Recommendation Station: The Book of Qualities by J. Ruth Gendler

“In portraying the complexities of the psyche, Gendler uses the Qualities to bridge the distinctions between literature and psychology, and has created an original work that challenges us to look at our emotions in new and inspiring ways.” –from the book description

By Katie Clark

Many writers will say that they credit their inspiration to important people of the day, a favorite childhood bedtime story, or perhaps reading a current best seller. I received my earliest inspiration to become a writer from The Book of Qualities by J. Ruth Gendler. This book has been in my possession since I was eight years old and stumbled upon it in a random auction box-lot. My family attended auctions frequently and to pacify her young children, my mother would allow us to purchase the small lots. Digging through each one was like Christmas; you never knew what you were going to find. When I first opened The Book of Qualities, it opened to The Wind:

“The Wind is a gossip. Not in a malicious way. She just likes to move around and stir things up. She runs through the fire barefoot and has no fear of heights. She carries big blue bowls of rain with her. She plays the flute and loves all kinds of sounds. Her laughter fills the sky. The Wind is a wonderful storyteller. I still remember how she introduced me to the Qualities when I was a child.”

This introduction filled me with such wonderment. The fact that someone could find the essence of something as complex as the wind and apply human qualities to enable understanding was a transformative moment. I find myself returning to this book in times of writer’s block. It’s sheer creativity and imaginative concepts continue to leave me mesmerized and refreshed to begin my task anew. Gendler takes seventy-seven qualities and breathes life into each one, giving them human emotions and small quirks that fit their personality. Occasionally Gendler will introduce another quality and creatively allows them to interact with each other. I highly recommend this literary work of art to anyone who is in need of creative inspiration!

According to HarperCollins, J. Ruth Gendler was born and raised in Omaha, Nebraska and received her bachelor of arts degree in English and Communication from Stanford University in 1977.

Inkanddescent Women Magazine highlights her art, creative writing, and impact she has had in over twenty-five years of teaching. She has written and published multiple books including The Book of Qualities, Changing Light, and Notes on the Need for Beauty.

You can visit her website here:
www.ruthgendler.com.

Ron Padgett, Paterson, and Life Lessons

Paterson underscores the importance of stepping away from the world to observe it and emphasizes the merit in living life deliberately and slowly.

By Robin Dubree

I don’t know about you, but when I find an actor I really like, I always make it a goal of mine to watch every film they’ve been in. This has lead me down some very weird roads, but I’ve more or less always been pleasantly surprised by my findings. In my foray into the filmography of Adam Driver (who is a Mishawaka native, by the way), I stumbled across the 2016 film Paterson, directed by Jim Jarmusch. The film didn’t just pleasantly surprise me but made me think for days after, and each time I rewatch it I come away with the same refreshed and inspired feeling. It’s kind of lofty praise to lay on such a film, but it changed my life, and to this day affects my perspective not just on writing poetry but on the world around me as a whole.

Paterson follows the daily life of aptly named protagonist Paterson (Adam Driver), a bus driver living in Paterson, New Jersey. He goes through the same routine every day of the week: wakes up beside his partner Laura (Golshifteh Farahani), walks to work, listens to passengers’ conversations on the bus, writes poetry on his lunch break, takes the dog on a walk after work, and stops by the bar for a beer. This routine in and of itself provides the film with a rhythm; interspersed with shots of the sights of the city are poems written in Paterson’s “secret notebook.” The poetry, like Paterson himself, isn’t in-your-face or extravagant. The poems of the film praise the mundane, turn something as simple as a box of matches into a thing of beauty. Paterson underscores the importance of stepping away from the world to observe it and emphasizes the merit in living life deliberately and slowly. The patterns of poetry form all around us, we just have to look closely enough to notice. 

Ron Padgett, photographed by John Sarsgard

It wasn’t until recently that I took the time to research who wrote the poems for the film, and this led me down an equally rewarding rabbit hole. The poet behind all of Paterson’s work is Ron Padgett, born in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1942. He served as a prominent part of the second generation of the New York School, a movement which took began in the 1960s. Padgett and Paterson director Jim Jarmusch were both students of poet Kenneth Koch, a founding member of the New York School, although they didn’t properly meet until much later. The influence of the New York School is evident throughout the film– not just in Padgett’s ever-present voice (and Koch’s by extension) but in references to Frank O’Hara, whose Lunch Poems Paterson carries with him to work. The New York School is even name-dropped near the end of the film. The poems of this school are simplistic and observational, but witty and spontaneous, taking much of their influence from the earlier Modern and Surrealist movements. 

