Sophie & Daffodils & Writing

Over the years, I've planted daffodils--all kinds--all over our backyard. This year the first to bloom are at the edge of our "woods." Sophie and Linda are headed to pick a blossom for Sophie to take home. Later we were coloring together & she spontaneously said:
Sophie: I don't want to be a writer.
Grammy: Why?
Sophie: Because they write all the time.
For me, this was a particularly interesting exchange because Sophie's school (she's in kindergarten at a NYC public school) uses a writing program in which during the writing period students' real names aren't used; instead they're called "Writers." In my classes at Queens College (long before Sophie started school), I've questioned that practice for several reasons: it erases student's individual identity, it collapses the art and skill of becoming a writer into a generic label, and it conflates/confuses the task of learning the life skill of writing with the decision to be a writer when you grow up--while that decision is optional, the task is not.
So what did I do?? Oh, wow, I thought, now what do I say? (while simultaneously thinking--this is evidence for my critique). Then I said,
G: But you don't have to be a writer, you just need to be Sophie who can write.
S: Oh.
G: Do you still want to be a veterinarian?
S: Yes.
G: So you don't have to worry about having to write all the time. But you do have to write when you go to school to learn how to be a vet, and when you write How-To books about taking care of animals (Sophie had written a how-to book last week on "How to put children to bed). And you love to illustrate stories, right?
S: Yes.
G: So that's another reason to write, to write stories for your pictures.
S: Oh.

Making up a Story

On Thur--our Sophie/Grammy Day--Sophie wanted to go to the American Museum of Natural History. Although there wasn't much time,--I pick her up from kindergarten at P.S. 153 at 4 pm & the museum closes at 5:45--off we went. Having gone many times, including taking Planet Classes, she's a pro at getting around (Over the years, I've gone a gazillion times, but am definitely not so skilled!) & we had a great time. We exited to discover it was raining & cold & on the trek to where we had parked, we exchanged this dialogue:
Sophie: My feet hurt.
Grammy: Mine too
Sophie: My toes hurt.
Grammy: Mine too
Grammy: Sophie, are you thinking that it would be good idea for someone to carry you to the car?
Sophie: Yes
Grammy: Well, you’ve grown so tall, I’m not sure I could carry you all that way. Besides, you’re the granddaughter and I’m the grandmother and I read somewhere that granddaughters are suppose to carry grandmothers.
Sophie: Where did you read that?
Grammy: “Oh, I don’t know somewhere in a story.
Sophie: a long pause then: Grammy, I think that’s a story that you’re writing right now.
Grammy: with a delighted laugh: Sophie, you're right--that's just what I'm doing!
She laughed too & in no time we arrived at the car.

Heads-Up for Earth Hour and Women's History

My lifelong friend Mary Dalrymple Putnam just emailed me this heads-up: "Have you heard or read about Earth Hour set for tomorrow evening? People everywhere are asked to turn out their lights at 8:30 for an hour. I thought Sophie would like this. Another exciting activity is The Globe at Night. www.globe.gov/globeatnight explains the project based on views of Orion that one can report." Check out Earth Hour at www.earthhour.org

My women's history colleague and dear friend, Margaret Crocco, Chair, Department of Arts & Humanities, Teachers College, Columbia, University, sent me a link to an interesting interview with the editor of a book, The Evolution of American Women's Studies: Reflections on Triumphs, Controversies, and Change, in which she has a chapter: http://www.insidehighered.com Margaret is also a co-editor of the new & invaluable book, Clio in the Classroom: A Guide for Teaching U.S. Women's History.

Rosie the Riveter

On March 23, 2009, I presented the keynote address, Rosie the Riveter: Women Working on the Home Front in World War II, at the New Jersey State Federation of Women's Club of GFWC's 101st Public Affairs Day. Two women war workers were in the audience--Ruth Siuta, who did what was called an "essential civilian" job at the Air Force Base in Rome, New York, and Rosalie Cutitta, a riveter who worked on bomber planes like the B-17 Flying Fortress and the Grumman Avenger at the Fleetwings Plant in Bristol, Pennsylvania. Despite suffering hearing damage, Rosalie says she would do it again. Here's a video clip of her comments, including her story about driving across the Delaware River on the Burlington-Bristol Bridge from her home in New Jersey to the factory in Pennsylvania. Ruth Siuta is at the left in the video. On the right is, Anne H. Redlus, president of the New Jersey Federation, who organized the marvelous event. Rosalie and Ruth received a standing ovation from the appreciative audience.

