An Italian-American Writer & Poet with a Yankee Outsider Perspective
In the late 1840s, the land system in Hawaii was changed from a system of peonage. This redistribution, remapping, resale was called the Great Mahele. Previously, most of the land on the Islands was held by local royalty, by greater … Continued
Life at its most lush. The magazine, I mean. Life Magazine as a large weekly magazine, with glossy paper and often full-page ads, came into existence in 1936 when Henry Luce bought the name from a smaller-scale humor “rag.” Throughout … Continued
When I met my husband, he had been out of prison nearly 20 years–the federal prison in Springfield, Missouri, where he was sent as a pacifist during the early days of the Vietnam War. Soon after he was freed in … Continued
Oral History came of age for the general reader in the United States with Studs Terkel’s various volumes–Working, Hard Times (about the Great Depression) and The Good War (World War II). Published between 1974 and 1985, these works of oral … Continued
I like to think the gaps between generations are not defined (in the U.S.) by technological changes, but so they are. My adorable, 94-year-old Cousin Eleanor teases her 40-something gynecologist that she not only remembers radio and newsreels but pre-radio. … Continued
My father used to complain that in my mother’s house, he walked on flowers, sat on flowers, ate on flowers and slept on flowers. My mother must have taken this as a compliment because she never changed the decor. It … Continued
A wonderful class of graduate students and I have started discussing how history and story intersect. We began with Doctorow’s Ragtime and the movie made from the novel. Next we read August Wilson’s play, “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” which the … Continued
When I published The Story in History in 1992, the idea of using historical material to inspire creative writing was far from new–there was, after all, Tolstoy’s War and Peace, 1869, not to mention the Shakespeare plays about all those … Continued
I hadn’t a clue in high school and college–gay life wasn’t recognized in polite Charleston, South Carolina society during the 1950s and 60s. Yes, rock n rollers with duck tails and pompadours rumbled against the crew cuts, but they all … Continued