Celebrate March – National Women’s History Month

The name Dorothy C. Stratton (1899 – 2006) caught my eye as I looked at the list of women being honored on the Women’s History website in celebration of Women’s History Month. According to Wikipedia, the surname Stratton happens to be shared by many notables, including Indiana author Gene Stratton Porter (1863-1924).

In April I plan to visit the Gene Stratton Porter Museum in Rome City, Indiana with my eldest daughter Kimberly and granddaughter Hailey. Kimberly became fascinated with Porter after reading one of ­her books, A Girl of the Limberlost.

Growing up in Indiana I had heard of the Limberlost, and I knew it had something to do with deep woods, tangled vines, beautiful moths and butterflies. However, I didn’t realize it actually existed as a swampy area in northeastern Indiana where Porter set her stories. Sadly, the swamp no longer exists. Oil drilling and farms encroaching on these wild acres of land resulted in the swamp being drained, much to Porter’s dismay.

Gene Stratton Porter

As a young married woman, Porter lived in Limberlost Cabin in Geneva nearby the swamp until her precious Limberlost was ruined. She then moved to Sylvan Lake near Rome City, Indiana where her large home is now a museum on a stunning tract of land rich with trees and wildlife. The Limberlost Cabin is an Indiana State Historic Site. Porter’s move to Rome City enabled her to continue her work as a naturalist, photographer and writer. She published 12 novels along with nature, poetry and children’s books as well as numerous magazine articles.

Dorothy C. Stratton

In contrast to Porter’s fascination with nature, Captain Dorothy C. Stratton served the United States in the Coast Guard as director of SPARS (Semper Paratus Always Ready), the very first United States Coast Guard Women’s Reserve. In fact she was instrumental in the founding of this women’s military unit during WWII and came up with the name. Today there are no restrictions on how far a talented woman can advance in rank in the Coast Guard.

 

As a Girl Scout from Brownies to Senior Scouting in High School, I should have known Dorothy C. Stratton was then serving as the National Executive Director of the Girl Scouts of America during her long and varied career. You can find her complete biography here.

Following is a link to a film about the SPARS with both dated and current clips:

Toward the end of the article about Dorothy Stratton on the Women’s History website mentioned above, I found this quote, “See how Dorothy C. Stratton and SPARs changed women’s lives in this short film with compelling vintage and current video, Dorothy Stratton and the Spars, The Legend Continues https://vimeo.com/18510562   

(If you can wade through the film to almost the end, you’ll hear a contemporary woman Coast Guard Commander setting the record straight following the film clip immediately preceding her appearance.) I’m sure you’ll catch the reference and think about how times have changed for women due to the sacrifices of those who have paved the way.

Always writing with the feminine spirit in mind,

Cheryl

C.K. Thomas, author

“Take a chance, amaze yourself!”

Elizabeth Coleman

Queen Bess, a Barnstorming Pilot

Celebrate Black History Month – February 2016

As a young girl and the 12^th in a family of 13 children, Elizabeth “Bessie” Coleman picked cotton in Waxahachie, Texas. Her mother didn’t learn to read, but she made sure to borrow plenty of books from the traveling library for her children. When Bessie reached college age she managed to pay her own way for a semester of college. Unable to afford to continue, she moved to Chicago to live with her brother where she learned to be a manicurist in a barber shop.

During WWI Bessie’s brother had been to France and told her about women there who could fly airplanes. Bessie became fascinated with the idea of being a pilot, but no flight schools in the U.S. would admit a woman, much less a black woman. Finally she realized she would need to go to France to learn how to pilot an airplane. The publisher of the Chicago Defender newspaper, Robert Abbott, agreed to sponsor her and also to fund her Berlitz French language course. As soon as she learned the language she boarded an ocean liner to France.

Bessie returned to the U.S., after earning a Federation Aeronautique International license to fly anywhere in the world. Bessie Coleman had become the first black woman aviator in the world. It had been less than 20 years since the Wright brothers’ first successful flight. Stunt flying was the rage during The Roaring 20’s, and Bessie quickly realized opportunities to perform in air shows were open to women in the U.S. She returned to France for advance training and flew her first show at Curtis Field near New York City. She flew in many more events sponsored by The Chicago Defender until a tragic aviation accident took her life in 1926 at the young age of 34.

