My great-uncle Oscar was no exception.  His oldest son recalls the family cat staggering around after lapping up some of the spillage from his dad’s still.

Oscar’s sister, Rena, drank so much bootleg whiskey, the next morning she woke up in a panic, because she couldn’t feel one of her legs.  Looking down, she realized she had put both legs into one pant leg of her pajamas. 

For better or worse, alcohol was always part of the social scene, and the public’s resentment at resorting to the neighborhood speakeasy or bathtub gin continued to grow.  After thirteen years, everyone had had enough.  During his run for Presidency, one of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s platforms was the repeal of Prohibition.  The ratification of the 21^st Amendment on December 5, 1933 ended the Prohibition Era. 

Are there any stories in your family about the Prohibition Era?

Strolling down the streets of Santa Barbara one afternoon several years ago, I came across a sandwich-board type sign outside a bookstore promoting Banned Book Week, which I hadn’t been aware of at that point.  The sign presented a list of books that had been banned for various reasons in different locations around the country.  People were encouraged to participate in the store’s “Read From Your Favorite Banned Book” event that Saturday.

I perused the list and was startled to see “Harriet the Spy,” which I remember reading as a child.  Somewhere in Iowa or Idaho (don’t remember which), someone with issues was offended that Harriet lied, spied, talked back and cursed, so it had been banned.  I was so annoyed at this blatant absurdity, I signed up for a 15-minute slot.

When I arrived for my allotted reading time that weekend, a reporter and cameraman approached me, asking for an interview, to which I agreed.  Not only was my interview on the evening news, but a segment of my reading was used as a promotional piece. 

Take that, Idaho or Iowa!  Harriet rules.  Bwahaha.

There are books, of course, that carry heavier tones; highlighting stark, harsh realities of the human condition.  They can make some readers uncomfortable.  Does that mean those books should be banned or restricted simply because a small portion of the population doesn’t agree with them? 

Maya Angelou’s “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” was one of thirteen books petitioned by parents in a Kansas school district to be removed from all classrooms because of “vulgar language, sexual explicitness, or violent imagery that is gratuitously employed.” Ms. Angelou wasn’t writing a book of fiction.  It spoke of actual, personal violent childhood experiences.

At the turn of the century, children’s lives were not peaches and cream, and books written during that time reflected it.  The same is true of language, including racial slang.  To learn how to improve the human condition, it helps to learn about the past.  If one desires a true education of history, it is important that these writings be available. 

Ironically, what these purveyors of manipulation and control don’t understand is the more they attempt to prevent a book’s availability, the greater the interest. 

“Let children read whatever they want and then talk about it with them. If parents and kids can talk together, we won’t have as much censorship because we won’t have as much fear.”   Judy Blume

The capstone of the irony pyramid is the Bible – the book on which so many of these protests are based.  What novel today could compete with its sex, incest, violence, slavery and mass murder?

What does this have to do with personal histories or biographies?  Everything.  One of the questions I ask clients is whether they read books when they were younger and, if so, which ones they specifically remember.  Books are educational and insightful; they broaden one’s perspectives and views, influencing a life journey.

A short list of books that have been banned:

What book(s) most influenced you that have been banned?

You Are A Classic

It only lasted a year and a-half, but the legend continues to inspire. 

This year marks the 150th anniversary of the beginning of the Civil War, as well as the demise of the Pony Express. 

Central Overland California & Pike’s Peak Express Company, later known as “The Pony Express” and “the Pony,” was a costly entrepreneurial venture which began in 1860 by a freighting firm, Russell, Majors & Waddell, who already ran a stage line between the Missouri River and Salt Lake City.  The lengthened Pony route ran from St. Joseph, Missouri, through the territories of Kansas,Nebraska,Colorado,Wyoming,Utah,Nevada, and into the only formal western state of the Union –California.

Californians waited months for letters to arrive, so the Pony Express was welcome, indeed.

Previous mail delivery efforts using mules and even camels, proved unsuccessful.  John “Snowshoe” Thompson famously carried mail on homemade 10’ cross-country skis through high snow packs from Placerville to Carson City.

Eighty riders were hired to ride the Pony; their average age being nineteen.  Rider William Campbell recalled, “Sometimes we used to say that the company had bought up every mean, bucking, kicking horse that could be found, but they were good stock and could outrun anything along the trail.”

On April 3, 1860, riders simultaneously took off fromMissouri and California, east-to-west and west-to-east, to begin the new, fast mail service.  Although some claim it began in San Francisco, the mail was shipped via steamer from San Francisco to Sacramento, where the ride itself actually started. 

Adolph Sutro (later mayor of San Francisco) spoke of a sighting high in the mountains in a blinding snowstorm.  “On the very summit we met a lonely rider dashing along at a tremendous rate.  We wondered what could possibly induce him to go on through that gale, and thought it must be some very important business.  It was the Pony Express.”