All of these qualities are present in the poem “Another One,” which Padgett wrote specifically for the film:

When you’re a child
you learn
there are three dimensions:
height, width, and depth.
Like a shoebox.
Then later you hear
there’s a fourth dimension:
time.
Hmm.
Then some say
there can be five, six, seven…
I knock off work,
have a beer
at the bar.
I look down at the glass
and feel glad.

“Another One” embodies the easygoing, urban feeling characteristic of all the poetry in Paterson. Paterson writes what he observes in his ordinary world, and takes pleasure in the simple, never neglecting to point out the absurdity of it all. Padgett’s writing feels almost comforting in the sense it feels like having a conversation with a friend. Yet it still has the power and wit to provoke thought, urging readers to adopt a different perspective. 

In a way, I think everyone can appreciate the necessity of a film like Paterson. In a world where movies capture our attention by being flashy or shocking, Paterson takes a different approach to its audience. It highlights the poetry in everyday life, and that is enough. It’s the reason I started carrying around a “secret notebook” of my own– to record these moments wherever they come to me. By having the audacity to exist quietly, Paterson only further emphasizes the beauty in the mundane. 

Recommendation Station: Mistaking the Sea for Green Fields by Ashley Capps

Ashley Capps, a wonderful poet whose slice-of-life story unfolds in the pages of Mistaking the Sea for Green Fields.

 
By Morgan McKenna

Hailing from Northern Carolina, Capps received her MFA from the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop. She has held fellowships from the Iowa Arts Council and Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing. And in her first book Mistaking the Sea for Green Fields published in 2006, readers are let into her life through an epiphany, symbolisms of animals and the turmoil of interpersonal relationships through the lens of hindsight.

Cover for Mistaking the Sea for Green Fields

To start at the beginning is to start with the epiphany of being displaced. Her first poem is the book, “Hymn for Two Choirs,” sets the tone early in the morning where restlessness staves off sleep and a question is asked, “Why did I only live for one thing.” Compared to a huge dog and a neighbor’s t-shirt, she can only sit and ponder as the world passes her by.

In her very next poem of the humble and poisonous name, “God Bless Our Crop-Dusted Wedding Cake,” the turmoil of her family slowly begins to reveal itself. A brief family of a mother drunk, a father reckless, and a sister dead and gone. But this second poem has a point of view through her father’s eyes, it is through his imagined point of view Capps comes to terms with this part of her life. Where despite the turmoil, sentimentality shows through.

Several of these poems in this book are about an ex, the more popular to quote being “Reading an Ex-Lover’s First Novel.” But I’d like to look at the poem, “Gripes the Lover Leveled (Leaving).” Here there is symbolism of a dog on a sweater, a familiar beast out of place when tied to the sweater it is sewn onto. The tone is agitated with Capps pronouncing herself “gaudy and ruthless,” likely through her ex’s words, a relationship to be good and done with but to look back on and not forget why things ended.

In current days, Capps lives in the Blue Ridge mountains in North Carolina. She works with the animal rights non-profit Free from Harm. And she is a writer, editor, and researcher for the food and climate justice non-profit A Well-Fed World. Capps is working on a second collection of poems entitled The FOReSt. Some of her most recent work was published in Indiana University South Bend’s very own annual online literary journal, The Glacier. And she co-edits THE NEW SENT(I)ENCE, with the poet Allison Titus, an animal poetry anthology and manifesto forthcoming from Trinity University Press this year.

Ashley Capps out on a mountainside,
sourced from the about section of her own wordpress site

Lives of the Writers: Zora Neale Hurston

“There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.”- Zora Neale Hurston, Dust Tracks on a Road

by Belle Becker

As a prolific Harlem Renaissance writer , Zora Neale Hurston (1891-1960) was an enigmatic and important voice for black people. She was born in an entirely black town, and both of her parents had been previously enslaved. After the death of her mother at 13, she floated between different family members and she was suddenly presented with many obstacles that stood between herself and continuing to go to school. Feeling backed into a corner, she began working for a traveling theater troupe. Eventually, she was able to get her high school diploma and went on to attend Howard University, which is where her writing really took off. After writing several short stories for her school’s newspaper, her piece titled “Drenched in Light” was picked up by an influential Harlem literary magazine called Opportunity. She became well-known in the black writing scene and was friends with several other well-known Harlem Renaissance writers, especially Langston Hughes.

