Allison Bruning's Blog, page 61

Sequoyah: Scholar, Soldier, Husband, Father

[image error] USA Public DomainSequoyah's trade house was often used as a gathering place for the Cherokee. In his travels he often encountered the white man and had seen how they communicate with "talking leaves" Talking leaves were the pages of writing, such as letters and books, that the white man used to communicate with one another. Many of the Cherokee believed the use of these items was a form of witchcraft. But Sequoyah, who couldn't read nor write in English, was intrigued by them. In 1809, a group of Cherokee captured a white man who had a crumbled up letter in his pocket. The Cherokee had demanded their prisoner to read the letter to them but he had refused. Fearing it was message from the Great Spirit, they quickly took the "talking leaf" to Sequoyah. The mysterious writing had intrigued Sequoyah. For weeks and months he studied the letter. Although he couldn't read nor write in English, he sought out the white man's books and letters in order to study them. Sequoyah became obsessed with the white man's talking leaves. None of the leaves would talk to him but that didn't discourage him. One day, as he was relaxing with his friends, the topic of conversation turned to white man's talking leaves. They began to discuss whether or not the white man's talking leaves were superior to their own communication methods. Sequoyah had advocated the white man possessed more power over the Cherokee by stating, "Much that red men know, they forget," he stated. "They have no way to preserve it. White men
make what they know fast on paper, like catching the wild panther and taming it." This did not sit well with his friends. Many of them ridiculed him. The conversation ended but Sequoyah's dream did not.

For three years Sequoyah worked on developing the Cherokee alphabet until the War of 1812. The War of 1812, pitted the nearly formed United States against Great Britain. Once again, the native population took sides. The Cherokee were of no exception. They fought alongside Andrew Jackson against the British.  Despite the deformity of his leg, Sequoyah enlisted at Turkeytown on October 7, 1813 and participated in the Battle of Tallaschatche. Three weeks after his three month tour of service was over, Sequoyah reenlisted. He fought in the Battle of Horseshoe Bend on March 27, 1814. The Cherokee were vital in helping the United States defeat the British allied Creek Native Americans. During the war, Sequoyah began to pay more attention to the "talking leaves". He and his fellow Cherokee warriors were dishearten in that the white man could communicate with their loved ones through the use of the talking leaves. Without being able to read and write, his people were left without the ability to communicate with their loved ones for the entire sixty days they were at war. The disappointments in his fellow Cherokee's faces only further encouraged Sequoyah into developing the Cherokee alphabet.

After the war, Sequoyah went back to his tradehouse and began to work in earnest at developing a written language for his people. In 1815, he fell in love with a woman of the Bird Clan named Sally Waters. At first, they were deeply in love with each other and had four children together. But as time went on she grew tired with her husband's constant drawing and pleaded for him to abandon them. Sequoyah refused. He wasn't just drawing. He was developing a set of pictographs. One day, Sally took all of his work and burned everything. Despite her efforts to destroy his work, he pressed on and started again. Sequoyah had already committed each symbol to his memory so it was easy for him to start over. He left his wife and children and went to a secluded cabin where he could work in privacy. Despite his best efforts to get away from the constant intolerance of his peers, his disappearance only caused him more heartache. While he was gone, his Cherokee neighbors burned his house down along with the wooden tiles he had carved. Luckily Sally and the children were not injured. Then they ransacked his private cottage and captured him. They vigilantes punished him for his witchcraft by branding his head and back, cut of his ears and cut his fingers back to the second joint. Sequoyah returned to his wife and children but did not stop with the development of the Cherokee language. He began to teach his young daughter, Ah-yo-ka, how to read and write the glyphs he had already created.
In 1817, a warrant was issued out of Knoxville for his arrest on charges of witchcraft.
Here is a copy of the warrant:


"You will confer a favor on certain citizens of the Cherokee Nation, by giving publicity of the following description of a Cherokee, who committed a crime of witchcraft, and murder to one of our citizens on the 22nd December last.
This man is called by the white people, Sequoyah. He is about 6 feet high, upwards of 50 years old; his appearance is rather rough, and attempts some times to speak English; his face is somewhat slender, and several weeks ago, he was disfigured by cutting his ears and fingers off by another Indian.
He, I believe, has a circle on his forehead, artificially placed by burning. He has sparse whiskers, most of them bear frost of age. His hair, I believe is about shoulder length."

Sequoyah knew he could not be executed without a hearing, since the 1811 Cherokee constitution forbid such an act. But he wasn't about to allow the Cherokee to capture him, not after what they had done to him already. In 1818, he moved his family from Alabama to Arkansas where he not only continued his work but conducted business in a salt production and blacksmith operation.