In addition to challenges of extreme weather conditions and physical exhaustion, riders faced dangers of tribal attacks.  The Paiute Indian War resulted from an incident which occurred at Williams Station, Nevada, located along the Pony route.  The station had been found burned to the ground, along with three burned, mutilated bodies.  The man who discovered the horrific scene assumed it to be the work of Paiutes, who had a grisly reputation. 

As news spread, the number of bodies and Indians rose in each telling of the story, with panic following in the wake.  Many stations were destroyed and stock run off or stolen.  “The Indians committed great atrocities,” recalled rider William F. Fisher, “burning some of their victims on wood piles, scalping some and badly mutilating others. They had a good many bloody fights.”

Meanwhile, Robert Haslam aka “Pony Bob” was a regular rider on the Nevada-California border.  Unaware of what was happening, he arrived at Carson City, where no fresh horses were to be found, as they had been gathered for a military Indian skirmish.  So, he fed and watered his horse, and continued his ride east. At his next stop, the station keeper had been murdered, station burned and no fresh horses. He continued riding.  At another station, the relief rider, panicked, refused to ride.  The station keeper offered $50 to Haslam to continue, so he did.  He rode on, delivered the mail and returned to his point of origin, without any problems.  He had ridden about 380 miles in thirty-six hours.

For the delivery of Lincoln’s inaugural address to California, Haslam’s leg of the journey was 120 miles in eight hours and ten minutes, using twelve horses. 

“…our work was more strenuous than freighting,” said Campbell.  “It took sheer grit and endurance at times to carry the mail through.”

Rider Richard Cleve recalled riding for seventy-five miles in a raging Nebraska blizzard, and he still had thirty-two miles to the next station.  Just finding the road was next to impossible. “I would get off the horse and look for the road, find it and mount the horse, but in five yards I would lose it again. I tried it several times, but gave it up, so I dismounted and led the horse back and forth until daylight.”

In “Roughing It,” Samuel Clemens (who would become Mark Twain) wrote of the Pony Express. “In a little while all interest was taken up in stretching our necks and watching for the ‘pony rider.’ … carrying letters nineteen hundred miles in eight days!  Think of that for perishable horse and human flesh and blood to do!”

The Pony riders weren’t the only ones racing against time.  They would often pass on communications to those building the telegraph, which would ultimately end the riders’ employment.  Two days after the telegraph to President Lincoln was sent announcing the completion of the cross-country telegraph, the Pony Express went quietly out of business.

“Our little friend, the Pony, is to run no more.”  Sacramento Bee, October 26, 1861

Russell, Majors & Waddell hadn’t been financially solvent at the outset.  When the Pony Express ended, so did any opportunity for future business success.  Majors and Waddell died in financial ruins. 

The romantic saga of the Old West wouldn’t die, however. 

Buffalo Bill Cody’s adventures as a Pony Express rider were actively promoted in dime novels and his traveling Wild West Show, which toured around the country, and Europe, into England, France, Spain, Italyand Germany.  Unfortunately, Cody never actually rode with the Pony Express.  The closest affiliation he had was his two month stint as an eleven-year-old messenger boy for Russell, Majors & Waddell.  

Contrary to popular assumption, Wild Bill Hickok never rode with the Pony, either. 

Hollywood added to the romance of the old west and Pony Express, with its usual fabrication of facts.

Haslam, a true hero of the Pony Express, spent a brief period as a Deputy Marshal, but spent his remaining years drifting around.  He suffered a stroke at age seventy-one and died a year later, penniless, on Chicago’s South Side.  Buffalo Bill paid for his headstone.

You can experience the spirit of the Pony Express as The National Pony Express performs its annual re-ride of the historical Pony route from St. Joseph, Missouri to Sacramento – a distance of 1,966 miles – carrying commemorative and personal letters. 

You can follow real-time coverage at www.xphomestation.com, where there will be reports and pictures from the trail. 

Are you at or near one of the historic stops along the Pony Express route?

You Are A Classic

A cousin’s research into one side of our family revealed a Swedish Duke who was banned from his kingdom.  We’re very proud. 

Wouldn’t it be great if you could to speak to one of your ancestors and ask him/her what life was like or why certain decisions were made? 

Well, if you don’t record your life story, that’s what your descendants will be asking.  Your great-great-great-grandchildren will have no idea who you are.  Your favorite grandfather or aunt will be relegated to city and county records.  Their life experiences will be forgotten.  Their personality traits, the reasons you love him or her will never be known. 

You are interesting.  Somone you love is interesting.  Write, type or tell someone your stories. 

The future is listening.

You Are A Classic

My grandparents had been married 70 years when it came time for them to move into an assisted living facility.  Forced to leave their home and losing their independence was obviously difficult for them.