Black Art Story

Due to her experiences growing up in an all black town, Zora became intrigued with studying the different cultures, languages, and mythologies of Africans and African Americans. She was given the opportunity to go to Africa, and she wrote about her newfound anthropological insights in the story, Of Mules and Men. She would take road trips around the United States and interview other African Americans because propelling black voices, especially those of women, was something that she cared very deeply about. This idea can be seen in her most famous novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, a very progressive story in which a young black woman learns how to be her own person and speak up for herself. She faced plenty of backlash from this story for presenting African Americans in a “negative light” by using the dialects that actual black southerners would have used, rather than standard English. However, her intention was to simply present and celebrate black culture as it was, with all of its intricacies.

After being essentially blacklisted by many of her peers for writing in a seemingly offensive manner, she struggled to find work and had to take whatever jobs she could to survive. She wrote her last literary work in 1948, which was called Seraph on the Suwanee. Interestingly, the characters in this piece were all white. Her health steadily declined until she died alone with nothing to her name in 1960. Seemingly forgotten, she was sadly buried in an unmarked grave. Luckily, fellow writer Alice Walker took the time to determine where she had been laid to rest and gave her name back, with the inscription, “Zora Neale Hurston: A Genius of the South.”

Lives of the Writers: Mary Shelley

“Solitude was my only consolation – deep, dark, deathlike solitude.” – Mary Shelley, Frankenstein

by Natasha O’Hara

Darksidebooks.com

During a brainstorming session for the blog earlier this month, the topic of Frankenstein kept resurfacing. We did not intend on having a “Frankenstein February”, it happened organically. My personal interest was sparked by watching the 2017 romantic period-drama Mary Shelley, featuring Elle Fanning as the mother of sci-fi horror (the film is currently available on the Roku Channel). 

Mary Shelley, an author ahead of her time, penned seven novels, a slew of short stories and articles, and even edited the works of her husband, romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. However, she is best remembered for her 1818 masterpiece “Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus”. The enduring popularity of her work, even after two centuries, is a testament to Shelley’s extraordinary talent. Perhaps her ability to capture profound themes of loss and ambition at such a young age stemmed from her own experiences with sorrow and heartbreak throughout her life.

Born on August 30th, 1797, in London, Mary Shelley’s lineage was steeped in literary and philosophical brilliance. Her mother was the renowned feminist and author Mary Wollstonecraft, while her father was the philosopher and political journalist William Godwin. Tragically, Mary Wollstonecraft passed away just ten days after giving birth to Mary. William Godwin later remarried another Mary, Mary Jane Clairmont in 1801, who (in true evil-stepmother fashion) already had two children of her own. The strained relationship between Mary and her stepmother is vividly depicted in the film.

Seeking solace from her tumultuous home life, Mary often found herself reading and daydreaming at her mother’s grave. Her education was unconventional, as she did not attend school but rather grew up amidst her father’s intellectual circle and educated herself. At the age of 14, she published her first poem, “Mounseer Nongtongpaw”. In 1812, she was sent to live in Scotland, where she experienced a sense of familial stability with William Baxter and his daughters, Christina and Isabel, offering a contrast to her home life.

Upon her return to London at the age of 16, Mary met Percy Bysshe Shelley, a young poet and political disciple of her father. Despite Shelley being married with a child, a romantic relationship blossomed between the two. Their elopement across Europe caused a rift with Mary’s father, who disowned her until she legalized her union with Shelley.

During this period, Mary faced profound personal challenges. In 1815, she gave birth prematurely to a baby girl who tragically passed away after only a few weeks. Later, Mary experienced a life-threatening miscarriage. Out of Mary’s four children, only one survived beyond infancy.

In the summer of 1816, Mary and Percy spent time near Geneva, Switzerland, with Lord Byron, John William Polidori, and Jane Clairmont. This gathering became the birthplace of “Frankenstein.” Sequestered indoors by rainy weather, the group entertained themselves by telling ghost stories. Lord Byron then proposed a competition to see who could write the most frightening ghost story, leading Mary to pen the iconic novel.

In 1816, Mary’s half-sister, Fanny Imlay, tragically overdosed on opium, and Percy’s wife also died by suicide around the same time. Mary and Percy were married in December 1816, and Mary published a travelogue of their European journey, “History of a Six Weeks’ Tour” (1817). “Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus” was anonymously published in 1818, leading to speculation that Percy had written the book due to his introduction, an assumption that continues to undermine Mary Shelley’s authorship.

wikipedia.org

Four years after “Frankenstein’s” publication, Percy Shelley drowned at 29 years old while sailing his boat, the Don Juan, during a storm near Italy, leaving Mary a widow at 24. Despite this loss, Mary continued writing, producing more novels. In 1824, Lord Byron passed away from a fever, further impacting Mary’s emotional landscape, as seen in her 1826 science fiction novel “The Last Man,” where she wrote of being “the last relic of a beloved race, my companions extinct before me.” 

