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My Town Monday: We’ve Come a Long, Long Way

by Jennette,

Indie filmmaker David Schock didn’t listen to more than the first few minutes of the odd, unlabeled tape in the box full he’d received for his film that day in early 2008. He was collecting audio of performances by poet and theatrical performer Herbert Woodward Martin for his film Jump Back, Honey, and that extra tape clearly wasn’t one Schock needed for his project.

Who knew something like this could contain a treasure?

He was a little curious about the tape, of the old reel-to-reel format. It started out with someone noting that it was taped at the University Dayton in November of 1964, and introduced Dayton City Commissioner Don L. Crawford, and Charles Wesley, the president of Central State College. He set the tape aside and went on with his work.

Over a year later, the project was finished, and Schock attended a well-received premiere at U.D. But he remembered that odd, unmarked tape he still hadn’t listed to, so he dragged out his equipment and gave it a listen – this time, to the whole thing. Sure enough, it started with opening remarks by president Wesley and Commissioner Crawford, who was the first African-American to be elected to that office. Then the featured speaker came on: Dr. Martin Luther King.

Dayton Daily News pics from 1964

Calls to U.D.’s archivist confirmed that Dr. King had, indeed, visited Dayton on November 28, 1964, and had given a speech at the U.D. Fieldhouse to a crowd of 6,200. In his usual, eloquent style, King addressed how “we’ve come a long, long way” in terms of racial equality, but noted that we still had a long way to go. He advocated peaceful protest and using the ballot box as the way to effect change, and highlighted the need for legislation to abolish discrimination. The tape cut off fifty minutes into his speech. The rest of his talk remains lost, the whereabouts of any other, complete recordings of it – if any exist – are still unknown.

Schock contacted Mr. Martin, the subject of his film, who’d provided him with the box of media. Martin had no idea where the tape had come from, or how it came into his possession. He hadn’t listened to it, nor was he aware of its contents.

King was not universally welcomed

Later newspaper articles about King’s speech surfaced, and revealed how, while King spoke to an enthusiastic crowd, there was a different scene outside the Fieldhouse, where protesters gathered, bearing signs with racial epithets and calling Dr. King a communist.

Despite this, King was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize just a few weeks later, and gave almost the same speech there as the one he’d given in Dayton.

It’s easy for me to think we’ve come a long way, since I wasn’t around at the time King gave this speech, but one only need to watch the news to see that there’s still a long way to go, even now, almost 50 years later. You can hear Dr. King’s speech, digitized by David Schock, on the Jump Back, Honey website, as well as read a transcript of it.

What do you think? And can you imagine finding a treasure like that tape in a box of stuff you’d obtained for something completely different?

More at the My Town Monday blog

Reel-to-reel tape photo via ehow.com
Dayton Daily News photos by Bill Koehler via jumpbackhoney.com 

Dreaming in Third Person

by Jennette,

Are your dreams like movies in your head?

I learned something interesting about my teenage daughter a couple weeks ago. Often, as I’m driving her to school in the morning, she’ll tell me about some weird dream she had that morning – and they are almost always weird. Like seeing a library in the sky, or seeing people she knows in weird places or situations. But what I never realized until she mentioned something about how hair looked in her dream, was that she dreams in third person point-of-view. As in, she sees herself as if she’s someone else, like watching a movie.

It was hard for me to comprehend – and it’s also something I never thought about before. Sure, I’ve had dreams where I wasn’t playing an active role, but was just passively seeing other people going through whatever actions, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen myself, other than looking in a mirror. It never occurred to me that it would be otherwise for others. On the other hand, it seemed weird to my daughter that I would dream everything in first person point-of-view. Although when she thought about it, she thought some, if not most, of her friends dream in first person.

...or are you a first person shooter?

It reminded me of my Grandpa Adams, who told me he dreamed in black-and-white. I was maybe eight or nine at the time, and of course thought this was very odd, although it didn’t seem as strange at the time as it does when I think about it now. No, he wasn’t messing with me. At the time, I figured he dreamed like he watched TV, which for him was in black-and-white, until maybe ten years or so before we had that conversation. But why it seems stranger now, is that he was born in 1914, and therefore wouldn’t have had television until he was well into adulthood. Of course he went to the movies, but wouldn’t have had that frame of reference until he was at least elementary-school aged. I don’t think I know of anyone else who dreams (or did) in black and white, although it’s not a topic that we talk about all the time. It never occurred to me to ask my other grandparents.

