This memoir was written by Elizabeth Keckley, a woman who purchased freedom for herself and her son before the Civil War, and who went on to become modiste and confidante to Mary Todd Lincoln. Over the last several years I've done quite a bit of reading about the Lincolns and am now working on a story about Mary that includes a scene or two with ( Read more... )

Last night, I needed to detox from a really emotionally stressful week, so I stayed home and watched TV with the cats. I watched "Forrest Gump" and the SNL 40th anniversary special, switching back and forth between channels. Here are some of the random thoughts that occurred.

( Thoughts on Forrest Gump, its actors and its historical context )

I slept in this morning (despite Zeke's best efforts to dislodge me from the bed), and had a fairly late breakfast. At around 1 PM, I met varina8 at the Museum of History and Industry because they were offering free admission--it's Free First Thursday, so it seemed like a great opportunity to explore the museum's new location (at South Lake Union) and ( Read more... )

Eleven years ago today, a little girl I didn't know at the time would ultimately be my niece was born to a woman who didn't know she'd be my sister-in-law. Today, that girl turns 11 and I couldn't be more delighted to be her aunt. She keeps telling us that she doesn't want to grow up, but in many ways, she's more grown up than she could know. I ( Read more... )

Last Tuesday night, I went out with varina8 to see The Monuments Men, the new George Clooney film set toward the end of World War II about the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives program, created to scout and save artworks, structures and archives of cultural or historical importance from theft or destruction. The movie itself hasn't gotten very good ( Read more... )

Today on Facebook, a penny-smashing friend of mine told me that she remembers how upset I was today 12 years ago. She remembers my posting the smashed-penny email list about the events of the day. It reminded me of the editorial I wrote for TEC News, the elongated coin club newsletter I was editing at the time. I used it for the issue of the ( Read more... )

September 9 was my tenth anniversary on LiveJournal. I intend to write about these last ten years at some point very soon ( Read more... )

When in Amsterdam, I visited Anne Frank House as one does, and while I was there I picked up a copy of the book. Astonishingly, I'd never actually read the book, though I knew the story and have seen the play. It seemed like it was time. What I picked up was "Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl--The Definitive Edition," so called because up until ( Read more... )

This morning in his excellent Link Salad, jaylake pointed to a New York Times article about the Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago completing their dictionary of Demotic, the language of the common people of ancient Egypt. It was an excellent piece. But about three-quarters of the way through, the author talks about how Demotic reveals more ( Read more... )

Books: Yesterday I finally finished reading The Life of Elizabeth I by Alison Weir, a detailed, almost novelistic biography of Henry VIII's daughter. The depth and breadth of Weir's research is remarkable (as has been true of all of her work that I've read), and the narrative very engaging. I was impressed by the day-to-day minutiae, the political ( Read more... )