Towards the end of her life, Mary faced financial and physical struggles. She first reported symptoms of pressure on the brain around 1843 and passed away in 1851 at the age of 53 from an undiagnosed brain tumor.

Mary Shelley’s life was marked by tragedy, resilience, and a fierce intellect that transcended the societal norms of her time. Her legacy as a radical author endures, inspiring generations of readers and writers to ponder the depths of human ambition and the consequences of our creations.

.

Once Upon A Midnight Dreary

“Prophet!” said I, “thing of evil!—prophet still, if bird or devil!

 By that Heaven that bends above us—by that God we both adore— 

Tell this soul with sorrow laden if, within the distant Aidenn, 

It shall clasp a sainted maiden whom the angels name Lenore— 

Clasp a rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore.” 

Quoth the Raven, “Nevermore.” 

-THE RAVEN-

-Edgar Allan Poe

Source

Once Upon a Midnight Dreary

In celebration of Halloween, I thought we should pay tribute to the Father of the Horror and Suspense genre Edgar Allan Poe. Poe is a classic American author of the Romantic era, whose poems and short stories have transcended time, influencing many successful authors. Edgar Allan Poe is remembered today as one of the first American writers to become a major figure in world literature, with his most famous work “The Raven” having been translated into 45 different languages. As an avid horror genre lover, I acquainted myself with Poe’s work as a middle school student, when my seventh grade English class required us to read “The Raven”. I was so transfixed with the complexity and beautiful structure of the poem, it sticks out in my mind as the moment I fell in love with literature. When I entered high school, my sister had a copy of his Edgar Allan Poe’s complete collection of works in which I found myself immersed in and Poe officially became my favorite classic American author. 

So many people know his name and his work, but there aren’t many who know about the life of Edgar Allan Poe. This got me thinking and inspired me to delve into research to understand my all time favorite poet and author, and some of the facts of his upbringing came as a surprise to me. Though it leaves no question that his life influenced much of his writing. Once upon a midnight dreary, Poe was originally born as Edgar Poe  to David and Eliza Poe in 1809. With an absent father, and passed on mother, Poe was then brought up by his foster parents John and Frances Allan in Richmond, Virginia. John Allan was a tobacco exporter and sent Poe to the best boarding schools and University of Virginia, where he excelled in his studies. Unfortunately, Poe fell into a gambling habit and John Allan refused to pay for his schooling. Poe was then forced to leave the University of Virginia. 

Edgar Allan Poe returned to Richmond briefly, but soon moved to Boston where he enlisted in the United States Army in 1827, where his first collection of poems was published titled Tamerlane, and Other Poems. He soon published a second collection of poems called Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane and Minor Poems. Neither one of his collections received much significant criticism or public attention at the time. After serving out his term in the Army, Poe entered the United States Military Academy, but was again forced to leave due to his financial struggles. At this point, he moved in with his Aunt Maria Clemm and her daughter Virginia in Baltimore. It was then that Poe began selling short stories to magazines and entering writing contests. His efforts landed him a job as an editor for the Southern Literary Messenger back in Richmond, where he soon moved back to, bringing his Aunt and cousin Virginia along with him in 1835. 

Nearly a year later, he married his cousin Virginia, who happened to be 13 years of age at the time. Poe would then spend the next ten years editing a number of literary journals such as the Gentleman’s Magazine and Graham’s Magazine in Philadelphia, and the Broadway Journal out of New York City. It was during this time that he would establish himself as a professional poet, short story writer, and editor. During his time as an editor, he would produce many short stories and poems such as The Fall of The House of Usher, The Tell-Tale Heart, The Murderers in Rue Morgue, and The Raven. 