It’s something I don’t think about often. I hardly ever remember my dreams, and of the few I do, 99% of them are just dumb and boring.

So what about you? Do you see yourself in your dreams, or are you a first person shooter like me? Does anyone you know dream in black and white?

Photo of people running via Microsoft Office Images
Game photo via gamingbolt.com 

My Town Monday: Now You’re Cookin’

by Jennette,

One thing Dayton is known for is its history of innovation. And what most people think of relating to this, are inventions over a hundred years old, such as Jame’s Ritty’s cash register, the Wright Brothers’ airplane, and Charles Kettering’s automobile starter.

Lee Smithson and his Water Broiler

That spirit of innovation continues today, much of it in commercial and military research facilities, such as the Air Force Research Laboratory. But one recent innovation I’d never heard of was one I found to be quite helpful in everyday life, and I learned about it on the Dickens of a Christmas tour of the St. Anne’s Hill Historic District, last month.

The final stop on the tour was the beautiful, dramatic Bossler Mansion, where homeowner Lee Smithson gave us an overview of the home’s history. He also told us about what he’s been up to in the twenty-five years he’s lived there.

Mr. Smithson is an accomplished chemist, retired from Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. More recently, he owned – and worked – his own catering business, during which time he also created a simple yet elegant piece of cookware just about anyone could use: the Drannan Water Broiler.

No more of this yuck!

He compared the water broiler to the one you get with any new oven. Sure, you can use them, but what about cleaning them?  (That got most people’s attention – UGH.) And how well do those free broilers do the job? Adequately, but overall, those things are about worth what we pay for them, especially when we add in the hassle of washing them – none I’ve ever had fit in a dishwasher, and even with no-stick spray, they are a major PITA to clean!

The primary feature of the Drannan Water Broiler is that it’s made of high quality, stainless steel. The cooking surface is a grille, rather than the slotted metal found in the cheap broilers, and it’s stainless steel, too. I have a stainless steel cookie sheet from years ago, so I knew how nice this would be to bake with – no matter how burnt the cookies are, they never stick to that baking sheet, and metal spatulas don’t hurt it. The other difference in the water broiler was that it’s round. Mr. Smithson’s reasoning was that most, if not all, things cooked on it (i.e., roasts) don’t need those four corners. It’s slightly smaller than the freebie broilers, but plenty big enough for a roast – and that enables it to fit in the dishwasher.

The water broiler comes with another of Mr. Smithson’s inventions, the “Forkula.” It’s like a gripper-spatula, only with tines. It’s also made of stainless steel, and can be used on any grill, as well as with the Water Broiler.

My daughter was sold on it quickly, and talked me into buying one for my husband for Christmas (he’s the one who does most of the cooking, and the daughter does most of the cleaning). They had gift shop tables set up in the mansion, so we bought it there. I could tell DH was skeptical when he opened it, but he gave it a try last week – twice.

The Forkula

We tried chicken breasts and pork chops, both of which we’d normally do on the grill. Both dishes turned out great: properly-cooked, and surprisingly juicy. Putting the water in the broiler pan keeps the food moist, basting it while it cooks. DD wasn’t home the night we cooked the pork, so I cleaned. The fatty drippings wiped right off, the broiler went into the dishwasher with no problem, and came out clean and shiny! The Forkula tongs worked great too. We haven’t tried a roast yet, but I have no doubt it will be yummy when we do!

The Drannan Water Broiler with the Forkula is $65 plus shipping, but IMO it’s worth it. The construction is of very high quality, and I expect this to last many years, if not a lifetime. Mr. Smithson guarantees his products 100%, plus postage both ways. I wouldn’t be surprised if no one had ever taken him up on that offer. The Water Broiler and Forkula can be ordered together or individually on the Drannan Company website. (Just as an FYI, I was not asked for this blog post, and I don’t know Mr. Smithson other than briefly meeting him on the home tour.)

Does the Water Broiler sound like something you’d consider trying – or have you already, and what did you think? Have you recently discovered anything new to help in the kitchen? Please share!

Photos via waterbroiler.com

ROW80: Something that Helped

by Jennette,

One week into ROW80 2012, Round 1, and I’m already learning!

