Road trip! ~ Who paved the way for the American tradition?

15 Sunday Jul 2018

Posted by Elizabeth Fais in Adventure, Nonfiction

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Bud, bull-terrier, Elizabeth Fais, Fun Facts, History, Horatio Nelson Jackson, Jack Kerouac, motoring goggles, New York City, Nonfiction, On the Road, road trip, Route 66, San Francisco, Sewall Crocker, Summer, touring car, University Club, Winton

Summer and road trips are synonymous, with millions of Americans taking to the road in the spirit of unbridled adventure. Jack Kerouac’s 1957 novel, On the Road, fueled a generation with the romance of the open road.

But HOW did it all start?

WHO was the first to pave the way for this American tradition, WHEN, and WHY?

A Bet, Two Men, and a Dog in Goggles

On May 19, 1903, a heated debate at the exclusive University Club in San Francisco resulted in a $50.00 wager taken by Horatio Nelson Jackson. Horses and carriages were the main mode of transportation, and many thought the horseless carriage was a passing fancy of the well-to-do. Certainly not reliable enough to withstand a dangerous cross-country journey. Jackson had a grander vision and recruited Sewall Crocker to prove the automobile nay-sayers wrong.

On May 23, 1903 they set out to complete the trip from San Francisco to New York City in less than 90 days. [Horatio Nelson Jackson in the Vermont]

They packed a second-hand 20 horsepower, cherry red, Winton touring car (dubbed the Vermont) with sleeping bags, cooking gear, and supplies, then started on their daring journey. Crocker was a former bicycle racer and gasoline engine mechanic, skills they would need in the days ahead. At the time there were fewer than 150 miles of paved roads nationwide, no road signs, or gas stations. With the rigorous terrain, automobiles often breakdown. The Vermont was no different.

The Winton crossed streams and traversed winding mountain roads better suited for mules than man. They suffered mechanical failures early and often, and had to rely on stagecoaches to ferry new parts and blacksmiths to make repairs. In short, their trip was one obstacle after another, devoid of the amenities we take for granted on cross-country journeys today.

With mechanical fiasco after fiasco, it took 19 days to reach Idaho. There they met a bull-terrier named Bud, fitted him with motoring goggles to protect his eyes from dust, and hoped the new addition to their party would bring them luck. Bud wore his goggles, navigating from the front seat for the rest of the journey, but luck wasn’t quick to follow. [Bud sporting his motoring goggles]

Throughout bad directions that sent them days out of their way, getting stuck in a swamp, then lost in the Wyoming badlands, the team maintained a spirit of optimism. Possibly, due to the tremendous receptions they received along the way. For many, it was their first encounter with an automobile.

Fanfare swelled to a crescendo as they rolled into Chicago on July 17, and then Cleveland a few days later. In spite of the hoopla the adventure ignited along the way, the epic road trip ended as humbly as it began. The Vermont, and its three passengers, quietly rolled down Fifth Avenue in Manhattan on Sunday, July 26, 1903, at 4:30 am. The 4,500-mile journey had taken 63 days, 12 hours, and 30 minutes. Jackson won the $50.00 bet, but it cost him close to $8,000.00—including the price of the Winton, and all its repairs along the way.

Jackson, Crocker, and the adorable Bud in his motoring goggles became celebrities, pictured in newspapers across the country and featured in Winton advertisements for years to come. They proved a cross-country road trip was an attainable American dream, even if (at the time) it was beyond the means of any but the wealthy.

Route 66 became a reality decades later. After World War II, the American highway infrastructure expanded to support cross-country travel and cars became affordable for the average person. The dream of free spirited independence lived on, becoming a cultural ideal and American tradition.

Moon monikers ~ Why so many names, and what do they mean?