Following her death, other blacks in the field of aviation helped bring her dream of U.S. flight schools for blacks to reality. Bessie Coleman influenced the march to equality for both women and blacks during her brief life as a pilot with her outspoken voice for change. Listen to an interview of Bessie Coleman by a young reporter, and you’ll understand how passionate she was about equality and the future of women in aviation. 

If you’re fascinated with early women aviators, be sure to read my January 29, 2016 post about Anne Morrow Lindbergh on the Phoenix Publishing and Book Promotion blog.

Write On!

C.K. Thomas

“Take a chance, amaze yourself!”

Read the Arrowstar Series. 

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Ghosts, Goblins, Gremlins and Ghouls

On this year’s All Hallows Eve, I’ll be on the lookout for any or all of the four G’s, ghosts, goblins, gremlins and ghouls (not to mention witches, wraiths, warlocks and the like).

Just in case I happen to happen upon one or more of these spooky creatures I want to be able to recognize one and all, so I looked them up in The Encarta Dictionary.

Ghost: The supposed spirit of somebody who has died, believed to appear as a shadowy form or to cause sounds, the movement of objects, or a frightening atmosphere in a place.

Goblin: An imaginary being resembling a small man of unpleasant appearance, usually evil or mischievous.

Gremlin: A tiny mischievous imaginary being that is blamed for faults in tools, machinery, and electronic equipment.

Ghoul: Somebody who is morbidly fascinated with death, disaster, or repulsive things.

Just between us, I’m really hoping I don’t run into any of the above-mentioned creatures of Halloween before, on the night of, or after the fun is all said and done. Those crazy Celts are the ones who started it all when they decided to celebrate the harvest and the changing of the seasons from fall to winter. Over the years the church thought the idea of celebrating those who have gone before us into the great mystery that lies beyond death’s doorway seemed like a good idea at this otherwise uninspiring time of year.

Whatever the reason, we might all agree that it doesn’t take much of an excuse to promote the idea of a celebration. Personally, I like the idea of celebrating our ancestors better than scaring ourselves with the four G’s and/or any of the other letters that begin the names of those dark-alley types we’re all afraid of meeting.

However, I will say that writing stories about the four G’s and their kin really appeals to me. How fascinating to think up stories about shadowy characters floating around causing mischief. When I was a girl growing up in Kokomo, Indiana, my big brother, our neighborhood friends, and I used to sit out in the backyard in gathering darkness and tell ghost stories. It’s mighty fun to be scared in a group, but not so much while out somewhere on a bleak and lonely road on a stormy night all on your own.

I’ll leave you with a scary piece I heard as a child and well, it scared the S_ _ _ out of me! It was written by Indiana’s so-called Hoosier poet, James Whitcomb Riley and made a great night-time yarn to share out in the backyard with the kids gathered ‘round.

Little Orphant Annie (written in Hoosier dialect)

Little Orphant Annie’s come to our house to stay,

An’ wash the cups an’ saucers up, an’ brush the crumbs away,

An’ shoo the chickens off the porch, an’ dust the hearth, an’ sweep,

An’ make the fire, an’ bake the bread, an’ earn her board-an’-keep;

An’ all us other childern, when the supper things is done,

We set around the kitchen fire an’ has the mostest fun

A-list’nin’ to the witch-tales ‘at Annie tells about,

An’ the Gobble-uns ‘at gits you

             Ef you

                Don’t

                   Watch

                      Out!

                                                                                             

Onc’t they was a little boy wouldn’t say his prayers,--

So when he went to bed at night, away up stairs,

His Mammy heerd him holler, an’ his Daddy heerd him bawl,

An’ when they turn’t the kivvers down, he wasn’t there at all!

An’ they seeked him in the rafter-room, an’ cubby-hole, an’ press,

An’ seeked him up the chimbly-flue, an’ ever’wheres, I guess;

But all they ever found was thist his pants an’ roundabout--

An’ the Gobble-uns’ll git you

             Ef you

                Don’t

                   Watch

                      Out!