Last week, Kait Nolan posted about the concept of a test mile on the ROW80 blog, and how it can apply to goal setting. Toward the end of the last round, I’d gotten my revision down to the type-in stage, which is when all the changes are marked in the printed manuscript, and all I have left to do is type in the changes. Sounds easy, right?

A typical revision page

The timing of the “test mile” blog was funny, because I’d just figured out the week before how much I could do on a type-in in one hour: ten pages. That doesn’t sound like much, until you see that while many of those pages look like the one on the left, a fair number of them look like the one on the right.

There are all too many that look like this

But what was really great, was I found something else that helped: Breaking a task down into manageable chunks, AND planning the work for each day. I read this on someone else’s blog to plan the work for each day, and sadly, I don’t remember where (if you know, please comment so I can link to them!). From my time management studies earlier this year, I know that I have about an hour to spend each evening on actual writing tasks (writing and revision, as opposed to promo, commenting on blogs and responding to comments on my blog, social media networking, cover art, reading for contests, etc.) I also estimated that I should be able to spend 3-5 hours on Saturday, since I didn’t have much else going on besides putting away the Christmas stuff (done – yay!).

So I broke out five segments of approximately 10 pages each (1-3 scenes), and paperclipped them. That left only 20 pages for my Saturday work. Perfect! I could have fit in more, so left that extra time for reading for a contest, writing this blog a day early, and maybe doing a test mile for my next task: reading my book aloud. This is an important part of my revision process; it’s where I make sure everything reads smoothly, the characters’ thoughts and dialogue are appropriate for who they are and their situation, typos, and making sure I stay true to my writing voice. After that it’ll go to the beta readers.

One thing I see a lot of other ROW80 participants doing that I haven’t is to add in other goals, especially ones relating to social media and blogging,  fitness, and decluttering. So I’ll jump in there, too, and maybe share a bit more about what’s worked for me on those fronts in future updates.

So for this week, my goals are:

  1. Do a “test mile” read-aloud of Time’s Fugitive
  2. Eight hours of read-aloud of Time’s Fugitive, hopefully at least 1/4 of the book
  3. Two blog posts plus a ROW80 update on Sunday
  4. Comment on at least 5 blogs this week
  5. Minimum of 3 status updates or shares on Facebook
  6. Tweet at least once a day
  7. Read one Golden Heart entry
  8. Three interval workouts plus two short workouts (bonus: dog walk or some other activity on one of the other two days)
  9. Declutter my desk top (the real one, not the computer desktop)
  10. Bonus: write one book review on Amazon & B&N

Whether or not you’re a writer, did you set goals this week, and if so, how did you do?

My Town Monday: Americana in Art

by Jennette,

We are blessed to have a wonderful art museum in Dayton. Sure, it doesn’t have the extensive collection one can find in a larger city, but there’s more here than one might think. The Dayton Art Institute is housed in a beautiful, 1930’s Italian-villa-styled building, and it’s small enough to see in one day without feeling overwhelmed.

Freedom from Want, one of Rockwell's Four Freedoms works

But one of the best things about the Dayton Art Institute is the variety and quality of traveling exhibitions it hosts. The current visiting exhibition is American Chronicles: the Art of Norman Rockwell, which I had the privilege to see last week. One of the U.S.’s most-loved illustrators, Rockwell is most well-known for his familiar Saturday Evening Post magazine covers. What I didn’t know before, and found amazing, was that he sold work to Boys’ Life, the official magazine of the Boy Scouts, at age seventeen, and became the publication’s art director at  age nineteen.

It was fascinating to see the progression of  his work, especially the original works in full size, and they present a social commentary that parallels our cultural history throughout the twentieth century, starting with his depictions of an innocent childhood for Boys’ Life, to his beloved “Four Freedoms” works that were sold as prints during World War II to entice people to buy war bonds, to his later works that highlighted current events like racial tensions in the South in the 1960s.

The Art Critic

One interesting addition to the exhibit was a slide presentation that showcased Rockwell’s depiction of the “typical” American family as reflected in television, and how this changed over decades. The slide show begins with Leave it to Beaver, a family headed by a married dad with a stay-home mom, children and grandparents. The presentation touches on blended families (The Brady Bunch), a racially-mixed and adoptive family (Diff’rent Strokes), and non-traditional families (Full House) and asks audiences to consider how Rockwell’s art influenced these other areas of pop culture.

