Expanded website/new blog URL

For several months, we've been working hard & creatively, I hope, to add cool features and engaging images & content to my newly expanded website, which is now "live." In the process, we moved my blog to: www.pennycolman.com/blog
You can also access my blog at my website at: www.pennycolman.com

Thank you!

"Pioneering Women War Correspondents"

Milena Jovanovich recently produced "Pioneering Women War Correspondents," a short documentary based on my book, Where the Action Was: Women War Correspondents in World War II. I narrate the video, which includes dramatic historic footage. You can watch it at:
http://www.newswomensclubnewyork.com/

Elizabeth Cady Stanton & Susan B. Anthony

This morning I found an email from Molly Murphy MacGregor, Executive Director and Cofounder of the National Women's History Project (www.nwhp.org) asking for a description of my "wonderful book"--Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony: A Friendship that Changed the World. After sending it to her, I thought I should also post it here, along with two quotes that are on the back cover:

"Failure is impossible."
Susan B. Anthony

In the Spring of 1851 two women met on a street corner in Seneca Falls, New York—Elizabeth Cady Stanton, a thirty-five year old mother of four boys, and Susan B. Anthony, a thirty-one year old, unmarried, former school teacher. Immediately drawn to each other, they formed an everlasting and legendary friendship. Together they challenged entrenched beliefs, customs, and laws that oppressed women and spearheaded the fight to gain legal rights, including the right to vote despite fierce opposition, daunting conditions, scandalous entanglements and betrayal by their friends and allies.
Weaving events, quotations, personalities, and commentary into a page-turning narrative, Penny Colman tells this compelling story and vividly portrays the friendship between Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, a friendship that changed history.

"It is fifty-one years since we first met and we have been busy through every one of them, stirring up the world to recognize the rights of women."

Susan B. Anthony

"Nothing that Susan could say or do could break my friendship with her, and I know nothing could uproot her affection for me."

Elizabeth Cady Stanton

Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony

Hurrah! Here's the cover of my forthcoming book: Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony: A Friendship that Changed the World. It will be out in 2011.

Barnegat Bay: Goldenrod, Monarchs, and a Cloudless Sulphur

The Seaside Goldenrod is in bloom and the Monarch butterflies are migrating at the Jersey Shore. (I count nine in this photo.) Last weekend kayaking on Barnegat Bay, I spotted a Great Blue Heron, a Dunlin, Double-Crested Cormorants, Monarchs and smaller yellow butterflies. Wondering if a butterfly would land on my yellow kayak, I sat very still and very quiet . . . .and a yellow one did, probably a Cloudless Sulphur, just inches from my hand!

Women War Correspondents

Tonight the Newswomen's Club of New York is sponsoring an event, "War Correspondents, Reporting from the Frontline" with an impressive panel of women war correspondents: Edith M. Lederer, who began her career as a foreign correspondent in 1972, becoming the first woman assigned full-time to the AP staff reporting on the Vietnam War; Cami McCormick, a CBS news correspondent, who served nine tours embedded with U.S. troops in Iraq between 2003-2009, and was seriously injured in August 2009; and Gina Chon, who was based in Baghdad from 2007-2009 . Milena Jovanovitch, who had read and loved my book, Where the Action Was: Women War Correspondents in World War II, had contacted me this summer to be the expert in a short documentary she was making for the event. Tonight I get to see the result of the time I spent with her as she interviewed and filmed me. Recently Milena reported that the documentary also includes "great historical photos and archival video of wars, including World War I, a B-17 bombing run, Gen. MacArthur in Korea, along with other visuals such as copies of some of Sigrid Schultz's stories and the Life magazine with Margaret Bourke-White's B-17 photo shoot." I'm eager to see it and hear the panel!

Amazing coincidence

We were in Vermont on Sunday to bury my older brother Vin; an event that amazingly coincided with the first visit to the cemetery by a woman named Sue who had been close friends with my younger brother Jon, who had died at the age of 20 in 1966. It was a short friendship, a month or so in person & a year or so of writing letters, but one, she said with tears streaming down her face, that had "changed her life." Although I have no memory of writing to her about Jon's death, she said I did and she still has my letter; she also has all of Jon's letters.

When the service for Vin started, I motioned for Sue and Bill (her husband of eleven months) to join us. They stood slightly behind and off to the right of me in front of Jon's grave. It was quite amazing--beautiful, Linda said--to experience her quietly mourning for Jon, 44 years later.

As you can see, it was a gorgeous New England day. The headstones from left to right are: Vin, Dad, Jon.

