After my last Cleveland post, a friend asked if I would write something about the Ohio City War. “The what?” I thought I knew my hometown pretty well, but it turns out I knew squat.The origins of the “Bridge War” lie in Cleveland’s inherent schizophrenia. There are two sides of the city: west of the Read More
Category: Writing History
Writing History–Places
Not only is this post a day late because I was at a hockey tournament all day yesterday, but it’s another recycled post from the defunct blog, since I just got back from Florida and my work life is insane. I promise to be more original next time. ******* This week I am shoving aside Read More
The Queen of Ohio
As promised last time, today I will delve into the life of one of North America’s most notorious conwomen, Cassie Chadwick. Cassie L. Chadwick. Source: Wikipedia. There is quite a bit of confusion concerning the events in Cassie’s life–I read no fewer than four different accounts in the space of an hour last night–so I’ll Read More
Visiting my Hometown
This week I am starting a departure from all things English (gasp) to spend some time closer to home. I live in Cleveland, Ohio. I was born here, and have spent well over half my life here. Living in “the Mistake on the Lake,” especially during the 1970s , gave one a bit of an Read More
Weather and Other Curiosities
This is a recycled, and late (sorry), post from a group blog that is now defunct. But recycling is good for the planet, and it’s too damn cold to think of anything but how I wish I was somewhere where my car didn’t get stuck in the driveway, where I could venture outside without Arctic Read More
Mourning, Victorian Style
Recently I went to a DAR meeting (Yes, that is Daughters of the American Revolution, and I, with my distinctly un-blue blood, am a member). The wonderful speaker was from the Summit County Historical Society, and her presentation was on the Victorian Woman. She brought all kinds of artifacts from the Victorian era in the U.S., Read More
Technology in the Victorian Era
So a couple of months ago I sat in on my son’s 5th grade Science class. They were watching a documentary on the Apollo space program, called In the Shadow of the Moon. It occurred to me as I watched that I was the only one in the room who was alive during the first Read More
Sweeping Away the Cobwebs
Everyone who has either lived or worked with me knows that I am a slob. I would love to say that my house is an excellent example of organized chaos, but that would be a lie–it is simply chaos. The dishes are clean, the floor is generally swept, and although I am not a candidate Read More
Writing History: Trains
A week or two ago, I spent the better part of an afternoon attempting to find out what time a particular train left King’s Cross in 1866, and how much it cost to ride said train to Durham. I did find out–sort of–and added two sentences to my novel. So in honor of this tremendous Read More
Contest News!
Awhile back I gave you my musings on contests. I still agree with everything I said in that post, but now my perspective is slightly different. I mentioned that I entered three contests this past spring. In the first, which was NEORWA’s Cleveland Rocks Romance contest, I didn’t come close to being a finalist. However, Read More