Having a degree in Art and studied painting, I could especially appreciate the layering in the paint, and how many times Rockwell must have let it dry, then added on another layer of detail. This is something that can’t be seen in a print, no matter the quality. I also liked seeing one part of the exhibit that showed the progression of a single piece, starting with his research (this was one of his civil rights commentary works), a photo of the models posing for his initial sketches, his preliminary charcoal drawings. It then showed an early rough painting, and concluded with the final, finished piece.

Regardless of whether or not you have training in art or an interest in U.S. history, the American Chronicles exhibit is well worth seeing. It’s here through February 5th. For hours, admission, and more information, see the  Dayton Art Institute website.

If you’re in the area, have you seen the exhibit? If not, have you seen anything like this in your home town?

More at the My Town Monday blog

Images are under copyright, and are displayed under Fair Use as explained on this Wikipedia page

Goals in Brief

by Jennette,

So it’s New Year’s Day, and time to jump back into ROW80: “The Writing Challenge that Knows You have a Life.” I’d planned to get this post up yesterday. See how well that went – pretty much like my whole revision of Time’s Fugitive has gone. So it’s 10:45 on Sunday night, I’m yawning, so we’ll just make this fast.

Last ROW80 I learned to be more realistic in estimating how long things really take (then forgot it again) and in how much I could realistically do in a given amount of time. Even this past week, which I took off of work, I did not get as much done as I hoped. As much as I might want to get my revision done, like, tomorrow, it’s just not happening. So it’s carrying over to the 2012, Round 1.

My primary goal is to release Time’s Fugitive. Secondary to that, I’d like to have a marketing plan for this release. Here are the main steps I need to take to meet these goals:

  • Finish revision of Time’s Fugitive
  • Send to beta readers
  • Make changes based on beta reads
  • Send to editor
  • Prepare front matter, back matter, product description, and everything else needed before release
  • Format book
  • Develop marketing plan (preferably before release, but probably after)
  • Release Time’s Fugitive

 

If you’re participating in ROW80, good luck! Whether or not you are, or even whether or not you’re a writer, you probably have goals – what’s your major one?

Happy Nude Year! Or, Words We Mishear

by Jennette,

Happy Nude Year!

One of my friends from college has a funny and slightly unique way of wishing people good tiding for the upcoming year: Happy Nude Year! She’s been saying this for years, and my husband and I often use it ourselves. Yet probably three fourths of the people we say it to don’t hear what we say. Granted, it’s close to the original, but the “D” in “nude” is definitely discernible – and our friends are not hard of hearing! Those who do hear it usually laugh. Others just return the standard greeting and go on their way. I guess it’s like proofreading something you’ve written – you miss a lot of mistakes, because you see what you expect. People hear what they expect.

On another note, I’ve finished the markup of Time’s Fugitive.  (Can we have a round of applause, please? Okay, I’ll settle for the sound of one hand clapping – mine.) Now all I need to do is type it in, read it aloud, refine and polish… sheesh, I’m getting tired again already. But really, the biggest part of the revision work is now done.

For New Year’s Eve, DH and I will spend a nice, relatively quiet evening with the neighbors. We can drink all we want without having to worry about driving, especially given that it’s amateur night for that. After owning a bar for over ten years, it’s nice to not have to go out.

What are you doing for New Year’s? Got any funny variations on common phrases to share? In any case, have a happy 2012 – and a happy nude year, too!

Illustration via Microsoft Office Images

How do YOU Unwrap Gifts?

by Jennette,

A MUST for my brother's gifts

Is there one in every family? I thought it was just mine, but after a funny conversation during our gift exchange at work last week, I have to wonder.

It all started with the mention of gift bags – which not only look pretty, but can be a huge time-saver. A coworker said, “Gift bags are a MUST for my stepdaughter. I never wrap presents for her. Otherwise, she has to painstakingly remove every single piece of tape, and damage the wrapping paper as little as possible–”

ME: “Oh my gosh, my brother does that!”

COWORKER: “Yes, it’s like she has to save the paper, but she never reuses it!”

ME: “Neither does my brother!”

IN UNISON: “It drives everyone nuts!”

“My mom does that too,” another coworker said. “But she actually does reuse the paper.”

Coworker #1 and I agreed that this was different, as there was a reason for preserving the paper.

Yet another coworker wondered how old these relatives are, thinking they were children.

