Kenneth Atchity's Blog, page 179
September 5, 2014
Anonymous was a woman by Fred Shapiro
Your favorite famous quotation: was it by Voltaire? Yogi Berra? Or some woman you’ve never heard of? By Fred Shapiro | "I would venture to guess that Anon,
who wrote so many poems without signing them,
was often a woman."
—Virginia Woolf, A Room of One's Own
Virginia Woolf wrote those words about the entire realm of literary creation, not about that special subset of it called "quotations"—the minting of concise snippets so eloquent or insightful as to be memorable. But those of us who dig deeply for the earliest sources of well-known lines discover, time and again, that here, too, Woolf was right: Anonymous was a woman. Many of the great quotesmiths have been women who are now forgotten or whose wit and wisdom are erroneously credited to more-famous men.
Scholars of sociology, history, psychology, women's studies, and other fields, not to mention writers and thinkers like Woolf herself, have written about why this should be so. I won't seek to tackle that question here. Instead, I present the raw material—or, rather, the fraction of it we know.
The authorship of some of these phrases had been forgotten for years or decades before being unearthed by a researcher. In other cases, the authors were never "lost"—their names have long been known to specialists and can be easily found with a little research—yet they are mostly unknown to the general public. Moreover, the real authors are often obscured by inaccurate attributions that have gained wide currency.
Finally, a few of these lines were crafted by women who are anonymous partly because they worked in professions that tend to be anonymous, such as screenwriting or speechwriting. I've included them nevertheless, because they show the range and depth of well-known quotations by women. The hallmark of almost all these cases, in fact, is that people are surprised to learn that such famous lines were written by such obscure women.
The quotations here are grouped in two categories: the misattributed and the forgotten. Within each category, they are listed chronologically. And after the lists, I offer one more surprise. As it turns out, there have often been anonymous women behind the enterprise of quotation collecting itself—even behind the most iconic male name.
The Misattributed
"He has achieved success who has lived well, laughed often, and loved much; who has enjoyed the trust of pure women, the respect of intelligent men, and the love of little children; who has filled his niche and accomplished his task; who has left the world better than he found it, whether by an improved poppy, a perfect poem, or a rescued soul; who has never lacked appreciation of earth's beauty or failed to express it; who has always looked for the best in others and given them the best he had; whose life was an inspiration; whose memory is a benediction."
This passage is often said to be by Ralph Waldo Emerson or Robert Louis Stevenson. In fact, it was written by Bessie A. Stanley of Lincoln, Kansas, in 1905. She earned $250 as the first-prize winner in a contest sponsored by the magazineModern Women.
The Forgotten
"No time like the present."
This phrase has become so common that many people assume it is a proverb. In the familiar form quoted here, it originated with Mary de la Rivière Manley (1663–1724), an English novelist and playwright, who used it in her 1696 play The Lost Lover.
Read more at Yale Alumni Magazine
who wrote so many poems without signing them,
was often a woman."
—Virginia Woolf, A Room of One's Own
Virginia Woolf wrote those words about the entire realm of literary creation, not about that special subset of it called "quotations"—the minting of concise snippets so eloquent or insightful as to be memorable. But those of us who dig deeply for the earliest sources of well-known lines discover, time and again, that here, too, Woolf was right: Anonymous was a woman. Many of the great quotesmiths have been women who are now forgotten or whose wit and wisdom are erroneously credited to more-famous men.
Scholars of sociology, history, psychology, women's studies, and other fields, not to mention writers and thinkers like Woolf herself, have written about why this should be so. I won't seek to tackle that question here. Instead, I present the raw material—or, rather, the fraction of it we know.
The authorship of some of these phrases had been forgotten for years or decades before being unearthed by a researcher. In other cases, the authors were never "lost"—their names have long been known to specialists and can be easily found with a little research—yet they are mostly unknown to the general public. Moreover, the real authors are often obscured by inaccurate attributions that have gained wide currency.
Finally, a few of these lines were crafted by women who are anonymous partly because they worked in professions that tend to be anonymous, such as screenwriting or speechwriting. I've included them nevertheless, because they show the range and depth of well-known quotations by women. The hallmark of almost all these cases, in fact, is that people are surprised to learn that such famous lines were written by such obscure women.