#PhotoADay2012: Rings

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Photo A Day ChallengeAugust 10, 2012"Rings"
I took this photograph at a friend's wedding. I wanted to express the deep love and commitment they have for one another. Marriage is about teamwork. What effects one will ultimately affect the other. 
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If you like my photographs, please do not reuse them unless you give me credit for them where ever you are posting them. Let me know where you are using them as well. I just love to see where my pictures end up.  Thanks, Allison

#BlogFlash2012: What Is Success?

Blog Flash 2012"Success"
[image error] [image error] What is success? Is it being famous, having lots of money and a large home? Or is it the tiny goals we all have that we want to achieve? Fame and fortune comes and goes. Right now everyone is focused on the Olympics. I can guarantee we will all remember these wonderful athletes until something else catches our eye. How does one find success when fame only last 15 minutes in the public’s eye? If you only focus on fame and fortune then you truly are missing the bigger picture. For materialistic success is only short lived but achieving you personal goals will last a lifetime. 

#PhotoADayAug: My Childlike Mess

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Photo A Day ChallengeAugust 9, 2012
I took this photograph after a day of shifting through a pile of poems and handmade books I had created in my childhood. I still have the books I made for my grandmother when I was little. They are even more precious to me since my grandmother died a few years ago. She was my constant encourager and inspiration. 

[image error] If you like my photographs, please do not reuse them unless you give me credit for them where ever you are posting them. Let me know where you are using them as well. I just love to see where my pictures end up.  Thanks, Allison

TTVBT: An Insiders Look At Lumen by Joseph Eastwood

This week on the Tasha Turner Blog Tour we are asked to share a portion of our book. My guest today is Joseph Eastwood.


[image error] Joseph Eastwood is the eldest of five siblings. He lives and grew up in Lancaster, England, where he also attends the University of Cumbria, studying English Literature and Creative Writing.

He has always had a giant creative connection in his life, from drawing and writing to having an eclectic taste in music and reading a wide range of books, which he hopes reflects in his own writing. He also loves watching sci-fi, supernatural and fantasy based TV shows and films. Among some of his favourites are Supernatural, The Vampire Diaries and True Blood. As well as those he loves dramas, like The Good Wife and Desperate Housewives.

Joseph is either busy doing edits and writing or trying to get some university work done. He lives for creativity, striving to be different and thinking up new hoops for his characters to jump through. Check out this sneak peek into Joseph's book.





[image error] Daniel’s light yellow feathered wings unfurled from his back and threw him to the ceiling. It was an innate feeling as his fingers slipped into the grips of the worn away brick. He stayed, shaking, trying to control his breathing, before looking around and finding himself back in his bedroom.
His mother burst into his bedroom, panting. “Daniel,” she said, holding a hand against her chest, “get down from there, we have a guest.”
Daniel’s fully formed wings started to malt away; the feathers danced around in the air until they touched the floor and the skeleton of the wings thinned back into his body. He closed his eyes and took a tighter hold of the brick as his body filled with ecstasy.
“I’m not going to repeat myself,” she said, shaking her head at him.
“Well you don’t understand what it feels like,” Daniel said, releasing his fingers from the ceiling and sighing, he fell straight to his bed, half of the feathers bounced off while the others began reattaching themselves to his skin. He lay there for a moment, taking in the rush of energy as his mother watched. “I wish you could live that nightmare, for just one night.”
“Daniel, you know I hate to see you in pain, but this man is a very special guest. Come on, honey. Get dressed and come down, we’ll be waiting,” she said, closing the door as she left.
He lifted his head and all he could see were feathers, there wasn’t a part of the floor that hadn’t been covered. He swung his legs around and faced himself in the wall mirror across from his bed. He noticed he wasn’t wearing a t-shirt, in fact, the t-shirt he’d been wearing was now on the floor in two pieces, laid beneath the mass of feathers.
“Isn’t there an easier way of doing this,” he groaned, standing and walking through the feathers. They stuck to his feet and ankles, thinning into his skin and raising his energy level.
Daniel needed all the feathers back into his body because it was the product of him and his energy, and energy wasn’t easy to come by, at least not in the quantity Daniel used. But he was nearing the age of full ability, and full potential, yet every morning he displayed signs that he still wasn’t maturing, and that he still didn’t have full control over his abilities.

Comments from Author! This is taken from the start of the book, I was going to give you guys the prologue as well, but that’s already online: http://www.scribd.com/doc/58264128/Pr... so I figured that I should give you something new! I love this opening sequence, if I do say so myself, and I like it because I think after the prologue you want something to hook you, and anything that mentions people who have retractable wings is enough to hook me… is it enough to hook you?
Will you be adding it to your Goodreads to-read list? http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13...