                                                                                             

An’ one time a little girl ‘ud allus laugh an’ grin,

An’ make fun of ever’one, an’ all her blood an’ kin;

An’ onc’t, when they was “company," an’ ole folks was there,

She mocked ‘em an’ shocked ‘em, an’ said she didn’t care!

An’ thist as she kicked her heels, an’ turn’t to run an’ hide,

They was two great big Black Things a-standin’ by her side,

An’ they snatched her through the ceilin’ ‘fore she knowed what she’s about!

An’ the Gobble-uns’ll git you

             Ef you

                Don’t

                   Watch

                      Out!

                                                                                             

An’ little Orphant Annie says when the blaze is blue,

An’ the lamp-wick sputters, an’ the wind goes woo-oo!

An’ you hear the crickets quit, an’ the moon is gray,

An’ the lightnin’-bugs in dew is all squenched away,--

You better mind yer parents, an’ yer teachers fond an’ dear,

An’ churish them ‘at loves you, an’ dry the orphant’s tear,

An’ he’p the pore an’ needy ones ‘at clusters all about,

Er the Gobble-uns’ll git you

             Ef you

                Don’t

                   Watch

                      Out!

Happy Halloween!

Cheryl

c.k.thomas

Author of the Arrowstar Series

“Take a chance, amaze yourself.”

Writing for and About Women

What can you possibly do with a bachelor’s degree in Women’s Studies and English? I chose to write fiction for and about women.

In 1980, when my children were aged 10, 13, and 15, I was flabbergasted when my husband said he wanted a divorce. I strongly believed marriage and family would last forever. I felt betrayed by the conventional wisdom of the 1950s and 60s. I desperately wanted to find out where I’d gone wrong and what women’s true stories were supposed to look like. I convinced myself Women’s Studies would enlighten me.

Secondly, I’d wanted to write novels from the time I was 10 years old while reading the Nancy Drew series of books for girls. How I missed the message Nancy tried to give me, I’ll never understand. This girl sleuth ran around in her Roadster solving mysteries without a thought about marriage and family. Granted she still depended on dear old dad for her daily bread and had a boyfriend named Ned, but he wasn’t nearly as important in her life as her girlfriends George and Bess.

I believed in Nancy Drew’s author, Carolyn Keene and wanted to be like her.  But, I soon learned there was no Carolyn Keene. Instead a group of writers hired to churn out what I call “formula” books for a syndicated book publisher merely wrote using that pen name. Twice betrayed, I vowed to get to the bottom of these deceptions and write stories for and about women. I wanted to inspire women to shake off conventional wisdom and follow their passions.

While attending Arizona State University in 1999 and 2000 I wrote many and varied papers for my classes in Women’s Studies. I’ve saved my writings and reading them helps me remember my mission to inspire women to take chances and be themselves.

The class Women and World Religions proved to be especially informative and interesting. For instance, I was fascinated to learn that The Great Goddess worshiped in Crete and Malta some 30,000 years ago bears a strong resemblance to the Navajos’ ancient beliefs surrounding the Great Spider Woman.

Snake symbolism shows up in art found in Crete and also among mound builders in America, who built a snake made of earth 1400 feet long coiled around an egg representative of a female deity. Another interesting find happened in 1980 in New Mexico close to a Pueblo village. An open-pit mining operation begun in the 1940s unearthed a stone snake 30 feet long and 12 inches high.

Snakes as a representation of evil show up in the Bible in the story of Adam and Eve. This seems almost a conscious attack of Goddess worship where snakes represented healing, and their ability to regenerate was likened to the power of the Goddess to give life.  I’m not advocating for women to return to Goddess worship or embrace snakes as part of their spirituality, but personally I’m captivated by these ancient worship practices.

I think my feelings of betrayal have dissipated following an in-depth university education into the many facets of women’s history. I know the Arrowstar novels I write, featuring strong and adventurous women protagonists, draw inspiration from stories about the ancients.

Who knows what lore I might be inspired to weave into the lives of Star and Kat. What ancient artifacts might lay buried under Star’s Victorian house in Mineral City or near the artesian well close to the Sugar Loaf Mine north of Kat’s Arizona ranch?

Women’s Studies did teach me quite a bit about women. But, more importantly, it helped me to find my own unique voice through the written word.

Read on!  

C.K. Thomas 

"Take a chance, amaze yourself!"