His wife unfortunately passed away in 1847 of tuberculosis, at the young age of 24. After Virginia’s death, Poe fell deeper into his lifelong struggle with depression and alcoholism. He never quite recovered from the loss of his wife, but it was during the period of her illness where most of his literary works about dying and dead women would originate. Poe returned briefly to Richmond in 1849, soon after setting out for another editing job opportunity in Philadelphia. However, he never quite made it there. Poe would stop off in Baltimore for some unknown reason and officially went missing for a short period of time, being found in a semi-conscious state, delirious and rambling. Four days later, on October 7, 1849 Edgar Allan Poe died of “acute congestion of the brain.” In all actuality, no one knows for sure the mysterious circumstances of Poe’s death. Medical practitioners have since reopened the case and some evidence shows that Poe could have been suffering from rabies. Other theories include the belief that he was a victim of “cooping”– a particular practice where voters were drugged and forced to vote and multiple different polling locations. Regardless of the reason, Edgar Allan Poe would pass away at the ripe age of 40, just two years after his beloved wife. 

So many look at Poe’s work and decide his life was full of nothing but misfortune and melancholy. But in all actuality, he was able to find love and success in his career, however short lived his time with his wife, Virginia. I bet most people don’t realize that Edgar Allan Poe was more than just a poet and author. He was also an accomplished boxer, long jumper, rower, and swimmer. He actually held the local record for swimming 7 miles against the current in the James River in Richmond, Virginia. His literary hero was poet Lord Byron, and he was a published author by the age of 18. By the age of 22, he had already published 3 books. 

Eddy, as his friends called him, was ahead of his time. He  was actually one of America’s earliest Sci-Fi writers. He wrote an  essay titled Eureka: A Prose Poem, which touched on the concept of the Big Bang Theory, nearly a century before it became popular among the scientific community. But today, perhaps The Raven remains Poe’s most famous poem, having captivated both critics and the public eye alike, published in 1845. It is believed that Charles Dickens may have inspired the role of the talking raven. Poe read Dickens’ novel Barnaby Rouge in 1840 and was amused to learn that the talking bird in the novel, named Grip, was based on Dickens’ real pet crow, (also named Grip). Edgar Allen Poe cultivated and nurtured this inspiration, publishing The Raven  nearly four years later. 

Needless to say, Edgar Allan Poe has been said to be the originator of Horror and Detective fiction. He was one of America’s earliest Science Fiction writers. His work has left a profound impact on American international literature. It is said that he is the architect of the modern short story. As an editor, Poe was known as one of the first critics to focus on the effects of style and structure in literary work. As a result, he has been acknowledged as the forerunner for the “Art for Art’s Sake” movement. We owe a lot to Edgar Allan Poe’s lifelong literary ambition and passion. To celebrate this amazing classic father of horror and suspense, I highly suggest picking up a copy of some of his best works to celebrate the spirit of Halloween. Some of my favorites that I would recommend reading are “A Tell–Tale Heart”, “The Cask of Amontillado”, “The House of Usher”, “Annabel Lee”, and the ever famous poem “The Raven”. For you are certain to have a spooky night, honoring this father of Horror. 

The Incredible Nellie Bly: The Best Reporter In America

“It is only after one is in trouble that one realizes how little sympathy and kindness there are in the world.” ― Nellie Bly, Ten Days in a Mad-House

By Natasha O’Hara

It’s my favorite time of the year, Spooky Season, where people love to embrace all things eerie and Halloween. A staple for many during this time is watching the latest season of American Horror Story. Back in season 2 of AHS, “Asylum”, the central character is a journalist named Lana Winters (played by Sarah Paulson, who is loosely based on historical figure, Nellie Bly. 

Nellie Bly lived an extraordinary life as an investigative or “stunt” journalist during a time when women were ferociously fighting for equality and basic human rights. During her life, Bly was an advocate for Women’s Rights, a prominent figure in the muckraking movement, and even a foreign correspondent during World War I and the European suffrage movement.

Bly’s most famous “stunt” was her undercover investigation of the Women’s Lunatic Asylum on Blackwell’s Island (where AHS gained inspiration). Her second most famous accomplishment is her global journey, “Around-the-World in 72 days.” Bly was inspired by the fictional character in Jules Verne’s “Around the World in Eighty Days,” and she completed this feat in 72 days, 6 hours, and 11 minutes.       

Early Life

Bly was born Elizabeth Jane Cochran on May 5, 1864, in Cochran’s Mill (named after her father), Pennsylvania. Prior to her birth, her father, Michael Cochran, had been a laborer before buying the local mill and land surrounding his family’s farmhouse. Along with owning the mill, he also served as associate justice of Armstrong County, where Cochran’s Mill was located. Bly’s father had another wife before Bly’s mother. Catherine Murphy was Michael’s first wife and with whom he had 10 children. He had 5 more children with his second wife, Bly’s mother, Mary Jane Kennedy. Unfortunately for his large family, Michael Cochran never had a will, and passed away unexpectedly when Bly was only 6 years old. 

