When I was young, one of my favorite toys was a ViewMaster. When you held the device up to your face and looked into the eye holes, a vast array of scenic views in a quasi-3D format unfolded. This was my first exposure to treasures such as the Grand Canyon, Carlsbad Caverns, Garden of the Gods, and Old Faithful Geyser. As I pressed the lever down, the reels transferred the beautiful images before my eyes,…
When I saw a copy of Colorado Goes to the Fair for sale recently at a library used book sale, I jumped on it. It’s subject, the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893, was certainly focused and specific. The event was a huge cultural phenomenon attended by people from all walks of life and from all over the country, and the world. Although Colorado was spiraling into a deep, dark recession due to a…
Mom always said, “A girl should never be without pearls.” Mom was right. Pearls are grounded and classic, a reminder of a girl’s dignity and gender. Nobody knew this better than Dickey Chapelle, a pioneer female photojournalist and war correspondent who followed the troops into war zones, foxholes, and front lines during WWII, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. You never saw Dickey without her trademark Leica camera, and wearing her everpresent anti-combat-ready pearl…
Midway through February, I will revisit the Denver Woman’s Press Club for some more historic journalism magic. My second visit within a month is part of their salon series. The program is entitled, Almost Famous: Crafting Characters from Colorado’s Past, which will feature myself and fellow DWPC journalist, Kimberly Field. In this program we will discuss several aspects of crafting characters from historical data into biographies. One of the inspirations for the program is my…
For the life of me, I can’t figure out how a building can lend so much inspiration and ambiance to a program. This was the case this past weekend when Filter Press publisher Doris Baker and I presented our program at the Denver Woman’s Press Club in Denver. The topic, Kid Lit: Tools, Trends, and Markets, was challenging and could have taken off down any number of paths. As it was, it became a magical…
When I was in Chicago last June, we stopped in at Tribune Tower. My hub and I both graduated from journalism school at Northern Illinois University, and Tribune Tower is a bit of a shrine to us. My feelings were mixed. Always proud of my journalism background, I am so thankful for the tools it has given me, and the liberties it afforded me, but also, deeply saddened by the current struggles of newspapers and…
In the early stages of writing a biography, ideas sometimes percolate on the back burner and germinate slowly through the seasons. Ideas grow as the creative cells divide. Sometimes I find myself in a locale that calls to me while I decide my next move. Usually, the place I seek is a cemetery. When I see the final destination of a person’s journey, I can visualize and speculate about the life which brought them there.…
The sky was sad and dark the day I learned my friend Gwyn Ramsey died. In fact, the sky made me think her time had come, and sent me to check her Facebook. After all, that is how we often learn personal news these days. I wasn’t surprised, since she was struggling during her eighth round of battle with breast cancer. While I mourned when she entered hospice the week before, I wrote down some…
Whoever said you can’t go home again wasn’t kidding! I thought I knew Chicago. I grew up in Illinois and was familiar with the sights. After I graduated from Northern Illinois University, I made a beeline for the Rocky Mountains, and made Colorado my home. However, I returned frequently to The Heartland for visits. A trip to Chicago with the family this summer proved there were many new things to learn about that old city.…
This week, Women Writing the West announced winners and finalists of the 2012 WILLA Literary awards. Lo and behold, Baby Doe Tabor: Matchless Silver Queen is a finalist in the Scholarly Nonfiction category, its second award this year after winning Best Biography from CIPA. What an honor! WILLA awards will be presented October 19-21 in Albuquerque, New Mexico at the Annual WWW Conference. Baby Doe, who loved jewels, now has gold and silver emblems for…