Sister Rosetta Tharpe

A couple of years, David and Crystal, gave me the Shout, Sister, Shout!, the biography of Sister Rosetta Tharpe, an extraordinary musician everyone-who-loves-gospel- rhythm- blues- rock-and-roll should know about (and I didn't).
Yesterday on my way to the airport to pick up Linda, (who had been at a research conference in New Orleans), I heard a terrific piece about Tharpe; on what would have been her 94th birthday, a group of fans raised the money to buy a headstone for her grave. The link is http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=102167126
There are many videos on the internet of her performing; check out her powerful voice, dazzling guitar playing and exuberant style.

Spring, etc.

A lovely coating of snow greeted me this morning--the first day of Spring; happily my snowdrops and crocuses held their blossoms high!

This post is a potpourri: in addition to Happy Spring to all, I want to tell you about a blog I recently discovered, "Ms. Yingling Reads: One librarian's attempt to read all the Young Adult Literature in the world and shoot her mouth off about it." On March 3, she reviewed Thanksgiving: The True Story, which is why I happened to find her blog. I read more of her reviews & liked her insights and voice. Here's the link: http://msyinglingreads.blogspot.com/2009/03/wednesday.html (Scroll down to the pic of Thanksgiving.

Re my last post about my daughter-in-law Sarah Jones, if you google "Michelle Obama + Sarah Jones," you'll find a cool pic and articles about MO's women's history day in Washington, DC.

Celebrating Women's History

Tomorrow Sarah Jones, my daughter-in-law and Tony award winning star of "Bridge and Tunnel" is celebrating women's history by having breakfast with Michelle Obama and 20 other women, spending the day doing events for girls in DC schools, and performing at a dinner at the White House. For more about Sarah go to: http://www.sarahjonesonline.com/ My son Steve emailed me the update. He's a poet and a star of the Tony award winning show "Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry Jam on Broadway." All of the events are for school girls and women from the Obama administration and other celebs, so, although Steve's going with Sarah, he says that he will be "watching from the front gate."
As for me tomorrow, I'm doing my "Celebrating Women" multimedia presentation at the FDIC (yup, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation) in the morning, then racing to Queens College to teach. On Thursday, I speak at the United States Mint in Philadelphia (yup, the money-making place). If you're wondering why??--it's because Women's History Month is designated by Congress therefore federal agencies, including the military, need to schedule programs; thus they sometimes contact me, which means I've gone to many interesting places to share my passion for women's history!

Before Rosa Parks, There Was Claudette Colvin

Sunday morning, I was half-listening to NPR while reading the newspaper when the lead to a segment titled "Before Rosa Parks, There Was Claudette Colvin" snagged my full attention. Having written about Claudette Colvin in my book Girls: A History of Growing Up Female, I abandoned the paper and turned up the volume on the radio. Do check it out--it's a terrific segment with excerpts from an interview with Colvin, a 69-year-old retiree who lives in the Bronx. Phillip Hoose talks about his new biography Claudette Colvin for teenagers. (I'm going to discuss the book with my classes next week.) David Garrow, a historian of the Civil Rights movement, welcomes the visibility of Colvin's role because "the real reality of the movement was often young people and often more than 50 percent women." Here's the link to the NPR piece: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=101719889

Link from Charlotte

My dear friend Charlotte Bennett Schoen, an indispensable member of the city council in Englewood, NJ, just sent me this link to the Jewish Women's Archives, which "is launching a series of podcasts of Jewish women recalling "ah-ha" moments that catalyzed their social activism, political activism, or work as religious innovators." I checked it out http://jwa.org/discover/throughtheyear/march/activism and heard Bernice Stern recall taking a stand to condemn racial prejudice against African-American soldiers serving in World War II; Anita Weinstein talk about her advocacy for women on campus; Lynn Amowitz remember overt discrimination during her graduation from medical school; and Idit Klein recall the moment when as a four-year-old she asked her great aunt about the blue numbers on her arm. The podcasts are a few minutes, a transcript and photo of each woman are included.

Sophie's Pussy Willow

This evening, during a phone conversation with Sophie, I discovered that she thought that the pussy willow she had planted last year had died during the winter. (See 3/25/08 for a pic of Sophie planting it.) So, out I went to check on the pussy willow and happily discovered the first catkins. I emailed this photo to Sophie & thought that you all would like to see that Spring is on its way in NJ, despite our recent snowstorm.