28 Thursday Jun 2018

Posted by Elizabeth Fais in Moon, Nonfiction

≈ 2 Comments

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Algonquin tribes, Astronomy, Beaver Moon, Black Moon, Blue Moon, Buck Moon, Cold Moon, Corn Moon, Flower Moon, full moon, Harvest Moon, Honey Moon, Hot Moon, Hunting Moon, June, Mead Moon, Moon, moon moniker, Native Americans, Pink Moon, Rose Moon, Snow Moon, Strawberry Moon, Sturgeon Moon, Supermoon, Worm Moon

This week’s Strawberry Moon made me wonder: WHAT is a strawberry moon, WHY are there so many names for our moon, WHAT do they all mean, and WHERE did they originate? Alas, the hazards of being a writer.

What is a Strawberry Moon?

The full moon in June was called a Strawberry Moon by the Algonquin tribes (one of the most widespread North American native tribes), because it signaled the time for harvesting wild strawberries. The June full moon has also been known as the Honey Moon, Mead Moon, Hot Moon, and Rose Moon by other tribes and cultures.

WHY so many names for ONE moon?

In the United States, Native Americans created the full moon names—nicknames—we know today to help in tracking the seasons. There’s a nickname for a full moon each month, even though the tribes observed the seasons and lunar months, not calendar months as we do.

Some tribes defined a year as 12 moons, others as 13. Certain tribes added an extra moon every few years, to stay in sync with the seasons. The following is a list of traditional nicknames for the full moons.

JANUARY—Wolf Moon—This moon appeared when wolves were hungry and howled in outside villages.
FEBRUARY—Snow Moon—This moon appeared when the snowfall was the heaviest. Hunting was most difficult during this time and Native American tribes also called it the Hunger Moon.
MARCH—Worm Moon—This moon appeared when the ground softened and earthworms reappeared, bringing the return of robins. This moon was also known as the Sap Moon, because it was time for the annual tapping of maple trees.
APRIL—Pink Moon—This moon appeared with the first spring flowers, wild ground phlox. This moon was also known as the Sprouting Grass Moon, the Egg Moon, and the Fish Moon.
MAY—Flower Moon—This moon appeared when flowers bloomed in abundance. It was also known as the Corn Planting Moon or the Milk Moon.
JUNE—Strawberry Moon—This moon appeared when it was time to gather ripening strawberries.
JULY—Buck Moon—This moon appeared when a buck’s antlers were reaching full growth. This full Moon was also known as the Thunder Moon, because of the frequent thunderstorms during this month.
AUGUST—Sturgeon Moon—This moon appeared when the sturgeon in the Great Lakes and Lake Champlain were most abundant. This moon was also called the Green Corn Moon.
SEPTEMBER—Corn Moon—This moon appeared when it was time to harvest the corn. Likewise known as the Barley Moon, because it was time to harvest barley.
OCTOBER—Hunting Moon—This moon appeared when the game was fattest. It was time to hunt and store provisions for winter. This moon was also known as the Travel Moon.
NOVEMBER—Beaver Moon—This moon appeared before the swamps froze and it was time to set beaver traps. The colonists and Algonquin tribes depended on the furs of beavers and other animals for warmth during the winter. This full Moon was also called the Frost Moon.
DECEMBER—Cold Moon—This moon appeared when the winter cold had set in and the nights were longest. This full Moon was also called the Long Nights Moon.

Special Moons

Several moon occurrences are extremely rare and therefore have special names:

Blue Moon—There is a Blue Moon controversy regarding the true meaning. However, typically this is the second full moon in a calendar month.
Black Moon—This is a month in which there is no full Moon. It can also refer to a second new Moon occurring within a calendar month.
Harvest Moon—This is the full Moon nearest the start of fall (autumnal) equinox, anywhere from two weeks before to two weeks after the equinox. The moonrise comes soon after sunset bringing in an abundance of bright moonlight, which helped farmers in harvesting their crops.
Supermoon—A full Moon is a Supermoon when it is reaches the point in its orbit that is closest to the Earth.

Serving fish milkshakes to elephant seals at The Marine Mammal Center

23 Wednesday May 2018

Posted by Elizabeth Fais in Animals, Marine Mammals, Nonfiction

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California, Conservation, elephant seal pups, Elephant Seals, Elizabeth Fais, Fort Cronkhite, oceanography, racing to extinction, San Francisco, San Francisco Bay Area, Sausalito, The Marine Mammal Center, TMMC, tube feeding, volunteer

Like many, I’ve paid my dues as a waitress. I have to say that of all my customers, the ones I loved serving were the elephant seal pups at The Marine Mammal Center.