The quotations here are grouped in two categories: the misattributed and the forgotten. Within each category, they are listed chronologically. And after the lists, I offer one more surprise. As it turns out, there have often been anonymous women behind the enterprise of quotation collecting itself—even behind the most iconic male name.
The Misattributed
"He has achieved success who has lived well, laughed often, and loved much; who has enjoyed the trust of pure women, the respect of intelligent men, and the love of little children; who has filled his niche and accomplished his task; who has left the world better than he found it, whether by an improved poppy, a perfect poem, or a rescued soul; who has never lacked appreciation of earth's beauty or failed to express it; who has always looked for the best in others and given them the best he had; whose life was an inspiration; whose memory is a benediction."
This passage is often said to be by Ralph Waldo Emerson or Robert Louis Stevenson. In fact, it was written by Bessie A. Stanley of Lincoln, Kansas, in 1905. She earned $250 as the first-prize winner in a contest sponsored by the magazineModern Women.
The Forgotten
"No time like the present."
This phrase has become so common that many people assume it is a proverb. In the familiar form quoted here, it originated with Mary de la Rivière Manley (1663–1724), an English novelist and playwright, who used it in her 1696 play The Lost Lover.
Read more at Yale Alumni Magazine
September 4, 2014
Toronto: Judy Cairo Heads Back to Fest With ‘Boychoir’
During the height of the recession, producer Judy Cairo managed to break into the feature film business with a smallish indie called “Crazy Heart” through her Informant Media banner.
Since “Crazy Heart” became a major hit with Oscars for lead actor Jeff Bridges and the song “The Weary Kind,” Cairo’s been able to keep Informant in the business — so much so that she’s making her third trip the Toronto film Festival following “Hysteria” in 2011 and “Stuck in Love” in 2012.
Cairo, Carol Baum and Jane Goldenring are at TIFF this year with another music-based drama, “Boychoir,” starring Dustin Hoffman with Francois Girard (“The Red Violin”) directing. Informant is financing and producing. CAA is handling domestic sales; Embankment has international.
“It does give you confidence as a producer to get chosen for Toronto,” Cairo said. “They are great tastemakers.”
The story centers on a troubled 11-year-old who finds himself at an East Coast school, where he engages in a battle of wills with a demanding choir master, played by Hoffman. Eddie Izzard, Debra Winger, Josh Lucas, Kevin McHale and Garrett Wareing also star.
Embankment Films sold out most international markets at last year’s AFM — something Cairo credited to Hoffman’s appearance. She also praised his ability to make more of the character, above and beyond Ben Ripley’s script.
“Dustin has such a strong sense of improvisation,” she said. “During one scene, he started talking about Handel and opportunities and everyone on the set was in tears.”
Reposted from Varity
September 2, 2014
Maryland Shines Spotlight on War of 1812
As we prepare Andrew Jackson—Battle for New Orleansthe news begins to serve the project and will refresh American memory about the controversial War of 1812 that ended definitively with Jackson’s defeat of the British at New Orleans.
BALTIMORE—Maryland officials are on a campaign to elevate the profile of the War of 1812, a historically unpopular conflict that ended in a draw with Britain and has long been overshadowed by the Revolutionary and Civil wars.
The state is planning a weeklong festival next month to mark the 200th anniversary of the city's defense in 1814, which inspired Francis Scott Key to pen the poem that later became the lyrics to "The Star-Spangled Banner," the national anthem.
State officials also have awarded $5.5 million in grants for celebrations, educational programs and research, hoping to generate a lasting patriotic buzz about Maryland's starring role in a war that largely has been written off as a historical footnote.
"This is not just about having a party and shutting it down for another hundred years," said Bill Pencek, executive director of Maryland's War of 1812 Bicentennial Commission. He said the state is counting on an enduring tourism boost.
If it is recalled at all, the War of 1812, which ended in 1815, is most often remembered for the British burning of Washington and the White House. But some of the lowest and highest points in the conflict actually occurred in nearby Maryland.
The error-filled collapse of American troops in Bladensburg, Md., in August 1814 gave the British easy entrée to the nation's capital. By contrast, the successful defense of Baltimore amid the British bombardment at Fort McHenry helped fuel American patriotism when an oversized American flag stood tall following the siege.
Commemorative coins are displayed for sale at the Fort McHenry gift shop. Melissa Golden for The Wall Street Journal
The war was folly, said Don Hickey, a history professor at Wayne State College in Nebraska who has written books on the subject. Though the U.S. declared war over legitimate British interference with American trade and the seizure of its sailors, it made no sense militarily, he said.