To the Library

What Darwin Saw: The Journey That Changed the World by Rosalyn Schanzer (National Geographic, 2009) In her Author's Note, Schanzer tells readers that she "loved everything about making this book." She traveled & took over 3,000 pictures and did "reading, reading, and more reading." Her decision to use "a graphic novel layout with lots of diagonals" resulted in a book replete with her illustrations--as many as 10 separate images (some realistic, many cartoonish) on a two-page spread--many quotes (some in quote bubbles) and her own minimalist text. Abridged quotes from Darwin's various writings appear in brown type, quotes from everyone else are orange, and the author's text is black (that hard-to-find information is provided on the title page in a bird's dialogue bubbles). To make sense of everything, I had to skim, read, and reread the book. Soliciting other opinions, I showed it to Linda Hickson, special education professor, Teachers College, Columbia University; Sue Kirch, science educator, New York University; and the graduate students in two of my classes (“Issues in Children’s Literature” and “Nonfiction Literature for Children” ) at Queens College; to a person they agreed that the format was overwhelming; so much so that it limited the appeal and/or usefulness of the book. If you do decide to teach with the book, here are some sequential suggestions: brief students about Darwin and his importance; underscore the fact that the book features his journey on a ship, the H.M.S. Beagle; explain why that journey is important; examine the map in the end matter; read the black text (author's narrative) all the way through (before scrutinizing the illustrations and quotes); read the information in the bird bubble on the title page. Also my graduate students noted some advanced vocabulary words; so have a dictionary handed. If you have comments, please feel free to add them.

Women's History

Presidential Proclamation on Women's History Month
Obama pays tribute to women who helped preserve, protect the environment
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
March 3, 2009
WOMEN'S HISTORY MONTH, 2009
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
A PROCLAMATION
With passion and courage, women have taught us that when we band together to advocate for our highest ideals, we can advance our common well-being and strengthen the fabric of our Nation. Each year during Women's History Month, we remember and celebrate women from all walks of life who have shaped this great Nation. This year, in accordance with the theme, "Women Taking the Lead to Save our Planet," we pay particular tribute to the efforts of women in preserving and protecting the environment for present and future generations.
Ellen Swallow Richards is known to have been the first woman in the United States to be accepted at a scientific school. She graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1873 and went on to become a prominent chemist. In 1887, she conducted a survey of water quality in Massachusetts. This study, the first of its kind in America, led to the Nation's first state water-quality standards.
Women have also taken the lead throughout our history in preserving our natural environment. In 1900, Maria Sanford led the Minnesota Federation of Women's Groups in their efforts to protect forestland near the Mississippi River, which eventually became the Chippewa National Forest, the first Congressionally mandated national forest. Marjory Stoneman Douglas dedicated her life to protecting and restoring the Florida Everglades. Her book, The Everglades: Rivers of Grass, published in 1947, led to the preservation of the Everglades as a National Park. She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1993.
Rachel Carson brought even greater attention to the environment by exposing the dangers of certain pesticides to the environment and to human health. Her landmark 1962 book, Silent Spring, was fiercely criticized for its unconventional perspective. As early as 1963, however, President Kennedy acknowledged its importance and appointed a panel to investigate the book's findings. Silent Spring has emerged as a seminal work in environmental studies. Carson was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom posthumously in 1980.
Grace Thorpe, another leading environmental advocate, also connected environmental protection with human well-being by emphasizing the vulnerability of certain populations to environmental hazards. In 1992, she launched a successful campaign to organize Native Americans t o oppose the storage of nuclear waste on their reservations, which she said contradicted Native American principles of stewardship of the earth. She also proposed that America invest in alternative energy sources such as hydroelectricity, solar power, and wind power.
These women helped protect our environment and our people while challenging the status quo and breaking social barriers. Their achievements inspired generations of American women and men not only to save our planet, but also to overcome obstacles and pursue their interests and talents. They join a long and proud history of American women leaders, and this month we honor the contributions of all women to our Nation.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim March 2009 as Women's History Month. I call upon all our citizens to observe this month with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities that honor the history, accomplishments, and contributions of American women.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this third day of March, in the year of our Lord two thousand nine, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-third.

BARACK OBAMA

For more information and to buy the poster go to: www.nwhp.org

Rosie the Riveter

Last night I gave my Rosie the Riveter PowerPoint speech to a terrific audience. Marilyn Hindenlang brought the Certification of Commendation that the Navy awarded to her mother when she worked at Grumman. Her mother's name--I. F. Norton --is on the certificate and she received it on September 2, 1945 (my first birthday!). The "I" is for Irene and the F is for Florence. Norton was her married name; she started work with her original last name--Kacinski. Thank you to Marilyn for sharing this important document; workers at only 5% of all defense factories earned this commendation. Her husband kindly scanned it and made a pdf file and a copy for me.
During the Q & A, a feisty woman said that didn't like the fact that "Rosie the Riveter" became the catch-all phrase during the war for women workers. "It was that song," she said. "It overshadowed the fact that lots of us were doing other things--I operated a lathe machine and then a press and other machines!" At which point, everyone spontaneously applauded her. "Thank you for your service," someone called out! Yes, thank you.
This was my first PowerPoint in which I inserted video clips from WWII propaganda films aimed at recruiting housewives--happily they worked beautifully & added another dimension to the story.