About Lumen
Lumen is the first in the four-part Blood Luminary series following the characters, Daniel Satoria, Jac Lister and Mia Crosgrove.

Daniel, like all other adolescents on Templar Island is going through the final transition that will allow him to manipulate the bonds of energy and do more than just tamper with his own biological form.

After a near-death experience he is accepted into Croft's Academy, the only private school on the island and for someone like Daniel to gain access to such teaching is a privilege, and they won’t let him forget it. He tries to fit in, but that’s when things take a turn for the worst, and everything he once knew can’t be possible any more. He doesn't know who to trust or what to believe.

SOON TO BE RELEASED!
Add to Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13...


Contact Joseph
Links
http://www.josepheastwood.com/ - Blog
https://www.facebook.com/josephswriting - Facebook page
https://twitter.com/#!/Joe_Eastwood - Twitter

#BlogFlash2012: The Final Journey

Blog Flash 2012"Journey" 
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The bright light guides me through the tunnel that connects this world to the next.Oh what a sight I see before me!Family, friends and childhood heroes who passed before me Greet me at Heaven’s door.
No longer do I feel the aches and pains of my body.Happiness and joy fill my heart.Those dear to my heart greet me with a warm embrace.Then suddenly my Lord appears.“Well done faithful servant.Welcome home,” he speaks to me.
Oh, how his words spill from his mouth like honey to my ears.Glorious and righteous, behold his illuminating beauty.No one can compare. 
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#PhotoADayAug: True Love

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Photo A DayAugust 8, 2012
"Glasses"
I took this at a friend's wedding.
[image error] If you like my photographs, please do not reuse them unless you give me credit for them where ever you are posting them. Let me know where you are using them as well. I just love to see where my pictures end up.  Thanks, Allison

How could Anna have done that to her own children?

"With tears running down his cheeks, Alexander ushered the girls from the room. Now alone, Anna grabbed the bottle of foxglove. She swallowed the contents of the small bottle and grimaced at the bitter taste. She gasped. The bottle fell from her hand onto the floor. She gripped the sheet as pain suffused her body and her heart ceased." -pg. 20
[image error] How could Anna, a loving and devoted mother, commit suicide instead of allowing her brother to try to heal her of the Smallpox? Anna knew she would ultimately face death and didn't want her daughters to face the same fate. Smallpox was a horrible, contagious disease that killed hundreds of people throughout the 17th and 18th centuries all over North America. As the daughter of a British trader she would have already known what Smallpox was due to the fact by the 18th century, Smallpox had already made its way into major European cities. She may not have recognized the symptoms but she knew what it would mean to be diagnosed with that fateful illness. When someone was diagnosed with Smallpox, it was common practice to isolate them from the public in order for the infectious disease not to spread. Smallpox could spread through inanimate objects, such as Anna wearing her husband's coat after he had contracted the disease. This way is less common. More than likely she caught the Smallpox directly from her dying husband. She had spent a entire night holding him in her arms as he died. Prolonged face to face contact with a person who has contracted Smallpox is the best way for someone to catch the disease. This is why Alexander, when he first saw Anna's rashes, would not be near her. He knew once the rashes had appeared she was highly contagious. Anna had ultimately saved her daughters' lives by neglecting them, sending for her brother to take them to the Shawnee and by killing herself do her children would not come near her body. She knew Alexander would burn her body along with the cabin. Anna had given her life to save her children. 
What would you do if you were in Anna's place?
What do you think the journey was like for the twins after they had watched the cabin burn with their mother's body inside?
How are you liking the book so far?
What do you think of Alexander?

#BlogFlash2012: Relaxing with Calico

Blog Flash #8Relaxing With CalicoShe just loves to hunt

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"That afternoon, she left with Pierre, Blue Lark, Hunting Bear, and Creek's brothers-in-law. Deep in the wilderness, the men split into groups of three. She followed Hunting Bear and Pierre; the brothers worked in perfect harmony. Off to her right, a deer stood with a pair of six-point antlers. It's eyes stared into hers with a deep gaze. She knew the deer offered its life. Calico stood still, aimed, and then shot, only to miss the heart. The shot hit the deer in the leg. The deer panicked and ran. Calico's heart jumped. Unable to load her weapon, she screamed." - pg. 61 of Calico


Calico is available on Amazon at http://amzn.to/JSNRpm

#PhotoADayAug: 8 O'clock

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August 7, 2012"8 o'clock"
My oven tells me its 8:00 at night.Man, how time has flown today. [image error]


If you like my photographs, please do not reuse them unless you give me credit for them where ever you are posting them. Let me know where you are using them as well. I just love to see where my pictures end up.  Thanks, Allison