My mother – their daughter – had passed away a couple of decades previous, so it was up to my brothers and I to overlook the moving process. My grandparents sat next to each other watching, with sad, sad eyes as I emptied cupboards and drawers, and would respond quietly, sometimes with a catch in their voices, whenever they were asked if they wished a particular item to be donated, sold at a yard sale, or gifted. 

My grandfather had served in the Navy the first couple of years in their marriage, so moving was not new for them.  However, they had accumulated a lot of memories in the subsequent decades, and many of them were associated with treasured items – drawings and paintings created by my grandmother before arthritis kicked in, her grandmother’s lace bed coverlet and her mother’s plates, a high school textbook, dance cards, my grandfather’s tools from his basement workshop, his sailor’s uniform last worn in 1930, a sword he obtained in Panama, souvenirs from road trips after their children had grown, silhouettes of the grandchildren when they were in grade school, and so forth.

My brothers claim their part was the most difficult – loading up the few heavy pieces of furniture and boxed items that would fit in their small, new apartment.  I disagree.  I drove them away from their home.  As we pulled away from the curb, my grandfather said, “Good-bye, house.  Good-bye, old house” and started singing, “The Last Roundup,” while my grandmother rifled through her purse looking for her heart medication.

When you’re writing your life story, or helping someone else to write his or hers, ask what treasures are sprinkled throughout the home that have a history; a memory.  It will not only serve as a memory trigger, but the story can accompany the item to its new home.

What items in your home are special to you, and what’s the story behind them?

You Are A Classic

Stories, music and art offer common human spirit denominators.  These two videos became viral, because they created a global resonance:

Where the Hell is Matt? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlfKdbWwruY&feature=related

Eric Whitacre’s Virtual Choir – “Lux Aurumque”  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7o7BrlbaDs

A good biographer understands that telling a life story should be holistic, non-judgmental and balanced – culture, friendship, loss, adventures, growth, faith, wisdom, lessons, etc. 

Every person’s life story, without exception, will affect every person who reads it. 

Tell your story.  Affect the world.

You Are A Classic

“If Galileo had said in verse that the world moved, the inquisition might have let him alone.” -Thomas Hardy

Before printed literature was available, spoken poetry was used to convey information, stories and prayers.  Samuel Taylor Coleridge described poetry as “the best words in their best order.”  He should know. 

Poetry has evolved over the centuries, reflecting the changing times in attitudes and perspectives, and the growth of spirit.  Poets draw “outside the lines,” creatively expressing alternate realities and contexts of thought and emotion.  They are rebels in the literary world. 

Geoffrey Chaucer’s prose in “The Canterbury Tales” caused quite a stir in his time, because he dared to write in his native language of Middle English, as opposed to the classical languages.  Walt Whitman introduced “free verse poetry” with his “Leaves of Grass,” then Lewis Carroll and e e cummings took that literary ball and carried it even further, creating new configurations of verse and vocabulary. 

Whether it’s the chilling words of Edgar Allan Poe (“Till the dirges of his hope that melancholy burden bore, Of Never—nevermore”), the sardonic humor of Ogden Nash (“God in his wisdom made the fly, And then forgot to tell us why”), the spiritual musings of Kahlil Gibran (“The soul walks not upon a line, neither does it grow like a reed.  The soul unfolds itself, like a lotus of countless petals”), or the whimsical, motivational writings of Theodor Seuss Geisel aka Dr. Seuss (“You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose.), poetry can alter your perception.

April was established as National Poetry Month by the Academy of American Poets to, among other things, highlight the legacy and ongoing achievement of American poets, introduce more Americans to the joys of poetry, and to have poetry play a more integral role in the school curriculum.

Sonnets, haikus, limericks, rhythm and rhyme, and slam poetry can all be celebrated in a variety ways this month, including:

• On April 14, 2011, join others around the country and carry a poem in your pocket.
• Download the PoemFlow app for your iPhone or iPod Touch, where a new poem will appear each day, the text flowing across and down the screen in harmony with the poem’s heartbeat.  Each poem is accompanied by historical trivia and contextual information:  www.poemflow.com

Do you have a favorite poet?

You Are A Classic

Gold from California helped keep the Union solvent.  California had more volunteers per capita in the Union Army than any other state. Nearly 17,000 Californians enlisted to fight.  By war’s end, California volunteers in the West occupied more territory than did the Union Army in the east.  The efforts of California men were not only critical in keeping California part of the Union and in keeping the flow of gold to Washington uninterrupted, but also in keeping the Far West federal territory.

Sacramento organized a voluntary military defense force due to the possibility of invasion by forces stationed in Confederate Texas.  In Sacramento’s July 4, 1861 parade, Major J.P. Gillis proudly waved his version of the Confederate flag, which was promptly “captured” by J.W. Biderman.  (The flat is on display at the California State Capitol Museum and is referred to as the “Biderman flag.”  I’m curious as to why it isn’t named after the man who actually created it.)

