It is the Red-White-and-Blue summer of 1976. I am five years old. My parents are—I believe—off somewhere sorting out the details of their looming divorce, while my grandmother, Polly, takes me and my brothers swimming at a lake somewhere in either North or East Texas. I am five, so the details are unclear. What is... Continue Reading →
Ada’s Diet: One Day in January 1879
From December 16, 1878 to January 14, 1879, Englishwoman Madame Ada Anderson walked 2,700 quarter miles in 2,700 quarter hours at Mozart Garden in Brooklyn, NY. As news spread of her extraordinary endurance walk, her fame as a pedestrienne grew. For those who weren’t able to attend the 28-day walk by the performer-turned-athlete, the newspapers of the day reported her... Continue Reading →
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Ten Books I Love (in the order which I encountered them)
1. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl When I read this book, I knew I wanted to be a writer. A delicious concoction of the sorrows and delights of life. 2. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee I love hard stories that are told sweetly. A perfect book. 3. Slaughterhouse-Five, or The Children’s Crusade,... Continue Reading →
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Lady Walkers Video: Champion Pedestrians, Daniel O’Leary and Frank Hart
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ab4cZOwnmGw
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Before the Lady Walkers: The Father of Modern Pedestrianism (video)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEBbw9DEGYQ
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Lady Walkers: Setting up the First Major Women’s Endurance Race, January 1876
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qg9PyaAIi50
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Late-20th-Century Selfie: Camping ’94
Spring Break 1994, Elsa and I went camping. This was our last spring break as students, since we were both completing our master's degrees in education that year. I had already started working as a long-term substitute teacher in the school district where Elsa and I had met and become friends in the late '80s.... Continue Reading →
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Late-20th-Century Selfie: Thanksgiving, late 90s
Some holidays are so much like all the other holidays that they run together with the other ones in a big holiday soup. It's difficult to distinguish one from the next. This late-20th-century selfie was not from one of those holidays. I'm posing here with my brother, Tracy. This was the Thanksgiving that my half-sister,... Continue Reading →
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Late-20th-Century Selfie: December 1989
Who doesn't love a Santa Selfie? I remember explaining to this particular Santa what I wanted to do because the term selfie didn't exist yet. "Can I take a picture of us together, but, you know the kind where someone holds the camera out like this, and the picture is just two big faces?"... Continue Reading →
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What to Do When Bears Return Unexpectedly From an Outing (a Poem)
We packed your bag today. I told you the stories of when I went to where you are going now. The deep, dark woods of life. I told you about the night I got cold and hungry and found a bears' house to sleep. About the time your uncle and I left breadcrumbs to the... Continue Reading →
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The Name of Woman
“I may yet be worthy of the name of woman, in the purist and noblest sense. Yes, I will be if resolution and perseverance can accomplish anything.” Alice Marshall Finch, May 1866 This is a line from my great-great grandmother’s journal. She was 18 or 19 when she wrote this and living near Richmond, Virginia.... Continue Reading →
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July 26, 2013–The Month of Words
It is the Baha'i month of Words, or Kalimat. I was pondering what I've done this month to be a reflection of the Word of God, the creative impetus of all life. I've been ingesting Words as I prepare for the play at the Mesquite Community Theatre, "All I Really Need to Know I Learned... Continue Reading →
C. Dawn McCallum 