COWORKER #1: “She’s twenty-one!”

ME: “He’s forty!”

Somehow, I bet this guy is one of those who unwraps s-l-o-o-o-w

Coworker #1 theorizes that her stepdaughter does this because the longer it takes her to unwrap her gift, the longer she gets to be the center of attention.

I’m not sure what my brother’s motivation is. Maybe he just likes to savor the moment and the anticipation. He’s unwrapped presents this way since he was a little kid, and after a few years of suffering through packages that took him a half-hour or more to open, the family got so that we simply moved on and ignored him, only returning attention to him once he got his gift unwrapped. He’s been married for six or seven years, and his wife and mother-in-law still give him wrapped gifts. Invariably, he’s still sitting on the floor with unopened presents long after everyone else is done and people are leaving.

I, on the other hand, dig into my gifts with gusto. Paper flies, and is always torn through the middle. When I was a little kid, my parents always found it amusing. I throw the paper less now, but I still have fun.

What about you? Do you tear into your presents like a tornado, or savor the anticipation? Do you have a family member who unwraps presents piece-of-tape by meticulously-removed-piece-of-tape? Or if you’re “that guy,” what’s your reason for dragging it out so long? Curious minds want to know!

Whatever holiday you celebrate, I hope you have (or had) a wonderful one! Or if you don’t celebrate, here’s hoping you at least enjoyed a day off work, or good pay if you didn’t even get that.

Photos via Microsoft Office Clipart

My Town Monday: Serving Those who Served for the Holidays

by Jennette,

Veterans line up for a homemade meal at the AMVETS monthly luncheon

On the third Saturday of every month, our AMVETS chapter takes a variety of delicious, homemade foods to the Dayton VA Medical Center and serves lunch to dozens of resident veterans. The vets always appreciate the good food, and after lunch, the AMVETS host Bingo, which the vets always meet with enthusiasm.

During the holidays, the AMVETS make the December luncheon extra special, with a visit from Santa, a care package stocking for each vet, and entertainment.

The vets eat while the girls sing

I’m the chauffeur for the entertainment: my daughter and whichever friend(s) can join her. This year, one of her choir friends came along, and they sang several Christmas songs. My daughter played flute for a few while her friend sang, too. Even though they messed up a few times, no one seemed to notice or care. The vets, as well as the AMVETS serving lunch, gave the girls a hearty round of applause. Even though all I did was drive the girls out there, it’s a good feeling to contribute to something that makes the day a little merrier for those who served us and sacrificed so much.

Of course, it’s just one of many activities our local AMVETS chapter does to give a little back to their fellow vets who are less fortunate, health-wise.

Do you participate in any special charitable activities over the holidays – or all year long?

More at the My Town Monday blog

Goals, and Facing Facts

by Jennette,

On a positive note, I again reached my writing goals this week, although partly because they changed. I finished the type-in through Chapter 11, then marked up Chapters 18 and 19, but decided against sending the first half to the beta readers at this point.

Time's Fugitive book cover

Coming in FEBRUARY!

Because it’s time to face facts and come clean: Time’s Fugitive is going to be late. I’d wanted to release it about now; that’s not even close to happening. There were two reasons for this: 1) earlier on in this challenge, I wasn’t focused enough and tended to push the work aside when it was just too hard. The other, more insidious problem was that I grossly underestimated the amount of time this revision would take. My estimate was based on the revisions for Time’s Enemy, and while the lengths are similar, Time’s Enemy had already undergone several exhaustive revisions before I discovered Holly Listle’s How to Revise Your Novel system. So the Time’s Enemy revision was relatively painless, but Time’s Fugitive needed a lot more work, for me to make it into the book I wanted, with the quality that I’ve committed to delivering to my readers.

One thing this challenge has taught me is what is a more realistic goal, and how to set that goal while taking in mind what else I have going on that week. This week, I knew I had two holiday events to attend today, plus decorating (my tree’s still not up :facepalm:) and getting Christmas cards out. I met my goal this week, but it wasn’t a super-aggressive one. It wasn’t easy, but it was doable.

So that’s what I’ve learned through this challenge. The eighty days of ROW80 ends on December 22, so for my final writing goal, I’m going to keep it simple: one more chapter marked up. How about you? What have you learned lately about what you’re capable of, whether or not you’re a writer, or participating in ROW80?