After war’s end, many Civil War veterans remained in California, including the Sacramento area.  In 1897, a Civil War memorial Grove was planed in Capitol Park (10^th and L Streets) with saplings from 40 famous Civil War battlefields, including Manassas, Harpers Ferry, Savannah, Five Forks, Yellow Tavern and Vicksburg.  At the center stood a “tree of peace,” transplanted from Appomattox, where the Confederate Army surrendered.  In the Sacramento City Cemetery, you’ll find the Grand Army of the Republic Memorial, allegedly the first Civil War memorial in California.  To this day, the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War (SUV) continue the efforts of the Grand Army of the Republic.

Deceased Civil War veterans often only received a wooden plaque with their name written or carved into or a headstone without information indicating their military service.  SUV, therefore, locates and identifies Civil War soldiers, the units and companies in which they served, infantry, artillery, etc., and what state they were from. SUV then ensured they receive a proper military headstone, and present rededication ceremonies, replicating how it would have looked during that time period, with attendees in full Union blue uniforms and sometimes a 21-gun salute, with muzzle loaders similar to those use din the Civil War. 

Grave sites can be found throughout Sacramento County, including the suburbs of Citrus Heights and Fair Oaks.

If you believe you have an ancestor who served in the Civil War, SUV is a national organization who can be contacted at their web site site, www.suvcw.org.  (Perhaps you’re an “S.O.B.” – son of both sides.)

You Are A Classic

Some families have secrets on a larger scale.  I met a woman who, in researching her family tree, discovered an aunt she didn’t know existed.

She asked her mother, “Did you have a sister?”

“Oh, yes,” she shrugged.

“Well, you’ve never mentioned her,” she accused. 

She stared her mother down until she supplied an explanation.  “Sis” was a “Madam” who had Mob connections, angered the wrong person, and was gunned down in bed with a client.  The resulting scandal was such that the family erased her from existence. 

After an exhausting emotional discussion, it was agreed that her aunt be included in the family history book.  Her mother had struggled with years of inner conflict between family honor and loyalty to her sister, and the opportunity to discuss it with her daughter was cathartic and healing.  Their relationship has become much closer.

How do you decide what secrets should be revealed and what should not?  Discuss with the individual the potential results of revealing a secret:

• Will it adversely affect someone still living?
• Could it open communications within the family; offer a greater understanding of an individual’s subsequent life choices? 

“The average man will bristle if you say his father was dishonest, but he will brag a little if he discovers that his great-grandfather was a pirate.”

Have you learned about a family secret?  Do you think it should remain a secret or is appropriate to be included in a family history book?

You Are A Classic

A friend recently observed that she doesn’t use cursive writing anymore, except to sign checks.  I realized that I don’t, either.  Out of curiosity, I sat down and just began writing whatever popped into my head in cursive writing only.  I had to hesitate a few times, reaching back into my memory banks on how I wrote certain letters.  I laughed as I wrote, because how do you forget something like that? 

I then contemplated the art of cursive writing, which truly is an art, as it can be a form of creative expression.  My grandmother was very artistic, and worked hard at creating a handwriting style that was unique to her.  When my grandfather joined the Navy, during the course of their correspondence (they were teenagers at the time) she insisted that he create a special handwriting style as well.  He wasn’t happy about it, but he did it. 

When I was in grade school, my main objective was that my handwriting not look like a boy’s.  In junior high school, the handwriting fad for girls was to draw a circle or flower to dot an “i” and for the letter “e,” we would write a “c” with a diagonal slash. 

My grandmother saved a few letters I had written her when I was young, including one when I was in high school.  My handwriting was definitely different than it is today, and in re-reading it, I remember liking the way my friend Kim wrote the letter “p,” so I copied it.

Historical documents can be revealing, not only in content, but in the handwriting and style itself.  A hundred years ago, the letter “s” was often written like a backward “f” and people who were illiterate, couldn’t write their name, would leave their “mark.”  The mark was just as unique as a signature.  Writing instruments of those times were usually limited to pens with sharp nibs that were dipped into an inkwell, requiring one to write quickly, and blow on the paper to encourage the ink to dry.  The appearance and type of paper were unique to the times.  Today, to mimic that special look, fountain pens offer a practical option for writing with a visual flair.

Pondering once again the cursive vs. printing methods, I wondered if the cursive style is falling by the wayside, because printing requires less concentration and is, therefore, faster to write.  In these days of texting, social media posts, etc., we are in such a rush to get it done, that we are losing an aspect of the literal human touch, thus, disallowing the future an opportunity to peek into what set us apart as individual human beings.

How has your handwriting changed over the years?

You Are A Classic