Sophie/Grammy Day

Before Sophie and I went to the museum, she excitedly showed me the flower on the pumpkin seed we planted last Halloween when 3 generations--Sophie; her mother Katrin; her grandmother Ille, who was visiting from her home in Zurich, Switzerland; and I got together to carve a pumpkin. I had never scraped out the flesh of the pumpkin (we just remove the seeds), which, I learned, was Katrin's family tradition. So we scraped and scraped and reaped two benefits: the candle light illuminated the entire pumpkin and Ille turned the pumpkin scrapings into delicious soup!!! For sure, that's a tradition I've adopted! I'll keep you posted re the progress of Sophie's pumpkin plant.

Sophie/Grammy Day

It's Tues morning I'm listening to Beethoven's violin concerto, the snow is piled high outside my basement window, I'm about to dive into Stirring and my phone rings--it's Sophie calling to say she'd like to go to the museum with the space ship, which I guess is the Liberty Science Museum . . . here's the scoop, according to her mother: she had a fever yesterday (NYC schools closed for snow day) and wasn't totally up to par this morning so Kat kept her home, but by mid-morning she was fine and raring to go and wanting to call me for an adventure, so she did.
Although writing, teaching, speaking keeps me working all the time, I've got flexibility, especially on Tuesday (except on the 17th when I'm booked for two speeches) & I embrace spontaneity--so off I go to pick up Sophie!!!!

National Women's History Month

My dear friend, Sue Kirch, a science educator at New York University, shared a large part of her weekend digitizing my World War II propaganda films--"Glamour Girls of 1943," "The Hidden Army," and an oral history, "Good Work, Sisters"--and teaching me how to make clips in IMovie on my Mac to use in my PowerPoint presentations, "Rosie the Riveter" and "Celebrating Women." I'm psyched to be able to share this very cool material with my audiences, which will include former women war workers! So I'm off and running for National Women's History Month--of course, women's history is a 365 day affair around here, but my speaking schedule ramps up in March.

Throughout the month, I'll be posting photographs from my twenty years worth of road trips in search of monuments, markers, and memorials to women.
Another twenty year milestone is the anniversary of the Boston Women's Heritage Trail, a project that was sparked by a young girl who interrupted a field trip on Boston's Freedom Trail to ask: "Where are the women?" Check out their terrific web site at: www.bwht.org Order their guidebook with seven self-guided walks throughout Boston neighborhoods. It's a must have if you live in or around Boston, or visit; if you don't, it's an excellent model for setting up walks in other communities. Their newest trail is "Boston Women & the Law. To receive their newsletter, send your email to sara@bwht.org.
Celebrate Women!

To the Library for nonfiction books

I, 2, 3, Go (Henry Holt, 2000) written and illustrated by Huy Voun Lee, who was born in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, and moved to the U.S. in 1975. A simple introduction to 21 characters in the written language of China. The numbers (1-10) and words (catch, stomp, hit, push, carry, pull, tiptoe, jump, kick, run, go)-- are presented on double spread pages with energetic, bold illustrations of children demonstrating the characters, e.g. "eight" and "jump" has a stop-action illustration of eight girls and boys jumping. I love Author's Notes, and Huy Voun Lee's is informative and helpfully placed at the beginning of her unpaged picture book. I'll see what Sophie thinks of this book tomorrow. Gettysbury; A Graphic Novel, caught my eye as I was leaving the library with my stack of books; so I grabbed it and returned to the checkout counter. (I've been curious about graphic nonfiction ever since the concept appeared in the last book contract I signed.) I skimmed through it with mild interest; the blue lettering and images are effective (note: there are graphic depictions of dead soldiers). His series of illustrations for Lincoln's words will delight progressive readers and are/could be a springboard for interesting discussions. I reread it with great interest after I got to the end and discovered Butzer's excellent Author's Note in which he describes each frame and gives the source for quotes and information. If you decide to check out this book, read the Author's Note first! Butzer includes women and for more check out "Women at the Battle of Gettysburg: Understanding the Civil War from a Different Perspective," an excellent presentation (there's a link to a video on YouTube with more links to interesting videos) by historian Jane Peters Estes at the Camden County Historical Society at http://historiccamdencounty.com/ccnews111.shtml