Quirky epitaph

Since the mid-1990s, when I was writing and taking photographs for my book Corpses, Coffins, and Crypts: A History of Burial (I took many of the 130 photos), I have had an eye out for quirky epitaphs. Two days ago, I found this one in a cemetery in Vermont. (click on it for a larger image)

Catching up

Wow! Thanks to everyone who came to hear Jon Colman (www.colmanmusic.com)perform yesterday at the DUMBOArts Festival in Brooklyn. What a setting--Buzzito's beside the East River with a spectacular view of Manhattan on a beautiful day. I'll post some terrific video when I figure out how to do that.

I'm sorry to get behind on my blog posts, although the reason is forward moving, i.e., the page proofs arrived for Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony: A Friendship that Changed the World. Since this is the last time I get to make corrections or changes, I went into total obsessive mode for a couple of week, surfacing only to teach my class at Teachers College & pick up Sophie for an overnight, actually two overnights. There were stray commas from the copy editing stage to delete, facts to triple check, photos that somehow could mixed up in the production process, and a missing source that drove me crazy until I finally tracked it down! Anyhow I just got a grateful email from my editor re my "thoughtful and thorough job." I also scheduled my first book signing; it's at the Gerrit Smith Estate Historic Site in Peterboro, NY on August 27, 2010. Gerrit was ECS's cousin, and the father of Elizabeth Smith Miller, ECS's lifelong friend who is credited with introducing Bloomers.

Save the Date

Come if you can to Jon Colman Acoustic Show at the Dumbo Arts Festival--Fulton Landing, Sept 26, 1-2 p.m. www.colmanmusic.com
www.dumboartsfestival.com

Fun Time!

Wow! I turned 66 yesterday and had a fabulous celebration with my precious family! l-r: Linda, me, Katrin, Jonathan, Steve, Crystal, David, and, of course, Sophie! The band at Havana Central at the West End played a rousing salsa Happy Birthday accompanied by hearty singing, it seemed by most everyone in the restaurant & at the bar; in my youth I would have been under the table with embarrassment, but I'm so glad to be alive & loved that I went along with the fun of it all! (click to enlarge photo)

Sophie's back

Finally got some Shore time this summer--3 overnights with Sophie: we rode a rollercoaster (her idea) & laughed and laughed, dribbled a basketball, crocheted bracelets, and saw the fox! Returned home tonight to find an email from my editor with news that my forthcoming book, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony: A Friendship that Changed the World has an official publication date--May 10, 2011!! Hip, hip, hurrah!!!

Women's Equality Day

90 years ago on August 26th, women finally won the right to vote when the 19th Amendment became part of the U.S. Constitution. Established by Congress as Women's Equality Day, August 26th is a day to mark the long and fierce battle to win a right that in 2010 many people take for granted. The Territory of Wyoming granted women that right in 1869. In 1870, Louisa Gardner Swain, who lived in Laramie, was the first woman in Wyoming to cast her ballot. During our road trip to Yellowstone in May, Linda & I stopped in Laramie, to photograph this statue to Louise Swain.
Last year Sophie, Linda & I celebrated Women's Equality Day with a tour of Alva Belmont's mansion in Newport, RI, where Alva held suffrage fund raising events, much to the consternation of her conservative neighbors. This year we'll spend it at a barrier island off the coast of New Jersey, the home state of Alice Paul the fearless suffragist who was jailed & force fed as she led the final push to win the vote.

wildlife spottings and a book

I was transfixed by an array of zinnias in a formal garden at the New Jersey State Botanical Garden (yes, there is such a place in Ringwood State Forest located in the relatively unpopulated northwest part of the state) when a large, dark shape edged into my line of vision.
"Pets aren't allowed here," I thought as my brain sorted through breeds to match the shape. Just as I settled on "Afghan Hound . . . ," I heard Linda gasp--"Bear!" It was about 20 feet away and oblivious to us--what a thrill. A day later, we were walking along the beach to the end of Barnegat Peninsula in Island Beach State Park (one of my all-time favorite walks) when we got a good long look at a black & white shore bird with a long bright orange bill that we had never seen before. "That's an Oystercatcher," I said, having no idea where I got that name, except perhaps from the gazillion of books I've read with Sophie about animals and nature.
Driving out of the park, Linda shouted "Fox!" And there it was, close enough to the car to reach out and pet, which of course we didn't!
On our way home, we stopped at the Ben Franklin store stuffed with everything from trinkets to towels to toys to books. Holding a copy of a book, Linda exclaimed, "It was an Oystercatcher!" And there it was illustrated by Barbara Patrizzi on the cover of her book O is for Oystercatcher: A Book of Seaside ABCs. Delighted that I had somehow from somewhere retrieved that name, I bought the book, which is a beautiful book published by Down the Shore Publishing, a reminder of what readers give up when they limit themselves to Kindles & Nooks (which I'm not against, but there is something so special about the look, the feel of a carefully, lovingly written, illustrated, produced book.)

