While I’ve been concentrating on reading Kakalak poetry submissions the last 2 months, I did manage to squeeze in some other reading.

The first I’m still immersed in and enjoying. The Small and the Mighty-Twelve Unsung Americans Who Changed the Course of History from the Founding to the Civil Rights Movement by Sharon McMahon is one I can read in small bits–no pun intended. My interest in history is in thanks to Mr. Don Dupper who always brought more to the classroom than what was in the textbook. I never had Mr. Bill Stepro but I’ve heard he did the same thing. McMahon is a longtime high school government and law teacher and reading her book I can see she also broadens and deepens the lessons in the classroom.

As the title states, In The Small and the Mighty, McMahon selected 12 women and men most of us have never heard of, (Booker T. Washington was one exception for me), and brings their lives to light. These are teachers, activists, doctors, nurses, all overcoming obstacles of their times–race, gender, geography, war, enslavement, poverty … It’s been especially enlightening to read the short biographies and how their acts of courage and sheer determination fit into the history I remember from Mr. Dupper’s class. I just finished reading about Maria de Lopez, a woman born in California in 1881.

Maria grew up on California’s San Gabriel Mission, becoming fluent in both Spanish and English. Being bilingual served her well as a translator, teacher, and as a leader in the Women’s Suffragette Movement in California. After the outbreak of WWI, Maria traveled alone to New York to train as an ambulance mechanic so she could be of service to her country. She eventually became an ambulance driver as well. And she took aviator training. She was sent to France and worked at a hospital built and run by women–the United States refused to allow women physicians to serve in WWI, so the women went to France where they were heartily welcomed.

Several short chapters are dedicated to Clara Brown, an enslaved woman, born around 1800, who watched her young daughter Eliza be auctioned off. Once freed, Clara set out to find her. Clara’s journey began in Kentucky and took her to St. Louis, and Kansas, and finally out to Colorado. One Tennessee newspaper, reflecting in 1886 on the opening of the West thirty years earlier, described Clara as being the first woman to cross the ‘American Desert’, a term widely used in the nineteenth century for what we now commonly call the High Plains. (from The Small and the Mighty) Along the way, Clara worked as a domestic, started her own business, helped open a school, worked as a midwife and much more, earning money to help others and to continue funding her search for her daughter.

McMahon’s writing isn’t academic, but more like listening to someone who’s excited about her topic, with asides sprinkled throughout. A most enjoyable history lesson.

I finished the second book! Murder at the Meadows Lake Clubhouse by Debbie De Louise is a cozy mystery and provided a fun diversion while I was steeped in poetry. Debbie is a local writer and author of two cozy mystery series, The Buttercup Bend Mysteries and Cobble Cove Books. Murder at Meadows Lake Clubhouse is the first book in her third series, Soup the Supernatural Kitten Mysteries. In this first book we meet Soup, a ginger cat who appears to Rose Fairchild, (and not really to anyone else), newly relocated from New York to Meadows Lake, an adult retirement community in South Carolina. Almost before Rose is settled into her new home and neighborhood, she’s pulled into a murder in the clubhouse–the not so likeable restaurant cook is found dead and when Rose gets involved in the sheriff’s investigation, she receives a written threat to stop snooping. Rose is gifted with a sixth sense. Will this help her? Or will Soup, a supernatural kitten, also contribute to finding the killer?

In addition to Rose and Soup, the reader meets other residents of the Meadows Lake community: Grant Davis the real estate agent for homes in the community and a resident himself, her neighbors Lucy and Bert, and Sheriff Blake Conor, as well as others as Grant introduces Rose to the community and the town of Fallsview. I look forward to reading more about them as Rose and Soup encounter more mysteries in Meadows Lake.

Debbie’s other series are also cozy mysteries. The Buttercup Bend mysteries take place in Buttercup Bend, New York. And while Soup isn’t there, other animals are. The Case of the Crazy Cat Lady, The Case of the Parrot Loving Professor, and The Case of the Llama Raising Librarian are just three of the 5 titles in that series. In the Cobble Cove Books, the reader meets Alicia McKinney, a librarian in New York, who solves mysteries. By the way, Debbie is a retired librarian from New York. Coincidence?

Debbie is also the author of several stand-alone books in various genres including science fiction, paranormal, and time travel. You can read more about Debbie and her books at her website, Ruff Drafts.

How can July be over already? In August I make my annual trip to the mountains for my Table Rock Writers Workshop. I can’t wait. My Grands are getting ready to head back to school soon. No more waiting until after Labor Day! My friend Annette shared that her church holds a Blessing of the Backpacks before the school year begins. What a beautiful ritual to ask for God’s blessings and protection on all the students and teachers.  May your week ahead be a good one as you find ways to stay safe in this heat and crazy weather. I’ll be back on Monday, and I hope you will be too.