Still, the conflict "helped forge an American identity," Mr. Hickey said, and gave rise to such lasting symbols as Uncle Sam. It also helped propel the political careers of prominent U.S. figures, including future President Andrew Jackson, who defeated a British force near New Orleans in 1815, unaware that the two countries had signed a truce weeks earlier.
The Maryland grants, funded by corporate sponsorships and commemorative coin sales, have been matched by $14 million in public and private contributions. They have financed an IMAX film, improvements to the sleepy waterfront in southern Maryland where British forces landed, the restoration of an insect-ravaged cavalry jacket, and a camera network called KeyCam that gives people the same view of Fort McHenry that Mr. Key saw.
Much of the funding is focused along The Star-Spangled Banner National Historic Trail, a 560-mile route tracing the paths of British and American forces in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C.
On Maryland's Eastern Shore this Sunday, a $93,000 grant is subsidizing the re-enactment of the Battle of Caulk's Field on one of the war's most pristine battlefields.
There, a local militia repelled marauding British troops without help from American soldiers. Among the 14 British killed was Sir Peter Parker, a cousin of the poet Lord Byron, who wrote an ode in his relative's honor.
Even many locals don't know that history, said Bernadette Bowman, director of the Kent County Office of Tourism Development. "This is the forgotten war. We weren't taught this," she said.
Reposted from the Wall Street Journal
Write to Scott Calvert at scott.calvert@wsj.com
September 1, 2014
Dennis Palumbo's Phantom Limb Reviewed Booklist
Phantom Limb.Palumbo, Dennis (Author)
September, 2014. 336 p. Poisoned Pen
Amputees say a missing arm or leg can itch and demand to be scratched, as though it were still there. That’s a “phantom limb,” and its ghostly presence is one of the keys to this lively novel.
The premise is conventional enough: a has-been film star, married to a gazillionaire coot, is kidnapped. The stock characters are present: the old boy’s bitter, boozy son; officious police and feds; a woman cop who chafes at not being taken seriously; and even the hero, the penetratingly analytical psychologist Daniel Rinaldi. A minor figure, who lost a leg in Afghanistan, waits in the wings as the plot races to its conclusion. But after the kidnap drama ends, there are about 170 pages to go. What follows is a reexamination of the evidence, when the phantom limb makes its non presence known. Could it be that the kidnap-ransom plot was really about something else? We’re on the psychologist’s turf now, and the revelations are more interesting than the author’s attempt to turn this into an actioner. It’s about fragmented people’s attempts to be whole.
Larry D. Thompson's Dead Peasants Reviewed
Have you ever heard of a Dead Peasant Insurance Policy? I had-but then I have been a bookkeeper for many years. Just in case here is a definition that I copied from The Free Dictionary
A corporate-owned life insurance policy that a company may take out on its employees—often without their knowledge—designating the company as beneficiary. If the employee dies young, the company gets tax-free death benefits. If the employee lives long, it has a long-running tax break (as well as the death benefit)
Jack Bryant, a brilliant lawyer, just won a major case and has decided to retire early. His son will be playing college football and Jack has decided it is time to be more involved in his son's life. He packs up and leaves his lucrative practice and heads to Fort Worth Texas. He has lots of money so astonishes the realtor by taking an expensive, very large house. This is in the middle of the housing crisis, she really needed this sale. He knows he likes her but it takes almost the entire book for them to actually get together.
Eventually, after having the house decorated (by the realtor) Jack gets bored. He decides to do pro bono work for the people in the area who can not afford a good lawyer. He sets up shop on a piece of property he bought in a bad part of town in his RV. At first nobody comes--then one day an older African American woman comes knocking at the door. I seems she had received a check from the post office for 400,000 dollars but it was made out to her deceased husbands ex-employer.
Things really start heating up and more accidental deaths keep happening. I can almost guarantee that you won't be able to put this book down--but if I say anymore I'll give it all away!
About the Book (from Amazon)
“Just terrific… As real as a heart attack, and every bit as suspenseful.”
--John Lescroart, New York Times bestselling author of A Plague of Secrets, on The Trial
Veteran trial lawyer Larry D. Thompson has decades of courtroom experience in his home state of Texas on controversial and important trials. Now, in Dead Peasants, Thompson has delivered a fast-moving and suspenseful legal thriller featuring a retired lawyer whose life gets turned upside down when a stranger asks for help.
