Famous Women You’ve Never Heard Of #4 – Melba Pattillo Beals

If you know about the Little Rock Nine and the events of 1957, then you already may know this famous woman. But I imagine that most Americans would not recognize the name of Melba Pattillo Beals.

In 1957,  Melba Pattillo was just fifteen, and she was one of nine young African-American students to integrate Little Rock High in Arkansas. Her story is told in her memoir, Warriors Don’t Cry.

At the end of the school year before, she raised her hand when her teacher at her all-black school asked if any students were interested in attending all-white Central High. Melba did not tell her mother, so it came as a shock when she was selected to attend Central High the next year.

The courage and cruelty that Melba writes about in her memoir is moving and personal. She was threatened with hanging, rape and violence, and people hurled words at her that no child – no person – should have to endure. Such hatred. People threw rocks through her windows at home, and her grandmother sat watch more than once with a shotgun poised for defense.

The Arkansas National Guard closed the doors of Central to the Nine, keeping them out, until Pres. Eisenhower ordered in federal troops of the 101st Airborne Division to enforce the desegragation orders. The situation was so tense and violent that each black student had their own soldier who guarded them against extreme violence, but who could not interfere when the students were called vile names and otherwise tormented. Thumbtacks were placed in seats, people walked on the back of Melba’s heels until they bled, she was tripped, and every day, every hour, was a battle.

Her story would be impressive and inspiring, regardless, but to realize how terribly young all of the Nine were – and to know that they changed the world – is awe-inspiring. Ms. Beals’s story is one that could give any teenager inspiration, strength and comfort, and one that can educate any adult about the price paid by those brave young students all throughout the country who desegragated schools in the 1950s.

All of us are in her debt, and those of the rest of the Little Rock Nine: Thelma Mothershed, Minnijean Brown, Jefferson Thomas, Terrence Roberts, Carlotta Walls, Gloria Ray, Ernest Green, and  Elizabeth Eckford.

© writingreading, 2009

Famous Women You’ve Never Heard Of #3 – Ruth Brown

Librarians are demure, quiet, old ladies with buns, right? Well, not exactly.

Although Ruth Brown fits much of the stereotype – a little bit frumpy, a single woman, plain in appearance – she took a stand for Civil Rights in her library in Bartlesville, Oklahoma in 1950 that cost her her job. What she did took courage and conviction. Her story is told in the book, The Dismissal of Miss Ruth Brown: Civil Rights, Censorship, and the American Library by Louise Robbins.

Don’t let the “library” aspect of this one throw you. It is full of intrigue, community infighting, passionate defenders of the status quo, persons willing to take great risks in an attempt to awaken a new social consciousness and justice among their fellow townspeople, class warfare, Red Scares, fabrication of evidence, issues over power and gender, and more. It is, in fact, a bit of a thriller.

Brown had been a librarian for many years in Bartlesville, leading a somewhat true-to-stereotype existence. But as the horrors of the Holocaust during WWII were revealed, she and other like-minded individuals formed the “Committee on the Practice of Democracy” to fight discrimination.

Bartlesville was very much a segregated city in the late 1940s. African-Americans were allowed to use the library and did not have to use a separate facility, but their use and access of materials was under different rules and conditions than white customers, at least prior to World War II.

But when Brown walked into a diner on night in 1950 with two African-American friends who were teachers, she crossed the racial line. The campaign to label her a subversive communist – and thus, oust her from her position, was underway. The American Legion, the D.A.R., and corporate magnates from Phillips Petroleum mounted an overwhelming effort to have her dismissed. She was accused of distributing “subversive” literature, although the books in question were actually recommended by the national professional library association as proper to have in a library, in order to represent a diversity of viewpoints on various subjects. One was even written during WWII when the Russians were our allies, but now it was labeled “subversive.”

Ruth Brown knew when she walked into that diner that day that her act would be provocative, and that her membership in the Committee on the Practice of Democracy could get her fired. She did it anyway.

As a single woman, she did not have much to fall back on after a job loss, personally or financially. She ended up leaving town of her own volition. But her cause was taken to the courts, the national library association made important innovations in their practices and policies, and even Hollywood got into the act. A few years after the actual events, her story was thinly fictionalized and turned into a movie called Storm Center. Hollywood had been through the mill with the House Un-American Activities Committee, and the producers saw in her story a reflection of their own.

One of the things I enjoyed most about this book, besides Ruth Brown’s story, is that it unveils so many aspects of American society that we are still struggling with today, particularly in recent years. “Terrorism” is the “new Communism” – and actions are taken today by our government and individuals in the name of “fighting terrorists” that 50 years ago, were used to defend America against the threat of communism. Although the events described in the book happened 50 years ago, much of it is very relevant to today. The book deals with issues of racial equality and justice, women’s power (or lack thereof), censorship, class and economic issues, and more.

Learn more about this brave woman, and be inspired! You’ll never think of librarians as “boring” again.