 Without a will, the family would lose the family home, and be forced to leave Cochran’s Mill. Bly’s mother remarried but divorced in 1878 as Bly’s stepfather was an alcoholic and abusive. Bly was called to testify during the hearing, and after the divorce, the family relocated. When Bly was 15, she enrolled at the State Normal School in Indiana, Pennsylvania. It was during this time that she added an “e” to her last name (Cochrane). However, she was only able to finish one term because of her family’s financial struggles, and she ended up moving in with her mother in Pittsburgh.

Source

It was during this time that Bly saw an article in the Pittsburgh Dispatch titled “What Women are Good For.” In response to this article, Bly penned an open letter anonymously to the editor, calling for better opportunities for women. The result of this caused the editor, George Madden, to search for the person who wrote the letter. Bly responded and began working for the paper under the pen name Nellie Bly, which she took from a popular song at the time. 

Bly’s articles dealt with women’s issues of the time, such as the rough working conditions for females in factories. These types of articles caused a stir amongst the factory owners, resulting in Bly being reduced to writing about matters on society. Dissatisfied with this, Bly moved to New York City in 1886, searching for opportunities to write about serious topics. 

A year later, Bly went to one of the leading papers in the country, New York World. She was able to speak with the editor, Joseph Pulitzer (yes, that Pulitzer), and pitched an idea for an investigational piece on the treatment of immigrants coming into the country. Pulitzer declined, but offered Bly another story, investigating the Insane Asylum located on Blackwell’s Island (renamed Roosevelt Island). This piece would require her to feign mental illness to gain admission, and Bly eagerly accepted.

Ten Days in a Mad-House

In order to appear insane, Bly stood in front of a mirror and practiced facial expressions that mimicked the vacant gaze of maidens she had seen in portraits. She also stayed up the night before she went to a boarding home, to help her perform erratic behavior. Nellie succeeded in scaring the tenants at the boarding house and wound up being assessed by a doctor. After this, she was admitted to the asylum on Blackwell Island.   

There are many serious points that Bly touched on in her groundbreaking series, “Ten Days in a Mad-House.” Like the title suggests, she spent only ten days in the asylum, but that was more than enough to witness and experience the disturbing conditions and practices patients were subjected to. After being admitted to the asylum, Bly quit her “insane” act, thinking this would surely alarm the staff and doctors. This was not the case, and Bly spoke on how the more levelheaded she was, the more insane she was treated. 

Some of the serious points Bly touched on in her series are as follows: 

1. Poor Living Conditions: Bly described the living conditions as unsanitary and overcrowded. 
2. Lack of Personalized Care: Little to no individualized medical or psychiatric care. Cases rarely, or not thoroughly evaluated. 
3. Insufficient Nutrition: Measly and often inedible food (dirty water, moldy food, etc.) leading to malnourishment. 
4. Physical and Verbal Abuse/Inhumane treatment: Abuse of patients by some staff members. Instances of nurses blaming the patients, telling the doctor that their bruises were self-inflicted when the nurses were physically beating them. Bly regarded the treatment as having lack of empathy and compassion, and many of the women were exposed to dehumanizing experiences. 
5. Misdiagnosis and Unfair Commitment: Many patients were suffering from social and economic problems and were misdiagnosed as mentally ill. Some women were unjustly committed because it was more convenient for their families or authorities.  

Later Years

Because of Bly’s expose, she was able to cause significant reforms in the treatment of mentally ill patients, as well as improving mental healthcare in the United States. After Bly’s investigation, the asylum on Blackwell’s Island saw nearly $1 million added to the facility’s budget, which was quite a substantial amount for 1887. 

Bly maintained her influential career in journalism until her marriage to millionaire, Robert Seamen, at the age of 30. Bly essentially retired from journalism at this point, and after her husband’s passing in 1903, Bly inherited the control of the extensive Iron Clad Manufacturing Company and American Steel Barrel Company. Bly’s independent spirit thrived in the business world, and she even patented numerous inventions related to oil manufacturing, many of which remain in use today. Sadly, her financial management faced challenges and eventually led to the companies declaring bankruptcy.

In her later years, Bly returned to journalism, covering World War I while living in Europe. She continued to illuminate significant issues affecting women and the working-class. Still active in her writing, Bly passed away from pneumonia on January 27, 1922. In a posthumous tribute, renowned newspaper editor Arthur Brisbane remembered Bly as “the best reporter in America.”

