Quick Performance Update (next two weeks):
Apr. 6, 7 & 13 - Performances for
Worldstrides, Inc. Student Tour Groups in Williamsburg, VA.
Sat., Apr. 11 - Lancaster Court Days, @Mary
Washington Library and Museum, Lancaster, VA; 10 am – 4 pm (Oney Judge Historic
Character Presentation, Ol’ Bess Historic Character Presentation, General
Storytelling)
Wed., Apr. 15 – Dana Middle School, AM,
Hawthorne, CA (Betsy Costner Historic Character Presentation)
Thurs., Apr. 16 – Anza Elementary School, AM
& PM & Evening, Hawothrne, CA
(Oney Judge Historic Character Presentation; General Storytelling
Program & “Words of Excitement” Evening Program for Parents)
Sat., Apr. 18 – Stone Soup Storytelling
Festival New Voices Showcase, Woodruff, SC; 11:30 am – 1 pm
Other Apr. performances: Oregon (Corvallis); Virginia (Herndon, Portsmouth, Williamsburg)
Upcoming May
performances: California (Fresno);
New York (Westchester County); VA (Norfolk, Williamsburg), West Virginia
(Shepherdstown)
I’m a day late with day 4 of the
A-Z Blogging Challenge 2015, but I’m going to assume no one blogs on Sundays
because that is the catch-up day (at least it will be mine). I’ll be back on track tomorrow.
My theme is “History Stories and
the telling of them.” My desire is to
share some history facts and the stories I think are intriguing around them,
along with some ways I’ve told history stories and techniques of researching
and telling historical stories. Finally,
Day 4….
D =
Dad Loves History
My Dad loves reading about and learning about history, and he has been my
greatest influence in regards to wanting to learn history. He particularly loves biographies and
military history, although, if it’s good, he’s read just about any type of historical
non-fiction book.
 |
| My Daddy - Wallace C. Arnold |
One of my strong memory fragments from when I was in my “tween” years was
my Dad having to read History of the Peloponnesian
War by Thucydides. This was a paperback
book with over 600 pages and I can even remember the cover of a warrior in a chariot
in orange with a black background. Today
I asked my Dad about that book and he nodded his head as I spoke, and then
relayed more of the story (as always).
Dad was the commander of a Armstrong Army Barracks, Büdingen, Germany
when he was honored by being asked to leave his post early and be a student at
the Naval War College, Newport, Rhode Island.
Two months before he was to leave Büdingen, in the middle of packing a
house and transitioning the command leadership, he received the book with
instructions to have it read before
he started at the College. Dad shared
how the book took a lot of time to read; time he did not have. My mother became involved in this “book
reading” because Dad had to write a paper and my mother was the typist and
there was much back and forth about the paper.
Dad learned later that this book, which is also a primary source
document, was the basis of modern warfare strategies and tactics, and laid the
foundation for everything else they would learn. I’m certain I remember the emotional angst
about that book because Dad usually loved books on history. However, in spite
of its infamous place in family history, the book still sits on Dad’s bookshelf
in his office.
My father is also a great public speaker.
He’s so good in fact, that I love to hear his presentations. One of the things I admire about his talks is
that he does his research. He doesn’t
just present facts, figures and events, he tells the stories and searches until
he finds the right story to tell. His
love of history strengthens his resolve to make history interesting and
engaging.
I remember the first time my father saw one of my Historic Character
Presentations. I was at a church that he
had often attended when he was young and I was there to present Oney Judge, the
personal maidservant of Martha Washington.
He was thrilled about the amount of research I had completed and was
able to share, about the level of reality in my presentation as an elderly
woman, and delighted that I was HIS child (the
beaming smile gave him away).
Over the last few Christmases, Dad has informed his family what books he
would like to have as gifts. We, like
his faithful soldiers, have succumbed to his directions. He returns the favor by buying books of his
liking for me. A year ago he purchased
me Killing Jesus by Bill O’Reilly – a
wonderful historical read and I was delighted with all the information I
learned and the storytelling way it was presented. Last Christmas my father received Unbroken by Laura Hillinbrand; 41, A Portrait of my Father by of George
W.Bush, and a couple of fictional books by his favorite authors. As I went searching as directing for his
requested book, I ran across another one that I thought would be perfect. I wrapped it carefully. As Dad opens each book, he looks at the giver
and says, “That was well done.” When he
opened the second book I gave him, The Black
Panthers: A Story by Race, War and Courage by Gina M Dinicolo, his eyebrows raised and with
surprise said, “Well, I have never heard of them. This is new to me. Can’t wait to read it!”
History Lover
I love that my Daddy still gets excited about learning “new” history….and
maybe, one day, he will BE “new” history when he writes his own autobiography.
If you are a history lover, was
there someone that helped foster that love and how did they do that? If you are not adverse to history, but not a
great lover of it, then check out one of Bill O’Reilly’s Killing history series – the writing is great and
suddenly history has life. If you don’t
like history, what made you dislike it?
After answering, jump over to my website [www.mssheila.org] and hire me
to come and do one of my Historic Character Presentations for a home concert,
or at your organization, library or school.
[Yes, that was a shameless pitch!]
What am I reading? Yesterday I read, “At the Zoo” by David M.
Schwartz (children’s book). Most recent
thing I learned from this little book: “Camels
with one hump are from Africa. Camels
with two humps are from Asia.” [didn’t know that] Currently reading “Passionate God” by Bishop Kenneth
C Ulmer, Ph. D (my evening reading) & “Revolution in World Missions” by K.
P. Yohannan.
