Category: Uncategorized
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Woodland Indians and Warfare
The above painting is of a Mingo Warrior around 1750. Note the wire wound around his outer ear cartilage. Looking fierce, more than anything, was a good way to avoid trouble. Organization: Indian tribes had war captains, but these men held no authority over other men. The war captain was a person whose opinion had…
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Jamestown Settlement Museum
The location of the actual historical site of the Jamestown Settlement is an archaelogical dig without buildings. The Jamestown Settlement Living History Museum is located about a mile from the original site. It includes a replica of the settlement, and a recreation of a typical nearby Powhatan village. The Indians at the village didn’t seem…
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Writing: Self-forgiveness
Self-forgiveness and Real-tenderness I think self-forgiveness and what I call real-tenderness are closely connected, and are necessary interior skills that you must develop in order to create compelling characters. I say self-forgiveness rather than just forgiveness because if and when you arrive at self-forgiveness you have already accepted and forgiven everything and everyone who warrants…
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Talking Animals
first, i would say that any time you have an animal talking in a story, whether it be in the mind or out loud, you have entered cartoon-land. if it is critical that a speaking character be an animal, then you have to deal with that somehow, and you don’t want to do it right…
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Opening Your Story
The author should begin every story by caring for her reader. You are asking your reader to hold your hand and take a long walk with you. Your opening, and your very first sentence should evoke in your reader the desire to keep going. The worst way to open any story is to take…
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18th century types of horses
American Cream Draft Horse Indeed nothing can be more elegant and beautiful than the horses bred here, either for the turf, the field, the road, or the coach. J.F.D. Smyth, 1770 Horses bred “for the turf”-the Thoroughbreds responsible for Virginia’s reputation as the cradle of horse racing in the United States-were the only horses considered…
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The First Internet Election, 2
The “donation-splitting fundraising email” is a new twist to the “first internet election.” I’ve never heard of a national candidate splitting his donations, and it strikes me as absurd, unless the national candidate still comes out ahead after the split, due to the additional interest in the plight of the little candidate. In other words,…
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Hemingway’s longest sentence
“George was coming down telemark position, kneeling; one leg forward and bent, the other trailing; his sticks hanging like some insect’s thin legs, kicking up puffs of snow as the touched the surface and finally the whole kneeling, trailing figure coming around in a beautiful right curve, crouching, the legs shot forward and back, the…
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O.S. date (old style) vs. N.S. date
Beginning in 1582, the Gregorian calendar replaced the Julian in Catholic countries. This change was also implemented in Protestant and Orthodox countries some time later. In England and Wales, Ireland, and the British colonies, the change of the start of the year and the changeover from the Julian calendar occurred in 1752 under the Calendar…