On Writing and Music

I was just writing chapter 22 of Stirring Up The World and listening to a recording of Beethoven's Concerto for Piano No. 5 in E Flat, Op 73 and had to stop--it was soooooo beautiful! On Friday we saw "33 Variations," a play in previews written and directed by Moises Kaufman, at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre (a wonderful space). It's about Beethoven's Diabelli Variations and a dying musicologist's quest to discover why Beethoven wrote them. There's also a mother/daughter plot line, plus a romance, etc. We went because I love Beethoven's music, Linda loves the theater, we were both curious to see Jane Fonda, at the age of 71, who plays Dr. Katherine Brandt. We were captivated--fast-paced complex, but clear and engaging (and funny at times) script; terrific cast; clever staging and set design; gorgeous music. There were times I wished I had a replay button, especially the scene when Zach Grenier as Beethoven stands alone, center front, and "composes" one of the variations as the pianist, Diane Walsh, plays it--intensely and intricately coordinated--took my breath away!

"Women Making America"

Check out Women Making America a fabulous new book by my dear friends Heidi Hemming and Julie Hemming Savage. This is a page-turning comprehensive, chocked-full of prints and photographs, clearly and compelling written book--a must have for readers of all ages. Suggestions for book groups and teachers are at www.womenmakingamerica.com

Today, Sat., Feb. 21st, The Washington Post printed a letter to the editor from Heidi and Julie critiquing the "idea that it is men who make history and women who help them." Their issue was with a caption the Post published on 2/19 for a photograph of "Thurgood Marshall and some of the Little Rock Nine on the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court" in which the the woman standing beside Marshall was identified as the teenagers' "chaperone." To which Heidi and Julie responded, "It doesn't seem like too much to ask that women be recognized as co-participants in historical events. . . . Chaperone? The woman is Daisy Bates, who recruited the young people who made the stand at Little Rock Central High School . . . . According to Ernest Green, the first black graduate of Little Rock High, 'Daisy Bates was the poster child of black resistance. She was a quarterback, the coach. We were the players.'"
For some reason, I can't directly link to their letter, but you can search for it at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com

To the Library for nonfiction books

Today I wandered through the stacks of the Queens College library juvenile children section. A title caught my eye--Built to Last: Building America's Amazing Bridges, Dams, Tunnels, and Skyscrapers by George Sullivan (NY: Scholastic, 2005). It's longer--12 inches--than high--nine inches which allows for two-page vertical spreads (24 inches!) of picture e.g. the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco and the Flatiron Building in New York. I checked it out because I wanted to read about the Hoosac Tunnel (Susan B. Anthony went sightsighting there during its construction in the 1850s), the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel, which I've driven over/under several times,; and the U.S. Interstate Highway System, which over which I've travelled gazillion million, etc. (And why do we pick book? 1. we connect with the topic.) Sullivan organized the book into 4 time periods: The Early Republic 1790-1850; Invention and Discovery 1850-1910; Hard Times 1920-1940; A Golden Age 1950-1965; Megaprojects 1990-Present and described 17 projects. It's amply illustrated with full color and black and white photographs. The text is clearly written and engaging. Sullivan is adept at weaving in relevant context and interesing details. NOTE: he fails at writing inclusive history 101; e.g. he completely ignore Emily Roebling's indispensable role--memorialized on a plaque attached to the Brooklyn Tower--in taking over after her husband Washington suffered two attacks of the bends and was paralyzed.
She only appears as having been "given the honor of being the first to ride over the bridge." This is an inexcusable lapse on the part of the author and editors at Scholastic in a book published in 2005.
For my taste the page design has too many elements--thin and wide vertical lines of different colors that divide this from that--looks to me as if the designer was trying to simulate/evoke architectural structures. The title of each structure appears in a multicolored oval that must--at least for me--be consciously overridden in order to focus on the texts. This is a book that I would read for my enjoyment, also talk-read with Sophie, i.e. pick and choose from the text and caption to read aloud, who is interesting in bridges. (Her apartment building is beside the George Washington Bridge--one of our pending adventures is to walk across it.)

Books by the nonfiction poet and illustrator, Ruth Heller, are stacked high in my personal library. Yes, a nonfiction poet, i.e. she doesn't make up anything. I love her writing--great use of vocabulary--clever and bold--and her vivid illustrations. Heller died a few years ago, but left a legacy of words and images about animals, colors, grammar, flowers, etc. Over the years, teachers in my classes report that students love and remember Heller's first book, Chickens Aren't the Only Ones.