Sophie aboard the Research Vessel Oceanic on Long Island Sound about to release a whelk after it had been examined, measured and catalogued. (See previous post)

Sophie and Grammy Adventures

Thanks to those of you who have reminded me that it's been awhile since my last post. I've been juggling adventures with Sophie, who is now in Switzerland & two weeks in Crete with her European relatives until the end of August. Before she left, I took her on an activity-packed road trip, including, now that she is six, the "Whales Up Close" program at Mystic Aquarium with Kelly, a trainer, and a beluga whale named Keyla. First Kelly explained and with Keyla demonstrated training methods. We felt Keyla's melon (beluga whale's enlarged forehead where it produces a variety of vocalizations), gave her hand signals for different vocalizations, and patted her tongue (positive reinforcement, Kelly explained); from beginning to end it was an astonishing, amazing experience!
The following week, on a blistering hot day, we spent 2 1/2 hours on the Research Vessel Oceanic, a 40-foot trawler that does marine research on Long Island Sound. Sophie threw in a seine net, helped haul in a large net, sort through what the dredge brought up, catalogue all the marine life in the net and throw it--flounder, whelk, snails, crabs--back into the Sound. The crew/educators were terrific & the experience fascinating.

Terrific girls and Moms and women's history tour

Last Saturday I led a women's history tour in New York City with a terrific group of girls and their mothers! I had donated the tour as an item for the auction to raise money for Sophie's school and the Mom of a 7th grader made the winning bid. We met at Eleanor Roosevelt's statue at 72nd and Riverside Drive at noon on a very hot day. Three hours and several subway stops to visit sites, including Anna Hyatt Huntington's magnificent sculpture, Joan of Arc, and The Stanton, the apartment building where Elizabeth Cady Stanton died, we ended at 155th where this picture was taken by a willing dog walker. We're standing in front of the bronze doors at the American Academy of Arts and Letter, which are "Dedicated to the Memory of Mary E. Wilkins Freeman and the Women Writers of America."

I met a wonderful group of women yesterday when I spoke at the
Emmanuel Cancer Foundation's event, "A Classical English Afternoon Tea with a Splash of Generosity." Established in 1983, ECF provides free, in-home support for New Jersey's pediatric cancer patients and their families. Yesterday's event was to honor the mothers of children who have cancer. In recognition of the EFC Moms, I presented "Celebrating Women, Especially Mothers," in which I highlighted historic women, including Abigail Adams, Sacajawea, Sojourner Truth, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and their role as mothers. Rita Slatterly, an ECF volunteer who invited me to speak, took this picture. From l to r: Elsa Saucedo, an ECF Mom, me, Yanira Ceara, an ECF caseworker. The link to ECF is: www.emmanuelcancer.org.

Serendipitous Meeting and Churro Sheep

During our recent road trip through Wyoming, we serendipitously discovered Polly Hinds, a dynamic used bookseller & sheep rancher who introduced us to the Churro sheep. This morning I happened to hear an NPR piece on the Churro, "Sacred Sheep Revive Navajo Tradition, for Now." Here's my video of Polly & one of her Churros (the background noise is the sound of the Wyoming wind) & a link to the NPR piece
and the Navajo Sheep Project (the logo on Polly's Hat)www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=127797442 Note: The NPR story left out a critical piece of the story: it was the Navajo women who hide & tended to the Churro sheep in the canyons for forty years. The NPR story appears to give all the credit for their recovery to the male professor.
Here's a link to a great story about how Polly & her partner & their adventures:
http://www.newwest.net/city/article/mad_dog_and_the_pilgrim_booksellers/C101/L101/

Celebrating Women

Despite being in the throes of a systemic case of poison ivy (& I have no idea how I got it 'cause I'm really careful considering how allergic I am to it!!??), today I'm giving a speech, "Celebrating Women, Especially Mothers!" at the Emmanuel Cancer Foundation Benefit's English Tea. The invitation said that hats are optional & given the splotches on my face, perhaps I should wear one with a very broad brim!