Lives of the Writer: Phillis Wheatley Peters, 18th Century Poet

“Before the end of this century the full aesthetic, political, and religious implications of her [Phillis Wheatley Peters] art and even more salient facts about her life and works will surely be known and celebrated by all who study the 18th century and by all who revere this woman, a most important poet in the American literary canon.” — Sondra A. O’Neale, Emory University

By Natasha O’Hara

The Poetry Foundation considers Phillis Wheatley Peters as “one of the best-known poets in pre-19th century America.” In 1773, Wheatley Peters published, Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral, thereby becoming the first African American, first enslaved person, and third woman to publish a book of poems in America. The themes in her poems often reflected her views on religion and race, most notably in her poem, “On Being Brought from Africa to America”. In U.S history, she is regarded as a prominent figure for her open support of the American Revolution, while being openly opposed to slavery.

Wheatley Peters was born in West Africa in 1753. At around the age of 7, she was kidnapped by slave traders and was shipped off to the colonies on a slave ship named the Phillis (which is where her name is derived). There isn’t much information on Wheatley Peter’s life prior to her enslavement.

In August of 1761, she was sold to an affluent family in Boston. John Wheatley was a tailor, whose clientele included well known figures of the time, such as John Hancock. His wife, Susanna, was reported as being in search of a “domestic” and purchased the young “slave refugee” for a small sum. The captain of the Phillis believed the girl to be “terminally ill, and he wanted to gain at least a small profit before she died” (PF).

Not only did she survive, within the first 16 months of arriving to the colonies she had mastered the English language. She also studied astronomy, geography, history, Greek and Latin, amongst other studies and while continuing her “domestic” work. Her love and talent for poetry was recognized at a young age, and at 13 she wrote the poem, “On Messrs. Hussey and Coffin,” which was published on 21 December 1767 in the early American colonial newspaper the Newport Mercury. By 18, Wheatley Peters had a collection of 28 poems and international acclaim for her elegy, “An Elegiac Poem, on the Death of that Celebrated Divine, and Eminent Servant of Jesus Christ, the Reverend and Learned George Whitefield”.

Around this time, Wheatley Peters began searching for a press to publish her first collection of poetry. In May of 1771, after being rejected for publication in the colonies because of her race, she and Nathaniel Wheatley (son of John and Susanna) set off to find support in London. Wheatley Peters had gained support from wealthy contributors of evangelical and abolitionist causes, and was able to secure publication. The forward in her first book, Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral, was signed by John Hancock and other Boston notables, and included a portrait of Wheatley, to prove the legitimacy of a Black woman’s talent.  Some time after this, she returned to Boston, and was freed from slavery.

Death consumed the majority of the Wheatley family from 74-78, during this time Wheatley Peters continued to write poetry and offer support for evangelical and abolitionist causes. She had a public correspondence with George Washington in 1776, over a poem she wrote in praise of him. On April 1st, 1778, Phillis Wheatley married John Peters, a free Black man, and took his name.

On December 5, 1784, Phillis Wheatley Peters passed away, at the mere age of 31, some sources claim she passed from complications during childbirth. For much of her life, Wheatley Peters is described as being in poor condition, and is said to have suffered from a chronic asthma condition. This, plus the subsequent poverty from being “free”, not equal, is likely to have contributed to the early deaths of her three children, as well as her own.

Wheatley Peters only published one book during her life, as she was not able to secure fundings for her second collection. She has been reported to have written as many as 145 poems in her life, although many have been lost. She wrote many of her poems in iambic pentameter with the couplet being her favorite poetic form. Despite her young demise, Phillis Wheatley Peters legacy carries on, securing her place as a prominent poet in American history.

NaNoWriMo: What is it and who’s participating?

What do you do when you have a pile of Halloween candy at your fingertips and you want to hide from the colder weather? You write a novel, of course!

Bridget Gray

If you haven’t been bombarded by these seemingly nonsensical letters in the last week, well . . . your social media habit is far healthier than mine. If, however, this mix of capital and lower case letters has come across your screen, you’ve probably wondered about the attention-grabbing acronym. Let’s dive into this seemingly elusive craze that has writers cranking their pencils, computers, and dare I say, typewriters up a notch.

November is National Novel Writing Month (or NaNoWriMo) but what does that mean, exactly? Put simply; it is an online challenge creative writers participate in where the points don’t matter and the prizes are self-given. But perhaps that’s a bit too simplistic because the program is more than just a self-guided competition and supports writers beyond the month of November.