Jack Bryant, exhausted after a high-profile career as a lawyer, takes an early retirement in Fort Worth, Texas, where he plans to kick back, relax, and watch his son play football at TCU. But then an elderly widow shows up with a check for life insurance benefits and that is suspiciously made payable to her dead husband’s employer, Jack can’t turn down her pleas for help and files a civil suit to collect the benefits rightfully due the widow. A chain of events that can’t be stopped thrusts Jack into a vortex of killings, and he and his new love interest find themselves targets of a murderer.
Gripping, engaging, and written with the authority that only a seasoned lawyer could possess, Dead Peasants is a legal thriller that will stun and surprise you.
Purchase the Book here
Reposted from Miki's Hope
August 28, 2014
Deborah Stevens' The Serpent's Disciple" has won the PINNACLE BOOK ACHEIVEMENT AWARD for Best Thriller!
A family secret, an ancient artifact could save humankind from a diabolical leader many fear is the Antichrist. In this conspiracy thriller, an ancient evil threatens to take over the Catholic church and use it to upset the world order. Peter Romanus, the Grand Master of the secret masonic order known as Propaganda Due has set in motion the final stages of his plot to kill the pope and control major world governments through the Church. 
August 26, 2014
Miki's Hope Reviews Insanity Plea
This is definitely one of the best legal mystery THRILLERS which incorporates a medical condition I have read in a very long time. I could not put it down! This book was actually sent to me along with a book I had requested to review by the same author-Dead Peasants- which I will be reading and reviewing pretty soon.Wikipedia defines Schizophrenia as:
Schizophrenia (/ˌskɪtsɵˈfrɛniə/ or /ˌskɪtsɵˈfriːniə/) is a mental disorder often characterized by abnormal social behavior and failure to recognize what is real. Common symptoms include false beliefs, unclear or confused thinking, auditory hallucinations, reduced social engagement and emotional expression, and inactivity. Diagnosis is based on observed behavior and the person's reported experiences.
Genetics and early environment, as well as psychological and social processes, appear to be important contributory factors. Some recreational and prescription drugs appear to cause or worsen symptoms. The many possible combinations of symptoms have triggered debate about whether the diagnosis represents a single disorder or a number of separate syndromes. Despite the origin of the term from the Greek roots skhizein ("to split") and phrēn ("mind"), schizophrenia does not imply a "split personality", or "multiple personality disorder"—a condition with which it is often confused in public perception. Rather, the term means a "splitting of mental functions", reflecting the presentation of the illness.
The mainstay of treatment is antipsychotic medication, which primarily suppresses dopamine receptor activity. Counseling, job training and social rehabilitation are also important in treatment. In more serious cases—where there is risk to self or others—involuntary hospitalization may be necessary, although hospital stays are now shorter and less frequent than they once were.
Symptoms begin typically in young adulthood, and about 0.3–0.7% of people are affected during their lifetime. The disorder is thought to mainly affect the ability to think, but it also usually contributes to chronic problems with behavior and emotion. People with schizophrenia are likely to have additional conditions, including major depression and anxiety disorders; the lifetime occurrence of substance use disorder is almost 50%.[5] Social problems, such as long-term unemployment, poverty, and homelessness are common. The average life expectancy of people with the disorder is 12 to 15 years less than those without. This is the result of increased physical health problems and a higher suicide rate (about 5%).
Paranoid Schizophrenia is a medical condition which affects the brain. Psychiatrists to this day are still trying to find a way to at least relieve the symptoms which are horrendous. Many of the "street people" who you see walking around talking to themselves may be schizophrenic. and most are relatively harmless. There are those who are "told" by voices to do horrendous acts-I believe Ted Bundy was one such person.
Wayne Little is a lawyer. His older brother, Dan has been living on the streets for many years. Suddenly, Wayne gets a phone call-his brother is being charged with capital murder-and may face the death penalty. Dan is innocent but has been off his meds-----Ultimately Wayne and his friends decide to put in for the Insanity Plea. In Texas, where this story takes place that is not easy! Meanwhile-there is a killer out there and he is murdering people---Will the real murderer get caught. Can they prove, under Texas law that Dan was legally insane when he confessed to the murder? The ending will send chills down your spine!
