I recently stumbled across a historical blog whose post reduced me to tears of mirth. Literally, I laughed out loud and scared my dogs. The post was titled “The Support Group For People Unfairly Maligned In Historical Fiction” and it was one of the most hilarious tongue-in-cheek takedowns of semi-historical fiction I have ever read.… Read more How to make Edward II funny!
When Andrea Constand filed a civil suit in March 2005 her “lawyers said they found 13 Jane Doe witnesses with similar stories.” Because Constand’s suit was settled in November 2006 the Jane Does didn’t have a chance to speak in court. That is more than a dozen women who said Bill Cosby raped them, too.… Read more Bill Cosby’s Many Victims
I was looking for something scary to post for Halloween when I saw that the criminal investigation of the teenaged gang rapists from New Zealand known as the Roast Busters, “a group of young men in West Auckland who picked up girls (most of whom were underage, some as young as 13), gave them alcohol,… Read more A Real Horror Story
First, if you are not in Sierra Leone or Liberia and/or you are not a health worker treating Ebola cases then your chances of catching the Ebola virus are exceedingly slim. So please stop panicking. The hysteria over Ebola isn’t helping. Having been in high school during the 1980’s, it reminds me a lot of… Read more Greed, Ebola, and “Lives Worth Saving”
Recently, a relatively wealthy woman wrote to Dear Prudence to whine that she has to give candy to poor kids. Here is the letter: Dear Prudence, I live in one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in the country, but on one of the more “modest” streets—mostly doctors and lawyers and family business owners. (A few blocks… Read more The Grinch That Stole Trick-or-Treating
This is not a post about how young women, or even girls, are encouraged to be “sexy” on Halloween by revealing the absolute maximum of flesh and turning themselves into fetish objects. Nope. This is a post to simply acknowledge just how far costume manufactures will go to make a “sexy” costume. Behold! It is… Read more “Sexy” Halloween Costumes
Today is the first day of autumn (in the Northern Hemisphere), and it feels like it here in Bloomington, Indiana. The trees have about 1%-5% of their leaves with at least a tinge of color, and it’s sunny but cool. It’s one of those days that feels so perfect (to me) that it could have… Read more Happy Fall Equinox!
Yesterday I got an email from Dr. Laura Vivanco, in regards to my article on Teedie Roosevelt. She is an amazing researcher and a fabulous (albeit exacting) editor. I’ve had the privilege of collaborating with her and I have immense respect for her opinions. Thus, I got her permission to share extracts from it with… Read more Yes, Teedie Roosevelt Had Feet of Clay
I loved reading Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House books as a child. Then when my girls were old enough, I started to read the series to them and discovered that I had to edit the crap out of the lavish racism lest my daughters burst into tears with horror. Which then inspired me to ponder the… Read more The Real Little House
Protesters in Ferguson (including plenty of white folks who aren’t being shown as much on the news because white people shouting out for racial justice isn’t as titillating as ‘scary’ black people doing it) are protesting because they are angry. They are angry about racial inequality. They are angry because all too often black men/boys… Read more No Justice, No Peace