In the early 1990’s, I spent a year volunteering at The Marine Mammal Center (TMMC) in Sausalito, California. Being a part of an organization that rescues and rehabilitates marine mammals (of all kinds), then releases them back into the wild, was nothing short of life changing.

I was a member of the Sunday night crew responsible for animal care. Each Sunday night we fed and treated a wide range of marine mammals. My favorite were the doe-eyed elephant seal pups. (Yes, I still have our squad sweatshirt!)

The elephant seal pups in our care had been separated from their mothers, and as a result were undernourished. Our job was to get them healthy enough to release back into the ocean. That meant they had to gain weight. A lot of it.

What do you feed an elephant seal so it packs on the pounds…but is also nutritious and tasty? You might be sorry you asked. I can’t reveal the “secret-recipe“, but it involves whipping together (literally) frozen fish, heavy cream, and a mix of nutritional supplements. A delectable milkshake! Kind of (?) gross, but it works!

The pups needed to be fed every 3 or 4 hours, and some nights during the El Nino year we had 200 elephant seal pups to feed. This required multi-gallon batches of fish-mash (secret fish milkshake), and three people to tube-feed a single elephant seal pup. One to straddle and restrain the 100+ pound pup, another to guide the tube down its throat and into the abdomen (not the lungs!), and a third to pour the fish mash into a funnel and work it down the tube. *Current pictures and videos show they’ve streamlined the tube feeding procedure so it only requires two people.*

There were some long nights, but it didn’t faze us. I loved the direct contact that came with restraining the elephant seal pups for tube feeding. When I was in a place of calm, the pup responded with trust. Experiencing that type of connection with a wild animal is everything.

You can visit The Marine Mammal Center and see the amazing work they do up close. The center is just North of San Francisco in the Marin Headlands. Check the web site for visiting hours. (PC: The Marine Mammal Center, except the photo of the sweatshirt which I took myself)

The Marine Mammal Center
2000 Bunker Road | Fort Cronkhite | Sausalito, CA 94965-2619

What’s on the menu at The Marine Mammal Center?

Girls with Game…how they changed baseball…& the world

18 Friday May 2018

Posted by Elizabeth Fais in Baseball, Books, Nonfiction, Reading

≈ 4 Comments

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Audrey Vernick, Baseball, Baseball Hall of Fame, Civil Rights, Don Tate, Edith Houghton, Effa Manley, Elizabeth Fais, Horn Book, Horn Book Magazine, Negro League, Newark Eagles, Nonfiction, Philadelphia, Philadelphia Bobbies, Picture Books, She Loved Baseball, Steven Salerno, The Bobbies, The Kid From Diamond Street

Girls today are encouraged to participate in almost any sport. It wasn’t that long ago when that was far from true. At the turn of the 20th century, girls were discouraged from having careers outside the home. So you know their playing professional sports was frowned upon. Remarkably, in the early 1900’s two girls in Philadelphia made their mark in professional sports, changing baseball…and the world: Edith Houghton and Effa Manley.

The Kid from Diamond Street: The Extraordinary Story of Baseball Legend Edith Houghton

By Audrey Vernick, Illustrated by Steven Salerno

Edith Houghton was born in Philadelphia in 1912, and she always said she must’ve been “born with a baseball in my hand.” Which may have been true.

Edith was playing baseball at the age of 3, and by the time she was 6 she was magic on the field. At age 10, Edith heard about the Philadelphia Bobbies, an all-female baseball team, she tried out, and was so good she made the team.

The Bobbies were named for the bobbed haircuts the team sported. Edith was by far the youngest and smallest member of the team, and soon got the nickname The Kid. Because the Bobbies were one of the only female teams, they played against men’s teams all over the country.