NaNoWriMo logo 2021

NaNoWriMo begins on the first day of November with the intention of inspiring creativity and giving people a push to get writing (we all know starting is sometimes the hardest part). The end goal is to have at least 50,000 words by November 30 in order to “win” the event. That’s just over 1,600 words every day. Can you have more than that? Certainly. What happens if you don’t reach the goal? Nothing.

That’s because NaNoWriMo isn’t really about winning or losing. It’s about making connections with fellow writers (both locally and online), finding a home of likeminded people for your ideas because that’s how we grow as creative people. It’s about proving that writing consistently – no matter the word count – is possible.

As NaNoWriMo has grown from just 20 participants when it started in 1999 to the hundreds of thousands of participants today, the non for-profit organization has been able to expand their support of creative writers. They offer webcasts on a variety of writing topics and genres, discounts on applications and programs, and are even willing to give a pep talk if you need one.

Lives of the Writers: Patricia Highsmith

“She thought of people she had seen holding hands in movies, and why shouldn’t she and Carol?”

― Patricia Highsmith, The Price of Salt

By Jenna Sule

Publicity photo from 1962

Patricia Highsmith was born on January 19, 1921, in Fort Worth, Texas. She was an only child. Her life was not entirely abnormal; her parents divorced before she was born, and she later lived with her mother and stepfather (which is where she got the name, Highsmith). However, at a young age, her mother seemed to have a tendency to overshare with her daughter. According to “The Bizarre True Story Behind The Talented Mr. Ripley” by Mental Floss, her mother told Patricia as a child that “she’d tried to abort her by drinking turpentine.” Look, I am not a mother, but I am pretty sure that is not something you should tell your child. Unsurprisingly, Highsmith was highly affected by this, and it caused some strain between mother and daughter. Allegedly, she based her short story “The Terrapin” on her relationship with her mother. This would be sweet, but this story is about a boy violently murdering his mother. So I think it was safe to say they had a complicated relationship.

But don’t feel too bad for her; she was also extremely bigoted. Not only was she racist, but she was violently antisemitic and misogynistic. The fact that she was a misogynistic lesbian, while strange, highlights just how much of an oxymoron she was in life. Another example is despite being violently antisemitic, to the point of wishing death upon Jewish people, she has several affairs where she found herself deeply in love with Jewish women. What gets even stranger is that, according to Wikipedia, she preferred the company of men, just not romantically. She actually tried to like men! Highsmith attempted to have a relationship with Marc Brandel. The relationship did not work out because ,you know, she didn’t like men. Well, she liked men, but she didn’t LIKE men. Shockingly, one thing Highsmith didn’t seem to be is homophobic. In a memoir written by one of her former lovers, Marijane Meaker, Highsmith is quoted saying, “the only difference between us and heterosexuals is what we do in bed.”I’ll consider her not being homophobic a small win.

Patricia Highsmith on After Dark, 1988. Photo: Open Media Ltd.

Despite her bigotry, Highsmith was an extremely talented writer. I have just finished reading her popular novel, The Talented Mr. Ripley. The novel is a fascinating thriller about a conman named Tom who finds himself in Italy, completely enamored by the world of money and of Dickie Greenleaf. Yes, she did name a rich man Greenleaf; she really wanted to make sure we knew he liked money. She is also known for writing other novels such as Strangers on a Train (which was quickly adapted by Alfred Hitchcock), and The Price of Salt. The Price of Salt was actually a lesbian novel with a happy ending! Even today, gay stories ending well is uncommon. One aspect I enjoy about her writing is that the characters feel complex and like real people. As I was reading, I could tell she had put a lot of thought into her characters. For instance, in The Talented Mr. Ripley, Tom shows signs of being a queer man. His queerness adds to his character throughout the story; it adds a possible motive for his actions and develops his character. One thing I disliked about her writing, in this specific book at least, is that you can tell she didn’t think too highly of women. She makes it nearly impossible for anyone to like one of the only female characters in the book. Anyway, I love Marge Sherwood, and she deserved better than to be so easily hateable. It makes me wonder, though, if her dislike for women was a noticeable aspect in The Price of Salt. 

Later in her life, Highsmith was fond of cats and snails. Wikipedia even claims that she once went to a party with a head of lettuce covered in snails, which she said were her companions for the evening. Highsmith died on February 4, 1995. She was 74 years old. However, her story does not end there. After her death, her editors found her private diaries, 56 of them to be exact. The New York Times reports that the diaries span about 60 years and 8,000 pages. The dairies were not made available to the public. However, they are set to be released sometime in 2021.