© writingreading, 2009

Page Smith’s Sweeping History

I’ve been meaning to write for sometime about Page Smith’s huge and sweeping multi-volume “A People’s History…” series.

First, let me say that I’ve only read one volume of this eight volume work. Each book is massive. Vol. 4, entitled The Nation Comes of Age: A People’s History of the Ante-Bellum Years weighs in at slightly more than 1000 pages. Umph!

But let me tell you why you should read it, or any of the other volumes in this series. Forget the boring history textbooks of high school or college. Smith’s work is both vast, and detailed. He covers all of the basic historical ground – politics, presidents, wars, economy, exploration and so on. But he also has fabulous chapters about cultural life – theatre, literature, religion, and more. He impressively combines narrative of larger historical events with eyewitness history, built from diaries, letters, newspapers, and other first hand sources. These first hand accounts breathe life into the old dusty facts that died in a history class long ago, and are now revived with vigor in Smith’s work.

Sure, it is a massive tome, and one that may take quite some time to read. But I found it interesting, educational, and a helpful way to quickly dig into specific subjects and areas of interest, even if I wasn’t interested in the whole thing.

However, I did have two small problems with it. One, is the lack of an index. This means if you happen to recall reading about something several hundred pages ago – but can’t recall which chapter, there’s no easy way to go back and find it. The second problem I have is a related one – and that is a complete lack of footnotes. The good news is that he is pretty good about including at least a general source citation within the text, like “So-n-So wrote in his diary…”, but I miss having the specifics.

© writingreading, 2009

Procrastination: Read, instead of Write

Yesterday a friend shared with me a writing quote that was very inspiring. It turned out it was from a book I have, but have not yet read. I’ve had to resist the temptation to go pull it off the shelf and start reading it.

One of the best ways I know to procrastinate on my writing – is to read about writing. How perfect! I can read about writing instead of doing it!

So far, I am managing OK to avoid this – probably because I’ve had a good run lately with my actual writing. I’m getting lots done and it is progressing well.

But Beware the Writing Book. It is procrastination poison in a candy-wrapped shell!

© writingreading, 2008

Grocery shopping was never this much fun!

What a hoot! One of the most hilarious books I’ve read recently has to be Hillary Carlip’s A la Cart: The Secret Lives of Grocery Shoppers.

OK, so it sounds weird – and it is – but what Carlip has done is to take abandoned shopping lists, and invented characters around them. But she goes it all one better, and dresses up as the characters she’s invented. Think: Tracey Ullman goes grocery shopping!

Carlip has written full biographies of her characters, but what really is the kicker is the photographs in this book. Take a look at her video to see some previews (warning: contains PG-13 material and some content may be mildly offensive.) Her transformations into the various characters are amazing (only 1 or 2 are not thoroughly convincing) and hilarious! Quirky, but cool!

© writingreading, 2008

A Unified Theory of the Web, & the World

Recently, I read Small Pieces Loosely Joined: A Unified Theory of the Web by David Weinberger. I don’t read tech stuff, or even technology and culture type books, hardly ever, but when I started blogging a few months ago, this title seemed particularly apt. Partly because it fits with the idea of a blog – each post being a “small piece” – “loosely joined” by theme on my blog – and likewise, it would apply to the blogosphere and web, by extension.

I found his book to be not only highly readable, but insightful and entertaining as well. An example of the latter and his sense of humor: spam is “annoyance marketing”.

He studies the web as a communication medium, and among other things, feels that the web is primarily a written universe. Not just written computer code, but written words. Contrary to Luddites’ views of the web being the death of literacy, Weinberger makes a convincing case that to the contrary, the web enables people to communicate. Not only that, but it enables them to communicate with people with shared common interests, regardless of geography, economic or social class, or other barriers that exist in the “real” world. The vision that Weinberger concludes with is a blissful universe made possible by the passion and self-fulfillment born of shared interests. He says it allows us all to connect with our truest nature.

“Everyone’s an expert” is another benefit to the web. We learn how to discern reliable voices through their persistence and the advice they give, like regular contributors to newsgroups and forums. So if in my off-time I enjoy helping others learn to navigate the new digital universe, I need not work for Microsoft or some other large software corporation – I can simply make my contributions through the web’s own forums.

One of the biggest points Weinberger makes is the social nature of the web. When this book was published in 2002, blogs were out there, but I don’t think they were quite the big thing they’ve become over the past few years. (I could be wrong about this, being new to the blogosphere myself), but I find much of what he talks about to be very applicable to what is called today “Web 2.0″ – with Facebook, myspace, and others.

Weinberger’s commentary ultimately goes beyond the Web, however. Because the Internet is so much a part of our daily life, much of what he writes about the Web is equally true about the World. Small Pieces Loosely Joined: A Unified Theory of the Web – is really a Unified Theory of the World, too. The case he makes is a promising one, full of optimism and hope.

© writingreading, 2008

Fact, Fiction, or something in between?

It’s odd how recently, over the past couple of weeks, I’ve encountered a number of things that have blurred the line between Fact and Fiction. I’ve encountered them often enough, that it seems like it is one of those “themes,” – where the universe is trying to tell me something – and like always, I’m pretty clueless about what that might be.