The Bobbies were such a sensation, they were invited to tour Japan and play against the men’s teams there. It was quite an adventure. Vernick highlights the girls’ personalities during their travels, weaving playful scenes through the narrative of their spirited fun, enriched by Salerno’s lush illustrations.

In so many ways, the Bobbies were goodwill ambassadors for the United States and the equality of women. Later in life, Edith continued to break new ground for women in sports by becoming the first woman scout for a professional baseball team.

In May, 2006, Edith’s love for baseball was immortalized in the Diamond Dreams Exhibit in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

An engaging story that reminds readers that baseball isn’t just numbers and statistics, men and boys. Baseball is also ten-year-old girls, marching across a city to try out for a team intended for players twice their age. –Horn Book

She Loved Baseball: The Effa Manley Story

By Audrey Vernick, Illustrated by Don Tate

Effa Manely loved baseball. She played sandlot ball with her bothers as a young girl in Philadelphia in the early 1900’s. Sadly, this sparked racial prejudice because her bothers had darker skin like their father, and she had the light skin of her mother.

Effa loved watching baseball as much as playing it. So it was perfect that she met her husband at Yankee Stadium. Together they organized labor protests in Harlem and founded the Negro League team, the Newark Eagles.

Even after becoming a team owner, Manley sat in the stands “where the seats vibrated from foot-stomping excitement.” When the score was close, she’d get so excited that she’d have to peak between her white-gloved fingers, as delightfully portrayed in Don Tate’s rich illustration.

From her groundbreaking role as business manager and co-owner of the Newark Eagles, Effa Manley always fought for what was right.

She fought for fair salaries when some of her Eagles players moved to newly integrated major-league teams. In later years, she lobbied for her players’ recognition in the Baseball Hall of Fame. Then in 2006, Manley became the first woman to ever be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Manley was a trail blazer, fighting racial injustice throughout her life, and clearing a path for women’s equality a male-dominated field.

The whole truth about The Pentagon Papers: Most Dangerous + The Post

17 Saturday Feb 2018

Posted by Elizabeth Fais in Film, History, Nonfiction

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Ben Bradlee, Daniel Ellsberg, Elizabeth Fais, Excellence in Nonfiction Award, First Amendment, History, Katharine Graham, Meryl Streep, Most Dangerous, National Book Award, Nixon, Nonfiction, secret history, Steve Sheinkin, Supreme Court, The Pentagon Papers, The Post, Tom Hanks, Vietnam war, YALSA

Film and fiction bring their own strengths to storytelling. The secrets behind The Pentagon Papers requires both to fully understand the people and events that shaped this turning point in American history and culture.

Most Dangerous, by Steve Sheinkin, reveals the how and why The Pentagon Papers were stolen and released to the press by Daniel Ellsberg. The Post (starring Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep), is the story of the Washington Post’s role in exposing the lies behind the Vietnam war to the American public.

Most Dangerous, by Steve Sheinkin

Daniel Ellsberg and the Secret History of the Vietnam War

Daniel Ellsberg was the obscure government analyst who became “the most dangerous man in America” by risking everything to expose decades of government deception and lies.

The Pentagon Papers—the top-secret history of the Vietnam war—had been kept under lock and key for over a decade, with only the highest ranking government officials aware of their existence. On June 13, 1971, the New York Times blew open the government’s tightly kept secret, exposing The Pentagon Papers to the American public and the world. Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara had documented the government’s actions in the Vietnam War, revealing lies that spanned four presidencies. Sheinkin’s page-turning narrative provides direct insight into the people and political events that brought Ellesberg—a self-proclaimed patriot—to commiting what many would call treason. Sheinkin interviewed Ellsberg and others who were involved in shining the light of truth on The Pentagon Papers. The result is a front row seat to what the New York Times deemed “the biggest story of the century”, as if you are experiencing it unfold in real-time. Thought provoking and emotionally stirring, Most Dangerous delves into the true meaning of patriotism, freedom, and integrity.

Sheinkin’s insightful investigation of The Pentagon Papers was the 2015 National Book Award finalist and winner of the 2016 YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction Award.

