History
Trial for Bastardy – 1808
Place: New York City Time: August 1808 On Trial: Alexander Whistelo, “a black coachman” The Story: “Adam-colored” Lucy Williams and her black lover Alexander Whistelo had a child together, a child whom Whistelo accepted as his own until his friends (possibly named Iago?) “put it into his head that it…
Forking
Have you ever wondered why Americans switch hands to eat with their fork, but Europeans don’t? Yes you have. You lie awake at night, in the cold early morning, pondering life, the universe, the number 42, and why Americans eat with a zig-zag fork pattern. Admit it. Well, now there…
The Nude That Launched a Thousand..well, One Trial
Meet Narcissus. The original of this statue of him was discovered in Pompeii in 1862 and housed in the Naples Museum. In 1873, an enterprising art dealer of New Bedford Massachusetts, one Charles Hazeltine, purchased a replica of this very Narcissus in Boston and displayed it in the front window…
The Erotic Diaries of a Victorian Seafarer in the US Navy
An American Seafarer in the Age of Sail: The Erotic Diaries of Philip C. Van Buskirk, 1851-1870 by Barry Richard Burg My rating: 4 of 5 stars This book is not what you think it’s about. 🙂 Philip C Van Buskirk was an educated young man whose family fell on…
The Saga of Kate O’Hare
Kate Richards O’Hare, American socialist and anti-war activist in 1917, went to Bowman, North Dakota as part of a speaking tour and “in the presence of 125 people” said: “that any person who enlisted in the army of the United States for service in France would be used for fertilizer,…
Do You M/M?
Are you one of the many (many, many) readers of m/m romance? Do you swoon to Alex Beecroft’s False Colors: An M/M Romance or Erastes’ Transgressions: An M/M Romance? For anyone who might be thinking, “What, M&M’s have romance?” and trying to picture the green girl M&M in something slinky…. no. M/M is…
Pugs Are Everywhere
One of the points I make in my book PugSpotting is that pug owners like to involve pugs in everything they do. If you can put a pug in it, pug owners are there and have done it. Random insertions of pugs in books and artwork? Check. Pugs on utensils,…
More Libellous Fiction
Nathaniel Hawthorne (who as you can see was somewhat of a hottie) also experienced libel accusations in regard to one of his most famous works of fiction.In The House of Seven Gables, the name of the corrupt, evil villain is Judge Pyncheon. It just so happens that there actually was…
Colonial Coffee House
Guess what the newest exhibit at Colonial Williamsburg is – a coffee house!From The Washington Post:”Now [Williamsburg] is home to the modest Charlton’s Coffeehouse, built from scratch on historic foundations and billed as the only 18th-century coffeehouse in America.””At some point in the 1760s a young immigrant named Richard Charlton…
Remembering Henry: the 89th American Division and the End of World War One
The Red Poppy is the symbol of Remembrance Day, 11 November. Remembrance Day was started in 1919 as Armistice Day, to honor the end of The Great War. The War to End Wars. Which came to be known as World War I. After World War II, the name was changed…