About the book: (from Amazon)
"...fierce courtroom drama..."
"...intoxicating...and nail-biting..."
"...the courtroom scenes often soar..."
-Kirkus Reviews
A young nurse is savagely killed during a pre-dawn run on Galveston’s seawall. The murderer slices her running shorts from her body as his trophy and tosses the body over the wall to the rocks below. As dawn breaks, a bedraggled street person, wearing four layers of old, tattered clothes, emerges from the end of the jetty, waving his arms and talking to people only he hears. He trips over the body, checks for a pulse and, instead, finds a diamond bracelet which he puts in his pocket. He hurries across the street, heading for breakfast at the Salvation Army two blocks away, leaving his footprints in blood as he goes.
Wayne Little, former Galveston prosecutor and now Houston trial lawyer, learns that his older brother has been charged with capital murder for the killing. At first he refuses to be dragged back into his brother’s life. Once a brilliant lawyer, Dan’s paranoid schizophrenia had captured his mind, estranging everyone including Wayne. Finally giving in to pleas from his mother, Wayne enlists the help of his best friend, Duke Romack, former NBA star turned criminal lawyer. When Wayne and Duke review the evidence, they conclude that Dan’s chances are slim. They either find the killer or win a plea of insanity since the prosecution’s case is air tight. The former may be a mission impossible since the killer is the most brilliant, devious and cruel fictional murderer since Hannibal Lecter. The chances of winning an insanity plea are equally grim.
It will take the combined skills of the two lawyers along with those of Duke’s girlfriend, Claudia, a brilliant appellate lawyer, and Rita Contreras, Wayne’s next door neighbor and computer hacker extraordinaire, to attempt to unravel the mystery of the serial killer before the clock clicks down to a guilty verdict for Dan.
The Insanity Plea is a spell-binding tale of four amateur sleuths who must find, track and trap a serial killer as they prepare for and defend Wayne;s brother who is trapped in a mind like that of John Nash, Russell Crowe’s character in A Beautiful Mind.
Combining legal thriller with tracking a serial killer, Thompson once again takes the reader on a helluva ride, right up to the last page and sentence.
The Insanity Plea, a new legal thriller by Larry D. Thompson, Best Selling author of Dead Peasants, The Trial and So Help Me God.
Read a chapter or two here
Purchase the book here
Reposted From Miki's Hope
August 20, 2014
August 16, 2014
The Shadow Portal Book Review: Medusa by S.D. Hines
(Heroines Of Classical Greece Book One)
Despite a semi-miraculous birth in the temple of Athena, Medusa is nothing more than a devoted priestess of the goddess, distinguished only by her beauty and piety. But after she is raped by the god Poseidon, her entire world is ripped asunder and she flees Poseidon's wrath through ancient Greece and beyond for the inconceivable crime of resistance.
In her wanderings, she encounters dangers and horrors, but also friends in unexpected places. Pursued by Poseidon's fury and his assassins, she is finally cornered in Egypt with only two choices: fight back or be destroyed with all she loves. But her only hope lies with the father of her children, the great love of her life and the man who is prophesized to kill her: Perseus.
Review
As suggested by the title, Medusa is the tale of the classical Greek creature of myth. But in this exciting and heart wrenching version of the story, we meet Medusa the woman. Medusa, who was attacked by a god and then forced to flee for her life for fighting back. Medusa, brave and strong and doomed to die by the hand of the only man she ever loved.
From the island temple in which she was born, to the distant land of Ethiop, Medusa's travels bring her in contact with numerous figures of Greek mythology, as well as the mythology of Egypt.
Medusa is a story of love and vengeance, of two people who come together time and again, only to be separated by circumstances beyond their control. Medusa the character is an amazing woman who retains her grace and selflessness despite the cruel hand life has dealt her. A warrior and a healer, Medusa sacrifices all she holds dear in order to protect innocent lives from the wrath of Poseidon.
It's nice to read a story that speaks of Medusa as something other than a monster. Her story is a sad one, but not without its triumphs. There were times when the transitions between scenes were a little choppy, and some scenes could have been better fleshed out to be more immersive, but for the most part I found this to be a very entertaining story. It held my attention and in the end left me feeling more than a little distraught at the way things turned out. But not every story can end with Happily Ever After, and though the conclusion of the story is in most parts a sad one, it fit the story perfectly.
August 11, 2014
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