The Post

The Post, in comparison, focuses on the unprecedented battle between the press and the government regarding the right print The Pentagon Papers. Katharine Graham, the country’s first female newspaper publisher and her hard-driving editor Ben Bradlee were the force behind bringing the truth behind the Vietnam war to the American people.

The Washington Post’s legal team advised Graham against publishing the stolen documents, as Nixon would surely slam them with criminal charges. If they lost the legal battle, Graham risked destroying the newspaper that was her family legacy. If they won, she’d the Post would become a national journalistic institution. She was a fighter. She ran the story.

The White House retaliated with full force, and the Post and Times went before the Supreme Court to plead their First Amendment stance. Newspapers across the country rallied the story in solidarity, and the court ruled in favor of the newspaper and the people’s right to know.

Meryl Streep’s performance provides a movingly nuanced reflection of the societal inequality professional women of the time faced. For this reason, The Post is as much a statement about the turning tides of equality as it is about freedom of the press and the American people’s right to know.

Hilarious history ~ Told by the funniest writer in fiction!

24 Sunday Sep 2017

Posted by Elizabeth Fais in History, Humor, Nonfiction

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Calaveras County, Charlie Chaplin, Elizabeth Fais, Hilarious HIstory, Jumping Frog, Little Tramp, Mark Twain, Nevada, Nonfiction, SCBWI, Sid Fleischman, Sid Fleischman Humor Award, Sir Charlie, Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, Stephen Mooser, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The Trouble Begins at 8, Virginia City

Sid Fleischman was (and arguably still is) the funniest fiction writer…ever. I’m not alone in this opinion. The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) created a Humor Award in his honor, and made him the first recipient. The Sid Fleischman Humor Award is an award for authors whose work exemplifies the excellence of writing in the genre of humor.

As SCBWI President Stephen Mooser said, “Sid the Magician may not be as famous as Sid the Writer. It’s one thing to make someone laugh. But his ability to do that in so many stories with such poignancy is nothing short of magic.“

So it’s no surprise that the funniest writer in fiction worked his magic with hilarious history too.

The Trouble Begins at 8 ~
A Life of Mark Twain in the Wild, Wild West

Who better to tell the rambunctious tale of a young river boat pilot who gallops off to take on the wild, wild West than Sid Fleischman? The tale is all true, and told with a wit as sharp as Mark Twain himself.

The title itself signals the fun that’s to come…taken from the poster Mark Twain used to advertise his public talks: The doors open at seven, The Trouble to begin at 8 o’clock.

Fleischman takes the reins from there with hopping hilarity: “Mark Twain was born fully grown, with a cheap cigar clamped between his teeth.”

You might think (as I did) that Mark Twain began writing as a young man, while piloting river boats on the Mississippi river. Afterall, that was the stage on which his two most famous novels were set: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. But no. Those books wouldn’t come until much later. Twain’s writing career began with his adventures in the wild, wild west. Virginia City, Nevada to be exact, writing for a newspaper in a place where tumbleweeds were the biggest thing to blow through town.

The First in Fake News

It’s true. Mark Twain made his name writing Fake News. When there was no news, “Sam gave his bubbling imagination a stir and ladled out a wondrous hoax. He reported the discovery of a petrified man.”

Twain created the tale to stir up trouble with the competing newspaper in town, and tickle the funny bones of the readers. In a time before television and social media this was great entertainment, and an instant success! So much so, the hoax was picked up by newspapers across the country.

The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County was the tall tale that brought Twain national acclaim. The short story awarded him notoriety as a writer, but travel and lecture series would consume his time for years. It wasn’t until Twain married and settled in Connecticut that he’d write two of the most celebrated novels in fiction.

Sir Charlie ~
Chaplin, the Funniest Man in the World

Charlie Chaplin embraced the pain of his youth, played with it, then used it to become famous for being funny. He instinctively knew that what makes you laugh the most, also makes you cry the most. Sid Fleischman tells the Little Tramp’s poignant tale, matching Chaplin’s humor with heartwarming empathy.

