272 Children of 2020

Children of 2020

Never leave their devices behind
No matter where
They are going or
What they are doing. 

Short trips, long trips
And those in between,
Electronics are part
Of their belongings
In pockets, bags, or in hand
Never to be out of range.

Don’t ever try to distance
Them from the coveted screen.
It’s as if you had asked
Them to cut off a body part
Or sever a main artery
To leave the device.

It can be frustrating
When you try to have
A conversation or any type of dialog.
It takes time to cut through
The electronic fog.
To counter-attack,
Join them
With cell phones
And digital products
To stay
In the game.

During these days
Of stay-at-home mandates,
The devices are
Invaluable in communicating
With the family
And save the day!

Facetime calls
Prove priceless
As smiling faces appear
And photos snapped
To revisit
At any time. 

The written word
Is also miraculous
As texting is done
On a regular basis
And often answered
In the midst of a stream
Of friends’ posts.

Please don’t disparage
These young people
For constantly being online.
It can actually come in handy
During these most
Unusual of times.

Savvy Fran                                                              

271 A gift with a story

 

A Gift with a Story

An acquaintance heard me discussing efforts to establish a Civil War library for the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation.

"My husband has some Civil War books that no one in the family wants. He may be interested in donating. Do you think you want them?"

Although wondering if the books were the same titles that had been donated to us many times over, I told her to have her husband Phil email me and we could discuss. It turned out he had a great set of Civil War books--with an even better story! 

He had the 1911first edition of A Photographic History Of The Civil War edited by Francis T. Miller. The set is recognized as the best early collection of Civil War photographs and can fetch a good price on the used book market.

What intrigued me, however, was the letter pasted inside volume one.

Here is the text in case it is too small to read:

W. Steele Bryan M.D.
Ramey, Penna.
September 8, 1913.

Dear Pa:
Enclosed you will find a complete set of “The Photographic History of the Civil War.”

As you go through these books, I wish that you would mark with pencil in the margins all the engagements pictured in which you took part, the places visited and give dates when possible.

These books are to be yours as long as you live.
I hope that you will find much enjoyment in them.

Steele

W. Steele Bryan gave this set to his father, John R. Bryan, who lived from 1838 to 1920. John Bryan served in the 72nd Pennsylvania Infantry, also known as the Fire Zouave Regiment. 

They were called the Fire Zouaves because the initial recruits were Philadelphia firefighters. Many Civil War units modeled themselves after the French Zouave fighters of North Africa and wore some variation of the Zouave uniform that could include sashes, baggy pantaloons, tasseled fezzes, and turbans. The uniform pictured below looks more practical and may reflect a later, more functional uniform style that was worn later in the war.

Image from the 72nd PA Infantry reenactors page.

Bryan rose to the rank of corporal in Company B. The Regiment served in many battles including Yorktown, Seven Pines, Malvern Hill, Antietam, 1st Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, Wilderness, and Petersburg.

He was also in the Valley with his unit at Harpers Ferry both in 1862 and 1863. His unit was in pursuit of Lee after Gettysburg from July 5 to 24 and probably followed him south to the Valley or to Loudoun County.

Bryan is buried in Oakland Cemetery and Mausoleum in Indiana County, Pennsylvania. His set of books passed down through the family to Phil Smith, who gave them to the SVBF Library. Now the books are in Virginia where Corporal Bryan fought so many battles.

                                              Trish

271 It Does No Good to Worry

It Does No Good to Worry

Well, dear readers, I am often told that it does no good to worry. I do worry, however. This week I am worried still about the pandemic and climate change 

and the painting in our house that needs to 

be done. I worry about the homeless, the west coast, Louisiana, and small businesses. I worry that New York City will never be the same! I worry about the four-year-old granddaughter whom we have not seen since February. 

Particularly, with the election Tuesday, I am worried about the Electoral College and how the election will play out. Do we still need the Electoral College? I have been wondering about this since I was a junior in high school! 

I decided, however, that worry was making my stomach hurt. The dogs are out in the sunshine, according to dear husband, trying to play grab the bags in the trash. I played around on Google to see what was trending. Does Trump have a Chinese bank account? Take away statements from the last “debate.” Mail-in ballots. Covid-19 vaccines. BUT I also found a biography of Laura Glück, the American poet who won the Nobel prize for literature this year. 

All of us have a few lines of favorite poetry from over the years. Maybe those lines we had to memorize in school or one that touched us in some way. I have always liked Emily Dickinson and Dorothy Parker with a touch of Poe and a line or two John Dunne. In college I found “Howl,” the Ginsberg poem that is the symbol of the turbulence of the late 1960s and 70s. 

Be that as it may for background, today I am adding Laura Glűck (rhymes with “click”) to the list. I will be honest and say I had heard the name but had NO context for recognizing it. Seems she was the U.S. Poet Laureate 2003-2004. Shame on me!

Here’s a brief bit of biography so you too can know a little about this amazing woman. She was born in New York City and attended Sarah Lawrence and Columbia. She won a Pulitzer in 1993 so she has been around for a while. At age 77 she is still a part-time professor at Yale and at Boston University along with producing 11 poetry anthologies and a non-fiction award-winning book: Essays on Poetry. In 2016 President Obama awarded her the National Humanities Medal. (This page is based on the copyrighted Wikipedia Louise Gluck; it is used under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. You may redistribute it, verbatim or modified,)

I have been reading her poetry. Some is dark; some is lyrical; some I do not understand. Here is a sampling: 

Google: louise+gluck+poems&tbm=isch&hl=en&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS856US856&hl

I am sorry it took me so long to find her. If you have favorites poems or know her work from somewhere, we would love to hear how she was revealed to you.

Off to watch the pre- and post-election news. Stay well! 

                                            Somewhat savvy, Glenne