S.S Pennsylvania”
Buffalo Bill Cody
One of the coolest museums I have visited recently is the Buffalo Bill Center of the West in Cody, WY. Cody was a Pony Express rider, a soldier in the Union army, a bison hunter, a scout during the Indian Wars, and a masterful showman. Whether you think of Buffalo Bill Cody as a heroContinue reading “Buffalo Bill Cody”
Why History Pendulum?
Why History Pendulum? The answer goes back fifty years. I had been a C+ student at Colgate University before I belatedly discovered history as the prism through which I would forever look at life. Actually, I found Doc Reading. Douglas K. Reading was the most colorful lecturer a 19-year-old could ever hope for. Except forContinue reading “Why History Pendulum?”
Cranfest in the Courtyard
Last Thursday, I attended a delightful concert at the Harwich Community Center. Cranfest in the Courtyard presented folk singer Zoe Mulford, an American currently living in Manchester, England. Besides her impeccable vocals and lovely guitar and banjo playing, three things were particularly relevant to me at this time in my life. I am currently tryingContinue reading “Cranfest in the Courtyard”
I Introduce Myself
I’ve enjoyed every profession I’ve had. Only my first job (teaching high school history in the 1970s) and my present one (writing a series of historical novels) relate directly to my training in college. Everything in between falls roughly in the “fake it ‘til you make it” category. In the early 1980s, with huge communityContinue reading “I Introduce Myself”
History Pendulum 