See him? That little tramp twitching a postage stamp of a mustache, politely lifting his bowler hat, and leaning on a bamboo cane with the confidence of a gentleman? A slapstick comedian, he blazed forth as the brightest movie star in the Hollywood heavens.

Everyone knew Charlie—Charlie Chaplin.

When he was five years old he was pulled onstage for the first time, and he didn’t step off again for almost three-quarters of a century. Escaping the London slums of his tragic childhood, he took Hollywood like a conquistador with a Cockney accent. With his gift for pantomime in films that had not yet acquired vocal cords, he was soon rubbing elbows with royalty and dining on gold plates in his own Beverly Hills mansion. He was the most famous man on earth—and he was regarded as the funniest.

Still is. . . . He comes to life in these pages. It’s an astonishing rags-to-riches saga of an irrepressible kid whose childhood was dealt from the bottom of the deck. [Synopsis]

In case you’ve never seen Charlie Chaplin in action…the following is a clip from his silent movie, A Dog’s Life.

Nonfiction fun ~ When the truth is more fantastic than fiction!

07 Wednesday Jun 2017

Posted by Elizabeth Fais in Nonfiction, Writing, Young Adult

≈ 2 Comments

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Abraham Lincoln, atomic bomb, Bomb, crime thriller, Elizabeth Fais, Lincoln's Grave Robbers, Nonfiction, Reading, SCBWI, Secret Service, Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, Steve Sheinkin, WWII

Do you have a young reader who isn’t into fiction, yet wants books that are fun? Or perhaps there’s a summer reading requirement looming, and it’d be easier to hog tie the Hulk than to get your kids to read over vacation?

Well…put away the lasso and forget about the Hulk. Your kids will be begging for more, and you’ll want to read these books too. Yes. They’re that good! Thank me later.

I discovered Steve Sheinkin’s work at a Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) summer conference a few years ago. Sheinkin is a master of finding the fun in history, and narrating the facts in an engaging voice and at a thrilling pace. If there were history books like these when I was in middle school or high school, it’s all I would’ve read.

Lincoln’s Grave Robbers, by Steve Sheinkin

This may sound like a crime thriller, because it is. But trust me, it’s not fiction. Someone actually stole President Lincoln’s body, and this fast-paced recounting of the events will have you on the edge of your seat, turning the pages until you’re done.

On October 20, 1875 Secret Service raid the Illinois workshop of master counterfeiter Benjamin Boyd and arrest him. Soon after Boyd is hauled off to prison, members of his counterfeiting ring gather and devise a plan to get Boyd back: steal Abraham Lincoln’s body from its tomb, stash it in a secret location, and demand as ransom, the release of Boyd—and $200,000.00 in cash.

The action of this true crime thriller alternates among the conspirators, the Secret Service agents on their trail, and the undercover double agent moving back and forth between the two groups. Along the way, we get a glimpse into the inner workings of counterfeiting, grave robbing, detective work, and the early days of the Secret Service. The story races toward a wild climax as robbers and lawmen converge at Lincoln’s tomb on election night, 1876. [Jacket flap]

Bomb, by Steve Sheinkin

This story is close to my heart, because I graduated from a university that played an important—top-secret—part in the race to develop America’s atomic bomb. I didn’t find this out until long after I graduated, and I can’t say I’m proud of the fact. However, this book helped me to reconcile some of my feelings about the United States’ development and use of this deadly weapon. If not us, someone else would have done the same and with potentially more horrific results.

No matter your viewpoint, this telling of the events leading to the creation of the first atomic bomb will keep you spellbound until the last page is turned.

In December of 1938, a chemist in a German laboratory made a shocking discovery: When placed next to radioactive material, a uranium atom split in two.

That simple discovery, dealing with the tiniest of particles, launched a cut-throat race that would span three continents. The players were the greatest scientists, the most expert spies, hardened military commandos, and some of the most ruthless dictators who ever lived. The prize: military dominance over the entire world.

This is the story of the plotting, the risk-taking, the deceit, and genius that created the world’s most formidable weapon. This is the story of the atomic bomb. [Jacket flap]

Elizabeth Fais

~ Where the awesome begins…

Category Archives: Nonfiction