For starters, of course, there’s my writing group. There, the line between the two is deliberately blurred, with such intent that it is a ground rule. “Everything is assumed to be fiction” – even if it is not. Even if the author herself proclaims it to be fact. We still treat it as fiction. This is one area where I am used to the lines being blurred, and am comfortable with it that way. It serves its purpose within the group, and we all agree on the same “rules.” It works.

However, other things have popped up lately. A book that appears to be a WWII memoir – but when you read the fine print in the introduction, the author advises “treat this book as fiction.” The fact that there are photographs, battle reports, and other things which lend an air of authenticity to it make the author’s statement even more jolting. So – perhaps the maps and scenes shown are not of the fighting in France after all. Maybe they are from an Armed Forces Day mock battle instead. Who knows? This blurring in this particular case was alarming to me, because unless the reader slows down to take the time to read the disclaimer at the beginning, the book could easily pass as fact. And, to be truthful, it does seem like much of the book is factual, maybe even 80%. But because there is no clear “THIS CHAPTER IS FICTION” or “THIS CHAPTER IS FACT” notice, one never knows where the line is, so everything is suspect.

I encountered a similar situation maybe a month or so ago, as well. This time it was a made-up Civil War diary. Again, interspersed throughout were quotes from reliable historical sources, such as the Official Records and other works, and what also were probably legitimate excerpts from actual historical letters. Still, and again, the author said near the beginning, “I have fictionalized Joe’s (whatever the soldier’s name was) thoughts and feelings based upon my readings of what others wrote at the time.” or something like that. As one who reads and researches in Civil War history all of the time, not only did I feel cheated, but I had to dismiss in its entirety the entire book. That was truly disappointing, because until I had it in my hands where I could read and look at it closely, it had initially appeared to be a very valuable resource to my research. Instead, it was a waste of time, and I had to consider the entire work as totally unreliable.

I read mostly history, so that’s where I’ve encountered this situation the most, lately, although there have even been things in my casual reading where the line between fact and fiction has been deliberately questioned or blurred. As it relates to history, I’m not sure why people feel the need to insert fictionalization into situations where the “real” story has its own significance and worthiness. Someone writing about their own experiences during WWII, or an ancestor’s letters from the Civil War? What’s wrong with that? Is not the fact that the individuals served and wrote about their experiences sufficient? Why feel the need to embellish?

Perhaps such hybrid works are entertaining to read. Maybe they have their appeal to people who read W.E.B. Griffin or other historical novelists. But for someone who is looking for “true” accounts of historic events, they are worthless, since the reader never knows what is fact or what is fiction.

Remember a while back the outcry over the “fake” memoir by James Frey? And why was there such an uproar? Because it was embellished, more fiction than fact.

Just as we have the term “docu-drama” in TV, when a true story is taken and embellished for “dramatic effect” – so too, do we need a new term for these written works which mixup the previously separate worlds of non-fiction and fiction. Perhaps the terms “factual fiction” or maybe more accurately, “fictional fact” might be in order.

I am grateful, however, that at least the first two authors that I mentioned had the courtesy to inform their readers that fiction had entered their stories, though one had to read the front matter closely to catch this distinction. Mr. Frey, in contrast, did not admit his fictionalization until he was exposed. So it seems there are varying degrees even to this matter.

Reader beware. What passes for truth – or even one individual’s perception of the truth – may be nothing but a fabrication.

© writingreading, 2008

Reading Julia Alvarez

I thought I’d write today about Julia Alvarez. I’m sure she is a very well-known modern poet, but since the only living poet that I can name is Maya Angelou, I had not heard of her.

I picked up Alvarez’s book of poems entitled The Woman I Kept to Myself – simply because I found the title intriguing. I haven’t had much of a chance to sit and read straight through; I’ve just dipped in and out, here and there, and I found her to be a very gifted and inspiring poet. Besides the gift and craft of any poet, the crafting of words and rhythms, I find the topics she chooses to write about and her way of expressing them extremely interesting, in part, because she brings poetry to the everyday-ness of life.

For example, she writes about visiting a therapist (“The Therapist”), and how the therapist’s technique is to let his patients search out and find their own answers to their problems. She writes of men rising out of manhole covers (“Manholes”), and gives it an unexpected twist at the end. She talks about how she (or the narrator) dreams that her husband has given away all of her headbands that she no longer wears, but how it makes her feel like a part of herself has been given away, to women she does not know. And of course is relieved when she awakes to find her husband soundly sleeping beside her (“Hairbands”).

And then I think my favorite poem is entitled “Tone” – about how she can tell who her husband is talking to on the phone in the next room, just by the way he talks. This poem, in particular, I find touching, not only for the love and craft of the poem itself, but for the closeness of the couple that it portrays.

Again, I’m sure my own words fall short in attempting to do her work justice, but I found her poetry well-crafted, insightful, and inspiring.

© writingreading 2008